Hello there everyone. With the recent news that BART transportation will, in fact, be shut down in strike again starting tomorrow morning I thought it would only be fair for my 35 1/2 readers to swallow the pill that is my opinion on the matter. In fact, rather than bitch about the BART workers whining about an already ample salary that comes with health benefits and retirement or comment on how they are abusing unionized labor while affecting everyday employees or how the General Management of BART waits until the very last second to either continue talks or cease them... I thought I would liken it to something of a childhood tale: The Teacher and The Student.
For those who have no fucking clue as to what the BART strike even is the The Teacher would be portrayed by BART Management (specifically General Manager Grace Crunican) and The Student would be played by the BART Union (specifically the President of Services Employees International Local Union 1021, Roxanne Sanchez). Also, The Headmaster who comes into the story would be played by Governor Jerry Brown. As I said, most of you drive cars, don't know what BART is, and have no clue who these people are, so here is a children's story. Be clear though, I don't know much, but I know enough to turn the story into a dumbed down metaphor, so that's about 1,000,000 times more than you. Anyway, on with the tall tell tale...
On one fine fall morning, The Student came upon his very busy, very dependable school yard. Kids were on swings, parents were dropping off said kids in a timely manor, and each teacher over looked the morning operations with pleased grins. However, The Student was angry. See, The Student's teacher, The Teacher, had followed The Student around school ever since the very first day of high kindergarden. Coming up the ranks together, The Teacher and The Student butted heads to the point of near confrontation, but all scholastic operations ran smoothly and all other students, teachers, and parents, while they may have sensed a bit of tension, never thought a head on collision would ever take place. The school was just too important...
Then, one day, The Teacher gave the class an assignment The Student had no toleration for. The Student raised questions, but The Teacher did not want to hear it. Back and forth they went. The Teacher would assign the work, The Student felt more breaks should be given. As I'm sure you can see, The Teacher acted just as much like a child as The fucking Student did. The class halted. Work was stalled. And this once glorious school that was so dependable became a gridlock of frustration.
"Do this," said The Teacher.
"No." said The Student.
"Take that." The Teacher would demand again.
"Fuck you. I'm not coming to class," The Student finally demanded.
Very civilized dialogue **induce vomiting**
Now, one could argue The Teacher set themselves up for this kind of backlash. After all, The Student was given much before and was trying to use the leverage that was once so beneficial, again. The Teacher all of a sudden became a red-ass and was calling The Student out for being a suckbag. Since people knew how important it was for all students to be in class in order to keep the school running smoothly, The Headmaster finally stepped in to see what he could do about solving this almighty scholastic clusterfuck.
"Here's what I'm going to do," said The Headmaster. "I am going to give each one of you shit heads 60 days, call it a cooling off period, where you, The Student, will go to class, and you, The Teacher, will teach different material. No mention of the previous assignment will be brought up in front of the class. But let me make one thing perfectly clear, at the end of that 60 days, The Student better have that paper done or The Teacher better think of a way to satisfy The Student while still receiving a 100% effort in the class."
The Headmaster did not seem to be fucking around. So, the 60 days comes and gos. The class goes on. Other kids and teachers forget. But what do The Teacher and The Student talk about. Not a goddamned thing. Nothing at all. The Teacher wanted the class to remain the same, The Student wanted change. When do they wait to talk? The 11th hour, or in this case the 60th day....
Class disruption continued. The Teacher did not want to give in, The Student did not want to give up. And so this sad, sad state of affairs continues. No moral, no endgame, no solution. The Student was a child, but so was The Teacher. You would think one could learn from the other, they could work together, but it is sadly untrue.
Prideful? Childish. Quit the shit and find a common ground. At least this blog wasn't a bigger waste of time than these BART negotiations.
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