Blue Collar Archives

Ever get that rundown just-fired feeling?
Posted by Fired Fred on August 20, 2007 4:37 PM
The story is missing some details, but maybe that's just the way they do news in England. Even without all the facts, the tale of a delivery driver getting fired for being run over by an angry motorist has a few laughs...
He was parked in a field gateway nearby when a silver car pulled up and the driver took his registration details, drove up the road and then turned around to come back.

"I got out of the cab to talk to him, but he didn't slow down. He hit me. He must have been travelling at about 25mph."

While Mr Acock was recovering from the bruising to his arms, legs and neck, he received the letter from the company telling him he had been sacked for gross misconduct.

He said: "It said that the driver had made a complaint that I had verbally abused him.

"I admit I probably shouted something, but after he ran me over.

"The letter also says I caused damage to his bonnet. Maybe I did, but only because I landed on it when he drove into me."
Where to start? The guy's name? The complaint about denting the hood of the car that hit Mr. Acock? The verbal abuse? I know I'd drop a few F-bombs on someone who plowed into me.

This guy's lucky his little run-in didn't happen in America. The car hitting him probably would have been a massive SUV doing 70. Mr. Acock (hee hee hee) would be picking his namesake bits out of the driveshaft (hahaha, driveshaft) if he was lucky. This inspired me to haiku.

Guy gets run over
He's fired for cursing out loud
Sucks to be Acock

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Starting a career at age four
Posted by Fired Fred on December 5, 2007 3:59 PM
As young as all the geniuses running Hollywood and Silicon Valley look, they would have to line up behind little Brendan Lee if they wanted to try out for a longshoreman's position in Boston. Brendan's dad, also named Brendan, put the little guy on the payroll to help him build up seniority for the day when he followed in Dad's footsteps...
The charges against Lee and others grew out of an investigation triggered by Massport, which noticed that children of longshoremen started showing up on payrolls at the Conley Terminal in South Boston, among other allegations, authorities said.

Prosecutors said in court papers the scheme that Lee and others used did not generate cash, but was designed to position the children in seniority ranks if they chose to work with the ILA as adults.
So look for the union label, but don't be surprised if the person with it would rather be watching The Disney Channel than unloading a freighter on the docks.
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Side job sidelines marriage
Posted by Fired Fred on January 9, 2008 5:06 PM
This isn't a true firing story, but a guy wants a divorce from his wife, so I guess he's firing her in a way.

File this one under real life Pina Colada Song. Except it's from Poland, so they'd be drinking vodka, right?

Whatever. So what are you doing here?, the guy asked his wife...
A Polish man got the shock of his life when he visited a brothel and spotted his wife among the establishment's employees. Polish tabloid Super Express said the woman had been making some extra money on the side while telling her husband she worked at a store in a nearby town.
He didn't mind her making money on the side. On her back, well, that's a divorce after 14 years of being married. As to what he was doing there, I'm guessing he got asked that question in a loud voice several times.
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Truckers want to drive off DOT Secretary
Posted by Fired Fred on February 7, 2008 5:20 PM
Big rig drivers with the Teamsters sound like they wouldn't mind seeing Mary Peters as roadkill. I think the Teamsters were some scary union types back about forty years ago, when shooting people over their minestrone soup was all the rage in New Jersey and Philly.

They're the scared ones now, terrified by Secretary Mary for opening the border to Mexican trucks. So they want her fired...
“It’s a disgrace that Mary Peters is still in office,� Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said. “She has broken the law and defied the will of the American people by exposing them to dangerous trucks from Mexico.�
Anyone who's followed the Bushies won't be surprised to find out she opened the border despite both sides of Capitol Hill passing legislation to keep out those trucks. A Republican disdain for law? Shocked I am.
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GM tries driving off 74,000 workers
Posted by Fired Fred on February 12, 2008 4:15 PM
GM lost $39 billion dollars last year, mostly thanks to a big tax asset writeoff, whatever that means. They'll try to make that up by waving a big severance carrot in front of the workers they have today.

If the workers take the bait, they can hire younger, cheaper people to replace them...
GM is offering hourly employees incentives of $45,000 for production workers and $62,500 for skilled trades workers in exchange for an agreement to retire early. About 46,000 of GM's 74,000 UAW-represented workers have the required 26 years of service and are eligible for early retirement.

The remaining will be offered between $70,000 and $140,000, depending on length of service, to take a buyout.
Take the deal, and GM gets to ditch pension and health benefits for those workers. The next people to fill those jobs will do so for half the pay the older workers got, $14 an hour instead of $28.

GM and the unions managed to make this mess, and look what's going to happen. Instead of being paid enough to buy a house, line workers will be paid enough to buy newspapers that tell them what kind of house Bob Lutz can afford.
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