Why I hate unions
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007Unions had their day. They were a good idea when the worker was truly being exploited. These days, there are still areas where a union is probably useful, but for the most part I don’t think they’re worth it and they cause more problems than they are worth.
Here’s a simple example of how unions caused a stupid problem. Years ago, I was travelling in New York. On my way back to the hotel after work, I stopped and got some food to take back to my room. When I got there, I realized that they didn’t give me a fork. So I went down to the lobby and asked if they could give me a fork to use. The guy behind the desk said “sure” and went to the back to get one. When he came back, he apologized, embarrassed, and explained that he couldn’t give me a fork. He wasn’t allowed, he said, because union rules dictated that a union worker had to bring the fork to my room. Remember, I’m standing right there, and could get the fork in seconds, but they want to waste 15 minutes while I and a union server both go up to my room. Then he said that it would also cost me a $2 delivery charge - for a fork!
So instead of that stupidity I ended up going around the corner to a nearby take-out restaurant and grabbed a plastic fork. No problems.
The stupidity of this example of implementing union rules has stuck with me, and has for years colored my response to room service specifically, and other union service workers more generally. I don’t tip nearly as well as I used to, for example, even if I’m on an expense account.
Technorati Tags: unions, room service, gratuity, hotels
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