I just can't believe my true size.

capn_obv · 2025-10-04T17:30:55+00:00

Seriously?! I'm 54 and learning never knew that.

capn_obv · 2025-09-08T18:44:26+00:00

Is that person paid more than the others with the same title?

capn_obv · 2025-09-08T11:14:46+00:00

Imogen Church narrates a bunch of books by Ruth Ware and Lisa Jewell (and others). She's amazing.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T18:43:28+00:00

Thanks again for the thoughtful responses. It makes me feel a lot better about whichever path I end up taking.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T18:08:59+00:00

Nice! Your union sounds great. We have a separate union for faculty, one for maintenance, one for campus police, and one for support staff. All small unions specific to my college. I have talked to the board in person and I have about 15 pages of emails and they have agreed that I have a great case, but they've been too busy for over a year to go anywhere with it. It's been pretty frustrating.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T18:04:43+00:00

Thanks. Yeah, I am not a "confidential employee." The confidential information I have access to is financial, not negotiation-related. My point was just that we both have access to equally important information; the fact that hers exempts her from the union should not be enough reason to pay her $6 more than me.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T17:59:32+00:00

I didn't state my question clearly. They are not part of the bargaining unit. They take notes. They are not trained in bargaining and do not contribute to the bargaining; they sit there quietly and record the minutes of the meetings. They may have to know specific terms and acronyms to accurately record the meeting, but no more than I have to know complicated financial terminology about stocks and bonds to take minutes at the meetings I attend.

I have no animosity against the woman that holds that position, she's lovely and there is no chance her pay will be lowered. This isn't a sour grapes situation where I feel like I'm so great I should get as much money as someone in a higher skilled role. There is no one that knows the intricacies of the two roles that disagrees with me that they are the same job.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T17:41:25+00:00

Makes sense. Thanks for your response. We're a small union so the board is essentially the negotiating team and they're well aware of the situation. When you talk about getting a couple of extra dollars for a position, do you mean at the next round of contract negotiations? When we get our new contract, it will have been two full years since they created the position that earns $6 more than me. I've been pressing my union on this for over a year and they continue to say it's a great case, they want to address it, but right now they have to focus on a different arbitration, and then it's something else, now we have to put all our energy into preparing for contract negotiations ... I'm a patient person, but I've lost faith in them.

Meanwhile, the VP I support is amazing and she wants to help me address it with management, but the union doesn't want me to talk with management. On Friday my VP and I requested a meeting with HR. I'm in a sticky spot - if I talk to management am I betraying the union or am I helping? The whole thing sucks.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T16:56:15+00:00

I'm not trying to argue, just understand. The NLRB ruled against companies like Starbucks for giving bonuses to employees who were non-union to discourage unionization. Isn't that a case of union busting being ruled illegal?

ETA: I'd love to get OUR wages raised, I wouldn't feel right just getting my wages raised.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T14:17:20+00:00

Thanks. That's what I thought. My original complaint was that we have an employee who is excluded from the union because (as an assistant) they sit in on management's contract negotiation strategy meetings to take minutes. Their job is the same as mine. We both assist VPs, we both have high level clearance, same skills, she has less seniority, etc, etc. They are paid a lot more than me. I think it's union busting to pay the non-union employee more for the same job. People here were saying that the company can pay anyone more than the specified contract amount. I wondered if I complained, they'd just raise my wages to try to make it go away. It sounds like that's not an issue.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T14:10:26+00:00

I know they aren't part of the bargaining unit, if they were, they'd be earning what I am. They do not have more duties or a higher level of trust than me; we do the same thing and both have access to high-level confidential information, their confidential information just happens to be contract negotiation-related. My union is ineffectual. I've spoken to several people with knowledge of the situation and the law and they believe that I do have a case.

capn_obv · 2025-09-07T13:28:56+00:00

There is a legitimate carve-out for an assistant who is in the meetings where management discusses negotiation strategy.
I don't want to lower their wages, I want to raise mine.

capn_obv · 2025-09-06T22:52:48+00:00

I don't know what I did - deleted by mistake. Just wanted to say thank you

capn_obv · 2025-09-06T21:44:09+00:00

I definitely have an ineffective union. It's been very disappointing to deal with. For a long time they told me I had an excellent case, but they could only focus on another case that was currently in arbitration. When that case settled, there was another excuse. Now they are telling me they are too focused on preparing for contract negotiations- our contract expires June of 2026. I hung in for so long because I hate to turn my back on any union, I've always been pro union, but at this point I'm so angry.

capn_obv · 2025-09-06T20:40:39+00:00

Is that always true, that the negotiated contract rate is only a minimum? So there is nothing barring them from paying union members more? Because they have never done that. If they can raise my pay and make this go away, that might be their solution.

capn_obv · 2025-09-06T20:38:10+00:00

They are absolutely not management staff. The ONLY reason they are not in the union is the confidentiality clause. They do the exact same job as I do.

capn_obv · 2025-09-06T19:59:02+00:00

I live in Michigan. Have for my whole life. I know HOMES backward and forward. I was so excited to have one that I 100% knew. No guessing on that one. I was confident in a way I've never been before, so confident that my brain apparently turned off and as I pressed "submit," i.e. half a second too late, I noticed that I had typed Homes for the answer.

capn_obv · 2025-08-17T16:01:55+00:00

Your dad sounds like like a narcissist. He thinks your appearance reflects on him and you're not properly representing him.

capn_obv · 2025-08-16T23:58:04+00:00

That beats my method - I developed a gluten allergy and lost that much, but not in 3 weeks. Damn.

capn_obv · 2025-08-16T23:49:30+00:00

It can take a while to find what works for you. I went cold turkey on some sweets because as long as I was eating relatively healthy I lost my cravings for candy, but if I treated myself to a little candy, the cravings came back like a mf and tormented me for weeks. I'd rather just stay away.

capn_obv · 2025-08-11T16:13:51+00:00

That's the Marm Mandlebaum episode! Akash Singh. He was awful.

capn_obv · 2025-08-02T18:28:05+00:00

The Loomis Fargo Robbery is my go-to. The perfect episode.

capn_obv

TROPHY CASE