There are a few things that may be extinct by the
time my children are grown: pay phones, newspapers, neighborhoods-where feral
children play until after dusk and Market Basket.
Yeah, I went there. Oh for the love of Pete!
End. This Shit.
Look, every family has their drama. However, most families eventually resolve their
issues and achieve a delicate equilibrium of existance.
For those who are not from the New England area....
The Board
of Directors at Market Basket (amaze balls cheap supermarket) fired their CEO:
Arthur T Demoulas and replaced him with his cousin: Arthur S
Demoulas....annnnnnd then people went bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Arthur T is
so adored by the Market Basket community that his workers and customers alike
are pouting, protesting and petitioning. Some of them feel so strongly
that they have not been to work since "T" was fired. Some workers
were wasting an inexcusable amount of food by walking off the job… THAT made me
furious in a head-spinning-exorcist-vomit sort of way.
Indulge me, while I compare this whole Market
Basket fiasco to the education system:
The hierarchy of education isn't really much
different than a corporation. You have the superintendent of schools and then
the principals and vice-principals and sometimes department heads. You
also have a school board with a lot
of power. Anyways.... When a great building principal is
removed/retired/reassigned. You go through a “good leadership hangover.”
Morale ebbs and flows and it takes a while to recover. Things are
NEVER quite the same and that's life.
I have had a truly great building principal before.
He was so adored that I believe he "retired" and came back as
the principal several times. He
supported his teachers. He cherished his students. He was honest and reasonable and fun. At the end of each marking quarter he would
have a get together. There teachers and
administrators alike would exhale, together. When crazy shit went down
(like a student abduction on the way to school) he gathered all the girls in the
auditorium and made them program the schools number into their devices.
He was charismatic, he kept his promises and he was kind of a hard ass.
Good leadership matters. I have no doubt that Arthur T Demoulas was as
adored as this building principal was. However, you don’t see teachers threaten
to walk off the job if a good principal was replaced.
(Ahem. Clears throat, climbs up on my soapbox and
uses my best teacher voice.)
Market
Basket Workers: I think
that instead of pouting over the speculation of what may happen to
working conditions and instead of putting all of your eggs into Arthur T’s
basket...you should have unionized. Participating in a union is a choice.
Just like pouting. Now, I know that many people think unions are
rigid and demanding....but in my experience as a teacher in a teachers union,
that has never been the case.
Are you worried about your benefits disappearing,
hours decreasing or salaries diminishing? Quit spinning your wheels. Grow up. You want a collective voice to
protect your benefits? Unionize. I'll tell you what, even with a union there
have been a handful of years when my salary was frozen because our contract did
not pass and I live to blog about it. If Arthur T is as good of a guy as
everyone says, I bet he would be happy to work along side a union.
Customers:
Even if someone waves a magic wand and this
childish squabble ends tomorrow at 9 am,.. Things
will never be the same if we don’t return soon.
For that reason, I suggest that we begin to employ
some simple, tenth grade economics. GO to Market Basket. Get
more for your Dollar. Increase demand. Stock up on random stuff:
Tampons, paper products, brown sugar, etc.
FYI Arthur S has not done away the 4% off your entire order promotion.
When I was in there about a month ago, a loaf of wheat bread was 99 cents.
Um, I bought 4. I froze them. Please follow suit. Stockpile.
Graham Crackers and Diapers for everyone!
I think what the Market Basket Community is trying
to preserve is family. Obviously not the blood relationship between
Arthur T and Arthur S, but the family-experience that is Market Basket. When I went into my local store this week, I overheard
the store manager chatting at the check out, he said, “I just want my customers
back in my store.” New England Market Basket Goers: we are family in a weird,
discount craving, pj-pant-sporting sort of way.
So go back to Market Basket. Make up with
your family. They haven't changed (only one man has). Honor him by
not decimating his company. It's still there for you. Diapers this
past week were 4.99/pack (Um, I bought 3)! Boxes of MB Brand Mac and
Cheese were 5 for 3$ (I bought 10). Go to your local store.
Increase demand and they will have to increase supply. Do it for
the Market Basket Family you love and your own families who are growing and
living on a budget.
DO it for the family.
