(Man, I thought I talked about this already. Maybe.)
OK, so I'm working the Vikings game this Sunday, and it'll be a different ... company that the one I usually work for. Contracts are such that most of the games are handled by one company more than the other, even though there are some rules now enacted that could theoretically change that.
(Oh, BTW, I am being vague here to make sure I don't piss anybody off.)
My friend from college worked for these guys full time, and he was part of the crew that was working the Vikings game at the Metrodome. On a lark I asked if he needed some help. He said yes. And each year since I have worked with the crews for this ... company. It has come to the point where I work all of the games where they're in town, but there may be some games where I don't. I think I've blogged in the past about not working a game and fearing what that means for my future employment. My continued employment has assuaged my fears to the point where that is not a point of anxiety for me anymore.
Several years ago, the other ... company who works Vikings games e-mailed me out of the blue to see if I could help them out. Apparently I impressed someone where, when a friend or colleague of his from this other company needed help, he recommended me. (I owe a lot to this man; he's a nice guy, too.) Ever since I have worked for this company, every year.
I have noticed some differences between the two. For the company I work with more often, I have, through more than a decade of employment, been up and down the dial, so to speak, in the roles they need me to play as a day player. For these other guys, even though it's been only five or six years, although I have done a lot of stuff for them, I am mostly a gopher.
I'm not a fan of just fetching stuff for people, but these guys make up for it by paying more, much more, for my day there. That's because they're a union outfit, while the other ... company is not. Now, that is more than balanced for the year by the fact that I work for them for up to six games while the union shop I have worked a maximum of two. Also, if I work for the main guys Saturday and Sunday my check gets even plumper. Nevertheless, the per day wage is something I notice, and something I appreciate.
However, there's something else I've noticed in the past couple years. The unfamiliarity this union company has in coming to the Twin Cities, combined with the menial tasks I usually do for these people, makes me believe that there is a disconnect, if not a divide, between the crew that comes here and the day planners. In other words, I have sometimes been treated dismissively, if not rudely, from some of the people who swing by here. It's not unanimous or consistent. Most of the time I'm treated well, albeit from a distance. A few times the people there are real cool, in fact. But I noticed that there were several other people who, for example, ordered me not to walk in his area while working, or screamed at me not to bring people into the truck when I already know I can't do that shit. Maybe it's the stress from millennial punks (low blow, I know, but I'm leaving that label here) to do jobs for people yelling at them that makes them yell at me and us in turn. But I have worked Vikes games long enough that there are people who are able to endure through this chaos and not pull that crap on the people who are only trying to help. Hell, there are people show grace under fire -- those are the people who should be promoted from these jobs. And it seems as though more of the non-union crews are the ones who exhibit this level-headedness. Well, there was that one fatso. But I've worked with the people he worked with, and he's not there anymore. I wonder if he overstayed his welcome. I wonder if people saw through his obese ass the same way I did.
I checked the people coming in for this game. No names stand out, nothing triggers any bad memories. But my guard is still up. I love working for them, and yet I wonder if I'm going to run across an asshole. It's more likely with this ... company.
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