Latest / United We Scan / Mid Week Kristin Going Rogue?!?

Transcript

Mid Week Kristin Going Rogue?!? · United We Scan

0:16
Hey guys, Kristen here tonight I'm kind of going solo on this.
0:20
That's why I titled it Kristen going rogue.
0:24
I've, I've been approached by several people, more so a little
0:31
bit this week, but it's been an ongoing issue for quite a while.
0:36
And I just want to clear the air and try and make things somewhat
0:44
correct as we all have our own ways of interpreting stuff.
0:48
I know when we first, especially with this new year and since
0:53
National Convention, you know, the really the goal was to get
0:56
back down to the basics on education and why it's important
1:00
to be active and how to be active and what you can do as a
1:05
carrier to help educate the other carriers in your office.
1:09
And you know, when we go through, for example, when we
1:14
revisited the Rex activities scans and whatnot this past
1:18
week, you know, there is just so much more information out there.
1:23
I want to cover like the Rex Q&A, it's 40 pages long and
1:29
break it down into the different topics that it covers alongside
1:34
the topics that we cover that it would cover, if that makes sense
1:39
that it relates to, I should say.
1:42
So you may find me doing some more middle of the week episodes
1:46
just trying to cover the the R Rex Q&A as it pertains to maybe
1:52
what we talked about on Sunday or to give a little bit more
1:56
education to our fellow carriers.
2:00
I also want people to know that, you know, take what you have,
2:05
take what you hear and what you read on social media with a
2:08
grain of salt unless you're actually seeing or reading the
2:12
black and white. You can't back yourself up
2:17
without the black and white. What I mean is the language,
2:22
literally the imprint. If it's not in print, you don't
2:27
have an argument because somebody may interpret something
2:33
one way and another person may interpret it another, and on
2:36
down the line a hundredfold. You know, you get these, well,
2:40
my office does this, my office does that.
2:43
That doesn't always mean it's correct.
2:45
You really just need to go back to the black and white.
2:49
And honestly, that was the whole point of wanting to bring people
2:54
in. It's not so much of this or
2:59
that. It's you know, how to educate
3:01
yourself properly and know where to locate what you need in the
3:07
black and white. And I know a lot of people, you
3:10
know, we don't have a lot of time to sit down and read or,
3:14
you know, if we read something, it might not sink in.
3:17
Some of us listen to things and it sinks in easily, especially
3:21
for those I know, many listen while they're driving into work,
3:24
driving home, sometimes out on the route, hopefully safely
3:28
without a Bluetooth in because we all know the the policy on
3:32
that. And being able to connect stuff
3:36
out on the route with, you know, learning about it, especially
3:41
with the RX scans, you know, trips to door, door,
3:44
miscellaneous postage, dues stamp, stock sales, all that
3:49
type of stuff. You know, if management's giving
3:52
you grief over certain scans, the important part is to know
3:58
what the black and white is. That way you can come back to
4:01
management and say, no, this is what it says.
4:05
This is right here. It's in black and white.
4:08
This says how we are supposed to do it.
4:10
This is what we're doing. Not necessarily.
4:13
Well, I heard on a podcast or I read on Facebook, because I know
4:18
I see a lot of stuff on Facebook.
4:20
This makes me want to shake my head and go no.
4:22
If you just look it up, I mean, that's one of the important
4:26
parts about being a union member is having that information
4:34
available to you easily. Maybe not quite as easily if
4:39
you're unfamiliar, if you're not familiar with how to navigate,
4:41
how to look stuff up, but it is there.
4:45
I mean, everything, just about everything you could possibly
4:48
think of. Well, Lord knows with all the
4:50
different manuals and MO us and, and all the policies and
4:55
documentation numbers, I mean, there's a ton of stuff.
4:59
I still find myself looking stuff up just for myself,
5:02
especially if I see something on social media when somebody's
5:05
like looking for a certain policy.
5:08
Doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to respond, but if it's
5:11
something I've never dealt with, I may go look it up just to see
5:14
if there is something in black and white.
5:17
Honestly, as a carrier, especially if you're feeling
5:20
aggrieved or you have some contentions on something that
5:24
management may be saying or trying to implement, the only
5:27
really way to stand up and fight that is with the black and
5:33
white. And I try to get that across.
5:35
I know I said that a couple times on Sundays.
5:38
We're going through the Rex scans of this is what is in
5:41
black and white, and that's how it should be taken.
5:45
You know it. If things are kind of left in a
5:48
Gray area, yeah, that's going to be carrier discretion.
5:51
If it's a Gray area, you know, a lot of people have a hard time
5:54
with like reading of the contract, the legal ease of some
5:57
things, you know, the R Cam now is a great tool for some of
6:01
those great areas that has a little bit more explanation.
6:07
So definitely, you know, look at that stuff.
6:10
I know the Arcam is available on the website.
6:13
I do not think you have to log in to get it.
6:15
But with that, going forward, I wanted to put that out as I've
6:19
had a lot of people come up to me about misinformation that
6:23
gets put out there. And I agree, misinformation,
6:29
misleading information can lead people down the wrong path,
6:34
especially when they're trying to make something right, not
6:37
only for themselves, their route in their office or trying to
6:41
help a case made out with something.
6:43
You know, take a lot of the extra stuff that you can't find
6:49
or you don't have accessible in a black and white with a grain
6:51
of salt and, and look for that. I, you know, that's why when I
6:57
say, Hey, we're going to cover this, this is where you can find
7:00
it. I want to lead you to be able to
7:02
see that in person. That way, if that is something
7:05
that you need to stand up for yourself with, you can do it
7:09
because you have it in the black and white.
7:11
The black and white is the most important thing.
7:16
You know, I, I do this, I started this podcast out of the
7:20
love for the craft and the love for all my fellow carriers.
7:25
Having been active from the very beginning, which I have said
7:28
numerous times, you know, and going forward and wanting to do
7:32
more. Unfortunately, I'm still trying
7:36
to figure out exactly how that's possible with the things that I
7:42
want to do and still being able to reach out to you guys on this
7:48
type of platform. And it is it is hard because
7:52
it's got me pulling in several different directions when I'm
7:56
thinking about it. Yes, I want to do more.
7:58
I want to help people. I want to guide people in the
8:01
right directions. You know, I've had just one of
8:05
the messages we received today. It says thank you guys so much.
8:08
You've helped me out. You know, because of you guys,
8:12
it gave me the confidence to file grievances to finally join
8:16
the union. You know, that's the whole
8:20
point. It's not necessarily, you know,
8:22
the union is. And I will say, as James says,
8:25
we are all in this together in which we are, we have to be, we
8:29
have to step up for ourselves. We have to step up for those
8:32
next to us that may have been wronged or guiding them in the
8:37
correct, right direction if they've been wronged and how to
8:40
make that right. And it I know it can be
8:43
difficult. I mean, it's, I've gone through
8:46
several challenges just in my small little office over the
8:49
last six years as both as a steward and just as a carrier.
8:55
You know, it's, it's gut wrenching at times to see so
8:59
many things that you wish you could fix.
9:01
But if others aren't willing to step up for themselves, there's
9:07
not much you can do. And it is hard.
9:11
And you know, this was basically, I wanted to do this
9:16
to get people the confidence to be able to do that, to be able
9:22
to step up for themselves and, and help that next person in
9:29
their office that may need help and work to guide them in the
9:33
right area and get people involved.
9:36
And I preach that all the time. I do you guys know that I'm not
9:39
going to keep preaching it tonight.
9:40
I'm trying to make this short and sweet, but there are just so
9:44
many things that have been weighing on my mind.
9:47
And I have more people come up to me and say, hey, you know,
9:52
misinformation out there, misinformation, misinformation.
9:56
I'm not going to name names. You all know what goes on.
10:00
You know, the other two don't even know.
10:03
I'm doing this tonight. I'm sure they'll find out in the
10:05
morning and I may catch some slack, but I at this point I
10:10
really don't care. I just needed a way to reach out
10:14
to everybody to say me going forward.
10:18
If it's not in black and white, I'm not going to give you an
10:22
interpretation or my interpretation or say my office
10:26
does this, My office does that. It should be this, it should be
10:30
that. I'm a very detailed orientated
10:33
person. And you know, I've been told
10:36
that a few times. I'm extremely detail oriented.
10:39
In fact, I may get called Captain Obvious a few times at
10:43
home over stupid stuff. That's just how I am.
10:46
And I, I just want to put it out there to you people.
10:50
If it, if you don't have the black and white, you don't have
10:53
a fight, honestly. But on that same note, I just,
11:00
I, there's more things that I want to bring in.
11:04
I'm leery on people coming in. I really want to, if anybody
11:09
else wants to join us on the mic, I personally am going to
11:13
vet people closely. I mean, I've had a few people
11:17
reach out and you know, as much as I would love to have them on,
11:21
I just can't because of who they are or what office they're in
11:29
or, you know, what their positions may be with other
11:33
stuff. I'm not going to put people in a
11:37
position to lose that or to be retaliated against because of
11:42
it. I'm not going to do that.
11:44
You know, I, it's just one of those things, you know, when we,
11:50
when I was decertified as a steward over the social media
11:54
policy, you know, I'm not going to go back and read all that.
11:57
And in all honesty, I'll put my case out there that I never even
12:01
saw a social media policy until our first warning.
12:07
And I went through that and I said, OK, I got to take this
12:09
out, this out, add this and update this.
12:12
And that's what I did. But it still wasn't good enough.
12:14
There was a few keywords in there that totally, you know, it
12:18
did it. And unfortunately it did cost me
12:20
my stewardship. And but it hasn't stopped me
12:25
from wanting to help people in wanting to help the craft.
12:30
You know, things are not the same that they were five years
12:33
ago, 10 years ago, when I started 10 years ago.
12:36
They're not the same. We all know that mails down,
12:40
packages are up. Once in a while, we'll have that
12:43
lucky day of what it feels like to actually just deliver mail
12:46
with a side of packages instead of packages with a side of mail.
12:51
We all know that one. But I want our carriers to be
12:54
educated. You know, this RX program that
12:59
initially was handed to us, gosh, it's been 13 years ago now
13:04
when it came down through arbitration and we're still not
13:08
where we should be with it. I mean, a lot of it, you know,
13:11
management's responsible for training and they did their own
13:16
narrative with the six mandatory scans for the most of it across
13:20
the board. And then carriers, you know, a
13:24
lot of people don't like change. We've talked about that in the
13:26
past. I mean, we have all dealt with
13:28
people that don't like change or learning new stuff.
13:31
It's really difficult for some. So on that note, I don't want to
13:38
ramble too much, but going forward I will probably be doing
13:42
some middle of the week. Just me.
13:44
It might just be reading off black and white stuff,
13:47
completely informational. Nothing of saying, well, you
13:51
should do this, you should do that.
13:53
I'm giving you, I'm not, I am just going to be reading stuff
13:57
that backs up what we may have talked about an episode or
14:01
something special because it's a topic that's a hot topic and
14:04
there's black and white for it. And this is how you can cover
14:08
your behind with this type of black and white.
14:11
I'll read it for language. Some people things click better
14:15
when they hear stuff, you know, on relating to stuff while
14:18
you're out on the route, if that's when you listen or after
14:21
you're done with the route on that drive home and going, you
14:23
know what, that makes sense now that I did this at this
14:26
customer's house or did this or did that.
14:29
So, you know, there's, that's what we want is for people to
14:33
understand how to make it better for themselves and for their
14:39
offices. You know, I, I, I want a further
14:43
future within this union and you know where I'm at now, you know,
14:47
I have taken that leap off the high dive into the shallow pool
14:52
a couple times. And you know, I want to move
14:56
forward. And if moving forward for me,
15:00
you know, I, I am not going to run for national board this
15:03
year. That is my decision.
15:05
You know, I'd have already said in the past that I had planned
15:08
on stepping up to run for my state board, which I plan on
15:11
doing. Even if I am not elected, then I
15:18
still will not be running for national this year.
15:21
That's, that's my decision. I, I want more experience in the
15:27
other levels first. Doesn't mean I'm not might come
15:31
back, you know, down the road. There's always that possibility.
15:35
But for me, I need more experience.
15:39
I, you know, I'm all about taking people throwing criticism
15:43
at me left and right. And I am the type of person
15:45
that'll, you know, it may hurt at first, but then I'm going to
15:48
listen to what they're actually having to say and turn that into
15:52
being constructive criticism. And so, yeah, you know, I, I
15:57
retain a lot of things that I read, especially if I repeatedly
16:01
have to go back and look at it, then I, I tend to retain it
16:04
quite well. And I have that great experience
16:07
and a lot of knowledge and I pay attention to the details, but at
16:11
the same time, I need more hands on experience on other things
16:17
before going forward and a higher level, which is really
16:24
what several people need before taking that leap off the high
16:28
dive again. But to each their own.
16:31
You know, I'm going to support anybody and everybody who wants
16:33
to step up for the craft, no matter what position they're
16:37
running for, whether it's for their local board, local
16:39
steward, state board, even national.
16:43
You know, I'm going to support because it takes a lot to put
16:46
yourself out there. I'm going to support you, but
16:52
that doesn't always mean that you may be the best fit for that
16:57
position and you may know it. Always get my vote, but I'll
17:01
have your back if in support one way or another.
17:05
You know, that's it. You know, it's not easy to step
17:10
up even, you know, with the people that have come to us and
17:14
said, you know, I'm because of you guys, I've stepped up to, to
17:19
run for local steward in my office or I, I stepped up to
17:24
run, you know, be elected, run for my local board, even state
17:29
board or whatnot. And you know, it takes a lot for
17:33
somebody to put themselves up there out there.
17:35
And, and kudos to everybody that does.
17:37
I mean that that means a lot, especially when those reach back
17:41
out and to say, Hey, we did this because of you guys.
17:48
And that's, you know, it means a whole lot to me.
17:53
And at the same time, you know, and I'm going to support each
17:55
and everybody and I want to see that.
17:58
And that's the one thing especially, you know, I would
18:01
love to have the quote UN quote RCA corner or an RCA hour or
18:08
whatever it be. I would love to do that.
18:12
And I, I think a lot of our newer leave replacements, and I
18:15
should just say Rcas because there's brand new PT UPS off the
18:18
street out there too. You know, leave replacements in
18:22
general need all the support and positive reinforcement that they
18:26
can get. And I would love to have people
18:30
share their experiences, their the, the, the UPS, the downs,
18:34
the goods, the bads, what they wish they would have been taught
18:38
or hey, you know, I was taught this and this was great advice.
18:43
You know, those experiences are great, but I'm not going to put
18:46
people, I'm not going to put other positions that they may be
18:51
seeking in jeopardy by putting them on the air.
18:55
And that's why I said, you know, e-mail us.
18:57
We'll be more than happy to read them and to get that information
19:00
out. Toss ID, you know, even toss
19:03
ideas to us and what we could cover or what could be a good
19:07
thing to talk about when it comes to experiences and
19:12
whatnot. I, I definitely, you know, we,
19:15
we have to be, we are one huge rural craft family.
19:18
And I don't care if you're a regular APTF, an RCA, even
19:24
retired. I mean, there's a lot of awesome
19:28
retirees out there that are just a wealth of knowledge and people
19:32
have to remember to go back and to the history of the NRLCA and
19:38
the rural craft in general and just to see how it has evolved
19:45
over the years and why things are the unspoken rules that we
19:53
have. And it's not necessarily afraid
19:58
of change at times. A lot of it has to do with
20:03
having experience with certain things and in certain areas,
20:07
certain departments, certain levels, which I have come to
20:13
respect that in in many ways and I totally get it.
20:18
And that's where I'm at the point of now of wanting to get
20:22
more experience that way down the road, I can really come back
20:27
and be like, hey, I, I, I, I'm still making a difference.
20:30
I'm still fighting for the craft in a different way, even if that
20:35
means I may have to step away from the microphone.
20:37
I am coming to terms with that, that unfortunately, you know, if
20:43
I get positions that I want or am seeking means I may have to
20:49
step away from the microphone. And in a way, it breaks my heart
20:53
because I tend to be the voice of reason around here.
20:57
And at the same time, I think we still need something, a platform
21:05
like this for the craft with people that can be the voice of
21:13
reason and how to go about things in the proper way.
21:19
And following the black and white, whether it's the PO6O3,
21:24
the the the contract, the MO U's, the Elms and all the other
21:34
numerous documents that we have. It is a lot to take in.
21:41
But I want it to be a positive thing.
21:45
And I see a lot, a lot of animosity towards others.
21:54
My Co host, I'm, I'm just going to put it out there.
21:57
I am trying to be nice at this point.
22:01
But you know, I do see it and it does hurt at times.
22:05
But I totally understand where some of these people are coming
22:07
from with certain things that do get said or are interpreted in
22:12
certain ways, you know, and we are three individual people.
22:17
We are three grown adults and I, you know, I can only control
22:24
myself. I can't necessarily control what
22:29
anybody else says or does or how they may interpret something.
22:33
You know, we're, we're kind of a tight knit trio here who tend to
22:38
agree to disagree, but to a point where if things are being
22:43
misled or misinterpreted, I am going to be stepping in a bit
22:51
more to say, no, we need to stick to the black and white,
22:54
plain and simple. No more of this.
22:58
I, I in my office, my office or I do this, I do that.
23:04
It, it, it's not that way. If it's if it's something that
23:09
we're going over that is on paper, it's going to stick to
23:13
what is printed in the black and white.
23:16
And I just kind of wanted to get that out there.
23:18
I know it's on my own. I did not confer with the other
23:23
two at all about this. They don't even know I'm doing
23:25
this. Like I stated a few minutes ago,
23:28
I'm keeping this short and sweet.
23:31
So I mean, I'm looking forward to updates from James on about
23:38
Sack this weekend. I do, you know, he's making his
23:42
way down there and should be there tomorrow for sure.
23:46
So I'm looking forward to those updates.
23:49
I really am. I wish I could attend, but it's
23:52
just not in the cards for me this year.
23:56
Maybe next year, we'll see what's going on.
23:58
I don't know. But yeah, he's going forward.
24:03
If I'm reading from black and white, I'm reading from the
24:05
black and white, and the black and white is what is black and
24:11
White's king. You can't fight a fight, you
24:13
can't have a grievance if you don't have the back and white,
24:16
but the black and white to back it up.
24:22
So on that note, I'm sorry. It just seems like I'm rambling.
24:25
I had a lot of things I wanted to get on my mind.
24:28
There are some other things that I will probably be bringing up
24:31
at a later date, but until then, I will take whatever criticism I
24:39
get from the guys after they find out I did this tonight, but
24:42
I don't care. It's just something that's been
24:45
weighing heavily on me lately. Like I said, I've had people
24:50
contacting me left and right on a lot of different things.
24:54
I have a couple people that I still have yet to call back, and
24:58
I do apologize. Guys.
25:00
I'm going to send you my number and you contact me when it works
25:04
for you. I don't get much sleep right now
25:08
with having to babysit little man a few today on three nights
25:12
a week. So I'm just taking the few extra
25:15
minutes that I have this evening before I go to bed to say going
25:21
forward, I am purely working it towards being educational.
25:27
You know, side conversation experience conversation is
25:31
great, but any of the misleading information or the
25:37
misinterpreted or just plain out false bullshit, I'm not going to
25:42
handle it anymore. And I will call those out that
25:45
do it and we'll settle it right then and there.
25:49
So on that note, guys, have a good night.
25:53
We will or morning whenever you're listening to this, a good
25:57
day. Stay safe.
25:59
I know there's still icy conditions, snow in areas that
26:03
don't normally get snow when I know that sucks for you guys.
26:07
And it was a blistery cold for me this week.
26:10
It sucked and pretty bad when 23° feels like warmth.
26:15
So we'll be back Sunday evening with all of us.
26:20
James will give us some highlights on SAC and I don't
26:26
know if we have really thing anything else I think we'll
26:28
stick with mostly with the highlights on set with Zach
26:31
unless something else pops up before then to discuss.
26:35
And then the following week I think we're going to go back
26:39
into the mini mail survey stuff and try and cover a little bit
26:47
better than what was discussed on Sunday.
26:52
Especially with walk distances. This is not easy for me guys,
26:59
but it needed to be said and I wanted everybody to hear it.
27:01
So y'all take care and we'll talk again on Sunday.
27:08
Goodnight.