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Guess Who's Back · United We Scan

• 0:34
  Hey, welcome to the United We Scan podcast.
• 0:36
  Just a quick disclaimer here that any of the views and
• 0:39
  opinions expressed by the individuals are not that of the
• 0:44
  USPS or the NRLCA. This podcast is for
• 0:49
  entertainment purposes only and if you are in need of any
• 0:53
  assistance, please contact your designated union representative.
• 0:58
  Thank you. Welcome back, everybody.
• 1:01
  I don't even know what episode number we're on, but hey, we're
• 1:04
  going to go with it because guess who's back?
• 1:06
  Yes, I am. Woo Hoo.
• 1:08
  For now, anyways. And tonight, I've have Josh and
• 1:12
  Miao joining me. We're going to do a National
• 1:16
  Convention recap. I have some attendee stories to
• 1:20
  read. And yeah, we're going to do
• 1:22
  that. So it's been a while.
• 1:25
  How are you doing, Josh? I am doing great, well good, the
• 1:31
  count's over so that's a relief. Not that it matters for me on
• 1:36
  what I get. I'm already at 48.
• 1:39
  This week hopefully will be a quick easy week.
• 1:42
  Fingers crossed. The weather, the heat is finally
• 1:45
  broken. Last week it was in the 80s,
• 1:48
  then over the weekend it went up low to mid 80s I should say, and
• 1:52
  it was, it felt nice. Then we had a couple of days, it
• 1:54
  popped up into the 90s and today I had to put on because it was
• 1:58
  chilly and it's supposed to stay in the high 70s, low 80s for
• 2:02
  the. How are you doing Mio?
• 2:05
  I'm doing OK. I too am happy that the mini
• 2:08
  mail survey is over because I think it's obnoxious even though
• 2:12
  I know it's really important. It's just adding another layer
• 2:16
  of chaos to our already fun times.
• 2:20
  Days that we have, but weather here has been actually really
• 2:24
  nice. It's been in the 60s and 70s,
• 2:27
  which are my favorite. I don't think it's cold.
• 2:29
  I'm wearing shorts and a tank top and a or AT shirt, you know,
• 2:33
  So I am doing good. How are you doing, Kristen?
• 2:39
  I am doing pretty good. It's it's been an interesting
• 2:42
  few months for me on the home front, but things are doing all
• 2:47
  right. I too am glad that the mini mail
• 2:50
  survey's over with and just waiting on those 4240 ones to
• 2:55
  come out to see if I have any disputes, but other than that it
• 2:59
  went fairly well. I've got a new to me sub now.
• 3:04
  Those that remember my sub from the past is going regular as of
• 3:08
  the 20th of this month. Congratulations to him after
• 3:12
  only a year and a half. And then the the sub that had
• 3:19
  started on the 48K back in February, when that was taken
• 3:22
  over by a new regular in July, he wanted to jump ship.
• 3:26
  And so because the sub I had had gone to the ox route, he came
• 3:30
  over to my route and he's doing really good.
• 3:34
  You know, I think he was thrown to the wolves in the beginning.
• 3:37
  He did his OJT, was around for a couple weeks and then the
• 3:41
  regular head broke her hand and decided to retire at the time.
• 3:45
  So he pretty much was thrown to the wolves.
• 3:46
  Didn't have anybody to coach him really on the route and just ran
• 3:51
  the route for five months. And now that he's over on my
• 3:54
  route, he's getting the coaching that he didn't get before.
• 3:58
  My customers that have met him, none of them have anything bad
• 4:02
  to say. They all talk great about him
• 4:06
  and he's, he's doing all right. And he as of the 20th will be
• 4:11
  the sub doing all the route hopping 'cause there's one more
• 4:14
  above him that will be taking the ox route with A5 in one.
• 4:17
  And yeah. And then we have one other sub,
• 4:20
  newer one in the office. And so mine will be doing the
• 4:23
  route hopping. So relief day workless sign up
• 4:26
  comes out on the 13th. I may end up going on it for a
• 4:29
  change just because just because I want to bank some money.
• 4:37
  I'm not looking for the X days right now.
• 4:40
  But other than that, no, I've been good so and it feels good
• 4:46
  to be back. All honesty guys, it really
• 4:48
  does. I've missed, we missed you.
• 4:54
  It was a lot of contemplating on whether or not I was going to
• 4:56
  come back or not. And you know, I, I had thought
• 5:00
  about it at 1st and was thinking about it.
• 5:02
  And then I had some discussions at National with some people.
• 5:06
  And I still came back home and still thought about it and
• 5:09
  talked to the other half and he, he was OK with me coming back.
• 5:15
  So here I am for now anyways. Yeah, my wife.
• 5:20
  My wife was like, I, you, you used to like do it 7:00 on the
• 5:25
  nose, you'd be hop up and out the door and logging in this,
• 5:29
  you know, you, you were happy as can be.
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  So that made it easier. That made it really easy for me
• 5:37
  to make the decision to actually come back on.
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  And I know there's a lot of people locally that probably
• 5:44
  won't be happy about that, but as long as I don't try it, have
• 5:47
  aspirations to upward mobility, at least at this moment in time,
• 5:53
  I'm good. Yeah, so well, your goal.
• 5:55
  For you guys, goals are just to help people in the craft, so
• 5:59
  exactly that's what matters. That's really all it is, is just
• 6:03
  to get the people in the craft pointed in the right direction.
• 6:06
  And again, the importance of being active, which I'll discuss
• 6:11
  on one of the attendees stories here.
• 6:13
  It was a post on Facebook. I know it was at least in our
• 6:18
  Facebook group and it may have been in others, I'm not sure.
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  But I did reach out to the poster and ask permission to
• 6:24
  read it. And I've got green flags.
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  So that was, it was one of those that just really called out to
• 6:29
  me going, you know what, I need to read this because this is
• 6:32
  what people don't understand. And this is coming from somebody
• 6:35
  who came and discovered what National Convention really is
• 6:38
  about. It's not a party people.
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  And I don't, we don't need to repeat that every single time.
• 6:45
  It's not. And yeah, so it's.
• 6:48
  Far from a party, I. Know you know I've got plans for
• 6:53
  for for stuff as we're going forward and I know Meow went
• 6:59
  down the tunnel of the FLSA. I would love to cover that in
• 7:03
  the future that rabbit hole you went down there a while ago and
• 7:08
  Oh yeah yeah. And that's.
• 7:10
  Important. Yeah.
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  Yep, that's a fun one I. I need to get my hands on the
• 7:17
  history of the NRLCA book that they give out to 1st timers.
• 7:21
  They started that after I was a first timer.
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  So I need to get my hands on one of those books 'cause I would
• 7:27
  love to do a history episode And just for people better
• 7:32
  understanding newer people or people who are like, I don't get
• 7:35
  the you know what, what's the big deal about stuff?
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  You know, get the put the history out there, the outline
• 7:41
  of it. So yeah, we're we're taking this
• 7:43
  back to what it was supposed to be and that's part of the reason
• 7:49
  why I'm here. So we're going to get on that.
• 7:51
  I know, Josh, you did not go to National this year, so you may
• 7:55
  call at least. And.
• 7:57
  Sit out this one, and not necessarily sit out, but you
• 8:03
  know what I mean. Oh, I know what you're saying it
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  it. It hurt me to my soul that I
• 8:08
  wasn't able to go. Just everything was going wrong.
• 8:12
  Oh, I get it. We we all have that those time
• 8:16
  in our life. That's, that's life.
• 8:17
  Unfortunately, no. It was really great to see a lot
• 8:22
  of the listeners and meet some of them face to face for a
• 8:25
  change and, you know, reconnect with the ones that came out as
• 8:28
  first timers last year that were their second timers this year.
• 8:32
  And it was, it was, I think it went pretty good in general.
• 8:38
  It was it was an interesting one.
• 8:40
  I will say this was the first time I have ever seen elections
• 8:45
  be done before lunchtime. And I've been talking to ones
• 8:49
  that have been going for almost 20 years and even they said, no,
• 8:52
  I've never seen it like happen that quickly before.
• 8:55
  But there was only two positions that had other people.
• 8:59
  Well, excuse, yeah, two positions I actually had more
• 9:02
  than one person running for for the position.
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  So that's why I actually got done quicker.
• 9:06
  And then I mean, it's still, it was what, 7:00 when we got out.
• 9:10
  So it wasn't horrible. It wasn't like, you know, we've
• 9:15
  done in the past where it's 9/10, 11:00 when we're finally
• 9:18
  wrapped up. Yeah, when the employees are
• 9:22
  waiting for us to leave to clean the floor, yeah.
• 9:27
  They were kind of doing that way.
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  We were going over resolutions too.
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  But we, we, we were nice and respectful and moved when it,
• 9:34
  when they wanted to clean the area.
• 9:36
  So, but how did you think National went meow?
• 9:41
  It was a little bit different this year.
• 9:42
  I think. I mean, I, I kind of had a, a
• 9:45
  different perspective on it and stuff too.
• 9:47
  But I, I think that it went well.
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  Still, there's some things that I think got shortened and, or,
• 9:55
  or I maybe misremembering, like they didn't really show a lot of
• 9:59
  the like auxiliary members as much or the juniors.
• 10:04
  So those little things and then maybe I'll say the bad, I'll say
• 10:09
  the bad before I say the good. I also didn't like that we were
• 10:12
  rushing at the end and not considering a lot of the new
• 10:15
  business stuff. I was hoping that we would at
• 10:18
  least consider some of those instead of having to wait till
• 10:22
  next year. I I agree.
• 10:25
  Yeah, that that was kind of a little bit of a bummer and
• 10:28
  especially since the elections had gone so fast, like let's at
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  least go through the nitty gritty of of hearing these
• 10:35
  resolutions and such out. So that was a big bummer for me.
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  But I enjoyed seeing that we had so many resolutions this year,
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  even though we've we've kind of there, it's funny, the first
• 10:51
  year I went to national, there was no RX talk.
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  And then as the years have gone on, it's been more RX centered.
• 10:58
  And so there, that was really good to see.
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  It was really good to see everybody and actually have a
• 11:07
  face like, Oh, I don't need to just message you.
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  Like you're right here with me. You know, that was, that was
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  really cool to the point where like when I came home, I was
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  like, Dang, like, I miss you guys, you know, but, but
• 11:20
  overall, I mean, I think it was really good other than the, and
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  the humidity in Florida was pretty brutal, but that hotel is
• 11:29
  really nice. It's, it's somebody said that
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  they would rather do their 48 K during Christmas or that, that
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  not rather, but that their 48 K during Christmas is hard, is not
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  as hard as going and going through the business at national
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  because it's so mental and you have to think about from
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  different perspectives and whatnot.
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  And so that, that was good to see.
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  And I, I don't know, I just, I like seeing the live version of
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  the camaraderie that happens on Facebook and you know that
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  people are actually like engaged.
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  Another big thing that was really good was there was so
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  many, there was more people getting up and speaking at
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  Mike's that I had not ever heard before.
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  And I go down the rabbit holes of reading old minutes from the
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  conventions and such. And a lot of those, there's
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  people who got up to Mike's this year that I don't think I've
• 12:30
  ever seen in the minutes before. So that it was cool to hear
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  different voices. So, but overall I think it went
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  good. I think that we, I think I, I,
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  when I came home, even though it was exhausted, I feel like we
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  did do good for the craft and that we did move the craft
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  somewhat in a better direction. But not everything, you know,
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  went good. But you still have to look at
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  the positives and the games that we got and and move forward with
• 13:00
  them. Oh, and I agree.
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  I mean baby steps forward are steps forward.
• 13:05
  I mean, it's that's what I think some people don't realize is you
• 13:08
  can't. It is almost impossible to do
• 13:11
  massive changes at one time. As much as we would all like big
• 13:17
  things to happen all at once, it's unfortunately that's just
• 13:21
  not how it works. Yeah, it's well.
• 13:24
  And there's no way. I mean, and I, the other thing
• 13:27
  that I also found really interesting was that, and I
• 13:30
  figured this was going to happen is that there are so many people
• 13:33
  who were concerned and upset about the contract ratification
• 13:39
  meetings and see that multiple states had all submitted stuff
• 13:45
  regarding it to the point where some were combined and edited in
• 13:50
  such a way. And so there was kind of a give
• 13:52
  and take that I think, I think overall that we're going to, I
• 13:56
  know that we lost the in person meetings, but at least we're
• 13:59
  getting like question and answers live in the Q&A or in
• 14:04
  the, in the Zoom meeting. So that'll be good.
• 14:07
  Yeah, you know, and like this, you know, and I know I was
• 14:10
  verbal about it with a few people talking about it too was
• 14:14
  you know, back during that that that fun C word and we had the
• 14:19
  contract ratifications via Zoom. Yes, you can have the pre
• 14:24
  recorded presentation. Thank you.
• 14:28
  And that that's fine. But just having a pre recorded
• 14:33
  presentation and emailing in questions and answers did not
• 14:36
  very cope fare well with people this year.
• 14:40
  Whereas in the past, you know, during that time where we
• 14:44
  couldn't have in person meetings and taking live Q and AI think
• 14:49
  really does make a difference because that allows people to
• 14:52
  answer questions. And then I have to agree, you
• 14:54
  know, having the live Q&A at the end, it definitely does help.
• 14:59
  And if we can take it to like a similar way of what they did
• 15:02
  back then on, you know, if you couldn't attend your state one,
• 15:06
  but you could attend a different one that only those states that
• 15:11
  were scheduled for that day were be able to ask questions that
• 15:14
  still allowed a viewer to see some questions and answers.
• 15:19
  And, you know, some, some Q&A done maybe their question was
• 15:23
  asked and got answered, you know, at that time.
• 15:26
  So I mean, yeah, having having the live Q&A definitely will
• 15:30
  make a difference. I mean, I get where the in
• 15:33
  person thing, the in person meetings, there was hardly
• 15:36
  anybody at any of the meetings this year, which is sad and
• 15:39
  unfortunately I couldn't make mine due to things going on at
• 15:42
  home. So, you know, I get it.
• 15:45
  There was only like 400 and something people that went to
• 15:47
  all of the in person meetings. Yeah.
• 15:50
  It was it's and there and then there was what was more shocking
• 15:53
  for me though, was that there was only yeah, and I I agree
• 15:56
  that they rushed it and I so there was that, but that there
• 15:59
  was only like 500 and something people that saw it online.
• 16:02
  That was that was more shocking to me.
• 16:04
  That was that was a gut punch. So I'm hoping that this next
• 16:09
  round of contract negotiations, I mean we could try and share it
• 16:13
  more. Maybe I, I don't know what,
• 16:15
  what, what we'll do, but live and learn, I guess, and take
• 16:19
  what we've did this time around and hopefully we.
• 16:23
  Yeah, yeah. Well, here, here's my PSA.
• 16:25
  Any, any union member listening to this right now, please
• 16:30
  download the NRLCA app for your phone right now and set the
• 16:34
  notifications on. They don't spam you with
• 16:36
  notifications, but Jesus, they send so many good notifications
• 16:41
  out. So many of your questions can be
• 16:43
  answered at the at your fingertips.
• 16:46
  Like just download the app now it's in the Apple Store, it's in
• 16:49
  the Google Play store. Just download it.
• 16:52
  Oh, I agree. I, you know, I have mine.
• 16:55
  I think even I use the app more than I do logging into the site
• 16:58
  on the computer because it's just right there and you know,
• 17:02
  I'm not having to go the extra clicks with the mouse to get to
• 17:05
  the steward reference guide to look up the information.
• 17:08
  I just hit the SRG on the bottom of the app and boom, it's right
• 17:11
  there. Yep, the app you know I own.
• 17:15
  Yeah, you know. The biometrics set up I just
• 17:17
  need my fingerprint. I don't even have to remember
• 17:19
  what the password is anymore. I got the same thing and me too,
• 17:24
  Yeah, I mean it, it it's so much easier.
• 17:27
  I do believe the app is a bit more user friendly than the
• 17:30
  website itself. But you know, yeah, definitely.
• 17:33
  They do send out the push notifications, which is great,
• 17:37
  you know, especially when new Mous drop or you know you have a
• 17:41
  ratification coming up. Yeah.
• 17:44
  And typically though, they also, whenever they do the push
• 17:49
  notification, they also do share it on their on their social
• 17:52
  media. They'll post it in their
• 17:54
  Instagram stories, which is great.
• 17:56
  And then it'll link you to the website.
• 18:00
  But I also agree that maybe they they should do a e-mail list.
• 18:05
  I know that like I've forwarded, you know, if it's not
• 18:09
  confidential or anything, if it's an alert or something like
• 18:12
  that, and I know that there's a couple people who don't look at
• 18:15
  the app or they're not as technologically inclined, I'll
• 18:18
  send it to them that I know are union members and just go, hey
• 18:22
  here, this happened. And but if you're listening to a
• 18:25
  podcast, you should be able to download an app on your phone
• 18:27
  and have the have that union app on your phone.
• 18:30
  And, you know, I'm not opposed to an e-mail list either.
• 18:33
  I, you know, I think that would be a good thing because
• 18:35
  sometimes I have missed the push, push notifications, You
• 18:38
  know, I, it pops up, I, I kind of glance it, but I got so many
• 18:42
  other notifications that may be up, I may have cleared it off
• 18:45
  without actually seeing what it was.
• 18:47
  Or I didn't fully read it and I clicked on something, it
• 18:49
  disappeared. And then, you know, by then the
• 18:51
  websites bogged down because everybody's trying to see what's
• 18:54
  going on and I can't get into it.
• 18:56
  Yeah. You know, I'm not opposed to an
• 18:58
  e-mail list, but, you know, we're when it when it comes to
• 19:05
  the technical side of stuff at national headquarters and the
• 19:09
  cost of adding things to the website.
• 19:11
  I don't know if they'll go for that or not.
• 19:13
  But that's a resolution idea for next year, definitely. $2000 for
• 19:18
  a new tab, you know, yeah. Exactly, Yeah.
• 19:23
  So you said you have some emails from people that sent for their
• 19:25
  first time. Yes, we will.
• 19:28
  I'm going to jump into those first and then I'll read the
• 19:30
  post from the other person. So let me pull up the emails
• 19:34
  here again, I am going to go in the order that I received them.
• 19:39
  So this was from a first timer to national and it says, and I'm
• 19:45
  just going to read what's written, the good, the bad, the
• 19:47
  ugly, whatever. I mean that literally you're
• 19:51
  going to take the positive and the negative and hopefully maybe
• 19:54
  anybody that might be listening up on the powers to be sitting
• 19:58
  in the big chairs up there, you, you know, may take some of the
• 20:01
  constructive criticism, you know, and say, hey, how can we
• 20:04
  make this better in the future? But, you know, wishful thinking
• 20:08
  sometimes. So the first one it says.
• 20:13
  My experience of the National Convention was good.
• 20:15
  I got to see old friends, meet lots of new friends.
• 20:18
  We really do have amazing people in this craft.
• 20:21
  We do have glaring problems that need to be addressed.
• 20:24
  Throughout the convention, it seemed that only a handful of
• 20:27
  carriers got to the mic to address the congregation.
• 20:30
  Surely there's more opinions that need to be shared and
• 20:33
  heard. The complete dismissal of new
• 20:35
  business was abhorrent with about half of the attendees
• 20:39
  being retired. There is a sizable rift between
• 20:42
  the craft and those that attend the convention.
• 20:45
  The theme of this convention was apparently all about saving
• 20:47
  money as we did away with in person ratification meetings.
• 20:51
  There's a million other places we could trim the fat, like not
• 20:54
  spending thousands of dollars on $175 appeal.
• 20:57
  Educating carriers didn't appear to be on the agenda as it is too
• 21:01
  costly. We have a sociopath for a
• 21:03
  president who decided the best campaign speech is a talk shit
• 21:07
  about the other candidates while the rest of the board is just
• 21:10
  waiting for their turn. There is no talk about fighting
• 21:12
  for carriers, there is no talk about abuse from management, and
• 21:16
  there is no talk about how to break pattern bargaining.
• 21:20
  Our leadership, and I use that term loosely, seems to only care
• 21:23
  about fear mongering the rallies.
• 21:25
  We should be having it to protect our carriers fighting
• 21:28
  for wages and working conditions.
• 21:30
  It was good seeing all of you. So that was my first one.
• 21:33
  And, you know, I kind of do, you know, caucus is not easy for
• 21:37
  everybody that runs. I have been there twice.
• 21:39
  It's. But I do have to agree that the
• 21:45
  IT it could have been done better instead of taking digs at
• 21:49
  the opponents. I, I, I yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 21:54
  Yes, it could have. Yes, yes, yes, it could have.
• 22:00
  All right, so here's my second one.
• 22:02
  Long time listener, first time emailer.
• 22:06
  This was not my first National Convention but my 4th, but I
• 22:09
  thought I'd give my perspective of the convention.
• 22:12
  Each year that I go, I feel that the time goes by quicker and
• 22:15
  quicker. I enjoy spending time with
• 22:17
  little rural carriers with different perspectives on
• 22:20
  different items. Each year that I have gone,
• 22:22
  there typically is at least one resolution to change the
• 22:25
  convention to biennial, and I've always been against it because I
• 22:29
  think role carriers coming together yearly to network,
• 22:32
  communicate, invent to one another, and draft new ideas is
• 22:36
  important for the survival of our craft.
• 22:38
  I consider myself an introverted person, but can be extroverted
• 22:42
  when it is when it is needed. This year brought out my
• 22:46
  hardcore extroverted side. A lot of carriers think that
• 22:49
  National Convention is just a big party, but that couldn't be
• 22:52
  farther from the truth. It's exhausting.
• 22:55
  It is mental work and thinking about each item of business that
• 22:58
  we have to conduct on top of it. It is also in another time zone
• 23:02
  for some carriers, so having to adjust to the jet lag while
• 23:05
  trying to be productive adds another layer of difficulty.
• 23:08
  I think this year there are even more voices to hear from the
• 23:11
  floor from hearing from Kristen, Bill and James at points.
• 23:14
  But hearing from Hernandez Delegate Texas to Cato Benilla
• 23:17
  Delegate from Florida, Evans delegate South Carolina and
• 23:21
  Lewis delegate Oregon are a few standing out names that I
• 23:25
  thought brought a variety of good perspectives on issues.
• 23:29
  You can tell each have the passion to make a positive
• 23:32
  change for rural carriers across the country.
• 23:35
  I actually enjoyed hearing from our Deputy Postmaster General
• 23:39
  Doug Tallino, even more than Dejoy in the last few years.
• 23:44
  It is obvious to me that Mister Teleno and as many titles as he
• 23:47
  holds, does also care about the Postal Service in its survival
• 23:51
  and that multiple union presidents wanted him to be our
• 23:54
  new PMG. The railing in Orlando was
• 23:56
  slightly different than Reno, but it was still passionate.
• 23:59
  I enjoyed hearing from Mark Diamondstein, the president of
• 24:03
  the APW. His speech at the convention was
• 24:06
  a little more controversial for some people, but as union
• 24:09
  members and federal workers we have to open our eyes to what is
• 24:12
  going on to other brother and sister unions across the entire
• 24:15
  country. We need to stand together and
• 24:18
  that was his main message. Whether you agree with him or
• 24:20
  not, it was interesting this year that we had a four way
• 24:23
  choice for president of the NRLCA.
• 24:25
  It was disappointing that Don Masten decided to bash the other
• 24:28
  candidates during caucus night instead of voicing positive
• 24:31
  change in presenting new ideas for next year of his presidency.
• 24:35
  Vice President Patrick Pitt should have just ran for
• 24:38
  president. The race for the next director
• 24:40
  of Stewart Operations may have been one of the closest
• 24:42
  elections I've seen in a long time.
• 24:44
  It was also interesting seeing that a four year executive
• 24:47
  committeeman position went unopposed, seeing as how there
• 24:51
  has been much speculation that this might be President Mass
• 24:53
  since last year as president. But next year will be
• 24:56
  interesting, and I hope that the National Board takes the items
• 24:59
  and such that they learned at this convention in Annex.
• 25:02
  Positive change for rule carriers across the nation.
• 25:04
  We need more Subs now more than ever, and something has to give
• 25:08
  in order for us to survive. This needs to be addressed, and
• 25:12
  I don't think it could have been reiterated enough to the
• 25:15
  National Board. I'm already planning my trip for
• 25:18
  next year in Grapevine, and I hope to see many more people
• 25:21
  next year at the convention duly submitted.
• 25:24
  Some rule carrier living out here and I know I have I have
• 25:30
  another one. So you kind of guys have already
• 25:32
  seen a little theme so but this is the perspective of a second
• 25:37
  timer. I have procrastinated on this
• 25:41
  review for a while now. I was desperately trying to
• 25:43
  rationalize and consider and reconsider my perceptions,
• 25:47
  mulling them over and trying to see the other side, if you will.
• 25:50
  Sadly, I was unable to turn the lining of my cloud into silver.
• 25:54
  Let's start off on the positive. The facility was much better
• 25:57
  this year, more in tune with the event we were here for.
• 26:00
  Not that Reno wasn't good being at convention.
• 26:02
  Ready to do business and represent those fellow carriers
• 26:06
  back home is something I enjoy. There is hope that some changes
• 26:09
  can be made, even if small. State of the Union's not an
• 26:12
  official required event, but it is a sort of expected if you're
• 26:15
  already there. Went pretty much as expected.
• 26:17
  The tone was a bit off, but tomorrow starts the official
• 26:20
  convention. First day is always a bit of
• 26:22
  tough to get through. Lots of pomp and circumstance
• 26:25
  and not really necessary in my humble opinion.
• 26:28
  But I get the need to give some love to the local community and
• 26:31
  facilitating and facility hosting us.
• 26:35
  That said, I do not see why I need to hear from management,
• 26:37
  especially with our union president fawning over him.
• 26:40
  Of course, no questions were allowed, so I'm not even going
• 26:43
  to express anything about the speech from the APWU president.
• 26:47
  I lied. We open with a unifying message
• 26:50
  about how everyone is different but we can come together.
• 26:52
  Then absolutely make it clear that if you don't see things his
• 26:56
  way, you don't belong and you are wrong.
• 26:58
  So we get our reports on the real work constitutional
• 27:01
  amendments and resolutions. Looking over them, I see the
• 27:04
  usual attempts to increase salaries and limit conventions
• 27:07
  to every other year and so on, as well as some really good
• 27:10
  ones. OK, things are looking up.
• 27:12
  I noticed the theme as I reviewed the numerous ideas.
• 27:15
  Many, if not most of these resolutions would be entirely
• 27:19
  unnecessary if we had managed a decent contract.
• 27:24
  There was a lot of good ideas and some did not agree with, but
• 27:27
  they mostly amounted to us fighting over the scraps left
• 27:30
  under the table. I have picked up on the idea
• 27:34
  that some felt that there was a fever of call the question.
• 27:37
  While I see where they are coming in coming from in the
• 27:40
  majority of cases, I think it is more that we have beaten many of
• 27:43
  these poor horses to death for years only to have our president
• 27:47
  ignore the carcasses and their growing stench to only address
• 27:51
  is select few ideas with postal management.
• 27:54
  All in all, we did our jobs and made it through the pages and
• 27:57
  pages of resolutions. I had one of my submissions fail
• 28:00
  in one pass. I will always say it is not the
• 28:04
  passing that is most important. Having the debate on the floor
• 28:07
  at least gets the ideas heard. Caucus night was not too long
• 28:10
  and went as expected. It is truly a great thing to get
• 28:13
  those candidates in that setting and be able to hear their
• 28:16
  answers and judge the reactions. I won't elaborate on anything
• 28:20
  other than I was extremely disappointed in the manner in
• 28:22
  which our president conducted himself.
• 28:24
  It is truly a reflection of a person that has little class.
• 28:28
  One other election related comment.
• 28:30
  I am saddened by the debacle and the improper use of union
• 28:34
  equipment for political purposes issue.
• 28:37
  I do not know all the inner truths of the issue, but there
• 28:39
  is no question the rules were violated here.
• 28:42
  To what degree in what should be punished or who should be
• 28:45
  included, I just don't know. There's a smell.
• 28:47
  There is a smell coming from this as well.
• 28:50
  It may be true that there is no real crime, but there is a stain
• 28:53
  from it regardless. On the last day we had a
• 28:55
  delegate using point of personal privilege to express his
• 28:58
  displeasure at the political tone and attitude of some of the
• 29:02
  speakers. I applaud his statement.
• 29:04
  I don't care if you disagree, if you agree or disagree with his
• 29:09
  opinion. There should never be a tone at
• 29:11
  the gatherings that makes so many of our membership feel what
• 29:15
  this man expressed. Kudos to him for having the
• 29:17
  courage to speak up and a huge shout out to any candidate
• 29:20
  willing to put themselves through the process and stand up
• 29:23
  to make a change for their fellow carriers.
• 29:27
  You deserve more credit than can be expressed.
• 29:30
  Overall, I have not come back. I have come back to real life
• 29:33
  and ICE log on. I will not let this demoralize
• 29:36
  me. I'll keep up doing what I can.
• 29:38
  I'll attend my state convention next year.
• 29:41
  National will remain a question for now.
• 29:43
  I do not think my finances will permit attending Grapevine, but
• 29:46
  we shall see. There is time between then and
• 29:48
  now. Yours truly.
• 29:49
  And then I got a second e-mail that said I left out a sentence.
• 29:53
  I meant to say if we had gotten a good contract and Wood Forest
• 29:56
  the PO to hire. Thank you.
• 29:59
  Nice. So those are the emails that I
• 30:01
  got and then I'm going to read. Of running theme in them.
• 30:06
  What was that, Josh? I said I think I I heard of
• 30:09
  running theme in all those. There kind of was.
• 30:15
  Just a little bit there. Yeah, let me go ahead.
• 30:18
  I'm going to read this post that I had permission to read.
• 30:22
  I got to pull it back up here real quick.
• 30:24
  I did have it up, but and then it went bye bye.
• 30:26
  Now this is somebody that is in our Facebook group.
• 30:29
  I did get her permission to read this.
• 30:31
  This person was on the fence and they went to went to the
• 30:39
  convention. I do not believe they were a
• 30:42
  delegate, but they were on the fence about wanting to leave the
• 30:45
  union. They were going to say hey, I
• 30:48
  think. She wasn't.
• 30:49
  I think they were. They were an alternate.
• 30:51
  OK. They were an alternate.
• 30:53
  And they. Yeah, so then they decided they
• 30:57
  made this post. I really, really liked this
• 31:00
  post, so I reached out to them and asked if I could read it.
• 31:03
  So I'm going to now. This person was dead set on
• 31:06
  leaving the union because of the way that the elections initially
• 31:08
  went. But a few days later they
• 31:11
  reconsidered. So I'm going to go ahead and
• 31:12
  read this post. So.
• 31:14
  So I am staying in the NRLCA union.
• 31:17
  My anniversary date is in June. My thoughts are since I have to
• 31:21
  stay in until next June anyways, and our state convention is just
• 31:24
  a couple weeks after that, I keep pondering ways we can
• 31:27
  properly and aggressively make the changes from within changes
• 31:30
  that need to be made. I learned this past convention
• 31:33
  that things that we wish to happen can be introduced and
• 31:37
  voted upon in the forms of resolutions.
• 31:40
  Again, I'm not sure exactly how that works and who is allowed to
• 31:44
  submit a resolution, but I was able to see first hand how
• 31:47
  resolutions were voted upon at the state level and then many
• 31:51
  were passed on to national level to be voted upon there.
• 31:54
  They called them sort of a wish list.
• 31:58
  One of my thoughts is why is this whole union procedure such
• 32:00
  a mystery to us paying members? I'd like more information on the
• 32:05
  ballot we get every year in the mail with a list of delegates to
• 32:08
  vote upon from what office they're from, are they retired
• 32:10
  or active, or how are they voted on in the past.
• 32:13
  Again, I'm not sure if a listing are retired versus active names
• 32:16
  on the balance against any labor laws or not, but I tend to find
• 32:19
  out. And yes it is.
• 32:21
  But I think the membership that is paying every month into this
• 32:25
  union should be entitled to more information as far as what
• 32:28
  happens and how they can personally and individually
• 32:31
  submit potential changes. Again, I was prepared to quit
• 32:34
  since it seems we're going down a narrow road again for another
• 32:38
  year and I did not want to support that.
• 32:41
  I certainly understand members pissed off enough wanting to
• 32:43
  quit. However, maybe we are the ones
• 32:46
  that need to give it another round and see what we can learn
• 32:50
  and do different within this next year.
• 32:52
  We have almost a year to figure it out.
• 32:54
  I've thought that before, but I also, but also some things don't
• 32:58
  happen overnight. As for me, I'm going to just
• 33:01
  write down certain things specifically that I think need
• 33:03
  changed, and perhaps we can turn that into a form of a resolution
• 33:07
  to be submitted at our next state convention.
• 33:10
  Maybe everybody should do this that that at least a start
• 33:14
  undoing something different. Us pissed off from members who
• 33:17
  are ready to quit, maybe the silent majority.
• 33:21
  And if we can vote the right people in next time, could this
• 33:24
  be our first substantial change? So maybe my June anniversary
• 33:28
  date, which prevents me from quitting until next June, could
• 33:31
  be a blessing in disguise. I hope so.
• 33:33
  I hope so too. Yeah, me too, Me too.
• 33:37
  And I didn't get to meet you this year, but I hope you can
• 33:40
  come next year and I get to meet you then.
• 33:43
  Because that really, that one was kind of really heartfelt.
• 33:46
  It was a way I'm ready to get out.
• 33:48
  But wait a minute. Maybe it's those that kept
• 33:50
  saying we were going to pull our dues, mate, We're the ones that
• 33:53
  need to start doing this. We're the ones.
• 33:55
  And that's exactly what I've been trying to say for three
• 33:59
  years. This is why.
• 34:01
  This is why we need to. And as as much as you can, you
• 34:07
  know if it's even voting idea for a resolution going to your
• 34:11
  meeting, involved in your meeting if you're able to,
• 34:14
  that's how we make the change. Well, and and the big thing, a
• 34:17
  lot of sorry Josh, I didn't mean to cut you off.
• 34:20
  No, go on. I just the only thing I was
• 34:22
  going to say is that a lot of people don't realize that when
• 34:26
  when people are saying I'm going to quit the union, you are the
• 34:29
  union despite I know that we have people up in leadership,
• 34:34
  but it is literally every single one of us.
• 34:38
  No matter what you bring to the table, it is it takes every
• 34:42
  single one of us. And the moment that you, you
• 34:47
  should never think that your voice in it doesn't matter
• 34:50
  because it does. And there's it's just a way of
• 34:54
  you just need to figure out ways to that to voice it and going to
• 34:59
  these local meetings and, and seeing things through.
• 35:03
  Because when you can see a resolution, go from your local
• 35:07
  meeting all the way to national and get it and watch it be
• 35:11
  debated. I mean, like that feeling is
• 35:14
  just like it's, it's awesome. Or that you you saw somebody
• 35:18
  that had it was their first time ever writing a resolution and
• 35:21
  you watched it gavel pass at National.
• 35:24
  I've I've had that I've had that feeling of one of my resolutions
• 35:28
  gavel passing at National before.
• 35:31
  So I understand that I don't mean to cut you off me out, but
• 35:34
  I want to read one of our listener comments here real
• 35:38
  quick. And it says in my 2 years of
• 35:41
  going, it's not the divide between the retirees and the
• 35:44
  active carriers that's the problem, which which I kind of
• 35:47
  agree with actually. So we have some really good
• 35:50
  awesome retirees out there. The problem is the haves and the
• 35:54
  have nots. The haves got Subs, the haves
• 35:58
  got Saturdays off, the haves got decent routes, the haves got
• 36:02
  decent management. Any changes the have nots
• 36:05
  proposed to fix the problems they have get shot down by the
• 36:09
  haves. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 36:11
  I agree with that. How do I?
• 36:13
  Well, and, or the I had it this bad, so you should have it this
• 36:17
  bad too. And it should never be like
• 36:19
  that. It should always be.
• 36:20
  Let's move the bar forward so that the craft is more
• 36:23
  successful and that it's easier for us, you know, in the long
• 36:27
  term, we should always be bringing, you know, making it
• 36:31
  better for the next round of people coming in.
• 36:35
  Exactly, you know, and you know, what I was starting to say is
• 36:39
  get you need to get involved to the extent that you can.
• 36:43
  Even if I can life happens. You can't make the certain
• 36:49
  local, state, national meetings like like for example, like
• 36:53
  Kristen said, I wasn't able to go this year because of life
• 36:57
  happened. But even if it's, hey, I have
• 37:00
  this idea that might be, you know, might be good for the
• 37:04
  craft, reach out to us, reach out to your, your
• 37:07
  representative, you know, your local Rep, your ADR, your Dr.
• 37:11
  somebody you know, someone you know is in that is involved to
• 37:15
  help you write that resolution to get it submitted.
• 37:19
  Or even if you have a resolution that you've put together and
• 37:23
  you're unable to attend your annual local meeting to present
• 37:26
  it, if you know somebody that's within your local that's going,
• 37:29
  you can always ask them to present it for you.
• 37:32
  You know, there is ways of doing that and you know, you can have
• 37:36
  them submitted, but I I get another another listener comment
• 37:40
  going with some of these offices in the in the have not section.
• 37:44
  It's where it's going to take abandoning the job and getting
• 37:47
  APDI to get to go to these meetings and conventions for
• 37:51
  some. And I understand that.
• 37:54
  I mean, yeah, you're contractually covered under
• 37:56
  Article 24, but at the same time it's it's literally for some
• 38:02
  people almost impossible to be able to because there is no
• 38:06
  coverage at all in their office and surrounding offices may be
• 38:10
  short staffed and don't have anybody that they could loan out
• 38:13
  to cover for that time. And that's the issues that need
• 38:17
  to be addressed is not just necessarily the hiring, but the
• 38:22
  retaining and the hiring can come down.
• 38:25
  I mean, I look at the postings that go up in my office.
• 38:29
  I mean, as of the 20th, we're going to be down to 3 Subs.
• 38:32
  One's going to be on an ox route.
• 38:33
  And then we have two that are less than a year in.
• 38:36
  One just came back. She started last year, was here
• 38:41
  for a little bit and then came back this year over a year.
• 38:44
  So she restarted again in what, June or July?
• 38:47
  So she's still newer and that's all we're going to have, you
• 38:50
  know. So it's going to be more
• 38:52
  difficult. I don't even know who's going to
• 38:54
  be running my route on October 4th when I leave for Italy
• 38:57
  because my sub already has approved leave to be gone for
• 39:00
  then too. So yeah, it's you don't know.
• 39:04
  I mean, it's, it's sad, but in especially if you are in a
• 39:09
  smaller town like I am and you don't have the best management
• 39:13
  in the world, trust me by far. And when you live in a small
• 39:18
  town and management lives locally in that town and you
• 39:22
  have the revolving door of employees, doesn't matter what
• 39:26
  craft it is, it seems to be anymore.
• 39:29
  Word goes around fast of you don't want to go work there, you
• 39:32
  don't want to work for them. And that's why we're not getting
• 39:36
  the people applying for these jobs.
• 39:38
  And the ones that do apply and they come in and then they see
• 39:42
  the shit that they're tossed with and the how they're put
• 39:44
  through, they walk right back out the door.
• 39:47
  That's the issues that need to be addressed.
• 39:49
  I saw online too that apparently that there is more unemployed
• 39:54
  people than jobs. And so as I know that that
• 39:57
  sounds really messed up nationally, but I was, I was, I
• 40:01
  was kind of hopeful for us at the post office thinking maybe
• 40:05
  some of these people will apply at the post office and and that
• 40:10
  they can be retained. I'm hopeful for it, but I know
• 40:14
  that there's a lot of places in the country that are they can't
• 40:18
  hire Subs, they have vacant routes that they can't get
• 40:22
  people for and they are turning them into contract routes and
• 40:28
  there's no one. And then in other parts of the
• 40:30
  country, when the contract routes, contracts are up,
• 40:32
  they're pulling them back in or pulling them in general.
• 40:35
  I mean, we have 1 highway contract route in our office.
• 40:38
  So I understand, you know the highway contract part a little
• 40:41
  bit and my highway contract carrier went off on the
• 40:45
  postmaster recently because her supervisor failed to submit her
• 40:49
  stuff in for her to get paid for two months in a row.
• 40:52
  Yeah. So well, and it's just it's just
• 40:54
  it's basic of how people want to be treated, yes, and and it
• 41:00
  starts with, you know, the people listening to this to with
• 41:04
  us and trying to, you know, help where we can and, you know,
• 41:10
  communicating with management to please not treat the employees
• 41:13
  like crap and using, you know, the dignity, fairness and
• 41:17
  respect language that we have. And hopefully management, you
• 41:23
  want to hang on to those Subs, especially right now with
• 41:26
  Christmas is coming, comes at the same time every year.
• 41:30
  And I mean, are we gonna, are we gonna lose more Subs due to due
• 41:35
  to peak, you know, like it's there's a lot of what ifs And I
• 41:39
  just I hope that we just we really need people.
• 41:42
  We really need to be able to retain management needs to
• 41:45
  retain the Subs that we have and not keep driving them off.
• 41:49
  I agree, yeah. And and that's some of the
• 41:52
  biggest problem. It is I, I I think.
• 41:55
  It's a retention issue rather than AI.
• 41:58
  Yes we have an issue with hiring but I think it's more of a
• 42:02
  retention. At least from my experience.
• 42:04
  It's management with their poor attitude or lack of people
• 42:08
  skills, run these Subs off because we've had some good Subs
• 42:12
  come through my station, my office.
• 42:15
  But management being the way they are, they just, they quit.
• 42:21
  They, they didn't want to be back.
• 42:23
  They didn't want to be there anymore.
• 42:24
  Oh. I agree, retention is a huge
• 42:26
  issue. I mean, I've seen some really
• 42:28
  good Subs just get fed up with management and leave.
• 42:31
  I mean, I don't blame them. You know, I, my daughter's one
• 42:34
  of them for the most part, you know, it's, you know, when I,
• 42:39
  you know, I've worked. I had Unicore management when I
• 42:43
  first started, so I know what it's like to have awesome
• 42:46
  management and an office where everybody works together as a
• 42:51
  team and everybody appreciates everybody.
• 42:54
  And, you know, like once a month a bunch of carriers would get
• 42:57
  together in the morning before work and have breakfast and the
• 43:00
  Subs that showed up, the regulars paid for for the Subs
• 43:03
  breakfasts, you know, stuff like that.
• 43:05
  I, you know, I remember that stuff.
• 43:07
  And then when they retired, we got not so great management.
• 43:11
  And then when I transferred, I had OK manage postmaster and
• 43:15
  then they took another office. And you know, my management is,
• 43:20
  they have their moments. But it, it's just, I get it.
• 43:25
  I know why these, I know why these RCA's are walking right
• 43:28
  back out the door. I, I, I see it.
• 43:31
  And if I hadn't been already 3 1/2, almost four years in when I
• 43:34
  transferred, and if I would have started under the management I
• 43:36
  have now, I would have left too. Plain and simple.
• 43:39
  I get it. I wouldn't want to work for that
• 43:41
  shit. But you know, I was already
• 43:43
  invested in, you know, time wise and I, I love my job in general.
• 43:48
  So that's, you know, I deal with it, but I also file grievances
• 43:53
  when necessary and I help educate the new RCA's coming in
• 43:58
  and even some of the irregular carriers that have been around
• 44:01
  for a while that, you know, there was no union presence in
• 44:06
  my office until I transferred in.
• 44:08
  And it's still an ongoing battle with me at times.
• 44:11
  You know, our, our local steward is doing awesome.
• 44:15
  I totally enjoys the job, actually wants to be an area
• 44:19
  steward and which is great because if we have surrounding
• 44:24
  offices that need the help and you know, and I applaud him for
• 44:28
  fighting, you know, for standing up and doing that and wanting to
• 44:32
  to help more people in that type of capacity.
• 44:35
  It's I applaud him and it's awesome and I wish we had more
• 44:39
  people out there that were willing to stand up to their
• 44:42
  piss bore management. I get where people are afraid of
• 44:46
  the retaliation and I think it's going to get worse, but honestly
• 44:50
  the less you do to help stop it, the worse it's even going to get
• 44:55
  and it's going to continue. Yeah.
• 44:56
  And even to kind of tie it even back with with National, I think
• 45:00
  that so there was about maybe 20 RCA S&P, TFSI want to say in
• 45:06
  total from what I from what I gathered there and 1 ARC.
• 45:11
  Yes, 1 arc there. Was 1 arc.
• 45:13
  I applaud the arc for being there.
• 45:15
  That is awesome. I was like, oh, what arc?
• 45:18
  Awesome. You know, I went as an RCA, you
• 45:21
  know, I my first convention was 2018 and I've been to everyone
• 45:25
  since. Yeah, I just, I, I think it
• 45:28
  because some of them I know looked, they were just like deer
• 45:31
  in the headlights a little bit, but you could tell that they
• 45:34
  were getting their fingers into it, you know, and, and at least
• 45:37
  seeing like, you know, there is, there is some stuff and, and
• 45:41
  there's, we're trying to make some change for, for the better.
• 45:45
  So it's just it was refreshing to see some of them there and,
• 45:48
  and know that their office let them come and it wasn't a fight
• 45:52
  with management to to get them to to come.
• 45:56
  Oh, I agree 100%. I am so looking forward to
• 45:59
  Grapevine. Not necessarily, not necessarily
• 46:03
  Grapevine in August itself, but I'm looking forward to to next
• 46:08
  year's National Convention. Well, I last time when I was,
• 46:12
  you know, they were in Grapevine and I went, you know, I was
• 46:16
  hoping to go but ended up not because that first year I put my
• 46:19
  name on the delegate list and I ended up dead last.
• 46:23
  I've been there. Yeah, I'm not going, but my
• 46:28
  wife's like wife wants to go to Texas River of August.
• 46:33
  Like I'd rather be in an air conditioned conference room than
• 46:38
  in an LLB. Yeah, that's yeah.
• 46:43
  Yeah, and it does get cold in those conference rooms, Let me
• 46:45
  tell you it. Does.
• 46:48
  But no, I I applaud everybody that that ran for a position
• 46:53
  that we're not incumbents. I applaud them for getting up
• 46:56
  there, putting themselves out. There was a last minute
• 46:59
  nomination for president. And I feel, I feel that all, all
• 47:04
  of the candidates did very well during caucus.
• 47:07
  Those that were not incumbents running for the most part.
• 47:13
  But yeah, no, I think everybody did well because caucus is not
• 47:17
  something easy to do at all. It can be very intimidating.
• 47:23
  It literally is a foot race from run room to another.
• 47:26
  And then you're going to walk into this room and not know if
• 47:29
  you're going to get another beating like you got from the
• 47:31
  last one or what's going to go on.
• 47:34
  You don't know. And so you know, it's.
• 47:37
  It is, yeah. It's, it's definitely, you know,
• 47:43
  I give, I give a mad applause to everybody that ran because they,
• 47:47
  I, I think they all did well during caucus.
• 47:49
  I was so the one thing too that I was wondering that I've, I've
• 47:53
  had a couple conversations with different people about and I
• 47:56
  don't, I don't think I've actually talked to you about it.
• 47:58
  Is that why is it a caucus night and not like a debate?
• 48:02
  Why, why? And I've been trying to like dig
• 48:05
  through things to try and figure out why it ever became just
• 48:09
  caucus night and not the candidates all like conversing
• 48:12
  together in front of everybody. And you know, if let's say, for
• 48:17
  instance, I'm just hypothetically speaking, like
• 48:20
  let's say that they just did a debate in the main hall and they
• 48:26
  wouldn't have all these caucus rooms.
• 48:28
  It could save the association money, which I know that they
• 48:32
  try to incentivize a lot. But could we learn more about
• 48:35
  the candidates that way? If it's in a debate forum in a,
• 48:38
  in a respectful way and it's, you know, maybe moderated by
• 48:42
  area conference, a regional conference, presidents or
• 48:46
  something, you know, but I just don't know why it ever turned
• 48:49
  into the caucus forum versus like a debate forum.
• 48:54
  I could see that. I could see it as being, instead
• 48:56
  of the individual caucus rooms, doing it on the convention floor
• 49:00
  and having each candidate that's running for that particular
• 49:03
  person be up the stage. A question is asked on the floor
• 49:07
  and they each have, you know, 2 to 3 minutes or whatever to
• 49:11
  answer the question. You know, put a time.
• 49:13
  Obviously you're going to put a time limit on it.
• 49:15
  Otherwise you're going to get go on forever.
• 49:18
  And we know how caucus can go on forever when you have 20 people
• 49:20
  running for the board. So, yeah, you know, I could
• 49:24
  totally get behind doing something like that.
• 49:26
  That would be another binding resolution idea.
• 49:30
  Yeah. And I don't know if it needed to
• 49:32
  be a binding resolution or if it would need to be a Constitution
• 49:35
  change, but caucus night was already a binding resolution.
• 49:41
  But but Constitution change would at least kind of put it in
• 49:44
  there. But there I've actually looked,
• 49:46
  and there's no language right now about caucus night in the
• 49:49
  Constitution. So it could actually go either
• 49:52
  way, or both. Yeah, you'd have to find go
• 49:56
  through the Constitution and and pick us would most effectively
• 50:01
  be placed and add new language by complete new language.
• 50:06
  I would, yeah. Like Kristen said, what is this?
• 50:08
  Both a Constitution change and a binding resolution.
• 50:12
  And and yeah, and it and it's caucus night is actually not in
• 50:16
  the convention rolls. There is stuff regarding caucus
• 50:19
  night in the binding resolutions.
• 50:21
  But but yeah, I don't know. I was kind of trying to dig to
• 50:25
  figure out why it ever became like that.
• 50:28
  And then if, if that didn't pass then or, you know, like
• 50:33
  hypothetically, let's just say that, you know, let's try and do
• 50:36
  that. But the caucus rooms also are
• 50:40
  divided up really in a strange way.
• 50:43
  And there's like some rooms that only have like 40 people in
• 50:47
  them. And then there's other ones that
• 50:49
  had like almost 300. And so that was kind of a weird,
• 50:53
  that's also a weird dynamic that I've notice this year.
• 50:59
  You know, and you know, when they want to talk about keeping
• 51:01
  costs down, I could totally see it as doing it on the convention
• 51:05
  floor. So that's the extra meeting
• 51:07
  rooms that you not necessarily would need, but that would open
• 51:10
  up one of those rooms for Ecofest.
• 51:13
  It would. That's true.
• 51:14
  Yeah, That's a really good point.
• 51:16
  Because that was something that was brought in under one of the
• 51:21
  resolutions, wasn't it? Yeah, Yep.
• 51:24
  You know, having a specific. Find.
• 51:27
  A bigger room for, you know, and that's just an idea, you know,
• 51:30
  and it's not necessarily something national would have to
• 51:32
  pay for if you got people that are willing to do it, even
• 51:35
  including the person putting it on that it would be willing to
• 51:37
  pitch in a few bucks for that room, you know, to be able to do
• 51:41
  the Eagle Fest. I mean I personally have not
• 51:43
  been to an Eagle Fest, but I've done the the smaller groups
• 51:46
  where we go through resolutions and Meow and I and several
• 51:51
  others sat at tables a couple numerous nights going through
• 51:55
  resolutions together until they started cleaning and breaking
• 51:59
  out the vacuum cleaner and we went and changed locations or
• 52:01
  called it a night. Well, like last year, we were up
• 52:04
  in, you know, still all hours of the night going through a couple
• 52:07
  nights. Yeah, we didn't get through all
• 52:09
  the binding or we didn't get through all the resolutions, but
• 52:11
  we got like in the three hundreds, I thought.
• 52:16
  Yeah, we were. We had like a what?
• 52:17
  A page and a half left maybe? Yeah, yeah.
• 52:21
  And we were done. We were like we were.
• 52:25
  We. Were fried.
• 52:26
  We were. We were well done at that point,
• 52:29
  yeah. I don't, I don't know.
• 52:30
  I was sick of pizza when I got back.
• 52:33
  I was like, oh man, I don't want to eat any like, pizza for a
• 52:36
  while. Hey I had to buy everybody a
• 52:40
  pizza when I sent the down to go get loaded cheese price well.
• 52:45
  I'd good at night too, so. It's like, yeah, I know, right?
• 52:50
  Reminisce. Yeah, we did have.
• 52:52
  We had a lot of side back. We did, but you know that that
• 52:58
  that's what we do. It's really, it's not a party.
• 53:00
  I mean, I lot, I get it. People see the pictures from the
• 53:03
  banquet and people on the dance floor and the after hours photos
• 53:08
  of people hanging out together. That honestly is the wind down.
• 53:12
  I don't think there was a night where I didn't get back to my
• 53:15
  room before midnight, even after there was even after, even after
• 53:20
  convention was over on Friday night and I was trying to get
• 53:24
  back to my room because I know, I, you know, I needed to get up
• 53:27
  in the morning and, and get people to the airport and load
• 53:31
  my car and hit the road. It was still, it ended up being
• 53:33
  like 1:30 in the morning by the time I got back to my room
• 53:36
  because we were just having conversations, you know, about,
• 53:40
  you know, stuff go over, you know, possibly for next year
• 53:43
  talking to, you know, national officers and, and just, you
• 53:50
  know, the wind down afterwards. And I think that's what people
• 53:53
  see is, is the wind down after being on the convention floor
• 53:57
  for 8 to 10 hours a day, sometimes later on Fridays and
• 54:02
  Thursday. Thursdays and Fridays are
• 54:04
  horrible. Those are late nights in
• 54:06
  general. There was a guy on on Friday
• 54:08
  night, like when I was down hanging out and stuff too, and
• 54:12
  he came down, I think he came down to just smoke a cigarette.
• 54:14
  But he also was like, I can't sleep.
• 54:16
  I'm up about. He was still thinking about the
• 54:20
  appeal, like your brain is still like moving in it, you know, and
• 54:25
  he just needed to do something to like process it still.
• 54:29
  And I think, you know, that's, that is what the, the wind down.
• 54:34
  You know, I, I ran when we were because we were doing the
• 54:36
  resolutions right there outside of the where the banquet was
• 54:39
  until it shut down at 10:00 there.
• 54:43
  But I ran in there and there was a couple people still in there
• 54:46
  dancing and like, I think there was a guy taking pictures and I
• 54:49
  was like, all right, this is going to be the one picture of
• 54:51
  me, you know, partying it up, even though I'm doing
• 54:55
  resolutions right now, you know, and then ran back.
• 54:58
  Yeah, yeah, it, it's, yeah, it, it is a lot.
• 55:05
  It's, it's mentally draining week for sure.
• 55:09
  And I know, I think I've said that for every episode we've had
• 55:14
  post convention is it is a mentally draining week.
• 55:17
  And then I have to get back in the car and drive the two days
• 55:21
  home. I don't know if I'm driving or
• 55:23
  flying to Grapevine yet. Depends on who's all going with
• 55:26
  me. Yeah.
• 55:27
  And I agree what somebody else said in there too, that I it was
• 55:30
  weird this year because they didn't really acknowledge the
• 55:33
  auxiliary and the juniors as much as they should.
• 55:36
  And I know that this organization is very it's trying
• 55:40
  it. There's, I know there's some
• 55:42
  states that don't have the juniors and they don't have the
• 55:44
  auxiliary, but the point of it is to bring your family in with
• 55:49
  you and build that community. And I, I felt like it, there was
• 55:55
  a little bit of a disconnect with it this year because they
• 55:57
  did not bring them in and introduce them.
• 56:00
  And, you know, bringing spouses and your family with you, you
• 56:05
  know, that might be why some people don't don't participate
• 56:09
  and they need to know that you can bring your family with you.
• 56:12
  Like there's going to be activity for them to do and such
• 56:15
  too. And you know, the juniors, you
• 56:18
  know, the juniors are learning about parliamentarian procedures
• 56:22
  and you know, that might be the only time that they ever going
• 56:25
  to learn about that sort of stuff.
• 56:26
  So it's important. It's.
• 56:30
  Important. Part of the problem with that
• 56:32
  was they actually finished elections so early.
• 56:36
  Yeah, but they're still, they still don't exist though, over
• 56:40
  there. Even though, even though our
• 56:42
  elections were done before lunch, we still had pages of
• 56:47
  resolutions. We still had the appeal to go
• 56:50
  through and new business. So yeah, it.
• 56:55
  That that was the reason that they probably, and I'm going to
• 56:59
  use finger quotes here, accidentally skipped it because
• 57:02
  usually they get done business and everyone, everyone's going
• 57:06
  to the mic with a moment of personal privilege.
• 57:10
  And that's when they usually bring them in and announce you
• 57:13
  know who the new board is for the outgoing juniors.
• 57:17
  Yeah, we didn't have as many point of personal privileged
• 57:20
  people staying stuff this year either.
• 57:24
  Yeah, they all wanted to go home and we're in the last few years
• 57:28
  with elections lasting well into the night.
• 57:31
  You're you're there anyway. You're stuck there anyway.
• 57:34
  And I hate to say stuck there, but so they have time in between
• 57:38
  the elections and we've been counting the ballots to take
• 57:41
  care of all this other stuff. The fact that, you know,
• 57:46
  thankfully they actually got done elections early.
• 57:49
  They cut a lot of that stuff out because everyone wanted to
• 57:52
  finish up business, you know, what business they had to get
• 57:54
  through and go home or get on with their, you know, whatever
• 57:57
  the else they had that night to get, you know, to do.
• 58:00
  Josh, what were the, you've talked to a couple people that
• 58:03
  went like, what do you, what were the like the main takeaways
• 58:06
  that you've gotten from other people that you've talked to
• 58:08
  that have gone that went to Nashville this year?
• 58:11
  You mean other than caucus? Yeah.
• 58:17
  I know in my office we had a young, we had two, two women
• 58:22
  that went, one of which was an alternate delegate.
• 58:25
  The other one went as a guest because she didn't get on the,
• 58:29
  she didn't put her name on the ballot.
• 58:31
  And the first one wanted her to come as a roommate and she
• 58:34
  enjoyed it. She, you know, she had, you
• 58:37
  know, she said she would go back next year if he gets elected as
• 58:42
  a delegate because it's, you know, out of her price range.
• 58:45
  Otherwise she isn't going to get paid or reimbursed.
• 58:47
  So this is her first time as a first timer at state and
• 58:51
  national this year. So it's glad to see that new
• 58:54
  people are getting involved. You know, all around.
• 58:57
  She did. She skipped Friday because she
• 59:00
  wanted to actually get to the pool.
• 59:01
  And as soon as she got out there, it started thundering and
• 59:04
  lightning and they closed the pool.
• 59:06
  But talking, you know, it was for the most part, everyone that
• 59:10
  I talked to seemed to have a positive outlook on it.
• 59:14
  Some of the ones that haven't been to in the past are
• 59:18
  realizing how much work and mental exhaustion it actually is
• 59:23
  and needing that time to decompress before going back to
• 59:26
  work or looking forward to going back to work rather than that.
• 59:31
  Because let's face it, our job is there's not much mental with
• 59:36
  our job. You know, once you've learned
• 59:38
  the job, as long as you're paying attention to the name and
• 59:42
  address and you know the route and where you're going than the
• 59:46
  one to travel, there's really not much easy job itself.
• 59:50
  It's just a matter of volume and the packages.
• 59:55
  Yeah, I was going to say, I don't think I came back and I
• 59:58
  was like, whoa, OK, I'm fighting for train time now.
• 1:00:03
  Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, we literally
• 1:00:05
  came back and, you know, a lot returned with with the mini mail
• 1:00:11
  survey going full blast because that started the Friday.
• 1:00:14
  Why? We were all at convention and
• 1:00:16
  you know, I came back to work on Wednesday or Tuesday.
• 1:00:20
  I think it was Tuesday, I don't remember.
• 1:00:22
  Yeah, I took Monday off. It was Tuesday, you know, so
• 1:00:25
  it's like, OK, now I got to flip the switch here and go into mini
• 1:00:29
  mail survey mode and remember I got to count my inverted why I'm
• 1:00:32
  out on the street. OK, got it.
• 1:00:35
  There was a, there was a a on Friday morning.
• 1:00:39
  It was really funny because I was sitting next to one of the
• 1:00:42
  side doors like before convention had started and there
• 1:00:46
  was people on the phone running outside because managers hadn't
• 1:00:51
  been starting to count stuff for the mini meal survey.
• 1:00:55
  And it was, it was like 10 different people I saw going.
• 1:00:58
  The managers didn't start counting stuff and I just, I
• 1:01:02
  thought I was like, Oh yeah. Because all the people that
• 1:01:04
  would remind them are all sitting in here right now like.
• 1:01:09
  Oh, I know. That was my thing the day before
• 1:01:12
  I left because I left on Friday and Thursday.
• 1:01:16
  You know, Thursday morning in the office, I said something to
• 1:01:18
  my postmaster. I said, so when are we doing the
• 1:01:24
  walk distances in the office? She's like, oh, the supervisor's
• 1:01:27
  doing them next week. I'm like okay I'm going to be
• 1:01:31
  gone remember Oh yeah yeah well I can do yours when you get back
• 1:01:37
  from your route that just find me.
• 1:01:39
  So I got mine done before I left.
• 1:01:42
  Not that I I wouldn't have an issue with my sub doing them for
• 1:01:45
  me, but nothing has changed in my office.
• 1:01:47
  But it was just it was more of a relief for me to know that I
• 1:01:51
  could have that done with me prior to leaving for National.
• 1:01:55
  And then of course finding out the edit books weren't done when
• 1:01:58
  I got back was not good, but I took care of that.
• 1:02:00
  I just. Gotta do it, yeah.
• 1:02:02
  I took care of that. I don't remember if we passed
• 1:02:06
  something on to prevent many male serving convention
• 1:02:08
  overlapping. I don't remember.
• 1:02:10
  Yeah. And I think because of the fact
• 1:02:11
  that they've they've planned about four to five years out.
• 1:02:15
  I think that that's why. But the language of the
• 1:02:20
  Constitution says that it has to be between August and and the
• 1:02:25
  end of September. And maybe somebody does a, a
• 1:02:31
  constitution change where you change that time frame because
• 1:02:35
  typically this this mini mail survey is about the end of
• 1:02:41
  August, early September, around Labor Day, give or take.
• 1:02:45
  Yes. Because it's not a coincide with
• 1:02:47
  the guarantee year is is what I've seen.
• 1:02:52
  But if you push the convention closer to end of July, you're
• 1:03:00
  you're budding up at the end of the fiscal year for the NRLCA.
• 1:03:03
  And so I think that that's partly why they've decided to
• 1:03:08
  have national in this time frame.
• 1:03:09
  But I think all the dates are on the website though too for what
• 1:03:14
  they. For yeah, for the ones that they
• 1:03:16
  have scheduled up through Spokane, which is what, 2020?
• 1:03:21
  Oh yeah, Orlando back in 2029. That's right.
• 1:03:24
  Yeah, and a lot of the states, well, there's been a couple
• 1:03:27
  states I saw that they do their state conventions like in March
• 1:03:31
  and April, which I was like, Dang, that's that's early to for
• 1:03:34
  me and thinking about. But but most of the states do
• 1:03:38
  their state conventions at the beginning of June or in the
• 1:03:41
  middle of June, end of Well, not end of May because of
• 1:03:45
  graduations too, but so far around.
• 1:03:50
  About the same week as this year.
• 1:03:53
  Yeah. And then like SAC is in.
• 1:03:55
  Count will probably be. End of February, early March,
• 1:04:00
  yeah. And then it looks like it's
• 1:04:03
  about the same week in a couple years.
• 1:04:06
  That's on proposals to change where we have national avoiding
• 1:04:09
  Orlando, Grapevine, Reno repetitively.
• 1:04:12
  I know that the Vice President has some new location site
• 1:04:17
  visits that they will be doing. I don't know this year.
• 1:04:21
  So a lot of that has to do with contracts and rates and getting.
• 1:04:28
  So a lot of times if they, you know, get the one contract, they
• 1:04:31
  easily can get another contract somewhat close to the similar
• 1:04:37
  price range. I agree.
• 1:04:39
  I would like to see a change up. I mean, this is my second time
• 1:04:42
  to this resort in Orlando, which I don't mind this resort, but it
• 1:04:47
  really sucked walking out to my car that morning to go get it in
• 1:04:50
  the downpouring rain when I was parked in the back 40.
• 1:04:53
  But you know, I can't, I can't control the weather so.
• 1:04:58
  I would say to be there it could.
• 1:05:00
  You could have torrential type downpours anywhere.
• 1:05:03
  Exactly. It was like a monsoon though
• 1:05:05
  there during what there was a hurricane earlier.
• 1:05:10
  Yeah. So you know, yeah, it's a lot of
• 1:05:13
  that has to do with that. I can, you know, I don't know
• 1:05:16
  exactly how the process is up at national office with, with doing
• 1:05:21
  all that. That's just my own speculation
• 1:05:24
  having worked in, you know, the hospitality industry for a
• 1:05:28
  decade and 1/2 so. But no I.
• 1:05:32
  I think he is trying to to switch it up.
• 1:05:34
  I mean, he because they did not announce 2030 And I, I even
• 1:05:39
  actually went back through and looked at his, his yearly report
• 1:05:44
  and funny enough, and I think he also noticed this too.
• 1:05:48
  This was only the NRLC as third time ever being in Orlando but
• 1:05:54
  it's just because we had gone there so like so recently that
• 1:05:58
  it feels like. Yeah, 2022.
• 1:06:02
  Yeah, that and then we're yeah, we're there again in four years.
• 1:06:05
  But I think that I, I think he is trying to find different
• 1:06:11
  locations and he is open to I think maybe that's why he didn't
• 1:06:15
  announce 2030. But it it is very costly for
• 1:06:21
  some of the states especially to have travelled down there.
• 1:06:25
  And if you even if you actually even look at the mileage and per
• 1:06:29
  diem report that you got at National, you'll be able to see
• 1:06:33
  those states that are like it was, it was expensive to send
• 1:06:37
  their people there versus going to other places in the middle of
• 1:06:41
  the country. You know, in Indianapolis and
• 1:06:44
  2027 is a newer location. I mean, it's not one that I've
• 1:06:48
  been to and I. I I was just going to say I
• 1:06:52
  don't remember seeing metal can. Yes, that is a repeat, but it
• 1:06:57
  was cancelled due to COVID. So it'll be our first time
• 1:07:00
  there. I know talking with Patrick last
• 1:07:05
  year in regards to different locations, he said if you have
• 1:07:09
  anywhere let him know because let's say for example it's a
• 1:07:12
  Marriott because with Marriott corporate.
• 1:07:15
  So if he can get 2 Marriott back-to-back, even if even
• 1:07:19
  though they'll be in different locations, it's still a Marriott
• 1:07:23
  property, they'll work with them and they'll give them a bigger,
• 1:07:26
  you know, better discount that way, room rates and everything.
• 1:07:29
  Yeah. And actually Grapevine is a
• 1:07:31
  Marriott location, which I'm like, yes, because I do the
• 1:07:35
  Marriott rewards points thing, so.
• 1:07:41
  I just said Marriott as an example.
• 1:07:42
  I think they work with two or three different of the chains or
• 1:07:45
  have in the past. Yeah.
• 1:07:49
  So, you know, it's so next year's Grapevine, TX.
• 1:07:53
  The last time we were in Grapevine was 2019 and then the
• 1:07:56
  2027's Indianapolis. 2028 is Spokane, which was the location
• 1:08:02
  from 2020 that was cancelled due to that nasty little C word
• 1:08:06
  again. And then 2029 is back to
• 1:08:10
  Orlando, which, you know, I'm, I'm really not opposed to it all
• 1:08:14
  that much. It's an easy straight drive for
• 1:08:17
  me. But yeah, you know, it would be
• 1:08:18
  nice to visit someplace else. Me too, I agree.
• 1:08:22
  I know I sent him four locations here for him to work, you know,
• 1:08:26
  at the work. So guys, we're going to wrap
• 1:08:30
  this up because we're going over an hour now, but.
• 1:08:35
  You don't want to ramble more. I can ramble.
• 1:08:37
  Oh, I could ramble too. I mean don't get me wrong,
• 1:08:40
  nowhere is ramble. You may end up on an episode of
• 1:08:46
  Me and Meow just rambling the whole time about something.
• 1:08:49
  Who knows. This girl and I would go back
• 1:08:51
  and forth constantly. So I'll just figure another
• 1:08:56
  head. So.
• 1:08:59
  So yeah. I'll be nodding and agreeing.
• 1:09:03
  Right, right. So, yeah, yeah, so, yeah.
• 1:09:09
  So the changes that were on the national board, we ended up with
• 1:09:13
  a brand new exec, 4 year executive committee person on
• 1:09:17
  Natasha Patterson out of Florida.
• 1:09:19
  We have Don Masten for another year, Patrick Pitts for another
• 1:09:22
  year, John Adams still at the Director of Labor.
• 1:09:26
  And then next year will be the four year executive, which will
• 1:09:30
  be the two year term that Mike Morello finished out.
• 1:09:34
  And then, yeah, it was Nikki as Director of Steward Operations.
• 1:09:39
  Yep, yeah. Yeah, Kirby.
• 1:09:41
  Kirby kept his. Yep, he kept his executive
• 1:09:43
  committee position. Executive committee?
• 1:09:46
  Yeah. Tommy Turner is secretary
• 1:09:48
  treasurer. So, yeah, so we have the four
• 1:09:53
  executive committee is Mike Morello, Kirby Ricketts.
• 1:09:57
  Oh, gosh. Thanks, guys.
• 1:09:59
  Why am I drawing a blank? Small Bethany Smalls, Thank you.
• 1:10:03
  And Natasha Patterson. Singular not not not plural,
• 1:10:07
  Singular small. Singular.
• 1:10:08
  OK. Bethany Smalls.
• 1:10:09
  Yeah. Thank you for the correction.
• 1:10:12
  Yeah, no S at the end and she will let you know.
• 1:10:16
  Yes she, yes she will. Yes, she does.
• 1:10:18
  I I get that, yes. Awesome.
• 1:10:21
  So, yeah, so we All in all, it was it was an OK National
• 1:10:26
  Convention. I really don't have much on the
• 1:10:29
  negative side to say about it. There was some good stuff gone.
• 1:10:33
  You always have your pros and cons.
• 1:10:35
  But yeah, I think All in all, it went all right.
• 1:10:38
  I agree. There's a lot of things that I,
• 1:10:41
  I, I started, I keep notes in my phone for different things too.
• 1:10:46
  And I, I, in order for me to like process, I think some of
• 1:10:51
  it, I've like wrote out new resolutions and, you know, ideas
• 1:10:56
  to bring forth at my local meeting and, you know, and start
• 1:10:58
  that cycle all over again, you know, of the present stuff at
• 1:11:02
  the local level and, and work its way back up, you know, and
• 1:11:06
  there's some of those, some of the resolutions and whatnot too.
• 1:11:09
  I think it needed to be tweaked and a couple of those people and
• 1:11:14
  not back to the drawing board, but back to the let's tweak it
• 1:11:17
  and bring it back, you know? Yes, yes.
• 1:11:20
  So there's going. To be a lot of that, do you have
• 1:11:22
  any predictions for Grapevine? It's going to be hot.
• 1:11:25
  That's my prediction. Yeah, it will.
• 1:11:27
  Hot and humid again. Yes, Yeah.
• 1:11:29
  And hopefully there's no fire alarm going off on the hottest
• 1:11:33
  day of the year or the hottest day while we're there like it
• 1:11:36
  did in 2019. And we all had to evacuate to
• 1:11:39
  the parking lot when it was 110° outside with 90% humidity.
• 1:11:44
  So I remember that well. I'm glad I missed it.
• 1:11:51
  All right, guys. Your final words for this
• 1:11:54
  evening, Josh. Oh, I'm sorry, it's been a
• 1:11:58
  minute. Be safe out there, continue to
• 1:12:03
  hydrate, don't get overwhelmed if you do, take a step back,
• 1:12:08
  take a deep breath and step back in.
• 1:12:10
  Have a good week, we'll see you next time.
• 1:12:14
  Meow. Well, I was gonna say it was
• 1:12:20
  nice chatting with both of you guys tonight and everybody on
• 1:12:23
  here cuz I missed you guys. I'm not talking with everybody
• 1:12:27
  for the last few weeks there, even though I saw your faces in
• 1:12:31
  in Orlando, some of you. But the other thing I was going
• 1:12:35
  to also say again, please download the NRLC app like
• 1:12:39
  that's my my big parting words. I guess this this week
• 1:12:45
  dehydrated. I know that it's still hot in
• 1:12:47
  some areas and there is still frost warnings and some others.
• 1:12:51
  So if you have veggies and you know, hoses hooked up, so make
• 1:12:58
  sure that you're disconnecting your water hoses from your
• 1:13:01
  house, please try and attend some of your local meetings.
• 1:13:07
  You know, if I know that we're going to start that new cycle,
• 1:13:09
  like I said, up again, I know mine is in October, but start
• 1:13:14
  trying to plan for some of these meetings now.
• 1:13:16
  And so that it's not a sudden thing, you know, put in leaflets
• 1:13:21
  for them now because they're already, you already know when
• 1:13:24
  they're going to be and you're giving management a heads up to
• 1:13:28
  cover those routes for that time frame.
• 1:13:30
  So be safe everybody and try and have a good week, Kristen.
• 1:13:36
  Thank you guys for joining me this evening.
• 1:13:39
  I appreciate it and it's so great to be back.
• 1:13:42
  And yeah, I am. I'm looking forward to further
• 1:13:48
  educating on stuff and I do know my, my, my traveling buddy
• 1:13:54
  there, my roommate from National and the one I'm going to Italy
• 1:13:58
  with is going to come back on one of these days.
• 1:14:03
  And she has been driving the NGDVS now for just over a month.
• 1:14:09
  And she, yeah, she's got one of the new ones.
• 1:14:13
  So she's willing to come on and talk about the new trucks and
• 1:14:18
  the pros and cons and what she absolutely loves about it, which
• 1:14:22
  I constantly hear about how great the AC is.
• 1:14:25
  So usually it's on that day where I'm stuck in the human air
• 1:14:31
  fryer for six hours and 90° weather with 80% humidity.
• 1:14:36
  And yeah, and I always get, oh, the AC is great.
• 1:14:40
  Yeah, shut up, but. Yeah, I'm looking forward to
• 1:14:46
  being able to walk back to the, you know, walk through to the
• 1:14:49
  back to grab a parcel. Right, right.
• 1:14:52
  Get out and and reach or climb up.
• 1:14:56
  Yeah, so now, yeah, she's so somebody.
• 1:14:58
  Online I was standing up in the whole back and they were like
• 1:15:01
  really tall so. I know I was showing pictures of
• 1:15:04
  me sitting in the NGDV at National and they're like, wow,
• 1:15:07
  you look really small in that. But you know, I I was showing my
• 1:15:11
  postmaster the pictures when I was doing my mapping last this
• 1:15:15
  past week, updating that and and whatnot.
• 1:15:18
  And she's like, oh wow, I was showing my city carrier PTF 204
• 1:15:23
  B. I'm like, hey, did I show you
• 1:15:24
  these yet? He's like, no, no.
• 1:15:26
  So I had to show them, you know, I don't know, you know, someday
• 1:15:29
  I'll see those. But yeah, I think we're we're
• 1:15:31
  going to do an episode in the near future too, about the
• 1:15:34
  different vehicles and the LLVS, the mattresses, the FFVS, POV's,
• 1:15:41
  experienced driving all those. And she will be joining us to
• 1:15:45
  talk about the NDDV. So that'll be a fun little
• 1:15:49
  insight. And I just, I know I'm so
• 1:15:53
  excited to be back. So I look forward to being back.
• 1:15:57
  Still deciding what we're going to do when I leave for Italy,
• 1:16:02
  whether or not I'm going to take my laptop with me with a six
• 1:16:04
  hour time difference, but we'll figure it out.
• 1:16:07
  We've got a few weeks before that.
• 1:16:08
  So, but other than that, guys, you know, stay safe this week.
• 1:16:15
  It's great to be back on here again.
• 1:16:18
  Thank you to Josh and Meow for joining me, and we will be back
• 1:16:24
  next week. Boo Boo.
• 1:16:27
  Yay, yay.