================================================================= Stuck In Traffic "Current Events, Cultural Phenomena, True Stories" Issue #26 - September, 1997 Contents: James Brown Bum Talking to the homeless people and the crazy people in downtown Atlanta. Whose Best Interests? An examination of the issues that cause the Teamsters to strike against UPS. Generic Vacation Sights How to avoid learning anything from your vacation. ==================================== True Story James Brown Bum During a recent vacation trip to Atlanta, I had the opportunity to talk to a crazy man. Stark, raving, mad. Not just a little bit imbalanced, but crazy as a loon. For those of us who don't already live in large metropolitan cities, walking through the downtown area of a major urban center is both exciting and discomforting at the same time. The exciting part come, I think, from the fact that there's so much activity. In a big city, everyone seems to be rushing around. There's something about a big city that makes the daily grind of our lives a little more lively, a little more important. The discomforting part of the experience comes from simply being a stranger in a new place. We don't know where everything is, so we have trouble navigating the streets. We find ourselves gawking at the huge skyscrapers that the locals don't even take a second look at. We know that we're obviously "not from around here" and it makes us self-conscious. And then, there are the homeless. I think the other discomforting thing about being a visitor to a major urban center are the homeless people. I don't know how the locals manage to callously walk by these folks day in and day out for years at a time without it having a major impact on their lives. I wish I could say that I don't understand how people can just ignore the homeless, but I would be a hypocrite because I'm afraid I learned to do the same thing during my trip. I stayed in Atlanta for about a week. And everyday I had to walk back and forth through several city blocks in the heart of downtown. And I got quickly initiated in encounters with the homeless. There was one man in particular who caused me lots of anguish. I never learned his name, but I began to think of him as the toothless man. He was about 35 or 40 dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, neither of which has seen the wet side of a washer in a long time. His hair was thick with grease. But the thing that was the most amazing about this man was that he had almost no teeth and the ones he had left were jutting out from his jaw at unhealthy angles. It was as if the few teeth he had left made his mouth seem even more empty than if he had no teeth at all. Every time he approached me, I got to hear his tale of woe and misery. Everyday he would tell me that he had just been kicked out of the homeless shelter because he had AIDS and he wasn't asking for a hand out but he was trying to raise seven dollars so that he and his wife and daughter could have a place to sleep that night. His wife and daughter were supposedly right around the corner but I never saw them. And oh by the way, he wasn't just trying to get money for booze. He could assure me of that. How much of this man's story was true and how much wasn't? What would one have to do to get kicked out of a homeless shelter? Wasn't there some sort of charitable organization that could take him in? Why was his story the same every day I saw him? And most importantly, why did he approach me with his story instead of one of the many other people walking down the street at the same time? Did it have anything to do with the fact that I gave him a dollar the first time I met him? It got to the point were I dreaded the particular block that he inhabited. I never gave him any more money after the first time. I would always say something like, "Sorry, I'm in a rush." or, "No Thank you," or anything else just to keep on walking and not get dragged into a conversation. But even though I learned how to get by him, it never got easy. I would always feel sad after I left him behind. I relate my encounters with the Toothless Man in order to contrast him with the man I came to think of as "The James Brown Bum" These two gentlemen taught me that not all homeless people are crazy, and not all crazy people necessarily end up like the homeless. One needs to learn to tell the difference. My visit to Atlanta happened to include a Sunday, which is a totally different experience in the downtown area of major urban center than any other time during the week. During the business week, the homeless folks are diluted somewhat by the sheer numbers of people. Since there are so many people milling about the homeless people can't possibly make eye contact with everyone. So it's easier to avoid them. Even on a Saturday, there are usually enough people around that you don't have to have a personal encounter with every homeless person out there. But on the Sunday morning that I was in Atlanta, it seemed almost like I was the only "homeful" person on the streets. Just about every business was closed, there were no cars on the streets, and it was remarkably quiet. I was headed for the McDonald's for breakfast, but almost turned around when I got close to it. Since McDonald's was one of the few places open and since it was one of the few places where there were people walking in and out, just about every homeless person in the area was congregated outside. Each was taking their turn at trying to stop people walking by and get some money out of them. It was like some sort of weird receiving line. I decided to brave the receiving line. It wasn't like I felt threatened by these poor folks or anything. They obviously had no intentions of causing any real trouble. It was just the psychic angst that made me leery. Once inside, managed to find a table without a view of the street, so I could eat without having to look at these folks. But still, I felt terrible. That's when James Brown walked in. Not _the_ James Brown of course, but a 50-ish year old black man walked into the restaurant dressed in an outfit that looked just like something James Brown would wear on stage. He didn't have the jewelry or the glitter that James Brown has. But you could take one look at him and know that his alter-ego was James brown. He even had that weird hair cut that James Brown has. He walked in carrying the biggest damn boom box I've ever seen in my entire life. And he was walking in as if he were strolling among throngs of fans, waving to everyone, grinning from ear to ear, putting on a show with his presence. Clearly this man was not quite right in the head. The staff at McDonald's converged on him as soon as they noticed him coming in and there was quite a showdown in the middle of McDonald's. The James Brown Bum was still in his own little world of teeming fans while the McDonald's manager, a tall, husky black woman with long braided hair stood in his way and yelled at him that he couldn't stay in there. And then, in what appeared to be an attempt to tune her out. He pops a cassette tape into the boom box and starts playing some sort of bootleg James Brown tape. I didn't recognize the particular tune, but it was classic James Brown at his best. It was one of those tunes that can only be described as "funky." And get funky he did. He started moving and dancing in the aisle just as if he were on stage. The McDonald's manager did a remarkable job at yelling above the music and keeping in front of this gyrating man so that he couldn't get any further into the restaurant. And remarkably, she managed to do this while never laying a hand on him. But the problem was that it was a small narrow restaurant and the two of them were blocking the only way out of the restaurant and I was ready to go. Now, I'm usually the sort of person that will avoid being the center of attention like the plague. For better or worse, I just try to keep away from controversy and confrontation. I pick my battles very carefully. But there was something about that morning that made me different. And I couldn't tell you why, but there was something about my encounters with the Toothless man that made me get involved in the fracas with the James Brown bum. There was something about all those people out front begging for money that made something in me snap. I've always enjoyed listening to James Brown tunes. And even though I never bought a James Brown album until just very recently, I've always stopped and listened to his songs when I run across them on the radio. He has a presence that's unmistakable. He has managed to combine the blues with an upbeat, almost aristocratic showmanship that few have managed to duplicate. And his songs have permeated our culture to the point that even I, a middle class white boy from a the heart of suburbia knows the words to many James Brown tunes. So while I was watching this odd confrontation in front of me, I began to feel something pulling me into the scene. I knew I was going to do something. I could feel the past few days welling up inside me, but I had no idea how it was going to manifest itself. "Hey My Brother!" I found my self shouting in the god awfullest contrived black accent you've ever heard in your life, "You gonna hafta get on the Good Foot!" For you poor souls out there who haven't had the James Brown experience, "Good Foot" is one of James Brown's most legendary songs and it happens to be my favorite of his songs. To try to put this into literary terms, in this song, dancing on one's "Good Foot" is a metaphor for being in tune with the world, getting everything right easily and naturally. It's a song about competence and the good feelings that come with it. It's the equivalent of "being in the zone" as some say. Though the boom box played on, all the other commotion stopped as if someone had thrown the switch. I had that weird "all eyes are on you" feeling. I immediately regretted having done that. No doubt I had just offended every black person in the restaurant, which was about 50% of the customers, many of them dressed in their Sunday best. But the since the James Brown bum and the McDonald's manager had stopped. There was just enough room to squeeze by them and get the hell out of there. And that's exactly what I did, while keeping my eyes fixed firmly to the floor. I had no idea that this would cause the James Brown bum to follow me out. As I was walking down the sidewalk, he ran up beside me chattering 90 miles an hour. He was showing me all sorts of James Brown memorabilia that he had with him. Tapes, pictures, newspaper clippings, etc. etc. We talked abut James Brown for several minutes but I don't have a clue what we talked about because he was so excited that he was unintelligible. I did understand the point at which he tried to sell me a James Brown casette tape, which I fended off by lying to his face that "I already had that one." But we chatted with each other for several minutes in the nicest way, like two strangers that had met for the first time in church. And all the other homeless people kinda stood around and stared. But we were having a pretty good time and at the end we shook hands and went our separate ways. I wish I could say that my experience with the James Brown bum had given me a tremendous insight into solving the homeless problem, but it didn't. I wish I could say that my experience with him had made a difference in his life, but it didn't. The man was just as crazy at the end of the ordeal as he was in the beginning. And most of all, I wish I could explain why my troubled encounters with the Toothless Man had caused me to get involved in the confrontation with the James Brown bum, but I can't. ==================================== Current Events Whose Best Interests? I watched the unfolding events of the Teamsters' strike against UPS with only the most tepid enthusiasm. Contract negotiations between a company and a labor union just aren't that interesting. And I refuse to treat contract negotiations as being a situation in which one side loses and the other wins. Contracts are contracts. Both sides win when the contract is signed. But frankly, there wasn't that much else going on in August since Congress had set off on its traditional August break and many state legislatures had done the same. It has been a slow news month, and the strike seems to have caught the country's attention by default rather than by being important. Since I refuse to view contract negotiations as a competition, I also refused to take a position on which side was "right" and which side was "wrong". But I can't help but make some observations over how this so-called drama played out in the media. And I can't help but notice the difference in the theoretical role of unions and the actual role played by the Teamsters in this particular strike. Let me just say up front, that I fully support the right of people to unionize. In industries where job skills are easily transferable and employees are easily replaceable, unions have the potential to create a mutual support system among its members. They can help their members with career development and training as well as help out with things like group insurance and benefits. And since unions have a much higher profile than individual employees, they can also ensure that employees are being treated fairly. The biggest benefit of course is the collective bargaining power they exercise when negotiating wages with the employer. Unions are cartels of labor. And like other cartels, they work by representing a statistically significant percentage of the work force in a particular company or industry. True to form, the media have covered the strike against UPS strictly in terms of conflict. The Teamsters were on one "side" and the management of UPS was on the other "side" and there was going to be both a "winner" and a "loser". Most media in the United States portrayed the Teamsters as the "good" guys and the UPS management as the "bad" guys. The TV was filled with angry comments from strikers on the picket lines, full of venom and ill-will. One striking UPS driver even went so far as to say on national TV that UPS was holding him in slavery and oppressing him. Though he was unable to articulate the nature of his oppression or why he was on strike. In addition to hyperbolic TV sound bites from striking Teamsters, the news coverage of the strike consisted of many panic mongering stories about how the nation's economy was being seriously damaged by the absence of UPS from the package delivery industry. Inconvenient? Yes. Damaging? No. At least I find it difficult to believe the UPS's absence could affect the nation's Gross Domestic Product in any sort of statistically significant way. The services UPS provides are highly substitutable and there are lots of other companies and government agencies that can fill the void. The United States Postal Service, Federal Express, Airborne, Emory, etc. etc. And all these companies rushed to fill in the gaps that UPS left while it was shut down. Even the United States Postal service, which is not exactly known for its quick reactions to shifting market forces, instituted Sunday deliveries to help fill in the gaps that UPS left. Between turning the negotiations into a battle between good and evil and panic mongering about the strike's economic importance, there was precious little coverage about the issues over which the Teamsters were striking. Were UPS employees being underpaid? No. Were they being unfairly treated? No. Were their benefits out of line with their industry? No. The issues that were preventing the contract from being completed and signed had little to do with the individual members of the Teamsters. First there was the issue of how many part-time positions there should be at UPS and the second issue was over who controls the pension funds of union members. The package delivery business is highly seasonal, meaning that there are periods of the year (Christmas) where the volume of their business increases dramatically and then there are seasons of the year (summer) where the volume of business is low. Because of this seasonal nature of the business, UPS uses part-time workers to augment its workforce as needed. There are of course advantages and disadvantages to using part-time workers. On the one hand, the cost associated with part-time workers is not as high as full time workers when you factor in benefits, etc. On the other hand, full time workers are worth more because they are more productive due to their long term experience and investment in the company as a career, not just a job. In any company, UPS included, there is an optimal mix of part-time and full time employees. By forcing the company to reduce its numbers of part-time employees, the Teamsters have likely shifted the balance of full-time and part-time employees away from the optimal mix and will hurt UPS in the long run by making it less competitive than its competitors. One would think that hurting the business interests of UPS would also hurt the interests of the full time employees. So it would appear that the Teamsters' attempts to artificially and arbitrarily set the number of part-time and full-time workers are short sighted, even though well intentioned. The debate over pension control seems to be even more short sighted when you consider the fact that the Teamster's so far have failed to cite any evidence of financial misconduct of the pension fund by UPS management. Nor has the Teamsters union been able to cite even cases of poor judgment by UPS management or under performance of the pension fund's investments. This issue has nothing to do with whether the union members were being well served by the company or not. The bottom line is that it is a power grab by the union leadership to control one of the key benefits of working with the company. Again, one has to ask if the union members interests are being served or not by this power grab. This is an especially valid question since, in the very same month, Federal judges have found the Teamsters' leadership guilty of misusing the money under its control. In theory at least, unions have an important role to play in a free economy and the people's right to freely associate with each other is as sacred a part of our Constitution as the right to free speech. But at least in the case of the Teamsters strike against UPS, it appears that perhaps the union has not lived up to its potential. Unionized UPS employees should be asking themselves if the Teamsters have truly represented their best interests or not. ==================================== Cultural Phenomena Generic Vacation Sights I am fortunate enough to be able to travel on occasion, just for fun and vacation. I wouldn't consider myself a worldly traveler, but I've had enough opportunity to visit different areas of the United States and a couple of other countries to begin to get a feel for how cultures differ. Even within the United States there people can be very different depending where they are from. Folks from the east coast of the United States tend to dress differently than folks on the west coast. Folks from the Northern states tend to speak differently than folks from the deep South. The differences are more than superficial. People from different areas of the country have different lifestyles, different values, different attitudes. While we are all closely related there are distinctly identifiable cultures within the United States. No big news there. Every grade school child learns the lesson about how the United States is a country whose strength is built on the diversity of its people. And we learn that the United States simultaneously embraces "The Melting Pot Theory" and people's right to preserve their cultural identity. As far as I can tell, there are two main motivations for the average person to spend significant sums of their discretionary income to travel long distances across the country. First, there are natural wonders. The Grand Canyon. Niagra Falls. Yosimite. There are also natural wonders that are less spectacular, but just as enjoyable. Beaches are a great vacation spot because we don't get to see them often and we enjoy spending our recreational time on them. Mountains are great for hiking and camping, which we many people enjoy, but don't get to do very often. The second main motivation for travel, as far as I can see, is to experience cultures other than our own. Even small cultural differences can be very enjoyable. A laid-back Southerner can have a huge eye opening experience just be traveling to California and experiencing the California beach lifestyle. You can't come back from a vacation to a different culture without learning a little bit about your own. Or can you? I have this bad habit of observing other vacationers as much as I observe the natives. I like to watch how they interact with "the locals". I like to watch how they interact with each other. I find it insightful to see how the sorts of things they've done to prepare for their trip. Watching families is particularly interesting. Just by watching who is walking in front of/behind/beside of who can say a lot about a family. Just looking at the expressions on their faces can say a lot. Vacations by their nature, interrupt or daily routine and put families under some stress which can't help but surface in their actions. But the thing I find most interesting about watching other vacationers, and the thing I find the most sad about watching other vacationers is the lengths they will go to insulate themselves from the very sites and sounds they have spent so much money to experience. Vacationers that never stray from the local Chamber of Commerce approved tourist attractions do themselves no favors. Vacationers that only take pictures of the landmarks but not of the people that live in and among the landmarks are denying themselves the real vacation experience. Vacationers that they have spent so much time and effort to seek. But the biggest self-defeating mistake that I see vacationers making is what I call "the generic vacation sight" mistake. They will eat at the local McDonald's instead of trying out the local Mom and Pop restaurant that might actually have something tasty on their menu. They only interact with the most generic service people at the hotel but never take a minute to talk to the local cab driver. They never take the time to participate in the recreations that the locals participate in. They don't go to the churches that the locals go to. They don't shop in the same stores that the locals do. And the sad part of the whole thing is that there is a booming industry in providing generic diversions from the real vacation experience. Some of the biggest offenders are the generic restaurant/nightclub scene. Places like, "Planet Hollywood" and "The Hard Rock Cafe" are typical examples. Let me share with you a little secret. Every Hard Rock Cafe across the planet is basically exactly the same as every other Hard Rock Cafe. Once you've been in one, you've been in them all. And there's no way the "Planet Hollywood" is going to give you a feel for what the local people and the local culture is like. When you have the opportunity to travel. Don't waste the opportunity to actually visit. ==================================== About Stuck In Traffic Stuck In Traffic is a monthly magazine dedicated to evaluating current events, examining cultural phenomena, and sharing true stories. Why "Stuck In Traffic"? Because getting stuck in traffic is good for you. It's an opportunity to think, ponder, and reflect on all things, from the personal to the global. As Robert Pirsig wrote in _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_, "Let's consider a reevaluation of the situation in which we assume that the stuckness now occurring, the zero of consciousness, isn't the worst of all possible situations, but the best possible situation you could be in. After all, it's exactly this stuckness that Zen Buddhists go to so much trouble to induce...." Submissions Submissions to Stuck In Traffic are always welcome. If you have something on your mind or a personal story you'd like to share, please do. You don't have to be a great writer to be published here, just sincere. Contact Information All queries, submissions, subscription requests, comments, and hate-mail about Stuck In Traffic should be sent to Calvin Stacy Powers preferably via E-mail (powers@ibm.net) or by mail (2012 Talloway Drive, Cary,NC USA 27511). Copyright Notice Stuck In Traffic is published and copyrighted by Calvin Stacy Powers who reserves all rights. Individual articles are copyrighted by their respective authors. Unsigned articles are authored by Calvin Stacy Powers. Permission is granted to redistribute and republish Stuck In Traffic for noncommercial purposes as long as it is redistributed as a whole, in its entirety, including this copyright notice. For permission to republish an individual article, contact the author. 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