to start things off...

The main thing I learned from my interview with Shaniqua was that many things steam from experiences starting when we are little and up until now and into our adult lives that we don't even realize or know are happening that sway us in our beliefs on unions and labor wars. It was extremely interesting to meet someone who seemed so similar from first interaction to me and even when we were done interviewing that we could become great friends but that all of the DETAILS in the middle truly lead us to realizing our differences and beliefs on unions and why. Just like anything in culture our beliefs and the way we are raised and brought up to think impacts how we act and all of the things we do which reinforce who we are want to be and will portray. The differences which make up our beliefs on this issue (unions and labor) actually ended up being somethings that don't stand out to the typical observer ( just as it didn't seem like we were to different at first) we realized because it isn't something big enough in our lives yet to truly big something that is noticeable simply for the reason that we don't think about it day to day. At the moment although our experiences and different which have lead us to believing certain things about unions and labor wars, being student in college taking time off from work besides in the summer creates the similar view point of unions really not making a difference one way or another and it is only when brought up and really dug in deep that one could see the particulars which show us our differentiation.

It all started on Friday afternoon as I met up with Shaniqua at the Tea Garden by the dorms. I drove therebecause I live on the opposite side of town over by Como and I am a sophomore unlike Shaniqua who is a freshman. It's funny the things that you realize when you are paying attention to certain things. Because this project was all about labor and trying to understand certain things about the other person, the things I would normally never pay attention to like the person who I was going to purchase my drink from (someone who could potentially be apart of an industrial union) or Shaniquas interactions with people and observations concerning first impressions were things which stood out to me the second I entered the cafe. I got a smoothie and she did as well, and right away the interaction began to take place. At first we seemed pretty similar both on paper and from first impression. We have a lot of similar interests such as being a member of the Greek system, socializing, dance/cheer, and many more…and then we began to dig in. It was an extremely easy conversation to have as she like me is a very outgoing person but I soon began to realize why we had become partners in the first place and all of the differences and DETAILS, which lead to such dissimilar numbers on the PowerPoint quiz. Shaniqua scored a (3) and I scored a (7), I definitely found out why

From a young age she and I had both began our career life I as a secretary/phone answerer for my Dads at his company, and she as a worker at caribou coffee, from this I noticed where our lives began to separate. Although she had also done plenty of babysitting similar to me throughout our middle school and high school lives, working for a company such as caribou coffee as opposed to answering phones at a parent’s office is a very

different experience.

When talking to Shaniqua about her work she mentioned many things she didn’t mind or really think of or notice while working at Caribou for her short period of time. After she quit because her schedule had become busy and it really just wasn’t the right job for her was when she realized how the experience changed her views on labor. Similar to this experience she also held a job at a retail store called heartbreak for a few months of her high school career and it shaped the way she thought about workers and how they should be treated and rewarded. I can't relate on this at all and it was a point in our conversation where I became lost in a way because of the fact of not only having no ability to relate but no idea to contribute. Shaniqua is pretty liberal and I would consider myself a conservative and although we both seemed to be pretty moderate on a few other big points we talked about to try and get a feel for the ground we stand on both of us being newly college students came to the understanding of how much we truly don't know about why we think and believe the things we do. This lead us again to thinking about potential experiences and events which were going to help us dissect our beliefs and cultural influences.

My employment started out at the age of 13 when my dad thought it would be a fun and exciting idea for me to work a couple weeks during the summer at his office when his secretary was on leave. I didn’t totally understand at the time that this was a very cool occurrence that most people don’t get the opportunity to have. The fact that my dad owned the company gave him the ability to say “yes my 13 year old daughter will be answering the phones and directing people although she has no experience in the secretary business and has nothing on her resume or qualifications for this position she will be doing it because I said so”. This is the power that you have when you own a company. This is my influence on labor/unions and workers from the time I was young, and this is why although I may not understand most things about unions and really know why I feel this way (I know it’s not good to believe in something with out truly knowing the reasons), I believe unions undermine worker productivity and use more labor than necessary to produce goods and services. This is because of my experience working with my Dad and for him which is a much much different labor than Shaniquas

Now both Shaniqua and I although working in very different places for our first experience we both also have babysat ( as I mentioned earlier) a lot for the majority of our income which was something we related to each other on. This explained some of our confusion on true unions. Babysitting is such a unique job because of the money that you make and the potential relationship with your employer. However in comparison to her other jobs Shaniqua didn't really think babysitting could count as a job even to put on a resume and it is where she and I disagreed. I feel as though because I have nannied for the past three summers of my life it made me a little annoyed in the fact that my job was being written off as not real but also I was probably a little embarrassed after hearing all of what Shaniqua has experiences as well as her older brother and sisters experiences in the work world with bad employers and harsh work conditions which lead me to simply feeling a little sheltered.

Although I have barely began to dig into all of the things which I realized throughout the hour I spent at Tea Garden with Shaniqua the simple and few observations I have mentioned within this blog are going to lead me to a very successful "CHANGING MINDS PROJECT". I now understand why not only Shaniqua believes what she believes about unions but the reasons behind why I act and feel the way about them as well. Shaniqua tends to be more liberal and I conservative. My father owns a company which has lead him to being against unions as opposed to Shaniquas brother and sister who work for big company owners that don't ever act as though they are important or deserve to be rewarded for their work. My only labor experience has been being employed be either a family member or close family friend, and Shaniqua has experienced a both knowing her employer well and not. This is going to be an interesting project and although Shaniqua and I realized after talking we are a lot different than we originally guessed we were going to be we feel as though we are open to the possibility of learning even more about potential roans and differences or changes in our views..

this meeting and observation was great and is only just the beginning....