For Pete's sake....

I don’t use that phrase normally but today I am. Things are a little ridiculous at work right now. I think I mentioned some time ago that my coworkers are not satisfied with the food served in the cafeteria. There was a survey done and nothing seems to have changed. Come to think of it, I never saw the results of that survey. Hmmm… Fast-forward to Friday of last week when the workers took actions into their own hands and did what Italians LOVE to do. They went on strike against the cafeteria. At lunchtime on Friday, instead of going to eat in the cafeteria they hung around outside it making a lot of noise. Refusing to eat in the cafeteria and not letting anyone else go in. I waited until most of them went back to work and then went in and ate. There was still two guys hanging around asking us “nicely” not to go in but I did anyway. There was even a security guard in front of the cafeteria making sure that if someone wanted to go in they could. This striking business is out of control and if I don’t agree with their position then I have every right to go in there and eat. A strike would be necessary if the food was not eatable or if there were health concerns, but the food is fine. I have noticed a slight decline in the quality over the years (I’m sure to Italians this decline probably seems like the end of the world). But the bottom line is that food is getting more expensive and I’m sure the cafeteria is just getting by on the same budget they have always had. I would be taking my complaints to the person here at work that is in charge of the cafeteria. This striking business is just used way too often. Anyway, today I’m having a panino from a little store outside of work because they say I shouldn’t go in to the cafeteria again during this strike. This is so ridiculous. Do they really think they will get better food by striking? Anyway I would love to have a hot meal for lunch today but instead I’ve caved in and I’m a cold panino. Their big statement is that I’ll benefit from this strike in the long run. What happens if the strike doesn’t work?
Also there are no photos today as the Vodafone network is on the blink. It’s really slow. I switched my Vodafone Connect Card from 3G to GPRS just to get a connection that stays connected! I wonder if that new fancy new “Internet Key” that they show on TV is having this problem. Maybe it’s causing it!!!

To quote Sheryl Crow, “Every day is winding road…”

Back to Normal...for now...

For those of you who don’t read other Italian blogs then you may be surprised to learn that all the truck drivers in Italy were on strike from Monday thru Wednesday. It was a madhouse, at least from what I saw on TV, because here in Brindisi very little actually happened. On TV I saw store shelves empty of fruits, vegetables, and other perishable goods but here in Brindisi I went shopping last night at Mino’s then the local veggie place and I didn’t notice a thing out of place. Maybe they were a little low on castagne nuts and Mino didn’t have any mozzarella di bufula (he did have regular mozzarella) but then he never has it on Wednesdays. He’s closed on Thursday so it doesn’t make sense to stock up, as he wouldn’t want it to sit around for a day. It’s nice being so close to the food and goods you buy because even without trucks we get by. It’s funny because Rosalba’s husband was leaving the veggie place as I came in. He was smiling ear to ear as he was going to deliver food to the big supermarket outside of town. I’m sure he screwed them on price AND quality because there isn’t a lot of love between the big supermarkets and the mom and pop grocery store.
One part of the strike that we were not immune to was the gas shortage. There were huge lines for people filling up their cars but that was just the panic buying that surrounds any sciopero (if you don’t know that means “strike” then you haven’t be reading an Italian blog for very long!). Tuesday night I was driving my boss to the airport and there were already these lines surrounding gas stations. I’m thinking I’m sure the gas stations have a few days of gas stocked up. Of course I was wrong because almost all were out of gas last night and today. But still this doesn’t affect me because I go for weeks on tank of gas. I walked to work today because there is hardly a cloud in the sky and on the way home I want to harass Lucia at the cafe because today is the saint’s day for Santa Lucia. If we had a Lucia at work then we would have cornetti but nooo. Maybe on the way home I’ll get a free coffee from her. That may be asking a bit too much.
Still this strike was pretty amazing as strikes go. I’m just lucky in that there isn’t much that I need and there wasn’t any place I needed to go. The trucks were trying to make life hell for as many people as they could. Not only did they not deliver goods but they also blocked the highways. So what was the deal? They were upset about high gas prices and abusive (illegal) trucks. There is nothing that can be done about high gas prices and I see the police pulling over trucks all the time checking their "paperwork". So I really don't know what they are crying about. The government promised to work on some new law that will limit out of country trucks from going more than 120 km into Italy and they will spend more money on roads. Big riggin deal. All this chaos for nothing really. A friend at work says that this strike was also politically inspired as the political right is trying to get the left out of power. If the country is “out of control” then the political right can call for a new government, which they have been doing ever since the day Prodi was sworn in. This political bickering is amazing. It's just getting going in the US and the election is just under a year away.

No GAS!

There is a strike of every possible type here in Italy and right now all the gas stations in the entire country are on strike (yes there’s even no self service!) from Wednesday night to Friday morning. Could you imagine this in the US? They are upset because the government is now allowing “hypermarkets” to sell gas. I don’t understand this hostility. Gas stations are all owned by the oil companies, aren’t they? Even if they say otherwise there are only a few oil companies that sell all the gas to all the stations, it doesn't matter if they are in a supermarket or not. So I look to my country of birth where this change has already happened long agao and then I try to explain to myself why the oil companies may fear it. The result in the US is that Kroger started selling gas cheaper than BP. Now Kroger is just buying gas from someone else and BP owns the whole supply chain, so it doesn’t seem possible that Kroger can sell it for less. I believe Kroger sells the gas at a slight loss (or a little less profit) to get people in the parking lot and then they shop at the store after filling up. I wonder if the supermarket then starts selling large amounts of an oil company’s gas and then the oil company can be pressured into giving up a little of their profit to stay in good graces with the supermarket. Of course, Kroger can’t afford to loose money so then they go off and charge a little more for a lot of little things. This seems like no real benefit for the customer, but I’m no economist. Although I did take Economics 101 about 15 years ago! Well, all my Italian coworkers are talking endlessly about the pension reforms that were also passed along with the new gas station policy. I could care less about that so I’m looking at this part of the reform that may or may not affect me.

The strike itself doesn’t affect me as even when I do drive to work I can easily go 2 weeks without filling up. It’s only if I take a weekend drive that I even think about getting gas. Yesterday I walked to work just because the weather is nice. Today I couldn’t because I have to run Mara to vet right after work (she’ll get “the operation”). Tomorrow I’ll walk to work again.
What will the next strike be? Sorry about how dark the photo is but that's the only station nearby and it's still get dark early.