My union has informed me that they feel "bad", but not "sorry" for what happened to me (although I was informed that the guy who was talking to me the most "apologized several times" to the head of the union), because I should have informed them that I'd moved.

When I mentioned that the card they had from me requesting union representation on this project was postmarked from Seattle, and had my address listed as "Lynnwood, WA" they said "We thought you meant Lynwood, CA." They then sent me a text of my address record from accounting, which listed it as "Lynnwood, CA." When I pointed out that the only way I can change my address is by writing it on the back of the envelope when I send in my dues, and pointed out that they had spelled "street" with three "e"s, they mentioned that mistakes were made.

And they sure feel bad. But not sorry. Because it was my responsibility.

Apparently to inform them that their intern had written my address wrong.

Which I didn't find out until three months later, when they sent me notice of my dues again.

So. The bastards won. Because my side is incompetent. Which I knew, but it sucks to be reminded. So I guess the lesson learned is "when you're approaching your breaking point, fuckin' break because it's not going to be worth it." I could have been working on a documentary on land mines in Cambodia. I could have been navigating the dumpster fire that was my family's reintegration into our house. Instead I was getting my ass kicked for lose-my-number rates on the side of a mountain for a group of executives that I would gladly see die of ebola. The one silver lining is that the utter and total lack of Washington State income tax means that my take-home rate was more than half-way to what it would have been under union wages anyway.

On the plus side: