Company culture.
There is very little kindness where I work. It's mostly hard work done by hardened men. I can handle hard work, but my personality doesn't really fit in with the company culture. I'm kind, in other words. 
For that reason, I say very little at work. Most of those guys just cut each other down. They don't see each other as equals. Each one of them wants to be the top dog. Each one thinks they are better than the next one. I made the comment once to my wife, not long after I started working there, that I've never seen a place that could benefit more from a union. If I were to say such a thing at work, I'd be run out of there on a rail. Those assholes all think they are making more than the next guy. However, if you look at all of the personal vehicles for these guys, nobody drives a new car, and many of them are clunkers. The only guy who has bought a new car in the time that I've worked there (4 years) lives with his parents still at 40 years of age. I guess they could all just be frugal motherfuckers, but I seriously doubt it.
We are all in the dark about each others pay and we are told by management to keep our own pay a secret. I think if it were to come to light about how much each of us is paid, things would be changing around there fast. I've picked up hints here and there about pay by guys when they slip up about it. I think guys like me who have been there a relatively short time are making as much as guys who have been there for over 20 years. At least I am. What these guys don't know is that I have negotiated better pay for myself with the owner. You can't do that in a union company. You can't act alone.
The owner of the company once told me in private that he would not tolerate a union at his business. He'd sooner close the doors. I'm not sure why he told me that, because I haven't spoken to anyone there about organizing or about my politics at all. Maybe he just sensed something liberal about me. Well, he has nothing to fear. He's managed to get a bunch of guys to work for him who are too dumb to look out for their own self interests.
I'm not saying a word. I'll continue to be my agreeable self, but I'll play dumb like the rest of them. There's no other way for me to get along at a place like that, but it's the best I can do right now.
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