Totally fair. The trick is to meet them where they're at, and then work from there. The folks you're thinking about will take a lot of effort, but if union organizers can do it then so can you
There wasn't enough notice for you to still figure something out, but they explained enough for why they couldn't cover. Don't be too mad at them, they clearly also have a need for that time off. This one is a dish best served cold. I'd respond with something like
Damn, that's too bad. Thanks for considering it!
When they ask you to cover for their shift next, tell them you're busy
I had a coworker randomly suggest that we needed a union one night while we were shit talking the CEO. It intrigued me, but I didn't actually think much about it. 3 years later I helped form the largest union in our industry.
If it was less "come on dude you've worked here for x years this isn't hard" and more "you're a stupid piece of shit that frankly should quit now", you have a lot of power. Bully managers are real, and always need to be pushed out of their position of power. It's always hard speaking out in the moment, but you tried and that's what you should remember. You can't go back now to reassert yourself, but you could still take action by reporting it to the company, or asking how your coworker felt about the interaction.
that's how I tend to look at it. Condoms in retail are just another product, no need for shame. The cashier does not care at all, unless you bring a combo like a shovel. Even then, they'll laugh to themselves for 5 seconds before ringing up 3 more customers and totally forgetting your order. The shame you feel is a societal projection, created by like 3 dudes who happened to have money.
It's also one of the most difficult parts of learning German as an adult, despite being a relatively simple syntactic rule and something we kinda-sorta emulate in English. The other part, at least for me, were false friends. Also sorry to all the lurking Germans waiting to comment, I forgot all of my German the moment I graduated college.
Maybe it's just years of labor organizing, but I'm deeply unsettled by this for some reason. Surrounding the consumers on all sides with crosshairs centered on them gives me a bad vibe.
The Prime Minister is selected by the majority party within the House of Commons, kinda like an "elect the party" type deal. The election cycle is roughly every 4 years, the last election was in 2021 and next election has to occur before Oct 20th