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vorthosjay · 6 years

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Let’s Talk About Chronicle of Bolas: The First Lesson

Chronicle of Bolas: The First Lesson came out today, and it’s a fascinating story without the sort of lore baggage that would require me to say much about it. So read and enjoy!

Art by Even Amundsen

"We all die, now or later," replied her Grandmother in her most maddeningly calm tone. "This could be a trap on the part of Ojutai to find me."

"So you are Yasova, keeper of the past and guardian of the unwritten now."

Unwritten was the name of the story where Yasova first appeared.

He took in several ragged breaths to build strength for more words. "Ojutai destroyed the records Shu Yun preserved for so many generations. He wants to destroy our memory of the past, and of our ancestors, so our people know only what the dragonlords wish them to know. But the story the Spirit Dragon told to the first shamans has survived because it wasn't only written down. It has also been passed down from master to student, memorized and handed on to the next generation."

Grandmother's brow wrinkled. A glimmer woke in her eyes, a flash of excitement, a thrill of fear and hope. "The Spirit Dragon spoke to your shamans?"

There’s also a secret archive, but this person doesn’t seem to know of it (or isn’t sharing that information). It would be rediscovered by Narset a millennia later.

My own story is a simple one. The one I loved best in all the worlds is the one who killed me.

How did it happen? That is less simple, and will take longer to tell. Listen carefully, for he may come here someday, and if that happens, then you must beware, for whatever words he speaks to flatter and persuade you will be lies.

Grandmother hissed sharply.

Yasova was tricked by Nicol Bolas into aiding him in killing Ugin.

If you should ever have the misfortune of meeting him, I would never recommend anyone suggest to him that he at any point in his long life has felt fear.

HA! Leshrac did this, and paid with his life for it.

"I want to know who those hunters are, and where they come from, and how we can destroy them. They've learned they can kill one of us now, so they will not fear us."

This story is great at telling us who Nicol Bolas is. Bolas can’t suffer others to feel confident against him. He must break them.

"I do not guess. Dragons are born with the gift of names. It is in our nature to know names without being told them. Just as we knew our own names at the moment we woke into consciousness." He closed his eyes, not at all afraid of us, then opened them to examine us with a keen and unrelenting gaze that irritated me because he was so sure of himself. But his curiosity and confidence also intrigued me. "Why do you each only have one name?"

Oooh, as some have suggested, Bolas was not originally part of Nicol’s name.

I sniffed at the dead animal, seeking from what lingered of its spirit some indication of its name and substance: it was an ibex, old for its kind; it had had a peaceful life, and that gave its blood and meat a certain pleasing odor.

I tore off a hunk of flesh. It was pleasurable to eat, even if a little tough.

This... is interesting. Weird that this comes from Ugin.

That which decays is also being consumed.

The revelation swept over me like a storm's hot rush: within the invisible web that is life and death, nothing goes to waste.

"Death is merely part of a greater cycle," I said, quite struck by my amazing wisdom.

This is important, as this is part of Ugin’s transcending color, most likely. The great cycle.

"I want to kill something," said Nicol. "Are you coming?"

It was the second time he'd asked if I was coming with him. To be fair, we'd never been apart, had never walked or flown the slightest span without the other within earshot. I couldn't imagine being in the world without him beside me.

Ugin thinks Bolas asking is because they can’t bear to be apart, but I wonder if right from the start he was challenging Ugin, prepared to leave him.

I ate thoughtfully, considering his words. It was true we had hunted in the manner of our older sister, each hunting alone, relying on our individual speed and strength. What if there was a better way?

Bolas and Ugin both begin to learn planning and coordination, important to their schemes later.

We spent years, as you Jeskai would measure the span of days, perfecting various techniques for hunting in tandem.

Hey, this might be the first indication we’ve had post-mending of the different measurements of time on different planes.

Several times we were chased by a big ugly dragon named Vaevictis Asmadi who, with his siblings, furiously guarded a territory they claimed for their own hunting grounds even though it had plenty of space and game enough for many hunters to cull.

The story also mentions even more dragons, which is great! It means there is enough for a true Elder Dragon War.

One day, we settled on a hill amid a richly forested plain. From this vantage, we found ourselves looking over a riverside settlement inhabited by the bipeds called humans. In general, we avoided humans. They didn't taste good, and I didn't like eating things that could talk.

THEY DIDN’T TASTE GOOD.

Just a reminder: Ugin has eaten people.

"I didn't realize humans would trust dragons," he said.

This is another important moment for Nicol, who is beginning to realize humans can be of use to him.

Death was no longer a stranger to me, for we had killed our share of prey, but the screams of the dying soldiers troubled me in a way that the last moments of the animals we'd hunted had not.

This is good! It’s too bad Ugin would lose sight of this somewhat when he became a planeswalker and messed with the fundamental natures of planes.

"You are the twins, Nicol and Ugin."

"I am Nicol Bolas," said Nicol.

"You are?" I asked. "When did that happen?"

"I have two names. All proper dragons have two names."

"Ugin is fine for me," I said, dismissing this as another of Nicol's quicksilver mood changes. I turned politely back to our older brother. "Brother Arcades, why did the humans attack us when we approached?"

Another great character moment. Nicol names himself Bolas. Ugin doesn’t feel the need. Very interesting.

And Vaevictis's mob. They're quite the gang of marauders. And more besides them, some flying alone and some flocking together. I protect the humans from the other dragons who roam this land. But I am also teaching the humans to a better path of life, one ruled not just by their own primitive, violent tendencies."

Here is the rest of the dragons I mentioned earlier. It’s interesting that Vaevictis is the leader of his own group.

I also find it very interesting that it is Arcades Sabboth who taught civilization to humanity! We previously knew NOTHING about him. Now, he founded human civilization!

Unlike our kind, they work together. Do you want to come see? You may visit for a little while as my honored guests, as long as you follow the rules of law and order I have established in this colony."

So, it was then that we accompanied Arcades back to the town. He made us known to the people there, and they greeted us with awe and respect, although, perhaps not quite as much awe and respect as they showed to Arcades, whom they called "Dragonlord."

So that’s where the title Dragonlord comes from. For elder dragons who rule a human civilization, Ugin taught the name to the Jeskai. I wonder if we’ll be getting Dragonlord Arcades as his actual card?

I poked my snout into everything, and made particular friends with an old holy elder named Te Ju Ki, whose sole purpose in life, it seemed, was to think about things that could not be seen.

I’m not sure who Te Ju Ki is, but the name is so specific it feels like it has to be referenced somewhere, no?

Nicol had no patience for her possessionless way of being in the world; he wanted to be where Arcades was, guiding and advising the people. Nicol made himself useful in a hundred ways, digging into every crevice of human life and emotion. But the greed and excitement and anxiety and competitiveness of humans tired me when I was around it too much, so the solitude of Te Ju Ki's way attracted me. I soaked up the calm wisdom she exuded.

Nicol Bolas: Guider and Adviser.

In reality, Bolas was learning how to run a civilization, because he wanted to rule, not adjudicate.

Entire days would pass in silence as she and I sat in her circular chamber. Its roof had long since fallen in, and she informed me once that the half-collapsed tower was an artifact of builders who had bided here before the people who now lived in this place.

"We are not the first, and we will not be the last," she said. "We see only our hand before our face, but there have been other hands here before ours, and there will come others after us. Even this world is but one layer amid many others."

She knew many schemes as an aid to meditation, but I best liked it when she spun globes of light in the air. Translucent threads of magic tethered each of the globes to the others so that, as they whirled in the air, they remained both separate and yet linked by connections too mysterious for me to comprehend. She called each one a "plane," although I did not know what she meant by the word at that time. When I asked if the globes were a thought experiment or if they really existed, she said it did not matter because no physical being could cross between planes. But I didn't care about that. The way the radiant globes interlocked and moved in and around each other fascinated me as much as the wisdom she uttered in her whispery rasp of a voice.

"Everything that lives is interwoven. Everything that dies is consumed by something else, by another animal or by decay. In this rot lies the kernel of new life, for it passes back into the world as seeds take root and grow. There is no end, just endless cycles of transformation."

Ugin learns about the Multiverse!

The guards took him away. As a steward directed the body be removed and the blood washed off the stones, I raised my eyes to the roof of one of the nearby buildings. Nicol lounged there, stretched along the ridgeline, watching the scene with an avid gaze.

"What did you do?" I demanded in dragon speech.

"What did I do? I have not moved from here."

"You stood by and let it happen? You could have intervened."

A smirk of satisfaction creased his visage. "What if I did?"

The prickling sensation intensified. "What do you mean? What did you do, Nicol?"

"I have discovered a better way to get revenge. Are you coming or are you going to stay with your mealy-mouthed sage and her bland tidbits of wisdom?"

So... Bolas definitely used magic to make that guy kill the other guy, right?

I wonder what Bolas’s revenge will end up being.

#vorthos #archive trap blog #mtgm19

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anagamitofotografia · 3 years

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Stories & important info on POS System Equipment and Point of Sale.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the Texas Observer’s May/June 2021 print edition. Since its publication, prosecutor Ralph Petty has surrendered his license to practice law. A district court judge in Midland has also recommended a new trial for Clinton Young.

From the May/June 2021 issue

It’s 2016, and I’m driving north on U.S. 59, a four-lane stretch of blacktop in Deep East Texas bordered by towering pines. This morning, I’d set out from New Orleans, where I intern at a public defender’s office, to make the five-hour trek to rural Polk County, northeast of Houston. I see my turnoff up ahead: the country road leading to the Allan B. Polunsky Unit, a maximum-security prison comprising a collection of drab concrete buildings hemmed in by barbed wire.

This is where a dear friend has been sentenced to die.

At the gate, the guards search the trunk of my car to make sure I’m not carrying any contraband. I park, go inside, and am escorted to the visitation area, a long, narrow room with rows of cubicles separated by a heavy sheet of plexiglass. The air is thick with conversations between incarcerated people and their visitors—doting wives who dream of the day they’re reunited with their husbands, crying babies that have never been held by their father or grandfather or uncle, fervently praying priests. I sit in a sticky chair in a cubicle that’s tinted yellow from the fluorescent lights overhead as I wait for my friend to arrive.

Eventually, a guard opens a door behind the glass and escorts Clinton into the cubicle opposite mine. He is tall, with pale blue eyes and a buzz cut. He’s in handcuffs. I consider Clinton a close friend after years of corresponding by letter, but I’ve never actually met him until today. And seeing him like this—handcuffed, locked behind a metal door—is disconcerting. Clinton Lee Young, standing in front of me at 32 years old, is treated as if he’s a killer.

I don’t think he killed anyone.

In 2000, a man named Doyle Douglas was killed in Longview as part of what police say was a drug deal and kidnapping gone wrong. Two days later, Samuel Petrey was killed in Midland. Police arrested Clinton, only 18 years old then, on suspicion of murder because he was present at both crime scenes. They also arrested two other people in connection to the deaths, who would later testify against Clinton. In 2003, he was convicted by a Midland County jury of capital murder, sentenced to death, and sent to the Polunsky Unit, the facility that houses all the men in Texas on death row. He’s been there ever since.

All of the men sentenced to death row in Texas are held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Wikimedia Commons

In January 2014, I saw a Dutch documentary about Clinton’s case that aired in the Netherlands, where I was born and grew up. By that time Clinton had been in solitary confinement on death row for 11 years. Meanwhile, I was finishing up law school in Rotterdam. I felt an inexplicable connection to Clinton, a feeling that was neither pity nor simple curiosity. I was immediately drawn to his story, and I didn’t want to just learn more about his case—I wanted to do more.

On the screen, I saw a young, healthy, and possibly innocent man explain his fate. It shocked me. In the Netherlands, not only has the death penalty been abolished for more than a millennium, but even a life sentence is rarely implemented. The justice system there focuses primarily on rehabilitation, which is why there is hesitancy to carry out an irreversible sentence. The death penalty’s only purpose is retaliation—a difficult concept for me to accept, both from a legal perspective and a humanitarian one. I wanted to help Clinton, so I started with the easiest thing I could do: I wrote him a letter. I told Clinton about my interest in the law, and he wrote back: “You know what your goals are. I think we will get along great.” He was right. Through our first few letters, we quickly developed a bond that later became a lifelong friendship.

I regularly visited Clinton the summer I worked in New Orleans. In fact, Clinton was a big part of the reason I applied for the internship to begin with. As our friendship grew, so did my interest in his legal case. I devoted hours every day to learning as much as I could about his conviction. The state’s case looked weak. There was no ballistic evidence, forensic evidence, fingerprints, or DNA to prove that Clinton was guilty of the killings, and the state was largely dependent on the testimony of his two co-defendants. (They received lenient sentences in return for their testimony against Clinton, which would later be deemed inconsistent and unreliable.) Later, in 2019, I would learn that Ralph Petty, the prosecutor in the case, had secretly worked for the judge as a paid law clerk. It was in this role that Petty drafted rulings in Clinton’s case, advised the judge on legal matters, and had access to confidential information that would otherwise not be accessible to a prosecutor. Petty’s relationship with the judge impacted dozens of other cases, robbing defendants of a fair trial.

Merel Pontier Photo by Louise Corazon

After completing my internship and returning to the Netherlands, I joined a nonprofit that had been created in Clinton’s name. Then the worst possible thing happened: The judge in Clinton’s case set an execution date for October 26, 2017. When his execution had not been stayed by October 18, I flew 13 hours from Amsterdam to Houston. While I was in the air, the court granted Clinton a stay of execution. Clinton’s legal relief came after new evidence emerged of possible false testimony by the state’s star witness, one of Clinton’s co-defendants. He had provided crucially damning testimony at Clinton’s trial, and the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed that it was possibly false and Clinton shouldn’t be executed until more investigating was done.

His life had been saved—temporarily, at least—but Clinton is still living in terrible conditions. He has been in solitary confinement for almost 20 years: That’s 20 birthdays without being celebrated; it’s 1,040 Mondays waking up in a 7-by-10-foot cage completely alone; it’s 7,300 days of total isolation with virtually no human contact. In the past 20 years, the only time Clinton has had any physical contact with another person is when prison staff have used force. He hasn’t felt his mother’s embrace since he was 18. The complete sensory deprivation is enough to break even the strongest person.

Clinton’s near-execution was a wake-up call for me. I started applying to law schools in Texas, with the ultimate goal of representing people with death sentences. I was admitted to a one-year master’s of law program at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, which meant I would be living only four hours from the Polunsky Unit. My once-a-year visits became once-a-week visits. That year at law school, while I was working to understand a complex American judicial system, Clinton helped me with my studies. He gave me some of his law books, and he offered explanations for the legal theories I learned in class. Clinton is remarkably intelligent, and I often asked him to explain a certain law, legal term, or case. He would respond with a detailed letter full of case examples, explanations, and his personal annotations. My law school study materials consisted of legal anthologies, casebooks, my own notes, and Clinton’s letters. Clinton was a constant motivation to me throughout law school, and when I graduated in May 2020 with a specialization in capital punishment, I knew it was an accomplishment we had achieved together. Six months later, after the two-day, 12-hour Texas bar exam, I became a licensed attorney.

Last year, I established the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation and became its general counsel. The nonprofit, once nothing more than a Facebook page with a mission, is now a multinational entity with the common goal to get Clinton off death row and help others who are similarly trapped in the American criminal “justice” system. The foundation has become my passion, and I’m making it my life’s work. The foundation’s mission isn’t fulfilled yet because Clinton is still on death row, but we are working to create a legacy for Clinton. If nothing else, I want the world to believe what I do, which is that he is innocent of murder and never received a fair trial.

Recently I read some of Clinton’s first letters to me, and I couldn’t help but smile. In his first one, from January 2015, he wrote, “Do you plan to come back to the U.S. any time in the near future? If you want to work on a case, why not work on mine?” Now I’m one of Clinton’s attorneys and I run a human rights organization in his name. I could have never imagined that my life would look like this. But I was lucky to meet the right person, who inspired me to take a different course.

And my work has only just begun.

Merel Pontier is a criminal defense attorney specializing in capital cases. She is the founder of the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation as well as its general counsel.

Emily Bloom, a law student at the University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Clinton Young Foundation, assisted in editing this article.

This post was published here.

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afriendlypokealien · 3 years

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Stories & important info on POS System Equipment and Point of Sale.

From the May/June 2021 issue

This is where a dear friend has been sentenced to die.

I don’t think he killed anyone.

All of the men sentenced to death row in Texas are held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Wikimedia Commons

Merel Pontier Photo by Louise Corazon

And my work has only just begun.

Merel Pontier is a criminal defense attorney specializing in capital cases. She is the founder of the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation as well as its general counsel.

Emily Bloom, a law student at the University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Clinton Young Foundation, assisted in editing this article.

This post was published here.

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gaiatheorist · 6 years

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DWP- Dealing With Paranoia.

I have different coping strategies to a lot of people. When I engaged with the outside world more, there was an air of bravado to me, a carefully nurtured appearance of being carefree. There was nothing I couldn’t deal with, I ‘thought on my feet’, and saw through whatever chaos or calamity was happening, to pinpoint a logical, or at least acceptable pathway. In some ways it was innate, just how my mind functions, to triage a situation or potential future situation, map-out possible outcomes and risks, and razor-sharp, whittle down to the preferred outcome with minimal risks attached.

It was a useful skill to have in my previous employment, the ability to brush the dirt from the knees of my trousers after attending a first-aid incident, then distract or divert a student who was behaving inappropriately, before meeting with yet another parent who wanted to shout at someone about some policy or other being “Paffetic!” Some days we’d have a fire alarm, or a dead pigeon to deal with, or the brilliance of a “Dog in the playground!” I miss “Dog in the playground!” incidents.

It’s also a useful skill to have in terms of working around my brain injuries, the constant background rattle of risk assessment for every task, however mundane, keeps me mostly-safe. (You don’t have to fall off the toilet many times before you figure out a strategy to reduce the risk of it happening again, nobody wants to have to phone an ambulance with their trousers around their ankles.)

The flip-side is the anxiety over all of the ‘What if?’ outcomes. Mostly it’s just background noise, “What if I fall over?” “I won’t fall over if I use the furniture as hand-rails when the vertigo-thing is bad.” “What if the fatigue hits early, and I forget to do something important?” “Do the important things early in the day, the less-important things can be rolled over to tomorrow if needed.” Most of my functional deficits are manageable, with some adaptations, I manage day-to-day because I over-think everything, and have contingency plans for everything within my control.

It’s the things beyond my control that are the most difficult to deal with, the ‘unknowns’ that are entirely dependent on other people or agencies. Right now, I’m dealing with more unknowns than I’m comfortable with, DWP, Student Finance, and the NHS are my current ‘sea of troubles’, and I have Thalassophobia. It’s not the NHS’s fault that they’re stretched beyond capacity, but they are in part responsible for the precarious state I’m in now. If there had been more capacity for appropriate guidance when I was discharged from hospital following the brain haemorrhage, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. There wasn’t, and I am. I had my monitoring brain scan last week, and I ‘should’ have the results within 2 weeks. I won’t, I’ll have to chase it, at the same time as trying to rescue my son’s Student Finance, and feeling like DWP have me on an electronic tag for the ‘crime’ of needing state support while I try to sort out my health.

Universal Credit, “Rolling six benefits into one!”, except it isn’t really. Despite numerous objections to the scheme, the government are carrying on regardless with the roll-out. The flagship has no lifeboats at all, but the band is playing on, the captain charging ahead, while the crew focus only on their discreet tasks. “That’s not my department, sorry.” The current phase of roll-out is transferring current claimants onto ‘Full Service’, the new, all-electronic system. How thoroughly modern, to cut out the pointless ‘time-sheet’ my work coach used to insist I present to her, to evidence what I was doing to actively seek employment. (That’s just my personal niggle, everything I was doing was hand-written in my note-pad, and then typed up into the ‘homework sheet’ for the coach to initial. If this system kills me, the note-pad will be on my desk. The evidence was already online, every task logged on the ‘Universal Jobmatch’ website, I was effectively not just duplicating, but triplicating the data, as back-up. ‘Just in case’, like the time my printer wouldn’t work, and my coach had to look up her password to log onto the system, rather than allow my handwritten notes.)

If I wanted to be kind, I’d say there are ‘teething problems’ with the roll-out of the new system. The guidance for work coaches on transfer-claims is 19 pages long, all very linear-flow-charts, it’s not the lines that are bothering me, it’s what’s between them. My work coach gave me a sheet of paper in June, “Universal Jobmatch is being phased out, but you already have a CV, don’t you? You don’t need to do anything yet.” Then, at my last appointment, last month, she advised that the ‘live’ service was being replaced by the ‘full service’, but she hadn’t been on the training for it, she had to call over a colleague to ask what would happen next. “You’ll get a message when you need to come in for an appointment with your ID.” (The same ID as I presented a year and a half ago, that they already have on their systems, but I suppose it’s a fraud-prevention strategy.)

I didn’t get ‘a message’, on September 26th, two brown envelopes landed on my doormat, I skimmed them very briefly, and put them on my ‘do that tomorrow’ pile, because my anxiety was already ramped up high about the horrible brain scan I had booked on the 29th. Without going into too much technical terminology, one letter isn’t dated, and says ‘get ready to switch’, and that ‘we will write to you and tell you when you need to switch and how.’ That’s the UC491. In the same post came the UC492, the ‘call to action’, which stated “If you don’t complete all the activities to switch to the online claim by 3/10/2018, your payments may stop and your claim may be closed.” Info-sheet, with no actual information on it, and ‘first warning’, in the same post. (The UC492 is dated September 19th, second-class post, I didn’t receive it until the 26th, or read it properly until the 27th. Six days to register, input all the details they already have, book, and attend an appointment. I’m female, but I’m not Doctor Who, and two of the six days were already tied up with the brain scan. The scans always knock me sideways the following day, the sensory issues from my brain injuries are not conducive to being trapped in a noisy metal tube, and then getting home on public transport with a whopper of a headache, and exacerbated sensory over-stimulus.)

I panicked. Initially that I’d be called for my appointment on the same day as my scan, and incur a sanction for refusing to cancel the scan to attend the appointment. Working around that, one of the ‘commitments’ I’m currently obliged to fulfil is ‘seek and follow medical advice’, the particular scanner they use for my brain is a very expensive MRA machine, cancelling that scan would inconvenience the NHS, and there would be an additional wait for a new appointment.

I typed in the link from the letter. Which didn’t work the first time I tried it, I’d probably made a typo, cold hands, and eyes that sometimes go a bit ‘off’, I frequently hit the key to the right of the one I’m aiming for. (They have my email address, and mobile number, they could have sent the link electronically.) I eventually got ‘in’ to the site, and, after a bit of searching around, found the right link-out from there. Then my laptop crashed, full black-screen meltdown, so I had to restart it. It took me four hours to complete the forms, part of that is my disability, but I’d already side-researched, and the system times-out after an unspecified period of inactivity. Taking my fatigued eyes away from the screen for six minutes in every hour wasn’t an option. (Yes, there’s a ‘save’ feature, but I was panicking. The inference that if I failed to complete the activities, my benefit ‘may’ be stopped was enough to tip me into major anxiety.) I thought I’d finished it all, when I was presented with another layer, ‘VERIFY’, where I entered my contact details, bank details, and had to take a photograph of the front and back of my provisional driving licence, along with a photograph of my actual face. (Which probably doesn’t look like the photo on my driving licence, it’s 8 years old, and I’ve had a stroke since then.) That all seems as dodgy as hell to me, I wouldn’t hand over my bank details and photographs of my driving licence to a real person, but the system said I needed to do it to complete the online application, so I did it.

The ‘VERIFY’ thing couldn’t be completed, it’ll either be my stroke-y face, or my inability to hold my phone completely still for photographs. All of the faffing about with ‘VERIFY’ meant that the transfer-application had timed-out, and bounced me back to the start-screen. Four hours, gone, and I didn’t have another four hours of functionality in me to do it all again. I had to ‘phone the helpline’, as per the on-screen guidance. I hate telephone conversations, I can’t read the non-verbal cues, and I never trust the person on the other end of the line to record what I’ve said accurately, if I say it accurately in the first place. I have verbal aphasia, sometimes I can’t find the ‘right’ word, so substitute one quickly, and hope it’s not too far out of context. There’s a very slim probability of me using the ‘wrong’ word, and triggering fraud procedures, because my brain doesn’t work properly all of the time. ‘Kenneth’ was able to confirm that my transfer details had saved, and I didn’t have the capacity to go off on a rant about the details already being in the system. Between 10.57, and 11.21, he repeatedly assured me that I shouldn’t worry, and that the deadline on the letter, of 3/10/18 was ‘more of an incentive, really.’ Kenneth didn’t have access to the parts of the system that hold the records on my ‘limited capacity for work’, and the UC branch of DWP don’t communicate with the PIP branch, who have all of the medical evidence and details of the functional impairments my disabilities cause. Kenneth booked me a ‘Personal Security Number and evidence’ appointment, and, when he asked the standard question about ‘any accessibility needs’, I explained that an appointment earlier in the day, rather than later would reduce the risk of my cognitive fatigue having an impact.

“Right, Kenneth, I have brain injuries, so I’m going to read back everything you’ve asked me to do, to make sure I have it all right?”

(Attend this place, at this time on this date, and provide these pieces of evidence of identity, is that everything?)

“Ah, no, not this Friday, next Friday.”

“That’s why I read it back to you. Next Friday is outside the timescale stated on the letter.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that, you’ve made the appointment, and it’s in the system, you just have to attend it now.”

I did worry. The letter had stated that the online transfer had to be completed, and the appointment booked AND attended, with appropriate evidence, by 3/10/18, and Kenneth had booked me an appointment on 5/10/18. Kenneth had also told me to take my bank card, driving licence and tenancy agreement, and to get a mini-statement from an ATM as evidence that I had access to that bank account. “Is that everything?” “Yes, that’s everything.” That wasn’t everything. I could be kind, and say that the system is new, and staff are navigating their way around it, but Kenneth didn’t tell me I’d need to provide ‘two months of rent statements or bank statements.’ (Like anyone has a physical ‘rent book’ anymore?)

On the Monday, as I’d spoken to Kenneth on the Thursday, my email pinged, confirming the appointment. I skimmed it on my phone, and didn’t notice that the time had changed, from 10.50, to 15.30, I was still fuzzy from the brain scan. On the Tuesday, my email pinged again, “You need to read a message in your Universal Credit online journal. Sign into your account today.” ‘Today’ is going to present an issue for me if they send messages later in the day, I’m not fully functional in the afternoon and evening, there’s a much higher probability of cognitive slips. It wasn’t a ‘message’, it was another list of tasks to complete, including ‘preparing for work activities.’, and some equal opportunities monitoring stuff. (Interesting that they wanted a definition of my gender and sexual orientation, but there was no field for disability.)

I noticed the change of time for the appointment, and entered a query online, requesting confirmation as to whether the appointment was 10.50, 15.30, or both. It took over 24 hours for an agent to respond, and he still wasn’t answering my question. I pressed for clarification, stating that the anxiety about potential ‘failed to attend’ processes was impacting on me. He confirmed that it was just the 15.30 appointment. As much as my son ‘hates’ the world-swerve to having to fact-check everything, I hate the way these systems are making me paranoid, I’m developing obsessive over-checking behaviours, because if I’m marked as ‘failed to attend’, DWP can stop my payments.

Yesterday, fatigued after the sensory overload of going for my ‘flu jab, I checked my email. (Conscientious to the end, I’ve never had the ‘flu immunisation before, but, single-and-disabled, if I catch the ‘flu, I won’t be able to feed myself, or manage my medication, I’m a potential cost to the NHS or social care.) There had been an email from DWP while I was walking back from the immunisation, and I must have been in an area with no signal, because it hadn’t ‘pinged.’ An operative at the local job centre had sent a message asking if I could attend an appointment at 12.00. Instead? As well? I still don’t know, because I’ve replied in the ‘online journal’, and had no response as yet. I even went so far as trying to telephone the job centre to query it, mindful that I might not notice an electronic response late in the day. I tried, I Google-searched for the Job Centre telephone number, which is now on 0345 number, not a standard one. That defaults you to an automated message, advising that all Universal Credit queries must now be handled online. I tried the Universal Credit full service transfer telephone number, same message, everything is online once your application is in.

Some DWP departments only ‘allow’ you to change an appointment twice, there’s the ‘without good reason’ qualifier, and I’m very, VERY good at reasons. Technically, that appointment has now been set for three different times, so I could be on a ‘second warning’, after the first ‘call to action’. I haven’t requested any of the changes, and I haven’t been obstructive, only stating in one message that I had requested an earlier appointment rather than a late one in my original communication, as my ‘reasonable adjustment.’

I need to reserve enough functional cognitive capacity to work around systems that aren’t working, and, in spite of my disabilities and circumstances, I’m one of the ‘lucky’ ones. I know how to use a computer, and I have a relatively stable broadband connection. Some people aren’t as adept with tech. Some people won’t open the initial letters, because brown envelopes are never good news. Some people won’t have the functional literacy skills to understand the letters. (The ‘call to action’ tasks are in a margin-block, away from the main body of the letter, and the potential consequences are on a second page, the formatting of the letter does look as if the first page contains all the information, it doesn’t.) After the ‘charitable’ gesture of making the helpline a free-phone number last year, this government has proven that to be an Indian gift. Acknowledging that some claimants would be in such abject hardship that they couldn’t afford phone-credit, or to keep their land-line connected, and then making the next phase of the roll-out completely electronic. “Just pop into the Job Centre, you can use our computers!”, if it took me four hours, I dread to think how long it’s going to take hunt-and-peck typists.

I have a paranoia-loop about my ‘claim’, there’s a streak of righteous indignation that DWP already have all of my information, and I didn’t ask for a new system to complicate matters, but I need to be very careful how I word that to DWP staff, lest I’m seen to be obstructive. If DWP don’t like the look of my ‘evidence’ of rent, they’ll delay the claim, they did the first time, it was 9 weeks between my initial claim and them finalising the ‘housing element’ that doesn’t actually cover my rent. The point they had issue with at the time was clarified, and I know how to work around it again, but I shouldn’t have to, they already have it on record once. If they decide to play hard-ball on the ‘housing element’, I can technically cover my rent, by topping-up with my PIP disability benefit. I shouldn’t have to, that payment is intended to cover the additional costs to me of living with complex disabilities, it’s not for DWP to use as a non-refundable overdraft facility, while my documents sit in a drawer somewhere, until I chase progress.

I have a little money in the bank, some people won’t. I have additional funds coming in from my PIP, some people don’t have that safety net. I am paranoid that DWP are going to ‘sanction’ my payments on technicalities that I have no control over, technicalities that are deliberately worked into the fabric of their systems, a safety-net that’s more holes than substance. October should have been the start of me addressing my on-going, complex and permanent health issues, with my son back at uni, the PIP awarded, and the ‘limited capacity for work’ notice applied to my UC commitment. Instead of allowing me to focus on my health, as the initial step to being able to work in the future, DWP are exacerbating the mental health issues, and compounding the cognitive components of my brain injuries.

I’ll have a clearer idea of where I stand after Friday. I’ll attend the 12.00 appointment, ‘acting on last instruction given’, and clarify then whether the 15.30 still stands or not. (Good luck to DWP if they try to suggest that attending two appointments means I’m fully capable of any/all employment, none of my ‘points’ on the PIP award were for mobility or planning, I over-plan.) What I need to NOT do is sit in this chair any longer, ‘just in case’ I miss an email from DWP, that’s a maladaptive coping mechanism. I need to eat, and sort out some mundane housekeeping, AND I think I’m a bit foggy after my ‘flu jab, which isn’t helping. The Marionette PM has stated that she wants a society ‘for everyone’, but not all ‘everyones’ are equal. Some people will fall through the gaps in the systems, collective collateral, who will likely be dismissed as ‘scroungers’ by elements of the press. I won’t fall through, because I’m paranoid, and then the NHS will be left to address the paranoia that the DWP has created and compounded.

0 notes

sandiegojobsondemand · 6 years

Text

Job Openings Disappoint As Americans

None of these are real “jobs”. They’re just advertisements so they can bring in the H1B workers.

“Engineering Project Manager for Silicon Design Division – Prior government expertise required, prior personal practice expertise needed, 20 years minimal experience. Must reside and work in Palo Alto. Independent Contractor position, 10 dollars an hour”

I’ve been job hunting for a long time so I Can escape the hell of my present job. Everything is temporary, contract, and pays $12 a hour. Rent is so high I can not take a pay cut. I am younger than many here, and I am just spinning my wheels and so is everyone else my age.

If you can and I am aware that it is a big IF nowadays. Try working on yourself just as much as possible. Shlep life insurance, repair stuff and generate cash payments to you where and if you may.

Don’t be reluctant to drive around the industrial park searching for work. Nobody does that anymore. Nobody.

The realtor market in my area is flourishing. Not real estate – agent. Thousands of people have gotten their real estate license in the past few years to the point that there are twice as many realtors than houses for sale in inventory at any 1 time.

They’re all just Searching for a chance to make some money someplace. I imagine it’s the same in the insurance sector.

The agents that are in debt or present practicing while utilizing debt will quickly become non-active. Getting in and out of real estate is about luck and timing and being in the perfect area.

My daughter who is 41 and her husband are now earning roughly $90K. They have 3 girls and can not make ends meet enough to buy a home. They drive used cars and don’t waste any money on vacations or grownup toys. They haven’t a clue about how things ended up that way but instead just thrash and wail against the politics. I try to get them to understand the real cause but because it was not on their “No child left behind” school program – they don’t understand the way the money cartel works. My only word of advise to you is to use the internet to educate yourself exactly what you were not taught in school. Spoiler – prevent debt however much that they tease you to lure. No debt =liberty.

I’m grateful I knew enough to avoid debt. When I was in school I tried to inform my friends that but they treated pupil loans and credit cards such as free money – and they do. I have a Little Bit of student debt and also have paid off the car I Intend to drive for a long, long time.

Believe it or not two of mine are still paying off school loans by a little school in PA after graduating in 2001 & 2003! We’re helping at a tune of $700 per month since co-signors. I just noticed with ACS any excess payment goes towards future payments not the principal! What a racket!

Some may say I am an idiot, but I am okay with that. Here is exactly what *I* could do on your situation – I would move in with my relatives or friends TEMPORARILY. I would build a Small home onto a trailer. PROPERLY. Or better still, I would find one that someone had built to reside in (and had been assembled PROPERLY), also purchase that because they are worth squat next hand.

If You Wish to get head Nowadays, a Wonderful place to live, freedom, freedom from debt are KEY. And that’s how it’s done. Purchasing property nowadays (except unimproved land for your cellular home – not crappy mobile dwelling) is insane, and so is paying rent.

Read a post here recently, where a person invested 30K to training to become a racing engine machinist. Later, I forget exactly, around a year of training, his first year he left 25K, next 45K, then 3 or 4 years he was creating 96K. The jist; prepare to do something someone is willing to pay for. I got three children that Im wanting to do this through with.

Space share, reside on a ship, anything. You have to receive your outgoings down.

Do you will need a vehicle,or is it cheaper to hire? .

What’s the cheapest possible phone deal?

The machine has you in the paycheck-to-paycheck trap, and you’re going to need to do the fiscal equivalent of gnawing your own foot off to escape, but get you out must.

And the easy understanding of understanding you can inform any boss to shove it is of inestimable price. Your mental health will enhance hugely, and also your manager will real treat you better if s/he knows this (fall subtle hints).

I have two bachelors degrees and they’re not in gender studies or social studies. My degrees are in science and business and I can not find a job in my field. Whatever, I am simply discourged and ventilation.

Dude, I am doing exactly the exact same job I was doing in 2003 after graduate school and fine jobs in PE.

Find something different. I am reinventing myself to program, therefore I don’t have to rely on anybody to code what I know needs to have done.

I am also on the look out to additional biz opportunities.

We’re in 1920s Europe at the moment. You are all on your own.

In the early 80’s it was pretty awful for occupations where I lived. I was hired by three firms and prior to the first start date I receivied a call saying due to business conditions the job I was hired for vanished. After three of these, I said screw it and began my own company.

This was a very long time past, there were weeks I hardly made enough to put food on the table and other months when money was flowing in.

You can not rely on a degree alone. You need to be versatile and eager to do whatever the job demands.

In my opinion this is the only means. Those Wall St types that make countless are the exception, not the principle and many got those places by chance and that they know, just as it has always been.

Just take any fulltime job that doesn’t treat you like shit, if you can find one.

Start learning how to construct your own (easy) home.

Strategy to give up the rat race whenever possible.

It’s not going to get better.

I’ve tried watching a couple of reality television survivor shows in the uk recently: leaving men on islands, letting them set up communes, trying to pass SAS type evaluations etc.. Anyhow, what struck me is that 95 percent of the morons on the displays have non existent jobs but are incredibly proud of these…

Personal coaches, hypnosis therapists, feet massagers/aromatherapists, jugglers, vloggers, Zumba instructors, sandwich artists, baristas, freelance tree surgeons, etc..etc. . .one girl proved to be a twerking trainer, I shit you not even a twerking mentor.

I take that a lot of the fukctards who go on those displays will be weird narcissists, they are the only people having the spare time to go on those torturous and vacuous displays, but it struck me that all these millennials have just this on offer in our service industry, consumer spend driven economy. It is over, we are so past peak human.

Require 5 thousand people off most of the free shit and let them to Begin applying for those 5 million projects

I am hoping that job creation and unemployment numbers will now be correctly reported. I am really tired of seeing rainbows and unicorns when there are none. Get ready yourself for the worst and hope for the best. Keep Stackin Bitchezzz !

Let’s review what I know about applying for a job and the way I believe that the scam operates. Your resume shows:

Your title, are you male or female, are you associated with the Smiths or Joneses we know or are you a foreigner.

Your address, are you currently a local candidate or do you reside on the wrong side of town.

Your present employer, in case you’ve got a job we’re interested if you aren’t presently employed, we’re not curious. What financial compensation might you be hoping to take a new job?

Where else are you worked and when, how long do you keep employed before you move on to another company or are there any gaps in your job history? In case you have openings we’re not curious.

Your education, did you go to a prestigious school or a community school. If you went to a prestigious school perhaps you’re well connected and we’ll pay you a superior, a community school, not too much.

Your references, that will guarantee you. We need names, titles of people that you know that we don’t, we need to talk to someone we don’t know to vouch for someone we don’t trust.

Everything you won’t know when applying for a job are the states of employment. If you knew what went on here you would not be employing.

Here is what happened? 95 million American workers, not in the US labour force. As a guideline, if you want something, tax it.

Source

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-07/job-openings-disappoint-americans-quitting-their-jobs-tumble

from Sandiego jobs on demand http://www.sandiegojobsondemand.com/job-openings-disappoint-as-americans/

0 notes

ultralifehackerguru-blog · 7 years

Photo

New Post has been published on http://www.lifehacker.guru/36-people-solid-sense-humor/

36 People With A Solid Sense Of Humor

One of my favorite qualities in another person is a solid sense of humor. Funny people can make every situation more entertaining.So if you’re having a bad day, or could even use a quick distraction from your responsibilities, check out these folks who definitely know how to make a joke.

1. “Ohhhhh yeahhhh!” Whoever did this probably got so fed up with the wall that they just decided to turn it into a joke instead. Rumor has it that the Kool-Aid Man is still on the loose to this day.

Reddit | XtopherP33

2. It seems like this sign has some pretty bad seasonal allergies. Either that, or the person in charge of making the sign was being lazy and decided it would be less work to make this joke.

Reddit | matherly32

3. When this RadioShack went out of business, the owners decided that they should have one last laugh and make the sign say “Adios” as a final farewell to their customers.

Reddit | zgp5002

4. April Fools’ Day has to be like Christmas for prankster parking attendants. They probably just go around the entire city handing out fake tickets to mess with people, like this one did.

Reddit | hysnbrg4

5. When you need a ride home from the airport, be careful which one of your friends you ask to pick you up. If you pick one who is prone to making jokes, you risk being greeted with an embarrassing sign.

Reddit | Kat_lanta

6. I ain’t sayin’ she’s a gold digger, but that license plate is. I think this is the person that Kanye West was talking about in his song. Hey, at least she’s honest about it.

Reddit | eyebrowfetish

7. If you start losing your hair, you can either be sad about it, or get excited because in a few years, you’ll have an awesome joke opportunity like this guy.

Reddit | BreakYourselfFool

8. Now this girl has a solid sense of humor. I would love to be friends with her, especially since her personality is 20/10! I think my favorite part of her entire bio is her occupation.

Twitter | @MEMESG0D

9. I like the responses by both the student and the teacher. You can tell that this teacher is probably every kid’s favorite because he knows how to have a good time.

Imgur | stargoslaby

10. These parents were walking around The Gap when they found their lookalikes and decided to impersonate them. Honestly, I think they might have a future in modeling if they wanted to.

Reddit | keesh75

11. The traffic signs in Utah are notorious for always having something witty to say. I would love to meet the person who’s in charge of writing these. I think this might be my dream job.

Reddit | JackTheScripter

12. When riding a motorcycle, sure you could wear a boring, regular helmet that will just protect your brain. Orrr you could put a mask over it and bring joy to every car and pedestrian that you pass while driving.

Reddit | proudwhytetrash

13. It was “Ranch Day” at their high school, and one kid decided to take a little different direction with it. I just found what I’m going as for Halloween this year.

Imgur | IBarrettl

14. If I owned a dog, you better believe that he’d be wearing this outfit 24/7. Seriously, if I saw this dog walking down the street, I wouldn’t stop laughing for the next hour.

Reddit | LordRekrus

15. This local, independent coffee shop decided to have a sense of humor and use a Starbucks mug as their toilet brush holder. Shots fired. The ball’s in your court, Starbucks.

Reddit | daviedrew

16. Their sales to young basics increase by 200% during the fall. Rumor has it that if you wear a pair of Uggs into the store, you’ll receive an additional 15% off your tires.

Reddit | colby979

17. This kid has a great sense of humor. Most people in his situation would be angry about receiving a gift like this, but he’s owning it. This is the attitude that makes the world a better place.

Reddit | Taran_McDohl

18. Poor guy doesn’t have a girlfriend to be his passenger, but thanks to his solid sense of humor, Barbie got to go for a ride. I would love to see this cute couple cruising down the road.

Reddit | Empire-Maker

19. There’s nothing like a father showing his children love and affection. I would hate to be the doctor to tell this guy that he’s not allowed to do certain things. Chances are, he’s not going to listen.

Twitter | @spliced_

20. After Hurricane Harvey, Houston needed a bit of humor to cheer people up, and this guy nailed it. I hope that someone takes him up on the offer. I’m sure the water damage will buff right out.

Reddit | colby979

21. You must always throw a safeguard in there.

With T-Swift out there singing, “Look what you made me do,” it gives people permission to totally blame others for their actions.

Instagram | @nochill

22. An eight-pack might have been a little overzealous.

I am not entirely sure how this made him feel better, but his Twitter profile pic would suggest he is quite proud.

Instagram | @kalesalad

23. Such a good call.

But I’m now stuck wondering what is that button actually for? The word “chaos” also always makes me think about Jeff Goldblum, so that’s a bit of alright.

Instagram | @unilad

24. They’re good. They are good.

Too bad my self-esteem has been crushed over the years and they would not make a penny over me. Didn’t think about that, did ya?

Instagram | @unilad

25. This is savage trolling at its best!

Not a bad game if you have a keen eye for up-and-comers. But for a small-time revenge scheme, it seems like it’s pretty legit.

Instagram | @unilad

26. Cats are jerks and deserve to be shamed as often as possible.

This little A-hole thought his antics were funny. Who’s laughin’ now, Mittens? Now all your Facebook friends know.

Reddit | warrant2k

27. She is not wrong.

They have even achieved the same level of voluminous body throughout the style. And their color is identical. They must go to the same salon and ask for “The Nancy.”

Instagram | @kalesalad

28. In life it’s important to be comfortable with who you are.

And if that means you’re Spider-Man, then freakin’ be Spider-Man! If by “dressing up,” they meant fancy clothes, well, it doesn’t get much fancier than that.

Instagram | @miinute

29. It’s one thing to be chill during tough times, but it’s something else entirely when it’s the middle of a war.

The only place on whose behalf I’d fight in a civil war is Flavortown!

Reddit | KronosIII

30. Sometimes you gotta go out of your comfort zone and take a risk or two.

Tyler here doubts the qualifications of the mortgage adviser, but I think he’s a good boy! Good boy!

Instagram | @wot_u_sayin_tho

31. This is definitely a dad’s idea of keeping chill.

Yep, nothing like a good dad joke — probably because there’s no such thing as a good dad joke. But this is adorable nonetheless.

Instagram

32. Nothing like luring your prey into a deadly trap.

I think he just wanted to make a cool place for these ants’ last moment on earth.

Instagram | @wot_u_sayin_tho

33. This guy is dedicated to finding max chill with a good doggo.

You know, I don’t think there’s anything weird about this. Dogs are sick! Hey, I know a mortgage adviser he’d love!

Instagram | @x__antisocial_butterfly__x

34. Just let him chill, bro. Just let him chill.

That’s one laid-back trash panda, but I probably would’ve freaked out. Not this person, though. I bet they’re good friends now.

Instagram

35. Looks like it runs in the family.

Instagram | @miinute

36. Bill Nye has absolutely zero chill about the realities of climate change.

Seriously, people. Bill Nye is fire, but global warming is a real problem, and the planet needs to chill out.

Tumblr | creativekandi

(C)

#funny #Lifestyle

0 notes

midwesternmoron · 7 years

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Temporary jobs: Good for America?

Try a Google search for temp jobs and see posts from US NEWS, FORBES, and others discussing the hidden value of temporary labor.

Then try searching for "Why temp jobs suck" and you'll find some hardcore posts from Americans that, well, to put it mildly, do not see value in temporary work. I thought I would start with a homogenous title for this post. Perhaps my little post will journey its way in between all of those dry articles about how Americans are better off with temporary work. After working for 3 different temporary agencies here is my review of what you can expect should you venture into temporary work.

You'll live in fear.

Sounds ominous, doesn't it. Woo, live in fear. Hold on just a second. Do you live paycheck to paycheck, or have a strict payment schedule with little flexibility, or perhaps family members you are supporting? Temporary work comes with an "out" for every employer. If an employer finds that a temp is objectionable in any way, employers can simply contact the temp agency and advise them that services provided by the temp are, "no longer required." Your job is now "up in smoke" with little if any notice given.

Working as a temp, you'll be anxious while leveraging your great work ethic. You may ask yourself, "Good fortune has always come to those who work hard, hasn't it?"

You'll be awaiting some positive feedback from management; some sign that they would be better off having you around. Unfortunately, if you are looking for a smile or a pat on the back after bringing your best: Nah, your agency will get credit for your winning performance.

Low wages, no raises.

$12 bucks per hour regardless of experience. Regardless. Do you remember that internship you bled out over in College? That independent study you busted your butt over? How about that work project that made you stand out to a previous employer? All those weekend study hours you put in as your classmates went for a social gathering just to reach your personal goals? How about that small business you started from the ground up? Perhaps during a previous job, you made a sale that no one else could? Most of us have some fantastic highlights in our work history.

Newsflash folks! It is a zero-sum-game if you end up with a temporary job. I can't stress this point enough. Your greatest asset to a good employer, your previous experience, adds up to a "hill of beans."Your previous experience counts for 0, nada, nothing. You will not be paid for your previous experience. Your pay will not reflect what previously made you shine as an employee. I have yet to talk to anyone who received a raise as a temp. If you have received a raise as a temp, please write in and tell us about how you achieved that!

Your skill set will rot.

The longer you are a temp, the quicker your other skills "rot on the vine." Moreover, the longer you remain at the same temp assignment, the farther away you move from the pure knowledge, logic, and critical reasoning skills you acquired as a student. If you didn't go to college, chances are you have picked up some valuable skills in the workforce. The skill set that made you a great employee will be lost in fruitless keystrokes, fielding customer inquiry, or pushing products that generally remain the same for years. No intellectual creativity, stimulation or expansion beyond repetitive and hauntingly similar workday tasks.

No benefits.

Some temp agencies may be selling benefits. In most cases, you'll not receive benefits from a business your assigned to. If your paying for any benefits provided by the temp agency while being paid $12 bucks and hour, you'll start wondering about affording your co-pay with what's left of your paycheck. Thanks to current health care laws, you are basically forced to maintain coverage or you'll pay a fee. Some have tried their local state health insurance program for underemployed workers. Benefits may be available to temps through medicare. Hmm, doubtful if medicare offers preventative health care coverage.

You'll be treated like a second class passenger.

The call center or assembly workplace environment won't be a pleasant place to work. Enjoy the many different office personalities, grievances, egos, and dramas that always come with lots of people in one place. Some social stratification will be an unwelcome experience as you start from the bottom. Working with company supervisors, temps that have already been hired, or just those that have been assigned to the workplace longer than you, in some Darwinian hierarchical nonsense, you'll be last to take your lunch.

You'll be lied to.

Temp Agencies use 3 categories when acquiring new help. Temp, temp to hire, and permanent placement. When I was offered my current placement, I was enthusiastically told I would be a temp-to-hire. "This is a growing company," they will bring you on if you have a good work record after 4 months". 7 months later, no job. If you are a temp to hire, you might not get an invitation. In fact, after 6 months, the company I recently worked for posted a full-time job opening for the public that I had been brought in for. Out of dozens of temps who were already working in the same role none were hired. The job posting remained open for weeks.

Hurl a piece of meat into a pit and watch the hungry dogs fight for it.

No one was actually moved into a full-time job. In over 7 months since I was assigned as a temp, no one was hired. After 9 months on another assignment, only 2 temps were hired out of dozens of temps working beyond the 4-month temp-to-hire promise. Those that were hired were cherry-picked and not first in line. Nor were the temp-hirees particularly on-the-job strong performers. Who knows, some obtuse metric the company used determined their eligibility for hire.

You'll be told by some conventional wisdom that being a temp is your fault and your responsibility.

I don't know a temporary employee that is irresponsible. Most temps I worked with are doing what they have to do to make sure the people they love and support have the necessities of life. Many temps work two jobs, as the pay for one temp position is unsustainable.

My dad fought in WWII. He and many of his contemporaries fought and died for this simple dignity and common sense ethic when it comes to liberty in America. Our soldiers have already fought and died for Americans to live a better life. There is no authority that can tell you this basic entitlement is not yours if you are willing to work and you abide by our laws. You are entitled to be paid a sustainable wage for your labor.

If you are reading this and are of working age, I challenge you to hold your head up, if you are like most working American citizens, pay taxes and obey our laws, you ARE ENTITLED to a decent job at a substantial wage in order to support yourself or your family. My dad fought in WWII. He and many of his contemporaries fought and died for this simple dignity and common sense ethic. Our soldiers have already fought and died for Americans to live a better life. There is no authority that can tell you this basic entitlement is not yours if you are willing to work and you abide by our laws. You are entitled to be paid a sustainable wage for your labor.

If you have conventional expenses and debts, you'll work two jobs.

Unless you have a second source of income such as child support, alimony, or your family helps out with expenses, you'll be picking up a second job to make ends meet. $1700 per month will give you a choice of living in a tent or a teepee depending on your taste and sense of style. Temp work is extremely difficult to get out of once your in it.

I work in a call center and drive for UBER at night, about 12-16 hours of work between both jobs per day, 6 days per week. I generate an income I feel is just appropriate for myself and my daughter. I would like to be at home as much as possible to cook meals and help my daughter with homework. To meet this goal, I thought I would build a home based travel business. In a nutshell, I have been working on it since 2014. I have very little time to reach my goals. I am lucky to have enough energy to get dinner on the table and clean up.

Workplace management is miserable.

Temp jobs are demanding. After all, nobody really desires to do temp work. That's one reason why companies need temps. Most likely, the job assignment sucks. It's hard labor, busy work, or it's mind numbingly repetitive. My supervisors are good people who have an impossible task. I like to think of them as underpaid teachers in a really bad school system. It just sucks so bad, they want to give up, but they're strapped for cash too. It's a trap. They must focus on those already employed. After all, most temps eventually leave. Never expect too much support from these folks....see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Temp agencies are making a big splash on the stock market.

Can you shift perspective and see how each aspect of temporary work might profit big business? As a business owner, If labor is my largest expense, I want it cheap and in large supply. If I can achieve lower costs, mitigate risk by not paying for benefits, and maintain a task oriented workforce by instantly weeding out undesirables, isn't that worth outsourcing part of my labor force to temp agencies?

The problem is this: Most executives cannot identify with the standard of living endured by you and your family when working for low wages with no benefits. Currently, no collective action is being taken by workers, on behalf of all American workers since the word "Union" was made to sound dirty. Most importantly there are no executive decision makers in the working class. Those involved in setting standards for American labor have nothing in common with people who work for a paycheck. There is no ethics in it.

-midwesternmoron

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afrolatinxsunited · 3 years

Text

Stories & important info on POS System Equipment and Point of Sale.

From the May/June 2021 issue

This is where a dear friend has been sentenced to die.

I don’t think he killed anyone.

All of the men sentenced to death row in Texas are held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Wikimedia Commons

Merel Pontier Photo by Louise Corazon

And my work has only just begun.

Merel Pontier is a criminal defense attorney specializing in capital cases. She is the founder of the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation as well as its general counsel.

Emily Bloom, a law student at the University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Clinton Young Foundation, assisted in editing this article.

This post was published here.

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anagamitofotografia · 3 years

Text

Stories & important info on POS System Equipment and Point of Sale.

From the May/June 2021 issue

This is where a dear friend has been sentenced to die.

I don’t think he killed anyone.

All of the men sentenced to death row in Texas are held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Wikimedia Commons

Merel Pontier Photo by Louise Corazon

And my work has only just begun.

Merel Pontier is a criminal defense attorney specializing in capital cases. She is the founder of the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation as well as its general counsel.

Emily Bloom, a law student at the University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Clinton Young Foundation, assisted in editing this article.

This post was published here.

youtube

0 notes

afroavocadowitch · 3 years

Text

Stories & important info on POS System Equipment and Point of Sale.

From the May/June 2021 issue

This is where a dear friend has been sentenced to die.

I don’t think he killed anyone.

All of the men sentenced to death row in Texas are held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Wikimedia Commons

Merel Pontier Photo by Louise Corazon

And my work has only just begun.

Merel Pontier is a criminal defense attorney specializing in capital cases. She is the founder of the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation as well as its general counsel.

Emily Bloom, a law student at the University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Clinton Young Foundation, assisted in editing this article.

This post was published here.

youtube

0 notes

afrolatinxsunited · 3 years

Text

Stories & important info on POS System Equipment and Point of Sale.

From the May/June 2021 issue

This is where a dear friend has been sentenced to die.

I don’t think he killed anyone.

All of the men sentenced to death row in Texas are held at the Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Polk County. Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Wikimedia Commons

Merel Pontier Photo by Louise Corazon

And my work has only just begun.

Merel Pontier is a criminal defense attorney specializing in capital cases. She is the founder of the U.S. chapter of the Clinton Young Foundation as well as its general counsel.

Emily Bloom, a law student at the University of Texas at Austin and a board member of the Clinton Young Foundation, assisted in editing this article.

This post was published here.

youtube

0 notes