It’s not just the rich, it can be shoppers at Wal-Mart.
I once went into the bathroom there to take care of business. Two employees were at the sink. One was sobbing her heart out and the other was trying to comfort her.
From what I could understand the girl crying was a new employee, very new, like in training new. I heard her ask the older girl “Why did he have to talk to me like that? I don’t know everything yet, I’ve never worked a register. I told him I was sorry.”
The second employee murmured things like “Sometimes people are like that, don’t worry, you won’t be fired.”
I did what I needed to do and got out of there to give them privacy, but I wished I could have given the asshole customer what he’d given that poor clerk.
To steal a phrase from Heinlein, “Noblesse oblige is an emotion felt only by the truly noble.”
I have known the rich, and worked for the rich on occasion. And I am here to tell you that being rich does not make you evil, necessarily. The one constant I have seen is that the old money types don’t give a rat as long as they get what they want. He wants his steak medium, you bring it to him medium, he might want some A-1, you bring him the A-1, he eats and leaves you a huge tip.
The newly prosperous, the socially insecure, and the business vultures, on the other hand, may or may not be pleasant… or civil… or incredible raving poison scum, determined to do what damage they can.
I’m far from socialist, and I don’t hate the rich. Assholes, on the other hand, are assholes, and deserve to be treated as such…
New policy when doing expense reports. You have to use the map tool for mileage. Meh. Whatever. It now takes 30 seconds to put in waypoints instead of 1 to just punch in the number.
However… I put in the same data 3 times and got 3 entirely different results. The first time it calculated (correctly) that I take the west loop. The second time it wanted me to go straight up through town. Umm. No. The last, it suggested that I take the scenic route via the east loop into another state.
It’s not like I made a typo putting in addresses. They’re picked off a drop menu from where I had entered them previously.
Is it too much to ask that a tool work before making it mandatory? (Rhetorical question. I know the answer. Based on long experience.)
I’ve heard said that madness is doing the same thing while expecting different results. So what is it when you actually do get different results?
My response would be: “NO, I’m using the actual mileage I drove. You’ve heard the expression ‘your mileage may vary’? Well, be prepared for claims and lawsuits if people’s actual mileage is different from what you’re “requiring” for payment. Oh, and it WILL, every time there is a traffic detour, a required gas stop or whatever.”
Ha! It took over a week, but the dish is now gone. I don’t know who finally caved and washed the damn thing 'cause I didn’t see it happen, but it wasn’t me!
I’m actually coming out several miles ahead per trip because the maps don’t seem to be current and don’t have a nicely paved back road that cuts about 3 miles off the ‘official’ route. I am totally in agreement with your attitude on the matter though.
Make a little shrine to the dish. Put out some candles, some flowers…maybe make a little framed photo of the dish in happier days when it was clean. Maybe others will chip in and add their candles and flowers, too.
An attitude toward safety that is beyond lackadaisical.
I don’t want to go into too many particulars but it’s just a really bad scene waiting to happen. Just for starters there are puddles that might get mopped up but with dirty water and no floor cleaner, leaving oily patches on the floor, and stairs with the edges of the treads broken off. All it would take is for one person to slip or miss a stair, and the really bad stuff would be discovered and the place would be history. Management knows but doesn’t do anything to fix it. I know of one former employee who called OSHA, but somehow they didn’t shut the place down–I don’t know why.
I’m in the middle of my career, looking for a professional job. You have my resume and know this ain’t my first time around. Do not tell me to be sure I bring a pen and paper, or my resume, to my interview. Don’t tell me to dress professionally when I meet the hiring manager. Don’t tell me “some people like to stand for a phone interview at home, but you can sit if you prefer that.” I believe in natural selection, and if someone at my career level is dumb enough to show up in jeans, with no pen and resume, they’re saving you a bunch of time and energy. and
B. Why do you insist on asking for my driver’s license, SSN, and emergency contact information on the initial application, as required, can’t proceed without it, information? I will be happy to provide that after we have talked and you are seriously close to making an offer. I don’t need every one of the dozens of businesses I apply to to look into my background and credit, and I don’t trust half of the online app submission programs and/or shady “confidential” employers out there not to use it for nefarious evildoing.
As for the one that asked me for a medical history (straight up office job, pushing papers, not an astronaut or professional athlete), let’s just say “I’ve decided to go in another direction.”
I had a place asking for this stuff up front (in hard copy, no less, as in photocopies sent in with the application) for a janitor position at a university. I’m sorry, no. You can get that stuff at the interview stage if necessary, but I’m not sending stuff like that out into the wild for a near-minimum-wage job that I’m unlikely even to be interviewed for.
Others here said at the time that it wasn’t only not against any regulations as such, but it was perfectly sound practice, because at a university you are coming into contact with young people and will probably need some kind of clearance, like a Protecting Vulnerable Groups enhanced disclosure.* Funny thing is, that’s about all they DIDN’T ask for up front, whereas most jobs that require that will say so in the description. You still don’t usually have to provide it until the actual interview, though, along with all that other identifying information.
I suppose in this economy, they found some suckers willing to shed personal information like dog fur, but I wasn’t about to.
*That said, I don’t know what age the cutoff is for ‘children as a vulnerable group’. If it’s 17 or 18, there are going to be precious few individuals younger than that at a university. If it’s 16, then I would expect none.
We didn’t have a minimum age limit for admission - if you were a Sheldon Cooper type who’d passed your Highers (or A levels, or International Baccalaureate, or local equivalent) at 12, you were qualified to enter. I can’t recall it happening when I was in Admissions, but do remember a mum asking about a 16/17 year old.
Even students 18 and above can still class as Protected Vulnerable Adults - we had several students who were severely physically disabled with cerebral palsy, motor neurone disease, etc, quite a few blind students (not just legally blind, real 100% vision loss cases) and a whole other subset of disabilities beyond “just” dyslexia that meant our alternative exam arrangement invigilators had to pass Disclosure Scotland Background checks.
Otherwise, yes, its a ridiculous practice, rant on
Good to know I’m not the only one thinking some of the requests are excessive. I know they are trying to save time later in the game, but if I were hiring I’d look for people who had better judgment than to volunteer their personal data to anyone who asked.
Some people in my house tell me I’m taking a big risk not following directions, but those people also don’t believe in identity theft and are very trusting, bless their lil’ hearts.
