Monday, June 28, 2010

Supreme court to review the other Arizona immigration law

That’s right, I’m not talking about SB 1070. I’m talking about the law punishing employers for hiring illegals.

The Supreme Court is entering the nation's charged debate over immigration, agreeing to hear a challenge from business and civil liberties groups to an Arizona law that cracks down on employers who hire undocumented workers.

The justices on Monday accepted an appeal from the Chamber of Commerce, American Civil Liberties Union and others to a lower court ruling that upheld Arizona's law. The measure requires employers to verify the eligibility of prospective employees through a federal database called E-Verify and imposes sanctions on companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.

Some of y’all might remember that I’ve blogged about this law before. I still don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that the law will be overturned, but who knows. After all, I didn’t think the SCOTUS would even take the case.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Diving into the trenches

Yesterday way my first day going solo on the phones at SUPPORTCO. It was… interesting.

First few calls were nerve-racking, but I got more comfortable as the night went on. I was actually feeling about as confident as a person doing their first day out there could be.

We were told to not take a call after 10:45 and go back to our classroom to take care of some stuff. At 10:44 I literally had my finger on the button that logs me out of the phone system when I got a beep that told me I had a call.

It’s a call that should have taken about 10 minutes, but out of my stupidity it took about half an hour. Thankfully, though, I did get the issue resolved.

So, I learned two really big lessons today:

  1. Always use the guides and cheat sheets we have… ESPECIALLY for Wi-Fi issues.
  2. Never keep your finger on the logout button in anticipation of the computer’s clock rolling over to your time off. You’re destined to get a call.

And now? THREE DAY WEEKEND!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Mama I’m coming home… for a few days

On Monday I put in for some time off in August to go home and get my stuff and drive it all back to Phoenix.

Yesterday they approved my time off and I booked my flight home.

I’ll be coming in on the 7th, start the drive out to Phoenix (with my brother) the next Wednesday, get to Phoenix probably on Thursday, and he’ll hang out with us until Tuesday when I drop him off at the airport.

It’s all coming together! Giggity!

Looking forward to getting a little time at home.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

No, Drayton, we’re not still in it…

I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Crap on this one.

Any chance that Bob McNair wants to own a baseball team along with the Texans? Because I’d be OK with that.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Dear the sport of golf…

Dear the sport of golf,

Please make the rules simple so the average Joe can understand them. If you did, I might like you a hell of a lot more.

Sincerely,
Justin

Friday, June 18, 2010

So, Justin, how’s that whole job thing going?

I’m glad you asked, big orange text!

The first four days of training for SUPPORTCO (as I’m calling it) have been great. So far, I’ve aced all of the daily tests and tonight’s the final exam, that I get two chances to make a 90 on. I think I can manage.

Next week’s my last week of training and I’ll actually start taking calls towards the end of the week.

And then I’m released into the wild…

Friday Photo has gone to the birds!

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Monday, June 14, 2010

You stay classy, left! Or: Why I moderate comments

So I woke up this morning to a pending comment (from someone named Anonymous) about that recent post about my trip to Pei-Wei.

Just one question, did you burn the cross before or after your meal ?

Wow, really, we’re jumping to not just the racism thing, but the KKK. Why am I not surprised?

Though I guess I should clarify the whole KKK thing. Yes, when I was five years old, I did go for Halloween as a ghost. I don’t remember what the costume looked like myself, but I am told that I did kind of look like a member of the KKK, without the swastikas and pointy hood. But it’s not like that counts, right?

Also, it’s true that some of the family on my mom’s side are members of the KKK and probably have burned crosses in the past. It should be noted, though, that I haven’t even been around any of them in close to ten years.

But the main reason I didn’t burn a cross was two-fold: First, at 107 degrees, I figured it was hot enough outside without something burning. Secondly, the Phoenix area had, at that point, gone a little over a month without any rain and I didn’t want to take any chances of burning anything else down, because that’s just irresponsible.

I should probably note that the last paragraph was laced with sarcasm, since people seem to never understand that sort of thing.

On a serious note, anybody who *really* knows me and didn’t just stumble across a blog post of mine while doing a Google search for “pei-wei manager fired” would know that I’m anything but a racist, cross-burning idiot.

And that’s where I’m leaving it.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Birds!

These little guys live in a nest on the back porch. They were both gone just a couple days after I shot the pictures of them. I’m assuming their mommy taught them how to fly.

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There’s another shot of these fellas coming next week.

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Food made with injustice is so tasty!

111391011 As I previously mentioned I would do, I went to Pei Wei during the protest. I’ll report on it in Random Thoughts style:

  • When we got there, just a little after 6, there was one person from the protest inside talking to the manager about it. He tried talking to people inside about the protest, but was quickly run off for loitering. Not that i blame the guy for wanting to stay inside, it was 106 out there.
  • Pei-Wei’s orange peel chicken is really, really good.
  • People eventually showed up with signs: one said something about not eating food “made with injustice.” Refer to this blog entry’s title for my thoughts on that…
  • When I walked outside to take the picture you see above, I pointed out that the fired employees didn’t call in to say they were missing work. One asked “So you want to join us?” I responded with something to the tune of “No, I think y’all are a bunch of idiots!” and walked back inside.
  • By the way, more people showed after I took that picture. There were probably 10-15 folks there total.
  • As we left, I talked a little with one of the protesters. Here are some highlights from that:
    • He asked me if I thought employees should be fired for missing work. I said “absolutely.”
    • He then asked me if I’d ever been fired (as if that was really relevant) and I said no. The guy went on to tell me that he has been four times. Which sounds crazy, he couldn’t have been much older than me and fired FOUR times, really? Wow.
    • He then brought up the economy and how hard it is to find a job, as if he thought that it should have some sway on the issue. I simply told him “Yea, I know, I just moved here and JUST got hired after looking for a job for two months.”
    • He then started talking about that “racist” SB 1070. I asked him “What part of illegal don’t you understand?”
    • It was then that I was convinced that the guy should be a talking head on the Sunday talk shows. He was a master at dodging the crux of questions.
  • It was then that I left, stuffed with food made from injustice.

So, what did I learn?

  • Protesters are stupid, and…
  • Pei-Wei’s got some awesome food.

And that’s all I’ve got to say about it. I’ll leave you with this picture of my meal:

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Friday, June 04, 2010

Obama administration challenging another Arizona law while they’re at it

I guess the Obama administration doesn’t think that challenging SB 1070 is enough:

The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision that upheld Arizona's right to punish employers for hiring illegal immigrants.

The Arizona law gives the state the right to suspend or terminate business licenses.

"If you hire a person in this country illegally knowingly, you'll lose your license. First offense, 10 days. Second offense, revocation, never to do business in the state of Arizona again," said Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce, a Republican who helped draft the new controversial Arizona law that cracks down on illegal immigrants.

The Obama administration apparently worries letting that law stand would leave in place a precedent that states have a legitimate role in enforcing immigration laws – a notion the administration fiercely opposes.

This law, which was signed by then-Governor and current Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, has withstood scrutiny in the courts before. And not just by anybody, but the insanely liberal 9th Circuit.

And why? The article explains:

The Arizona statue relies on a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1986, which made clear federal law preempts the states on immigration – but left one exception: "The provisions of this section preempt any state or local law imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through licensing and similar laws) upon those who employ unauthorized aliens."

"Congress said very clearly that licensing and similar laws can be used to impose consequences on employers who hire unauthorized aliens at the state level," said Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. "And that's exactly what Arizona did."

I’d be surprised if the Supreme Court decides to even hear the case. Sounds pretty open-and-shut to me.

Friday Photo moves to Phoenix

Say hi to Cider!

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She’s not a big fan of my camera.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Updated: Well what did they expect? A parade?

So at least a dozen workers at a Pei Wei in Chandler (A Phoenix suburb) skip work to go to a protest against SB 1070, the controversial Arizona immigration law.

Thirteen of them showed up the next day and were told they were fired:

"I can understand it because that’s their business and we were supposed to work, but come on, they have to understand us too," said former Pei Wei employee Elizabeth Serafin, who added the employees understood they were taking a risk.

The general manager of Pei Wei in Chandler confirmed Sunday it was simply a business decision, but for the 13 people who took the chance, securing their future was more important than another day of work.

"If we want something to happen, we have to do something," Serafin said.

They got what was coming. You miss work like that, you simply miss work. Heck, I was basically told that if I miss a day in my first month at the new job I’m gone. And I’m fine with that, considering the first month is pretty much all training.

I’m thinking I need to take a trip over to Chandler and spend some money at a Pei Wei…

UPDATE: A protest is being organized against the store that did the firings for this Saturday at 6 PM. Jennifer (my lovely girlfriend) and I plan on going up there about that time, but not to protest. We’re going to have dinner there. I’ll be sure to TwitPic while I’m there, so be sure to watch my Twitter feed on Saturday night. I’ll also post some pics on the blog afterwards.

This is going to be fun…

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Armando Galarraga got screwed!

And here’s the photo evidence:

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Is anybody still not sold on expanding instant replay after this? I sure am!

It’s paid off

After planning to be here just for a couple of weeks, today marks two months since I came to Arizona.

It also marks two months of looking for a job and the frustrations that such a search can involve.

And it marks the day that search ended.

Yes, this morning I was offered a job and took it.

You have no idea how glad I am that that’s over.