Is this discrimination? Whassup with corporate America?

[Deja Q]

Went to Best Buy to pick up an application form. They do it online now.

So I entered my name and addy and social sec # and college info and if I was a felon and so on. They asked how much I thought was a reasonable starting pay. I put in $8, I know it's not going to be what I am making at my primary job. And no problem if they do drug testin g. But WTF does checking my CREDIT REPORT have to do with anything?! Yes, I am in debt. Yes, I am looking for a second job to honorably pay off my debt. So what?

So then after all that comes 12 pages of personal questions. "Are you a private person?" "Do you like to hear about other peoples' problems?" "Are you tidy?" "Do you get angry?" "When you are finished with your work, do you ask for more?" "Do you think about having fun or are you serious with a job?" "Do you easily go between being angry and happy?" and so on. Those are REAL questions though the one about "preferring to have fun" is paraphrased, I don't remember it to the letter. Their server conked out on page 18 so I will have to re-start on that page. On the plus side, if and when they finish getting the site back up, I can do screengrabs of pages 18-20 to give to the state atty general, though I wish I could start from scratch and grab them all, this stuff disturbs me to no end. Some of those questions, I felt, were irrelevant to the job I'm applying for. I am applying to do PC tech work, not sell the latest video cards to end users or varying intelligence. Gee, the people they hire to do that don't know jack splat about it anyway - believe me, I've played "innocent" when dealing with them and the floorwalkers are all dumbfucks, pardon me. Except for the one bloke who helped me with a digital camera, he was worth his salary and more. I am still angry at the sheer moron who told me that a firewall is not necessary for 56k users, and he told me he had a 2 year degree to back up his claim. :eyes: (I'm sure he'd have a bridge or two to sell me as well...) Sorry, but I've moonlighted on users' computers which have had signs of being infiltrated, having backdoor and trojans installed, and lots more. Firewalls are necessary and anybody who says they're not is an idiot, I don't care if he has a PHD and 500,000 certifications. He's full of nonsense.

I've applied for jobs over the last 12 years and all retail stores seem to have these bullplop questionairres. And I've failed each time because of the "personality test" bit. I am there to do the work. No flipping less. What is their problem? Am I not allowed to even have A job because I'm different despite being hard working and ethical?

They also asked if I had a problem with my existing employer. It's a very broad question and I had to answer "Yes" because, 5 years ago, I got in trouble for spending too much time surfing the net. But I have more than made up for my past mistake.

Why don't they ask half this rubbish in person so they can get more than a narrow answer to a broad question which does no rational good?

I know I will fail, it'll be a miracle if they decide to accept me. Somehow I will have answered a question inconsistently or they don't like the fact that I'm not always tidy. :eyes: But if it's because of my credit rating, I'll go absolutely spare (berzerk, bonkers, angry, furious, et cetera). That is ridiculous that I can't get a job because of my credit history. I am capable, I damn well am qualified, and I am respected by MANY people at my primary job. They've got openings, I don't see why I don't have a shot at getting this job.

Worst of all, I'm not even thinking of bankruptcy or suicide to ditch out of this debt, though my hatred of the "banking industry" has few limits these days. I do want to pay them back and getting a second job will cut the time from 5 years down to 1. So, yeah, a second job WOULD be rather nice.

Their site is still down and it's been 2 hours. :-(

Oh well.
Maybe CompUSA will be better, their floorwalkers are mostly dumb as well and they REQUIRE A+ certification. No problem there for me.

[liberalhistorian]

1. Believe me, you are NOT alone!

I will NEVER again apply at ANY retail store, particularly Kohl's, Target, Wal-Mart, and K-Mart, because they all pull this total bullshit. I lost my job suddenly in the summer of 2000, and hadn't found anything by Christmas. I was beyond desperate, because I wasn't even getting child support at the time.

All of these stores, and many more of them, were frantically advertising for seasonal help, and were practically shoving applications at you. But they all had some version of this bullshit "personality test" (Kohl's and K-Mart were the worst), that asked the same fucking questions fifty different ways.

I almost expected to see "I'm frustrated with my life right now because I'm forced to apply for a crummy go-nowhere job at this crummy low-level store and I'm going to wig out and pull a gun on my shift one of these days" as a question!

And this was when the economy was hot and humming along and it was an employee's market! I can only imagine how ridiculous it is now, as you've so unfortunately discovered. And DO NOT get me started on the checking of fucking credit reports for these stupid positions. Not only does it have absolutely NOTHING to do with the stupid fucking job, but it's NONE OF THEIR FUCKING BUSINESS! Sorry, the more pissed off I am, the more I tend to use the F word!

I worked for an employment investigation company (the job I lost after four years, in 2000) and I know the kind of bullshit that goes on in so-called "employment investigations." The ONLY jobs where a fucking credit report should be checked is if you're going to be a financial manager and have access to a lot of money. The ONLY time.

For the majority of people with not-so-great credit, it's due to job loss, divorce, serious illness of yourself or a family member, things like that. And remember, since medical bills go on credit reports (which is a whole other issue that you shouldn't get me started on, or we'll be here all night!), if you have a chronic illness and no or little insurance, that might be the reason for lousy credit right there. So you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. And it also gives employers information about your medical history that is simply none of their fucking business!

I have no clue at all why these goddamned bullshit "personality" tests are being used for these stupid retail jobs, I was told at Kohl's that I "didn't fit their profile" (WTF?), then they turned around and were desperate for workers for Christmas help! We're in a real heap of deep shit if it's this hard for people to even get the lowly retail and service jobs, because most people seeking them don't have the best credit and don't know how to fudge, and may not even understand, those damn "tests."

[Brucey]

3. I don't know if this is discrimination, but I know personality tests are

in the same league as horoscopes unless they have some criterion valildity, such as the MMPI. Could these be aimed at detecting people who might steal? What is their purpose? Is it like the Myers-Briggs? (Trying to stereotype people into categories). Who comes up with this stuff?

[liberalhistorian]

5. My minor in college was

sociology/psychology, and I still don't understand these stupid tests. I've taken several of them, and they all seem to want to know if you're a "happy" person, if you're "contented, all in all, with your life", etc., things like that. My own sense is that they're trying to find passive, authority-oriented, "yes" people, who won't cause any "trouble" like complaining if asked to work a double shift without getting paid extra, or things like that.

[radwriter0555]

2. COMP USA had a policy of not marketing towards black people

about 4 years ago. A head of marketing, when asked why no computer sales pitches were geared towards people of color, said that blacks had no money.

[Deja Q]

9. Holy !&@^#%$

I know they overprice for the geek components and tack on an extra $10 for SuSE Linux when Best Buy and Borders sells it for the proper price (but the convenience of getting it same day is a tempting one), but I sure as hell will reconsider shopping there nonetheless. I might have to get my ink cartridges from them as I can't find Epson 2200 carts elsewhere... (I'm trying not to do online anymore, too easy to shop online!) But otherwise I will not shop there ever again.

I despise racism and such prejudice.

Their 14 day + restock fee policy is bollocks too.

[liberalhistorian]

4. It sounds like you are great with computers, have you

thought about doing free-lance work to supplement your regular income? The computer people we have at my job are all free-lance and they have a lot of other clients as well. I'm a free-lance writer (resumes, cover letters, newsletters, press releases, etc.) and have just started doing free-lance legal research as well. My goal is to someday be my own boss, with one or more businesses, so that I NEVER have to deal with this bullshit from employers again.

I'm a single mom, and most employers are very inflexible and uncaring when it comes to my family needs. I'm lucky that the boss I have now is really great, the best I've ever had, but you never know how long these things will last. Working for yourself is the only true way to be free of bullshit like this!

What really disturbs me, also, if I may rant a bit longer, is that there is no attempt at all to understand the CONTEXT of a lousy credit report or bad experience with an employer, etc. If you have overwhelming medical bills or have gone through a divorce or job loss, things like that, that's different than if you just run up all kinds of bills for stuff and then just don't bother to pay any of it off, or are constantly late with paying it off because you don't feel like it. And I've known people who've had perfect credit who are the worst people in the world, that I would NEVER want working for me or anyone else.

[Deja Q]

11. Oh great

I did run up a bill and, due to the negotiation right now, I've probably got a "30 day behind" tacked onto it. Please don't make me out to be a bad guy. (if it helps, I've destroyed the cards and I will never EVER apply or use one ever again. They're just too easy to use and spending is a character flaw of mine.) If I was a bad guy, I would go for bankruptcy or suicide or whatever. (Though I'm so cynical about corporate america that everybody in debt should kill themselves as that would destroy this deplorable institution that DOES target college kids as much as the smoking and alcohol industries used to. I have good reason for disliking the system right now, even if I wasn't stupid enough to get into the mess I've gotten myself into. But like I said, I WANT to pay it off. Why should I be denied a job on that basis? How can a society sustain itself if everybody were this callous?) I have looked at bankruptcy and, no, I don't want to do it. Even "debt arbitration" where they convince credit card companies to waive up to 60% of one's debt is something I don't want to do.

But they still won't ask for circumstances. And that makes them the most inhumane bastards of them all. And, in the end, if I have to commit suicide, then I will. Sad price to pay for a mistake, but this society doesn't seem to give people breaks or chances to make up for a wrong. (Maybe bin laden knows this?)

My counselor thinks a second job would help because I'd be out with people instead of surfing the web every weekend. Except by saying "I am a private person", the corporate sleazebags have decided that I'm a psycho killer. The way they act, I'm surprised more people don't become what they obviously wish they were.

If they do go forward, it's because they'll hear such a good report of me from my boss and the one reference I included. (they didn't give me a chance to say "available upon request" so I could ask others.)

[amazona]

25. don't commit suicide over a damn bill

If you can't pay it, you can't it. Turn off your answering machine and let 'em wonder.

Have you tried eBay or selling used items through another method? I've done it all, from selling my baby canaries through free classified ads to finding discarded furniture on the street put out on garbage day, fixing it up, and selling it in classified ads. I used to be more serious about "dumpster diving" for a hobby but now I have more items than I can store, so I am concentrating on the selling end of it. You can get set up and start selling on eBay in a very short period of time. For heavy items, sell locally through the ads. You wouldn't believe what comes to you if you scout around.

One thing I am thinking of doing -- I am meeting more and more people too lazy to sell their used cars. (We all know they get ripped off when trading those cars.) One woman already GAVE me her car rather than sell it, and the parts alone were worth over $1,000, plus the car was in driving condition. I also sold an old Honda in about two days through my newspaper's classified ads. So you know where this is going...I'm thinking of buying and selling used cars. I'm already quite a bit ahead on it without even trying or having a dealer's license...with a license I would do even better because I wouldn't have to pay certain fees in my state.

They can take away our ability to get a job but they can never take away our ability to bargain and dicker.

On Edit: I am not sure how to advise someone else to go about meeting people like this but be NICE to older people. Some older people won't sell their stuff because they have enough money and they don't want strangers coming to their home. For instance, I received a private rec to go to a blind lady's home to buy some merchandise I had been looking for. I would not have gotten the recommendation if I was not known as a nice, harmless person. And, when I got there, the lady commented that she needed her garage cleared out and she did not want strangers there (because she was blind) but since I was friend of so-and-so, if I wanted her stuff, I could haul it away...Wow! There was so much I had to pay another friend $20 to bring a second truck. I made $600 off that stuff the very next weekend...and still had lots more left over.

Also, as a computer guru, once you get KNOWN on the senior circuit as someone who cuts a fair deal, you could get LOTS of work setting up and fixing older widow's computers. One of my friends does this, and he has so much business he had to quit his job.

[MaineDem]

6. Holy crap!

This is common? I can't believe this. Man, I'd be unemployed for sure if I had to fill out that kind of a questionnaire.

Good luck, HypnoT.

[rbnyc]

7. For an $8.00/hour job!

They have us over a barrel. I am so fucking privileged that I don't have to work for a corporation. Dear god, please keep my little non-profits afloat--and THANK YOU!

[einsteins stein]

8. Had the same issue at Walmart

It was humiliatoing, I was at my wits end, looking for work, tried everything before Walmart, and I know I didn't get hired because of credit rating. I have an excellent work record.

Also, though I do not even own an automobile right now, I am keeping up my auto insurance because insurance companies now run your credit before quoting you a rate. If I drop and renew, my rates go up by about 25%

Supposedly, if you have had bill problems, it affects your driving ability...

go figure.

its a beautiful world we live in...

[liberalhistorian]

10. Well, it's going to get to the point where they won't

be able to find any applicants who have good enough credit and who are "happy, contented, and passive" enough for their stupid fucking tests! Then they'll complain that they can't find "qualified" employees in the USA, and ship overseas all of the rest of the jobs that haven't been shipped overseas yet!

[Deja Q]

12. Yep, I applied for them a couple years back - here's the irony, folks

Slightly different array of bollocks questions.

But if corporate america wants a bunch of yes-men mindless robots without a grain of intelligence to actually do the job, fine. It'll only hurt them in the end - well, probably, Best Buy is still doing well. :-( I may be a quirky weirdo, but that doesn't make me a bad person and I can do the job. And I do a damn good job! How dare they discriminate against ANYBODY like this, I can see how people would become cynical or homeless or hopeless because of these corporate bastards!

Shit, even insurance companies? Gee, why am I supposed to like the centralist pro-corporate Dems again?

When will the people wake up and revolt? If ALL of America had these bullshit tests, half the country would be employed and judging by the quality of the people I've met at stores, the good employees would be very few and far between.

[LynneSin]

13. The Credit Report

One of the jobs I had while surving the first Bush recession required I have a credit report done. At the time, I had serious credit problems and figured I'd never be employed again if I had to have a credit check before taking a job.

The guy (who eventually hired me) explained that the credit check gives them an idea of the 'type of person' you are. Hence if you're a serious credit raider can you be trusted with handling other folks credit cards. I suppose I can see where they are coming from; however, they still hired me. His other attitude about the credit report - if you have some debts you'll probably work harder to pay them off (the job was in car sales).

With my most recent job, I had to have not only a credit check but a freaking FBI background check :eyes: I figured not only would my years of lazy bill paying catch up to me but they'd find out I'm some sort of 'radical underground progressive' because I post here at DU.

They hired me too.

Go figure???!!!!

[Deja Q]

15. That's spin and has no logical comparison to my example

Except I applied for a tech job. A job where there's no bloody cash register for me to touch, yet alone use! And just because I have spent using a freely available piece of plastic that the industry wants everybody to use instead of checks doesn't mean I'm going to steal. My God, some people are actually THAT ethical?! That they would rather do the right thing?! God forbid, I've worked in offices that were locked and had checks lying around and I sure as hell didn't take those! It's still utterly ridiculous!

I still appreciate the comment. For retail cash register jobs or REAL accounting jobs I can see how corporations would brand a person a thief, "guilty, forget the idea that you're innocent" anti-american philosophy (and/or shows that I'm stupid about money).

That aside, your post gives me a slim hope. But I doubt you have any diagnosed disorders (and I definitely have an emotional disorder, if nothing else.) Their own prejudice and belief in the "corporate horoscope" will likely rule me out anyway. Time will tell. I wish they'd ASK me instead of blindly relying on some stupid computer report which takes the humanity out of the equasion. And as we're all human, we need the humanity!

[Don_G]

17. I Wonder How They Would Handle Me?

I have no credit report. The banks and the credit-card companies yanked me around shortly after I graduated High School 30 years ago and ever since then I've paid cash, patched up or have done without.

I don't know about the FBI check though. Asskrap has his own ideas....

[U2Shark]

14. Geez guys...

Just lie.... Lie like a FUCKER, and when you get the job, you can take them down from the inside (or just act like yourself) while the overloards go on about their business, convinced that they've got the best employee because a sheet of paper told them so.

[Deja Q]

16. LOL!

How do I lie? I don't have crib notes or cheat sheets. I can correctly guess half of them but they cagily write this stuff and make duplicates so that, in the end, I trip up.

It pays to be honest. (oh my God, that's me being perversely ethical again...)

I'd rather restructure society from the outside and in a civilized manner. Tearing it down from within is little better than vulgar terrorism and Lord knows lawyers will use the Patriot Act for any little offense these days...

[Don_G]

19. I'm Not Especially An Ethical Perversionist

It's far easier to remember the truth and be yourself in the process than to program your computer, PDA, cell phone and your personality to remember, respond and continue a lie.

If you want an example, look at Dimbo and remember that he has the resources of the Right-Wing media AND the Federal Government backing him up.

On Edit: Look at how much deep s**t he's in now and why.

[Deja Q]

18. MORE STUPID QUESTIONS for your enjoyment! :-)

"Are you a thrill-seeker?" (point being?)

"You do not like to take orders" (irrelevant)

"peoples' feelings are sometimes hurt by what you say" (happens to everybody, duh)

"You are not afraid to tell somebody off" (they're customers, we don't tell them off...)

"You try to sense what others are thinking and feeling" (I'm a progressive liberal, that's what that question means - obviously I'm a threat to their repukedom)

"You don't work too hard because it doesn't pay off anyway" (WHAT?!)

"You do things carefully so you don't make mistakes" (I am as careful as I am and I still make them. Most people do. We're humans, not perfect androids.)

"You could not deal with difficult people all day" (this one has some merit, I agree. But given the fact people go to these places as they're visible and they have no alternatives, it doesn't matter what people think of them in the end I suppose...)

"You have friends, but you don't like them to be too close" (WTF? What point does this make?!)

Yes, there were a bunch of questions of which I could see the relevance. But there are the questionable bunch and their little MMPI-wannabe surveys can still be wrong in the end. I'm a first hand living proof example of this.

[Bunny]

20. As always, I'll play the devil's advocate.

Many companies use these tests to weed out the type of person who is going to cause disciplinary problems, pick fights with management AND co-workers, be unable to adjust to changes, walk in with a gun someday and start blasting away, etc.

There is a legal beast called negligent hiring. In short, if you have an employee walk in someday with guns blazing, you can be sued for not realizing that he was disturbed and would kill people. You can be held responsible for hiring him and indirectly causing the death/injury of others.

You don't have to like it but it is true - I've seen the training videos available to Human Resource people that describe these tests, and other techniques that can be used, to screen potential applicants. It may seem crazy, but companies have been sued. I guess they're trying to protect themselves.

I would have serious problems filling out one of these applications, tho. It is frankly none of their goddarn business, and there's no way I'd want that test kept in my personnel file forevermore.

As for credit checks, current "wisdom" is that if you have money problems, you will be unable to focus on your job. Or, if you've screwed up your finances, you're likely to screw up other important things also (like, your job), and so on and so forth.

I disagree with doing sweeping credit checks on all applicants. Maybe just on the ones who will have access to the company's money, such as fiscal people (not sales clerks). My work background does not consist of direct access to company cash or assets, so there's no need for them to concern themselves with my financial status.

Getting a job anymore can sure be a pain in the ass.

[Deja Q]

24. Point taken, to a point

I have had no disciplanary problems at work for 5 years now.

And despite my credit problem, I have been able to focus on work. I have to, otherwise I'd focus on the credit problem and I'd go bonkers.

Companies have been sued because they did NOT use these wide-angled excuse-all forms?! Can I sue them for blind rejection and not listening to my side of the story? Their tests CAN be inaccurate and, as a whole, my job history shows I am the antithesis of the people that retailers don't want working for them, even if I don't fit the role of "perfect Gingham robot-boy".

If this is society's way of ensuring good people don't work just because they're not Mr and Ms Role Model... I won't be happy.

[liberalhistorian]

27. But the questions they ask on those damn

"tests" do NOT, in my opinion, really "weed out the troublemakers." I'm the most passive person around in employment matters, I'll do what I'm told without complaining, be nice to the customers no matter what, I'm a pleasant person, I've never had or touched a gun or had any thoughts of going crazy and killing my co-workers, etc., etc. And yet, I've never passed one of those fucking tests, and people I know who are the nicest people in the world who would make great employees haven't passed them, either. And as far as fudging them is concerned, that's really almost impossible to do since they ask the same question fifty different ways and then they ask questions that there's no possible way to know how you're supposed to answer, since EVERYONE gets in a bad mood once in awhile, etc. It's total bullshit, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't even shop in those places anymore.

A couple of years ago, I had the chance for a legal researcher position at an insurance company headquarters (Progressive Insurance, actually, I live near their corporate headquarters), I had the perfect background, education, experience, qualifications, etc. But I didn't get the job because, for such a liberal company, they were big on credit reports, and were big on "credit standing, creditworthiness, credit capacity"; as to what the fuck my credit report had to do with being a good legal researcher, I've NEVER been able to figure out. At that time, I'd been out of work for almost a year, and my child support had stopped as well. So the good credit I'd had before my job loss was totally offset by the fact that I hadn't been able to pay any of my damn bills for the past year, including medical bills (as I said above, do NOT get me started on the fact that medical bills go on credit reports, we'd be here all night, lol!), not because I was a careless, irresponsible deadbeat, but because I simply had been unable to find a job, even with two degrees, and I just did NOT HAVE ANY FUCKING MONEY!

[cosmicdot]

21. but, you'll be considered an "associate"

the good ol'boys want people 'to fit the mold' -- they're their own worse enemy (and, ours, because their failure affects us all)

they'll be trying to 'process map' where they are making mistakes and losing money ... without looking in a mirror ... look at W ...

it's disgusting ... to put people through this crap is just more of corporate amerikkka's daily abuse of its fellow citizenry ...

they might as well ask your age - these questions are just as discriminatory

[Deja Q]

22. They didn't ask my age, but they DID ask something more amusing:

if I "ever seriously considered dropping out of high school."

!!!!! Well, now I know the age range of the people they'd prefer to hire... :eyes:

[amazona]

23. you know what is whacky about this?

In days gone by, they WANTED you to be in debt because you would be less likely to walk off the job.

Bizarre.

I was thinking about looking for Christmas work this year but as a high functioning autistic quite obviously I could not pass such a test, so perhaps I won't bother. :-(

[Deja Q]

29. Do bother - please read!

You never know. I won't know until Thursday and will fight tooth and nail to get beyond the initial "no".

It's very sad that society doesn't want people to have jobs unless they fit a certain holy mold. Obviously social engineering and obviously society doesn't care if certain people suffer and die. The best way to fight this evil (morally anyway) is to respond to their bullshit and put a human face on the issue.

I will go to my state's attorney general if I can, though I doubt I'd get very far...

If I ever shop at best buy again (which is a possible rarity but I will go elsewhere as often as I can, even though in the end the corporation won't die off), I will challenge what the idiot employees say. Not that they know much in the first place.

[amazona]

32. good luck and let us know

I'm going out of town in early October but the Xmas signs are already going up in my town so I'm super tempted to give it a whirl when I get back. All they can do is say, "You're too weird for us!"

I hope you'll come back and let us know how it goes.







victoria's secret has a HELP!!!! HELP!!!!! sign

might they want purple assistance?


P.S. Testing my new avatar...can't be entirely straight-faced. :-)

[TroubleMan]

26. IT jobs are very hard to find

I have an A+, CCNA, and MCP (2k Server). I also have 8 years military experience fixing computers and managing networks in the Marines. I was the lan manager for a battalion with about 300 users spanned over several buildings. I built a whole 10baseT network from scratch, cabling and everything (it was 10Base2). I received a Navy Achievement Medal for outstanding IT work. I can fix computer hardware and software, build networks from scratch and manage them, and troubleshoot/fix all of the above.

All of that, and in over a year of searching couldn't find any IT job. I put resumes on line, faxed resumes everywhere, walked door to door to any place that had computers in Palm Beach County, and even enlisted with temp agencies.

Nobody was hiring.

I got a job now selling air compressors, and now I do the IT work for the company, along with my original job.

There were no IT jobs available at all in my area, and I've heard it was like that all over the country.

Therefore, don't think it's your fault. It's the job market - too little jobs and too many people in the field. Now they're going to export a lot of them....good luck.

[liberalhistorian]

28. Oh, but don't you know that they have to

extend the work VISA bill because there aren't any Americans who are truly qualified to do IT work, and all the foreign workers they're bringing in are SOOOO much better! They take less pay and benefits, they don't join or form those pesky unions, they can be worked longer and harder for less and less pay. Unlike Americans, who always want stupid things like decent pay and benefits, union membership to protect their interests and rights, and who won't work obscene amounts of overtime if they're not paid for it.

End of sarcastic rant

[Deja Q]

30. Reassuring

So I hope that I don't need to declare bankruptcy or lose my job within 5 years. :-( Man, the outlook is bleak. Especially since I love IT stuff.

Given how cheap computers are becoming, within a few years it'll be pointless to support them. If a HD goes out, just buy a new one. Double-whammy epiteth of how shitty our disposable society has become.

Bankruptcy, having to start at the bottom again, can't be retail because nobody there will hire me.

I'm looking at my own death sentence then. :-(

[amazona]

33. that's what happened with TV

It used to be that a person could have his own business repairing TVs and do OK. Now you just throw your old TV away and get a new one.

I think it is probably inevitable the same will be true for computers in our lifetime.

Scary thought.

But don't kill yourself over bills. Don't do it. It is not a death sentence. Buy and sell. Hustle. Ebay. Something. We've got to refuse to lay down and die.


purple poop and a pox on bills

[noiretextatique]

31. had a personality test faxed to me just the other day

for an accounting position at a real estate firm.

the last time i took a test for a job (a set of very extensive personality tests, i might add...took an hour to complete), i got the job, but the owner of the company turned out to be a totally paranoid wacko obessesive-complusive FREAK.

i wouldn't take the real estate job if they offered it to me.

[belab13]

34. Been reading a book called "Nickeled and Dimed (on not getting by in

America) by Barbara Ehrenreich and I feel your pain. Working in the service industry just plain sucks in this country, unless your management and don't mind racking up an enormous deficit in your karma account. and even management is paid peanuts. I've had my fill in younger years. thank god for education.

[belab13]

35. p.s.

and obviously there are a a lot of educated folks out there scrambling right now. I recommend the book.