The Job Fair

Yesterday i worked a job fair in Odessa trying to recruit some applicants for our company. I don't do this blind. My company has actually sent me to training classes for recruiting. We have several real nice booths that are very eye catching. I work the local and regional job fairs but my main focus is on the military bases. Yesterday was the first job fair i worked that was designed for the public. I have to tell you that i was shocked. Shocked.

I show up at 0900 to set up my booth. I lay out the table and place our employment packages on the table so potential applicants can take it home and review the information. I also keep a roster that i have them sign if i would be interested in a follow-up interview. Out of 8 hours at this job fair i had 6 people sign my roster. Disappointing isn't it?

I believe that people may not know what a job fair is intended to do. A job fair is a grouping of companies looking to recruit new employees. Seems simple enough. While working a job fair, the recruiters do a 2 minute interview with the potential applicants. Any recruiter that is any good can determine in 2 minutes or less if the applicant will fit the billet of what they are looking for. With this said, the public needs to know that every time you stop and talk to a recruiter you are being interviewed. They need to dress and act the part. It was pathetic.

First off most of the companies at the job fair were retail type companies. HEB, KFC, Taco Bell etc. This is good and bad. I am located in the middle of the fair and i set up a 10 foot booth that caught your eye as soon as you walked in. While all the retail companies are offering $7-9 per hour, i am hiring at $13 - 26 per hour DOE. This makes us shine like a diamond in a goats ass. Problem is that the caliber of people this job fair attracted was severely limited. Most of them would probably wash out at HEB. Sad.

I was sitting there at my booth and this lady came up to me and gave me her business card. She said her company was looking for good people. I said "Where is your companies booth?" she replied "We don't have a booth" I look at her and say " I paid $300 for my booth and you are going to walk around and try to recruit my people?" She had a puzzling look on her face like she didn't know what i was talking about. I gave her the business card back and asked her to move away from my booth as she was interfering with the flow of traffic. I think she figured out she pissed me off. Some people. Too make things worse, one of my people start cracking up laughing and it might have embarrassed her. It was funny. A lady in the next booth looked at me and said " You must be in sales" and started laughing.

You should have seen how some of the people were dressed. Flip flops, cut offs, T-Shirts, it was embarrassing. They had no clue that they were being interviewed. One guy asked me if i wanted him to sign my roster. I said no thank you. He asked me what it was for, i said it was for people i was going to call back for an interview. He looked sad. I actually had a guy come up and tell me that he couldn't do manual labor and didn't like working in the sun. I informed him that the Taco Bell booth was just down the isle.

All said i will probably make an offer to 2 or 3 people. We will see how many show up for the follow up interview.

Fun Weekend

My buddy calls me on Friday and ask if i was interested in a little hunting. I assured him i was but i must first get a kitchen pass from the missus. I secured my pass and we are going hunting Saturday night. Woo Hoo.

You see out here in West Texas it is cotton planting time. When the cotton emerges and is about 1-2" tall, all the local wildlife likes to eat it. It cost the farmers anywhere between $8-$25K per year in crop damage depending on the size of the field. The farmers like for us to go out and terminate as many of the local crop damaging varmints that we can. Naturally we enjoy shooting the rabbits and such and it keeps us hunting throughout the summer months so we are all for it. On a good night, we will terminate 300 plus jack rabbits. One time i actually ran out of Ammo.

We started out little Bunny Blasting Club in October of 2003. We used our .22 Long rifles and had a blast. Problem is a Jack Rabbit can take 15 rounds from a .22 and keep moving. As the time we by we upgraded to the .22 mag. Then the .17 cal came out and a few of us adopted that as our primary varmint gun.

One day i called my Uncle Bill and we were talking about what gun would be best for bunny blasting. He had been out hunting with us and knew how much ammo we went through on a hunt. By the way, when my Uncle joined us, we used our SKS's that night. A 7.62 X 39 will decimate a Jack. Any way he told me to price the ammo and then buy the gun. I did and i ended up hunting with a .223

I bought a Savage .223 with scope and bi pod and since then that gun has slain more critters than any other firearm i have. Out here i have taken Jack Rabbits, Cotton Tails, Bobcats, Coyotes, Opossums, Snakes, Badgers, Deer, Armadillos, Skunks and Foxes. It is an awesome little gun sighted for Zero at 150 yards. You shoot this gun and it will make you think your a good shot.

1900 hours and i pull up at Mark's house. His grandson Tooter is joining us. Tooter is 14 and learned to shoot by bunny blasting with us. He is a decent shot but he is young. What i mean is that Grandad buys his ammo so he shoots a lot. Mark and i laugh that when he starts buying his own ammo, he will get a lot better. We start loading gear. I brought my Savage .223, Ruger No. one 22.250, .22 Mark IV target pistol with iron sights, 3 million candlepower spotlight and night vision. Mark loads a .22 Mark IV pistol with scope, .17 cal HMR rifle, Ruger No. One .223, .17 cal Mach 2 for Tooter, 25 million candlepower spot light, yes 25 million. This light is so big it mounts on the vehicle with suction cups and is directly wired to the battery. It is bright.

We head to the fields and try to get there about 1 hour before dark so we can do some long range shooting during the daylight hours. About 30 minutes after dark the Jacks will come out and the fun begins. Tooter and I are in the back of truck and Mark is driving and working the light. He shines the critter and we waste it. It is a blast. Naturally Tooter and I have a little competition. Since he is shooting the .17 Mach 2 he doesn't have the long range that i have. He takes the close ones and i reach out for the long ones. My longest shot that night was about 150 yards. It doesn't seem far, but try to hit a rabbit at 150 yards at night. It is not as easy as it sounds. My best shot of the night was a Jack running in overdrive. He was about 50 yards out and running parallel to us. It was funny to watch the energy exchange. Here is a rabbit running about 25 miles an hour and travelling in a forward motion. When that .223 bullet impacts the rabbit, it changes the direction of travel but doesn't immediately stop the forward motion and the rabbit will be tumbling at 25 miles per hour. It is a great physics lesson.

Tooter got a couple of good running shots. One of them he even shot in the head. You can tell a head shot because the rabbit will start jumping straight up and down. They can jump pretty high. All in all it was a slow night. We only shot about 25 rabbits all night.

Jack rabbits are funny. Their defense is to run. A Jack can reach speeds up to 40 mph. They will for about 30 yards and stop and listen. When they stop, you have to be ready to shoot. For some reason they seem to run towards the light also. I haven't figured that one out yet.

I will never eat here again

Last month i went to El Paso TX to work a recruiting event at Fort Biggs Army Base. I happened to have our head recruiter coming to El Paso to help me out. I called my crew there in El Paso and told them i wanted to take them out for dinner.

Everyone agreed that we had to go to the State Line for the best steaks and BBQ. Since i was merely riding and picking up the check i didn't really care where we went.

We get to the State Line and it is packed. We were told about a 30 minute wait but we could run a tab in the bar. We gather up and go stand in the bar and enjoy a cocktail. Now remember, this is Hot as Hell West Texas. A cocktail for me and my boys is an ice cold beer. The colder the better.

After about 25 minutes they call our name. I close the tab and go and join the crew at our table. Our waitress comes out and takes our order. We all order beers and some appetizers. The waitress comes back and we order our meal.

About this time i ask for another beer. The waitress comes back and informs me that she can not serve me anymore beer. I have this look of total disbelief on my face and reply with 'Why the hell not?"

She says " You have already had 3 beers and we are not allowed to serve anyone more than three beers"

I look at her and say " You have to be shitting me"
She says " Sorry, you can talk to our manager if you like"

About this time i was really pissed and was about to let forth a string of profanity when the corporate recruiter said " Please have the manager come talk to us"

The manager, a very young man, comes out and the recruiter does a damn good job of explaining why the 3 beer rule doesn't work in the best interest of the restaurant in this situation. He made a very lucid argument but the manager wasn't going to budge. Then i got mad and the redneck came out.

I started to explain to this young man that he was not my father, the government or the police. His job was not to police me and i was a big boy and could handle that by myself. I explained that i was not driving and therefore posed no risk to anyone. About this time my voice was ratcheting up an octave with every other word. I went into great detail about alcohol absorption rates and the correlation between detoxification, absorption and body weight. I explained that i was 6'5" tall and weighed in at 340 lbs and it would take 8 beers in one hour for me to reach legal intoxication. I let him know that there was no law governing the 3 beer rule and that it was bullshit politics on the part of the restaurant and that it would be a cold day in hell before i brought my big ass back to his establishment and furthermore i was going to be the biggest pain in his ass until i got my beer or my food, whichever came first.

It was then that i noticed the several people around us was watching with what was either amazement or horror on their face. The manger split and came back with my beer. He said our food was almost ready and he would have it out momentarily.

I had my beer, ate my steak and flipped him off on my way out the restaurant. I will never go back.

Why the gun is civilization

I found this on another bloggers site. This man hit the nail right on the head. This is an AWESOME read. I hope you like it.

why the gun is civilization.

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly.Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weightlifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable.When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation...and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act.

Redneck Etiquette

Redneck Etiquette - DRIVING ETIQUETTE
Dim your headlights for approaching vehicles, even if the gun is loaded and the deer is in sight.

When approaching a four-way stop, the vehicle with the largest tires always has the right of way.

Never tow another car using pantyhose and duct tape.

When sending your wife down the road with a gas can, it is impolite to ask her to bring back beer.

Never relieve yourself from a moving vehicle, especially when driving.

Do not remove the seats from the car so that all your kids can fit in.

Do not lay rubber while traveling in a funeral procession.


PERSONAL HYGIENE
Unlike clothes and shoes, a toothbrush should never be a hand-me-down item.

If you have to vacuum the bed, it's time to change the sheets.

While ears need to be cleaned regularly, this is a job that should be done in private using one's OWN truck keys.

Plucking unwanted nose hair is time-consuming work. A cigarette lighter and a small tolerance for pain can accomplish the same goal and save hours.Note: Its a good idea to keep a bucket of water handy when using this method.


DINING OUT
Remember to leave a generous tip for good service. After all, their mobile home costs just as much as yours.

Redneck Etiquette - ENTERTAINING IN YOUR HOME

A centerpiece for the table should never be anything prepared by a taxidermist.

Do not allow the dog to eat at the table . . . no matter how good his manners are.

If your dog falls in love with a guest's leg, have the decency to leave them alone for a few minutes.


DATING (Outside the Family)

Always offer to bait your date's hook, especially on the first date.

Be aggressive. Let her know you are interested: "I've been wanting to go out with you since I read that stuff on the men's bathroom wall two years a go."

If a girl's name does not appear regularly on a bathroom wall, water tower, or an overpass, odds are good that the date will end in frustration.

THEATER ETIQUETTE
Crying babies should be taken to the lobby and picked up immediately after the movie has ended.

Refrain from talking to characters on the screen. Tests have proven they can't hear you.


WEDDINGS

Livestock is usually a poor choice for a wedding gift.

Its is not okay for the groom to bring a date to a wedding.

When dancing, never remove undergarments, no matter how hot it is.

A bridal veil made of window screen is not only cost effective but also aproven fly deterrent.

For the groom, at least rent a tux. A leisure suit with a cummerbund and a clean bowling shirt can create a natty appearance. Though uncomfortable, say yes to socks and shoes for this special occasion.


TIPS FOR ALL OCCASIONS

Never take a beer to a job interview or ask if they press charges.

Always identify people in your yard before shooting at them.

Always say "Excuse me" after getting sick in someone else's car.

It's considered tacky to take a cooler to church.

Even if you're certain that you are included in the will, it's considered tacky to drive a U-Haul to the funeral home.

The socially refined never fish coins out of public toilets, especially if other people are around.

Always provide an alibi to the police for family members.

Texas telephone poll

The latest telephone poll taken by the office of the Governor of Texas asked whether people who live in Texas think illegal immigration is a serious problem:


A) 35% of respondents answered: "Yes, it is a serious problem."

B) 65% of respondents answered: "No es una problema serio.

I am implementing this at work.

Busted by the Chinese lady

Friday night the wife and i decided to go do a little shopping. As any man knows, shopping with women is not fun. A woman can't just go to one store, they have to go to every store. After our little expedition, we decided to go to our favorite Chinese Buffet.

We sit down and order our drinks and i head for the buffet. After about my 2nd or 3rd trip up i notice two waiters (Chinese fellows) are talking about me. I tell my wife and she ask " how do you know?"

I say they keep talking and looking at me

She starts watching them and decides they are talking about me. She says " What do you think they are saying?"

About then the comedian in me comes out and i start doing my best John Pinette:

Oh Gawd, he go again
that his forf twip
he no eat vegable, he all eat meat, he eat like elphwant, no bwoccli
he be here four hour, he go now, fat bastard

My wife and i are cracking up and tea is coming out of our noses. We are just having a good time when the hostess walks up and ask me if that is my receipt.

When she asked me that my wife damn near fell out of her chair she was laughing so hard. She wouldn't stop.

Come to find out the hostess was wanting to verify how much tip i had left on the ticket. My wife thought the hostess was going to charge me again for the buffet for eating too much.

You would think my wife would be more supportive.

The Accident

I was on the way to work this morning and I ran into the back of a car at some traffic lights. The other fella driving got out and started running back and it turns out he's a dwarf! He runs up to my window and says "I'm not happy"... I said "Well which one are you then?"

Deer Roping

I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away) that it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.

I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, who had seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes my deer showed up - 3 of them.

I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it...it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education.

The first thing that I learned is that while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED.

The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope with some dignity. A deer, no chance.

That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I originally imagined. The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get
up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head.

At that point I had lost my taste for corn fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope. I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and the deer. At that moment, I hated the thing and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer
to have it suffer a slow death so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand.
Kind of like a squeeze chute.

I got it to back in there and started moving up so I could get my rope back.

Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of
my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and
shakes its head - almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.

The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several
minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the bejesus out of my right arm, I reached
up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose.

That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day. Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that when an animal like a horse strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get
away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape. This was not a horse. This was a
deer, so obviously such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond I devised a different strategy. I screamed like woman and tried to turn and run.

The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit
you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and three times as evil,
because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.

Now when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead, is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head. I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.

Now for the local legend. I was pretty beat up. My scalp was split open, I had several large goose eggs, my wrist was bleeding pretty good and felt broken (it turned out to be just badly bruised) and my back was bleeding in a few places, though my insulated canvas jacket had protected me from most of the worst of it. I drove to the nearest place,
which was the co-op. I got out of the truck, covered in blood and dust and looking like hell. The guy who ran the place saw me through the window and came running out yelling "what happened?"

I have never seen any law in the state of Kansas that would prohibit an individual from roping a deer. I suspect that this is an area that they have overlooked entirely. Knowing, as I do, the lengths to which law enforcement personnel will go to exercise their power, I was concerned that they may find a way to twist the existing laws to paint my actions
as criminal. I swear...not wanting to admit that I had done something monumentally stupid played no part in my response. I told him "I was attacked by a deer". I did not mention that at the time I had a rope on it.

The evidence was all over my body. Deer prints on the back of my jacket where it had stomped all over me and a large deer print on my face where it had struck me there. I asked him to call somebody to come get me. I didn't think I could make it home on my own. He did. Later that afternoon, a game warden showed up at my house and wanted to know about the deer attack. Surprisingly, deer attacks are a rare thing and wildlife and parks was interested in the event. I tried to describe the attack as completely and accurately as I could. I was filling the grain
hopper and this deer came out of nowhere and just started kicking the hell out of me and BIT me. It was obviously rabid or insane or
something.

EVERYBODY for miles around knows about the deer attack (the guy at the co-op has a big mouth). For several weeks people dragged their kids in the house when they saw deer around and the local ranchers carried rifles when they filled their feeders. I have told several people the story, but NEVER anybody around here. I have to see these people every day and as an outsider - a "city folk". I have enough trouble fitting in
without them snickering behind my back and whispering "there is the dumbass that tried to rope the deer."

This did not happen to me. I found this story and couldn't stop laughing so i thought i would share it. Again, this was not me. Ray.

Picking your nose and eating boogers is healthy!!

Picking your nose and eating it is one of the best ways to stay healthy, according to a top Austrian doctor.

Innsbruck-based lung specialist Prof Dr Friedrich Bischinger said people who pick their noses with their fingers were healthy, happier and probably better in tune with their bodies.
He says society should adopt a new approach to nose-picking and encourage children to take it up.

Dr Bischinger said: "With the finger you can get to places you just can't reach with a handkerchief, keeping your nose far cleaner.
"And eating the dry remains of what you pull out is a great way of strengthening the body's immune system.

"Medically it makes great sense and is a perfectly natural thing to do. In terms of the immune system the nose is a filter in which a great deal of bacteria are collected, and when this mixture arrives in the intestines it works just like a medicine.
"Modern medicine is constantly trying to do the same thing through far more complicated methods, people who pick their nose and eat it get a natural boost to their immune system for free. "

He pointed out that children happily pick their noses, yet by the time they have become adults they have stopped under pressure from a society that has branded it disgusting and anti social.
He said: "I would recommend a new approach where children are encouraged to pick their nose. It is a completely natural response and medically a good idea as well."

And he pointed out that if anyone was really worried about what their neighbour was thinking, they could still enjoy picking their nose in private if they still wanted to get the benefits it offered.

I am waiting for a Doctor to exclaim the benefits of cleaning your ear with a car key. Woo HOO

What is in a name?

This weekend i was sitting in the garage drinking a beer and watching it rain. It was very tranquil and my mind started drifting as it usually does. For what ever reason it popped into my head that i have never seen a good looking person named Bertha or Ottis.

I also realized that i have never seen an ugly person named Mercedes, Candy or Paris. This got me to wondering of we grow into our names.

Have you ever met a Doctor named Bubba or Billy Bob? When you hear those names you think of Beer swilling rednecks. So i started thinking of people i know or have met and found some really weird similarities.

Names with a J in it, like Jack or Jake are usually strong willed type people.

Names with a K in it like Nick, Frank or Mark are usually easy going get along with everyone types.

Charles, Robert and William are names you usually see with distinction or sophistication.

Ray or Raymond is associated with tall good looking men.

Cody and Aaron remind me of rednecks who drink fancy beer trying not to be a redneck.

I know a few people named Billy and they are all smart asses and mean spirited folks. They might like to make little boys pee on electric fences.

Anyone i know named Steve is quite and shy and doesn't want to stand out.

Think of any women you know named Carmen. What comes to mind? Pushy?

Think about your friends and their names. You will start to notice similarities as well. Have fun with it and keep on thinking.

New Blogger

My cousin has decided to start blogging. He recently moved out on his own and moved to Florida where he seems to be enjoying himself. Stop by and give him a read sometime.


http://conventionalwisdom23.blogspot.com/

Zero Tolerance

What do you think about Zero Tolerance? I am referring to Zero Tolerance regarding drug test. Me and a friend of mine was talking about it the other day. He was saying it was needed to keep the drugies out of the system and keep the non users safe. It sounds great but if you start looking into it i have to question if Zero Tolerance is very good.

Once you establish Zero Tolerance, you have no room for gray areas. Zero Tolerance is the end. You pop positive for anything and you are terminated. If you have a script for it your ok of course but what about the gray areas?

Example, a single parent has a teenager that get a bad cough and flu during the winter. The doctor prescribes the teen a narcotic based cough syrup. What are the chances of the parent getting the same bug? The parent gets the bug and uses the left over cough syrup from the teen. 2 days later the parent pops positive on a drug test. No script for the parent so they are terminated. This doesn't seem fair to me.

Another scenario. 2 years ago Joe has a surgical procedure. The doctor prescribed Loritab for pain with say 3 refills. After Joe refilled the third time he didn't need the pills anymore so he had about 20 pills left over. Joe put the bottle in his suitcase because he travelled a lot and thought he might need them. In the present Joe strains his back. He remembers the pain pills in his suitcase and takes a couple. Because the bottle was in the suitcase, the label has been scratched off. Joe gets popped on a random and doesn't have a script. Joe is terminated.

Two completely innocent scenarios that shows neither person is a drugie but both get terminated. Two valuable employees let go because idiots abuse the system.

This is why i am against Zero Tolerance. Each situation in my opinion should be evaluated to see if there is in fact drug use that would warrant termination.

I agree that we do not want or need drug use in the workplace or anywhere. We need a better mousetrap to catch the rats. Hopefully the new hair folicle test can eliminate the pitfalls of the urine test.

Borrowed but good

Citibank

Today i went to the bank to perform a few transactions. They gave me a comment card to fill out on-line. Me being the calm soft spoken sort, decided to talk about 2 subjects. The first one is not important. The 2nd subject was the banks little picture of a pistol with a line drawn thru it.

I happen to have a CHL (concealed handgun license) and like to exercise my rights. The following is the transcript from the Emails:

Ray (concerned citizen)
Arthur, here is the information. If it is considered private property then the owner decides. Since its your decision, I would like to see you decide that legal law abiding citizens have the right to exercise our rights on your property. Just my, and many others, opinion.

Art (banker guy)

Unfortunately, I am not the one to make that decision. And, given the fact that we are a federally regulated financial institution by the US Treasury this further limits us.

However, I will indicate this on my response to corporate just as I will submit the Title 30.06 regarding signage along with receipt size for follow up.

I appreciate your comments and I will diligently push them up the latter.

Thank you.

Ray (concerned citizen)
I appreciate your interest in this matter. Here is another little tidbit of information to think about. If someone decided to rob your bank, that sign on the building will not stop them. It never has. How many people do you think go into your bank everyday? How many of those people have a “colorful” past? Any one of us, CHL carriers, have had the FBI approve our background and possession of this license proves there is no “colorful” background. Simply stated, the people carrying weapons legally into your facility are not the problem. The people who carry them into your facility illegally will not be stopped by a sign or a law.

Most of us don’t care about carrying our weapon into your bank. We are concerned about entering and exiting your bank. Statistically speaking most crimes happen in the parking lot. Our issue is that we must be disarmed in the most likely place to be involved in a crime. If you allow us to carry into your building, then we are armed in the most dangerous part of your facility, the parking lot.

When you send this up the ladder, I hope you impress upon them our concerns. Thank you for your time. Have a great day.

Art (banker guy)
Your points are well taken. We take a non-confrontational approach to robberies for the safety of our employees.

Thank you for your comments.



I have to say that Art was very professional and seamed to have a sympathetic ear. I am curios how Citibank is going to respond. I will keep you posted.

Military rules for civilians:

Dear Civilians,
We know that the current state of affairs in our great nation have many civilians up in arms and excited to join the military. For those of you who can't join, you can still lend a hand. Here are a few of the areas we would like your assistance with:

The next time you see an adult talking (or wearing a hat) during the playing of the National Anthem ... kick their ass.

When you witness firsthand someone burning the American Flag in protest... kick their ass.

Regardless of the rank they held while they served, pay the highest amount of respect to all veterans. If you see anyone doing otherwise, quietly pull them aside and explain how these Veterans fought for the very freedom they bask in every second. Enlighten them on the many sacrifices these Veterans made to make this Nation great. Then hold them down while a Disabled Veteran kicks their ass.

(GUYS) If you were never in the military, DO NOT pretend that you were. Wearing battle dress uniforms (BDU's), telling others that you used to be "Special Forces," and collecting GI Joe memorabilia, might have been okay if you were still seven. Now, it will only make you look stupid and get your ass kicked.

Next time you come across an Air Force member, do not ask them, "Do you fly a jet?" Not everyone in the Air Force is a pilot. Such ignorance deserves an ass kicking (children are exempt).

If you witness someone calling the U.S. Coast Guard non military, inform them of their mistake...and kick their ass.

Roseanne Barr's singing of the National Anthem is not a blooper...it was a disgrace and disrespectful. Laugh, and sooner or later your ass will be kicked.

Next time Old Glory (U.S. flag) prances by during a parade, get on your damn feet and pay homage to her by placing your hand over your heart. Quietly thank the military member or veteran lucky enough to be carrying her...of course, failure to do either of those could earn you a severe ass kicking.

What Jane Fonda did during the Vietnam War makes her the enemy. The proper word to describe her is "traitor." Just mention her nomination for "Woman of the Year" and get your ass kicked.

Don't try to discuss politics with a military member or a veteran. We are Americans and we all bleed the same regardless of our party affiliation. Our Chain of Command, is to include our commander in Chief. The President (for those who didn't know) is our CIC regardless of political party. We have no inside track on what happens inside those big important buildings where all those representatives" meet. All we know is that when those civilian representatives screw up the situation, they call upon the military to go straighten it out. The military member might direct you to Oliver North. (I can see him kicking your ass already.)

"Your mama wears combat boots" never made sense to me ... stop saying it! If she did, she would most likely be a vet and probably kick your ass!

Bin Laden and the Taliban are not communists, so stop saying "Let's go kill those Commie's!!!" And stop asking us where he is!!!! Crystal balls are not standard issue in the military. That reminds me ... if you see anyone calling those damn psychic phone numbers; let me know, so I can go kick their ass.

Flyboy (Air Force), Jar Head (Marines), Grunt (Army), Squid (Navy) etc, are terms of endearment we use describing each other. Unless you are a service member or vet, you have not earned the right to use them. Could get your ass kicked.

Last but not least, whether or not you become a member of the military, support our troops and their families. Every Thanksgiving and religious holiday that you enjoy with family and friends please remember that there are, literally, thousands of sailors and troops far from home wishing they could be with their families. Thank God for our military and the sacrifices they make every day. Without them, our country would get its ass kicked.

Secret of a happy marriage

A couple was celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on the beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Their domestic tranquility had long been the talk of the town.

"What a peaceful & loving couple."A local newspaper reporter was inquiring as to thesecret of their long & happy marriage. "Well, it dates back to ourhoneymoon in America," explained the man.

"We visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona & took a trip down to the bottom of the canyon by horse. We hadn't gone too far when my wife's horse stumbled and she almost fell off. My wife looked down at the horse & quietly said, 'That's once.'"

"We proceeded a little further & the horse stumbled again, this time causing her to drop her water. Once more my wife quietly said, 'That's twice.'

"We hadn't gone a half-mile when the horse stumbled for a 3rd time. My wife quietly removed a revolver from her purse & shot the horse dead.I shouted at her, "What's wrong with you, woman! Whydid you shoot the poor animal like that? Are you crazy??"

"She looked at me, & quietly said, 'That's once.' ""And, from that moment, we have lived happily ever after."

Unconstitutional?

Vermont has a group led by Thomas Naylor who wants VT to secede from the Union. Naylor cited that the US Government is morally corrupt.

I agree that the morality of DC is somewhat lacking but can a State secede from the Union? If they did, would they no longer be American Citizens?

I heard someone say that what VT was doing was unamerican and they were traitors. It seems to me that that is exactly what happened when Jefferson and Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence. History has proven that they new what they were doing.

I look forward to see how this one plays out.

Ponderable Situation

Lets say that Joe's produce farm employees 500 full time workers on his farm. Of this 500 employees, 250 of them are illegals. Now i am not sure but i would guess that illegals are paid cash under the table. So now the law is passed and the 250 illegals are now legal immigrants. Since they are legal, they have to apply for a legitimate Social Security card so they can pay taxes.

So now Joe must pay Workers Compensation and taxes based on 500 people as opposed to 250 people. What would motivate Joe to do this? Civic obligation? I think not as he has employed illegals.

Would Joe say, hey your legal now, lets keep doing what we were doing and nothing changes. If the illegals never registered, there would be no way to track them and they would still be a burden on our society as opposed to a solution. I do not see how this will work.

If someone can explain it to me, i am all ears.