Seriously?

I received a call recently from a holding and investment firm interested in talking to me about an available IT position they are needing to fill. I thought all was going well, a good raport was developed and things seemed to be clicking off fine as to my experience and knowledge. I kept hearing perfect, awesome, great experience, etc...etc...etc. I really started feeling excited about this position. I mean pay was acceptable, benefits looked good, i.e.: health package, dental, vision, 401K, short term and long term disability, FLA, FMLA and regular reveiws, what more could one ask for in a starting position. They then starting telling me that they were the exclusive recruiter for this firm and they thought I would make a great fit, asking how soon I could start to work, would I submit to a drug screen (which I made add in Texas you are supposed to be on the payroll when submiting for a drug screen) and full background check? 
So I said "Sure, I wouldn't mind at all. This is a normal requirement, set me up." 
Then came, "Would you mind taking a typing assessment test? We require 45 words per minute to qualify for the position. If you are still interested I will send you the link as soon as we finish this interveiw." 
I informed them I wouldn't mind at all taking an assessment test. 
"Great sir, I really appreciate it. I will get you the link within five minutes of the conclusion of this interview. One more thing though, we require a credit report on you that you will need to obtain and supply. Do you have a problem with that?" 
"A credit report for what?" was my reply. 
"Well the position is with a holdings and investment firm and your credit worthiness is very important to our client." was the reply.
"Does the position you called me about require me to complete money transactions?" I asked.
"No sir. it doesn't." was the reply I received.
"Please repeat the position again that you called me about." I requested of the caller.
"Network support and connectivivity." they asnswered.
"Will I have access to customer accounts and financial information?" I queried further of them.
"Oh no sir, not at all." came their reply.
"So I won't be cleared to view the client's information at all?" I continued.
"No sir you won't. You will just make sure they can connect to their accounts." was the reply.
"So at some time in the future will I be asked to submit to any line of credit or investment opportunities?" I drilled.
"No sir, it is against company policy."  came their reply.
"So please tell me what my credit worthiness has to do with you asking me to fill the position you called me about. I would think my lack of ever being prosecuted, charged with or convicted of embezzlement, larceny, fraud, failure to disclose, theft or even a traffic ticket offense would be more than enough to satisfy my "worthiness" in obtaining this position. Wouldn't you agree?" came my somewhat cynical answer.
"I understand sir. If you are not interested in the position, would you happen to know three or four other people that are looking for a job that has the same technical background as you?" they asked.
"Oh, so now you want me to do your job too." I came back with. "Seriously?"

Needless to say, I was no longer interested.   


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Lives Matter

So much on the news lately seems to revolve around how a certain ethnicity or race matters and trying to pit the views of the viewers in that what they are trying to get across matters to their race, culture and/or ethnicity stating that either white lives matter, black lives matter or brown lives matter and to me this just doesn't add up or as my father would say, "Just doesn't cut the muster in what truly matters.". Why would one race matter over the other by touting how much their lives matter over that of anyone else's lives? 

What is it that truly matters? I would think it would be overcoming our prejudices that would be a good start in understanding what truly matters, not their race, culture or ethnicity as being what they feel matters. Should we believe that it is those things that separate and defines us, that all that matters is agreeing with their idioms and jumping on board? No. Then that would redefine that individual and change more than just their beliefs. 

I was raised in a very devout and hard-line Southern Baptist family where my father was a minister of the faith, but in all my talks with him he never used his faith in a prejudicial  manner or to solidify his prejudices except against hate, bigotry or moral cleansing. He used his faith to educate and overcome those ignorance's we seem to harbor and hold to and in some cases to nurture until it consumes our beliefs so much that the chance of seeing something in a new or different perspective is shunned because we feel it is a personal attack against us and due to our own ignorance we feel there is no other way, but our way.

By the mere statement that a specific race, culture, ethnicity is what matters is already painted by a prejudiced state of mind. I'm reminded of President Abraham Lincoln's speech at Gettysburg, VA. and the opening  line of his address to the people of this young country, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." It doesn't mention any specific race, but rather he uses the word "all" to see us as one people, not one race, culture or ethnicity. Until we understand what really matters there will be very little or no change and we will keep struggling against and battling those things we cannot accept in order to plant seeds in those ignorant to the truth.

I am not saying we should not be prejudice, we should be very prejudice. If we weren't Adolf Hitler's idea of a so called "master race" would not have been protested against and he would have gone unchallenged, then an entire race, culture and ethnicity would have been wiped off the face of the earth. I encourage people to be prejudiced, prejudiced against ignorance, hate, immoral beliefs, ethnic cleansing and the list grows daily. And it is that list we need to shorten and remove those things in our lives that pits one against another due to race, culture and ethnicity.  

It doesn't take a racial, cultural or ethnic cleansing to create a superior race. It only takes understanding and love to do that. Seeing others and accepting them as we expect to be seen and accepted. Stop closing doors to protect our prejudices against others and welcome them in our lives and not trying to change the other, but to change together. Overcoming ourselves is where the change begins.

It is not our race that defines us, it is our race we let separate us and until we understand that it is our prejudices and ignorance that define and separate us, there will never be a change, but rather a constant struggle to change. It's time to stop struggling and realize it is lives that matter.

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Where Does it go from Here?

 I can remember when all it cost me to get a job was the price of a Sunday newspaper, a cup of coffee, an ink pen or pencil and experience. You found a nice corner booth, settled in, started perusing the wanted section and circled the the job you were interested in, then wake up early Monday morning, sat by your phone and started making phone calls to prospective clients and the really nice thing about it is that you actually kept to talk to a real live person and expressing your desire to interview with them, wow, what a concept.

Now you have a computer running an algorithm and parsing your resume that may have taken you hours or even days to compile, depending on your age and at my age days would be the norm, only to rip it apart picking out bits and pieces just to send back an email from "donotreply@youwantthisjob.com", to be told, "We received your resume." and then all you are  supposed to do is wait until someone finishes the donut and coffee on their third morning break to try and decipher the parsing trying to figure out what position you are applying for.

Then comes the long awaited email, "Hello, we are in the process of reviewing the information you sent in consideration for the position of whatever it was you applied for. Please be patient as our globally recognized talent recruitment team members goes over your information that really couldn't be worth a hill of beans to us and matches your skills and experience in our awesome $3 billion dollar building overlooking the most serene landscape you've ever seen. We should get back to you shortly in about three to six months, give are take a business quarter. From your over paid less experienced than you team at donotreply@hahahayouthinkwereallycare.com" as spittle drips from your lower lip back in your coffee cup that you had to go to some discount strip shop borderline use by date cheapest coffee they have on the shelf and hoping it does not say "Contents of this package are recycled from You Want This Job employee break room."

As the six month and possibly an extra business quarter time from At You Want This Job, Inc. is running out and your job inquiry is about to be deleted, you get that email you have been waiting for as you drink your cup of slightly flavored coffee recycled coffee grounds, "Congratulations, you have made the cut! But before we proceed any further we need you to take an assessment test at one of our co-partner sites designed to have you jump through additional hoops for our own enjoyment and amusement, but I really urge you to take the "practice assessment test" first so you'll be better prepared to take the final assessment test so that we may get some additional fun out of the dead end maze we are sending you through. Please click on the link below so that we may better evaluate how really stupid we think you are. Good luck and have your billing information ready as we sit back and laugh our butts off while you believe you think you're getting a job here with people who could care less if you get the job or not. So please follow this link, debitorcreditcard@suckyouraccountdry.com and make us laugh."

Out of desperation, starvation and filed eviction notice you click on the link. "Well hello stupid person who doesn't realize what's being done to you and we really couldn't care less member at Suck Your Wallet Dry, Inc. affiliated with those who enjoy a good circus show of never ending idiots who there seems to be no shortage of, welcome. Please have your debit or credit card ready as we begin the process of squeezing every last penny from your wallet and start you on your road to financial failure and bankruptcy. Good luck and we really hope you have the funds to cover this assessment no one will ever read as the link is a dead-end from no where to we could care less."

Still thinking there is something to the position you applied for, you fill in your personal information from the financial institution at "Astronomical Interest Rates Second Rate Financial, Inc." and click the "Are You Really This Stupid?" button to have your last penny being drained from your wallet, you see the price, $1,500.00 or whatever you have left in the bank or limit on your credit card, you decide personal starvation and a pissed off significant other isn't worth going bankrupt over, you click the "cancel and close" button, but not before a pop up window appears in your browser, "Hey stupid, can you really not afford this and deny us of a good laugh?", you proceed to close it out and still another pop up window appears, "Okay and only because you've given us such amusement, today and today only we are going to offer you a whole 3% discount on the practice assessment test package that we know we will make up getting you to buy other needless training material that prepares you for nothing.", you still proceed and try to close the page only to once again be accosted by another pop up window belittling you, or trying to, into submission in order for them to increase sales and their stock selling price on the NYSE or some other Wall Street firm hell bent on increasing profit margins on a company one of their uneducated get rich quick I can create a useless money making rip-off website brother, sister, aunt, uncle, cousin or in-law relatives uploaded that they feel they can abuse at your personal and financial expense just to prove P.T. Barnum's quote, "There's a sucker born every minute." on a bet made in a bar.

I can remember when looking for a job cost no more than the price of a Sunday Edition newspaper, a cup of coffee, experience and a quiet spot in a corner booth, 45 cents, less tip.



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