I’ve just had a vision of several Unstuckers doing a group watch of a super hero film, all drinking from plastic straws.
But I won’t name names.
I’ve just had a vision of several Unstuckers doing a group watch of a super hero film, all drinking from plastic straws.
But I won’t name names.
Alien to me
Yep. First thing I do is remove the straw so I can drink like a normal person and not risk poking my eye out.
Ice is also great as an after-drink snack if you get crushed ice. Other ice ok but is a tooth chipping hazard.
Cotton buds are q-tips. You’re welcome.
my Alma mater #1
what the fuck, do they expect you to “click” them with your … fingers? People rub their junk on those buttons!
Not Wierd Al’s best* but the WAAF music video
*Except for
If the Supreme Court is truly Supreme
Where’s the guac, beef, and sour cream?
Basically gig economy sharecropping
After paying about $1,500 for home office equipment: a computer, two headsets and a phone line dedicated to Arise; after paying Arise to run a check on her background; after passing Arise’s voice-assessment test and signing Arise’s nondisclosure form; after paying for and passing Arise’s introductory training, to which she devoted three days, unpaid; after paying for and passing a certification course to provide customer service for Arise client AT&T, to which she devoted 44 unpaid days; after then being informed she had to get more training yet — an additional 10 days, for which she was told she would be paid, but wasn’t; and then, after finally getting a chance to sign up for hours and do work for which she would be paid (except for her time spent waiting for technical support, or researching customer issues, or huddling with supervisors), Tami Pendergraft spent three weeks fielding telephone calls from AT&T customers, after which she received a single paycheck.
For $96.12.
To understand what happened to Pendergraft, picture a hanging chain. The first link, at the top, is a big company with many customers who have questions about their bill or some product or service. This big company contracts with Arise, the second link. Arise contracts with smaller businesses, the third link. These small businesses are often a lone person who incorporated because Arise’s business model demanded yet another corporate layer. They contract with an agent — such as Pendergraft — who is the fourth and bottom link. So the agent assisting the big company’s customers doesn’t work for the big company: she is three links removed.
The Arise business model requires customer service reps to pay for their own equipment and training, along with fees from each paycheck.
For playing the middle link, Arise charges both sides: the corporate clients, who often pay millions, and the network of workers, composed overwhelmingly of women and people of color.
Pendergraft testified that she put in “50, 55” unpaid hours a week during the AT&T training, which cost her $199. “Practice, practice, practice, practice,” instructors told trainees, who had to pass a succession of tests to keep moving on. Her class — or “wave,” as each was called — had about 60 people at the start. All paid to take the course. Only half finished. They did not get their money back.
Once Pendergraft was certified, she was obligated to work at least 20 hours a week. But come her turn to sign up for shifts, “there would be nothing left,” she said. Any slots available to her were chopped up, “30 minutes here, 30 minutes there. It was all broken up.” She realized she couldn’t have a life and meet her contractual requirements. When she did get hours, she was paid for time talking, not waiting, even though she was tethered to her computer and headset: “Sometimes I wouldn’t get a call for 30, 40 minutes, sometimes an hour, and I’d just have to sit there.”
Disgusted, Pendergraft quit.
The US government recommends turning in your international absentee ballots 4 weeks before the election. If I didn’t happen to check the US Embassy website, I wouldn’t have known this. I also wouldn’t have known that you can only mail your ballot postage paid through the Embassy and that’s only if you submit it 4 weeks beforehand.
The problem was that I didn’t (and still haven’t) received my absentee ballot from New York. By actively searching, I found out that I can vote with a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot which is what I ended up doing.
State governments make absolutely no effort to notify Americans abroad about how voting from overseas works. Whether it’s incompetence or malice, I really don’t know. But it’s probably why my ballot was the only one in the box when I dropped it off.
Pure evil
Here’s the founder of Jacobin stanning for the murder of a child:
https://twitter.com/ozkaterji/status/1312168726733619200?s=21
I guess the name should have been a hint…
Pretty interesting and not based on technology changes like some sports.
Actually swim suit technology is pretty interesting.
Honestly expected there to be more of a difference.