I'm a decent guy. I pay my taxes, I don't take controlled substances, & I'd say that the only laws I've broken in many, many years have been limited to j-walking -- & any other law I may have broken in the past might possibly have been so heinous that it might have been a misdemeanor. So, after I'd left Seattle, approximately a year & a half ago & arrived in Hawaii, I first found amusing, & later annoying, constantly being asked if I have any felony charges against me.
While in Hawaii, where a living wage is nearly impossible to come by, because I don't take drugs, didn't find it unreasonable for a potential employer to require I take a drug test. I certainly found it odd that they would want to do this before I exhibited any sign of being under the influence of some controlled substance, but fine. I needed the money.
Now I find myself in California -- the state of my birth, & a state which is historically politically progressive & tolerant. But, to my utter surprise, employers here, as many other places, are now not simply verifying that one has no trace of illegal substances in their system, but are actually forcing us to sign a document at the time of applying -- not when being offered a position -- rather at the time of applying for jobs stating that we agree to a complete background check.
Let me see if I have this straight: I have to agree -- before I even get to see anyone other than a cashier, assuming I ever do -- to have my entire life scrutinized by strangers to determine if I am moral enough to work for a substandard wage?
Let's overlook the fact that these are strangers who will be judging us based upon things we may or, actually, may have not done in the past -- all out of context, of course -- & concentrate on this: Corporate board members, CEO's, CFO's, upper management, etc in countless large corporations all over the world have been in the news for many years not because of benevolent acts, but because they repeatedly break numerous laws which inevitably have a negative effect on the lives of those in the company who are making it possible for them to feed themselves, buy new golf clubs, club memberships, & put braces on the perfect, white teeth of their children.
So, I wonder: Why is it the morals of the person to whom they will only pay a minor wage being investigated? Time & again, the corrupt corporate cronies are being arrested & sometimes put in prison, but more likely they're buying their way out of it & getting hired by another corporation & getting a much greater compensation package than the previous corporation had given them. But, naturally, the lowly wage-earner has to worry about losing their job if they accidentally find that a stack of post-it notes they'd slipped in their pocket for whatever reason had, because it's just not that important, somehow made it home with them.
Yes, yes. A struggling company can be made or broken because of the loss of a few post-it notes, but I have news for you. I've been round; I've seen things. For instance, every company on the planet -- assuming those in charge have any brains whatsoever -- write any "loss" off of their taxes. Then, each time I've worked when the issue of a minimum wage increase comes up, & the state approves it, every employer cries that they can't afford it & will either have to lay people off or will, they whine, have to go out of business.
Guess how many of these businesses are now gone. You guessed it -- none. How many of them laid people off? Again -- none. How many of these employers lifestyles were even slightly effected by a minimum wage increase? Oh, my god! None.
I'm sure I'll get mail from various people claiming they'd lost their business due to employee theft or minimum wage increases, but wake up. If you treat your employees well, they'll appreciate it, & they won't steal from you. I know this from experience. Oh, & I sincerely doubt that anyone ever was forced out of business because they suddenly had to capitulate & cough up a few more cents in wages. Had you been paying your people an amount which even implied you had any respect for them as life forms, a minimum wage increase would have still been less then you were paying them, anyway.
But, sure. I'll continue to sign these silly pieces of paper. What do I have to hide -- & what choice have I? But I still wonder how those who'd come up with this idea sleep at night.
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