Archives—April 2009

April 17—My parentheses are saying an awful lot here.

I went to Houston again last weekend. My aunt called my dad the other day with an update on my grandfather (still not good), so we headed down to sort things out. While down there, I did some laundry, took a lot of stuff to Goodwill, dusted the house (again), sorted the living room, and started working on the kitchen, which I'll have to finish next time.

I saw Kirston again. We didn't have time to go eat as we had initially planned, so we just talked for a bit on his couch. I look forward to next time.

I did two shows at the Erwin Center recently, LX at the Paramount Wednesday and tomorrow, and there's another show at the Erwin Center Sunday. There's also a bunch of stuff coming up at the PAC.

I have finally updated klutzy incidents. Not to be one of those annoying people who never updates except to say "sorry for not updating," but seriously, I really need to work on that.

I've also updated ARSE! I present to you now the story of Passive Aggressive Guy. I'm working on another story for ARSE, but it will take a while because it details a longer relationship (and because it's a doozy).

April 24—Texas Labor Law

I have retroactively updated the political blog (finally, but only for some of March) and posted a few changes to the latest ARSE story.

I'm going to Houston again this weekend. My dad has financial stuff to sort out with my grandfather, who appears to be doing better (meaning he's written a couple of letters to my dad that were shrill, accusatory, and guilt tripping, as usual), but he's not that much better. Anyway, my dad has work to do on the outside of the house there, and I will be working on the inside. I also anticipate seeing Kirston again.

Now I have a story to relate. I took a part time job at a Wendy's for the spare cash, but I am gone already. I lasted only about three days. I had a slight incident in trying to pick up my last paycheck, which I will relate in the hope that anyone else experiencing similar difficulties can learn something useful.

On Monday, I went to the Wendy's where I worked to pick up my last check. The assistant manager went to retrieve it and asked me if I had my shirts and hat to turn in. I did not. I had not needed to turn them in when I left Wendy's the last time I worked there, and when I was rehired, no mention was ever made of having to turn in my shirts when I left, so I tossed them. Foolish of me, perhaps, but not the point. The assistant manager said I could not collect my check without turning in the shirts. I asked if there were any way at all for me to get paid, and she said no, it was their policy. I strongly suspected that the "policy" had something to do with a personal grudge regarding the circumstances of my departure, especially because of the dirty looks she gave me and the furtive manner in which she tried to avoid my questions. Though certain this was illegal, I didn't want to start anything without knowing exactly what I was doing, so I said, "Oh," left, and promptly researched labor law upon arriving home.

Sure enough, I found abundant verbiage on the topic from both the Department of Labor and the Texas Workforce Commission. They stated that wages may be withheld only if the employer is ordered to do so by a court, is authorized by state or federal law, or has your written authorization to make deductions. Since none of the above was the case and state/federal law trumps so-called company policy every time, I did not waste any time in printing out a demand for final wages in Texas. (I.e., I immediately decided to set the dogs on them.) All I had to do was fill in the blanks for my name and dates. The print out even said "An employer may not hold final wages over any other dispute with the employee, including property which the company believes has not been returned," which I highlighted. I dropped it in the mail the next day and called the local corporate office for Wendy's. I explained what had happened and asked if it were true that it was company policy to withhold checks, because that was illegal. I dropped a couple of strategic phrases like "Texas labor law" and "filing a claim with the Texas Workforce Commission." Phrases like that have teeth. The person I spoke to sounded very nervous. I hung up and went about my business, and an hour or so later, I looked at my phone and saw that I had a voicemail. It was my former boss saying I could come by and pick up my check. I almost died laughing when I looked at the timestamp on the voicemail; she'd called me not ten minutes after I got off the phone with the corporate office. Nothing guarantees a speedy response quite like getting hit in the face with a threat of legal action.

In other words, folks, if you have a dick boss doing something you suspect is illegal, it probably is. There are laws to protect you from employers like that. Know them. Love them. Use them.

April 30—Updates! Kind of.

I had two job interviews yesterday. One was for full time but temporary work with Half Price Books; the other is less hours but permanent work at a movie theatre near the house. They might teach me projection. You can guess which job I want.

I have updated the books page, tech theatre gigs, the political blog, and klutzy incidents.

I went to Houston Friday night and returned Sunday afternoon. I did some more cleaning at my grandfather's but didn't finish all I had planned because I hurt my back. Not seriously; I just got a sharp bruise right in the middle of it when a table or shelf or something caught me. That made the bending I needed to do painful, so I decided to come on home, but not before visiting Kirston. I had planned on bringing brunch in a picnic basket to his place, but then he asked if I'd rather meet at a restaurant. So we met at the Black Labrador in Montrose for a brunch, which proved anticlimactic since they were not up to their usual standard. Oh well; it was good seeing him.