Legal Advice Update to post about motorbike accident: thank you r/legaladvice for convincing me not to talk to the police without a lawyer! |
- Update to post about motorbike accident: thank you r/legaladvice for convincing me not to talk to the police without a lawyer!
- [California] Got a professional survey done and my neighbor has encroached 2.5 feet into my property. What are my next steps going forward and how can I protect myself from adverse property possession?
- My 13 year old neighbor got kicked out of his house and he is now living in my couch.
- Employer wants employees to pay back money they would get through PPP program!
- (NC) Apartment has black air coming out of vents and is trying to charge us for repairs.
- Apartment "lost" our $400 security deposit that we are owed.
- [Georgia] A 'friend' moved away without telling us while my husband's motorcycle was on his property for repairs. Now his old landlord has it in his storage and wants to charge us $300 in 'storage fees' to get it back. Is there anything we can do?
- [MA] Broke lease and still paying rent as it hasn't been re-rented, but landlord removed our things, won't allow us to find our own replacement tenants, and steeply increased desired rent.
- Landlord turned me into collections without ever providing receipts just a handwritten bill.
- Furloughed spouse who is collecting u/e benefits received notice that employer is forcing them on FMLA and denying their benefits going fwd
- [New York State] Bought a house 2 months ago. Now that snow has melted and leaves are raked- found sharp broken glass all over backyard. Was not disclosed. Hundreds of pieces of all sizes and types. Photos included. What can we do?
- [New Hampshire] I'm an EMT. The past month we have been using KN95 masks. I have raised concerns about their quality, and was blown off. Today, managment sent out an email confirming they've been found to be faulty, which means I have been unprotected during high-risk exposures.
- Is it legal for me to record a couples therapy session?
- Need help getting my little brother emancipated
- Can I sue my landlord?
- New marketing research position I accepted seems to have me looking at peoples personal info. Is this legal?
- Walmart Says I Picked Up My Online Order, But I Didn't [KY]
- Tree service guy wants me to pay him for a tree he didn't remove
- I (41M) and being asked to work 20 hours a day, is that legal?
- Employer is having us "float time" while working and receiving unemployment
- Dealership i work at is forcing me to sell cheap, aftermarket, and inferior parts while billing customers for full price factory prices. Can i stop them without losing my job?
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:14 AM PDT Quick update to my post from 3 months ago (link). Thank you very much for convincing me not to talk to the police without a lawyer. I was not doing well and not thinking clearly and would absolutely have incriminated myself and likely ended up in jail. My lawyer was able to negotiate a great outcome. The lady who was driving the truck that cut me off will not be charged with anything, which is what I wanted so it's great news. They recognized she couldn't have seen me. I've been able to write her a letter of apology. As for me, let's say I won't be driving anything for quite some time, but that was to be expected. It'll be a long time before I am physically able to do it anyway. I'm aware that the legal consequences could have been a lot worse so I'm not complaining. The insurance companies are still doing their thing. I'm doing better now, staying at a rehab facility and learning to walk again and everything. Thank you very much again, you people stopped me from making a life-changing mistake. Edit: thanks a lot for the gold. That's very generous. I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I feel I don't really deserve it. Please if you feel like spending money on me you can make a donation to your local homeless shelter instead, they have it even harder than usual because of the pandemic. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 28 Apr 2020 07:35 PM PDT An approximate drawing of our property and the professional surveyor's property lines (dashed line): https://i.imgur.com/59oZCpe.png Background: There used to be a fence behind my garage that was 100% my property. Sometime within the last few years (I want to say 5~10? I want to prepare for the worst-case that this is indeed over California's adverse property possession threshold of 5 years), my neighbor destroyed that fence and set-up his own wooden fence in the exact same spot without my permission. This has since devolved into a long property line dispute. I have not touched his fence since he put it up in case I am not allowed to touch his property even though it's within my lines. Because of this fence, I have since lost access to my left garage wall. Furthermore, sometime within the last 5 years, my neighbor has raised the brick wall at the blue star higher so that I couldn't see what he was doing to my garage wall. I only recently found out he has damaged my garage wall (plaster, wall, etc. chipping off). If I knew he was destroying my garage wall like this, I would have acted faster. For reference, I was unemployed at this time so I could not afford a survey or a legal battle. I recently started working and with my new income, I got a property survey line done, and it has confirmed that my neighbor's wooden fence has encroached onto my property by about 2.5 feet. In addition, my surveyor found that my neighbor's side lawn has encroached onto my property by a similar amount. With that known, I want to build a wall separating my driveway from his sidelawn to make the boundaries more distinct. However, my neighbor has put sprinklers (red stars) on his side lawn for a long time now that would get in the way. However, he hasn't used them as his side lawn is actually mostly dead and has no vegetation. With this background now, I wanted to know what I should expect moving forward:
Any feedback or guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| My 13 year old neighbor got kicked out of his house and he is now living in my couch. Posted: 29 Apr 2020 12:33 PM PDT Info: I'm in Seattle. I'm a 22 years old woman. I'm Nicaraguan and I'm not planning on staying in America. I came here on a student visa as a part of a student program for the development of third world countries and as a part of the deal after I get my degree I'm supposed to go back to Nicaragua and make a change there. When I moved to America about 3 years ago, I used to occasionally babysit my neighbors' kid. I was not their regular babysitter, just occasionally for extra cash. The kid is 13 now and too old for a babysitter, but since we are neighbors I see him fairly often. A couple of days ago he got kicked out of his house because his parents found out he was gay. He is now living in my couch because he showed up at my door saying he has nowhere else to go. I dont know what to do. I know nothing about USA laws. I dont know how legal is to have a minor not related to me living in my couch. He says he has nowhere else to go and I cant just kick him out, specially with the pandemic. Who am I supposed to contact? Child Protection Serviced? (I mean he got kicked out of his house at age 13 and in the middle of a pandemic, that sounds like a child that needs protection). Can I get in trouble for letting him live here for a couple of days? What are my options? Edit: I apologize about my English I'm not a native speaker. [link] [comments]  |
| Employer wants employees to pay back money they would get through PPP program! Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:18 AM PDT I am writing this for a friend who works as a 1099 contractor in a small business. They have not been working due to COVID-19. The employer reached out to the employees asking them to sign a contract for a salary advance/loan for April/May that they will have to pay back after they resume working. The business has no W2 employees. This entire situation seems bizarre as 1) Employees are going to need to pay back the funds they receive through PPP, (while the employer potentially has their loan forgiven). 2) All the employees are 1099, and from all the reading I've done these individuals should not be included in business' payroll calculations for PPP loans. The owner is being pushy and demanding employees sign the contract for a cash advance saying they are putting the business at risk if they don't take the money. My friend is refusing as this situation seems like odd. What options does my friend have here? [link] [comments]  |
| (NC) Apartment has black air coming out of vents and is trying to charge us for repairs. Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:44 AM PDT Hello everyone, I moved into this apartment on 12/09/2019. Around late January I started noticing black residue around the apartment, it was pretty light around this time. About mid February the black residue severely increased, it was all in the carpets, in the doorways, walls, on our bedding, in the laundry room, bathroom, closet, it was everywhere. I emailed the apartment complex manager and provided photos. They sent out their resident manager who said it must be the filter. They sent out carpet cleaners and that was it. The black residue kept coming out of the vents and now it looks like no one ever came out and cleaned anything. The new filter is now solid black and soggy. It is extremely hard to breathe and it's making my asthma symptoms much worse. At the same time our air conditioner kept going out and randomly hiking up to 85 degrees. I have emailed the complex manager over ten times about these issues. I spoke to her about the black residue and now she's saying if they can prove that we "did anything to the units" that they are going to charge us for the repairs as this is a new unit and they have not received any other similar complaints. They actually suggested that I put charcoal in the air vents. I am getting extremely frustrated and I was wondering if this is even legal? This is negatively impacting my health and appears to be an unhealthy living environment. When me and my roommate blow our nose it's black and bloody now. Any advice is welcomed. [link] [comments]  |
| Apartment "lost" our $400 security deposit that we are owed. Posted: 28 Apr 2020 08:54 PM PDT This occurred in the Charlotte-area of NC. We paid $400 for a security deposit when moving into an apartment complex back in January of 2018. We finally moved out January 31st, 2020 and were told that we would recieve our $400 security deposit after 30-40 days. On day 40, after not receiving said refund, we called the office multiple times and left multiple voicemails with no answer and no returned phone calls. After finally getting in touch with them, they told us that we were owed the deposit and it would be mailed shortly. After 20 or so more days, we still had not recieved a check. We got in touch with the office just for them to tell us that they would "get back to us soon". A few days later, we drove back to the old apartment complex which is about 40 minutes from us. We spoke with the property manager and that's when we were told that they are aware that we had paid the $400 security deposit (they had a copy of the original lease that showed that we paid the deposit), but at this point they do not know what happened to the money. They straight up told us that they "lost it". So at present, they are withholding our security deposit because they cannot "find it", and we have yet to hear anything back weeks later. Do I have any leg to stand on when discussing legal action against them? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 07:39 AM PDT It took us months to get the information to contact this dude because the 'friend' simply refused to communicate clearly with us. He lied to us about who had it, and sent us on a wild goose chase to figure out who he actually handed it over to, then blocked us everywhere. Now 3 or 4 months later, we finally got the number for his old landlord who apparently had it the whole time(we think it was just left at the property, come what may style), and is trying to charge us to have a bike we have the title to! We have no idea if it's even at a legitimate storage facility, or just in a shed somewhere. We thought about reporting it stolen, but during my husbands conversation with him today he told him that he contacted the sherriff here already and informed them he had it in order to avoid that, so that's not an option, I guess...? Is there any way we can resolve this without court, and without having to essentially repurchase the bike? We're so frustrated and just want our property back! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:14 AM PDT My roommates and I are all named tenants on our lease from 9/1/2019 - 8/31/2020. In February, we notified the management company we communicate with on behalf of the landlord that we would be moving out 3/31 and the apartment was available to rent 4/1. Management explained that we are responsible for rent through the end of our lease until a new tenant is found. (The lease is this standard lease which also explains as such in section 25). It took a week for them to list the apartment, with no photos and for 20% more than our rent. That is on the high end of the market average here, however the apartment is in need of so much more work than comparably priced places. We also listed the apartment and shared information among our networks to get the word out. Despite the steep increase, the Boston-area market is super hot. I found tenants interested to rent it for 4/1 and introduced them to management. Management informed me they don't handle tenant applications and they would need to go through their broker who listed it. I provided the interested tenants the broker's information, and they would not move forward as they didn't feel they should pay a broker's fee when the broker didn't show the apartment. Management then instructed me to remove all advertisements for the apartment, as they are handled by the broker. I then noticed that the broker stole our own photos for their advertisements rather than taking professional photos. The broker has since reduced the listed rent to a 12% increase. I showed the apartment to another interested tenant, who declined because of heat issues. I was present while the broker showed to an interested tenant, and I don't know for certain why they declined but they and even the broker asked several concerned questions about the noticeably poor condition heat while there.
We all paid for March rent. Mid-March, management reached out on behalf of the realty company, asking us to create a video tour of the apartment so that in-person showings could be cancelled for health reasons. This was frustrating, but we complied, despite it not being a mandated order until 4/8. We also heard from management that all non-emergency work in apartments was suspended until further notice. Toward the end of March, we reached out to confirm that it had not yet been rented for 4/1, and asked when we would need to deliver the apartment empty. Management replied, "When the apartment does rent, you will be expected to be fully moved out of the apartment by noon on the last day of the month. March 31st, April 30th, etc." This reply gave us the understanding that the apartment was ours to use until it is rented by someone else or 8/31, whichever comes sooner.
We all paid April rent. None of us have been staying there, however Roommate2 returned on 4/28 to find the apartment emptied and being worked on. The man there working said he removed the items and began work two weeks prior. We had no reason to believe this would happen, as they indicated that we would need to move out by noon the day before it's rented, and that all non-emergency work was suspended. We had never turned in keys nor indicated that we had moved out. The work being done is fixing the long-term heat issues, plus removing fixtures, taped up walls and windows, etc to fix walls and paint. Not currently a habitable state. Roommate2 and I found out that management emailed *only* Roommate1 on 4/1 asking if they can remove the items, despite the precedent that management had always copied all three tenants on communications, for example, needing all of our consent about breaking the lease or signing a new lease for a replacement tenant. Unfortunately Roommate1 gave them permission without asking or informing us as she didn't realize Roommate2 hadn't fully moved out.
Lastly, it is extraordinary that a Boston-area apartment has gone unrented for two months. We all feel taken advantage of at this point, paying rent on an apartment while they make improvements they wouldn't do while we lived there, being unable to use it if we wanted (it is located very close to a dense medical area in Boston and because of the work being done wouldn't be able to offer it as an isolated place for medical workers to stay), have it listed by a realtor seemingly not putting effort into getting it rented even considering the current situation, and that two of three interested tenants I met were dissuaded by poor condition heat that is not our fault or responsibility to fix.
Thank you. Edit: I don't want to be misleading about the heat issues - the heat worked, however the steam radiators need severe repair as they leak steam and water causing significant rust and safety issues (if it's not obvious, steam is extremely hot to the touch). It was often well above MA standards for heating temperatures, and the system had so much hammering you couldn't talk over it. Using a phone app I recorded 85dB while lying in bed at night. I (poorly) slept with earplugs still waking every night all winter. These issues were evident since we were showing it in February, when the heat was on, and the steam and water leaking as well as the noise were obvious. [link] [comments]  |
| Landlord turned me into collections without ever providing receipts just a handwritten bill. Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:05 AM PDT When I moved out of an apartment in Illinois 5 years ago I cleaned out the place, left the keys on the counter, went to the owner's office and signed some paperwork giving them my new address in Oregon to send my security deposit. They looked me in the eye and wished me luck. Months later I received a bill for about $900 written on a shitty looking doc with no actual receipts. They double charged me for cleaning, once for the "trash" left in the unit and a second time for "general cleaning," then I was charged for not returning the keys (they told me they always changed the locks after a move out and to just leave them). They charged me for changing the drip pans on the stove, shampooing the carpet, and fixing a closet door (which they repaired once while I lived there and it came off it's hinges again because it still was never fixed). Then they wrote in that my roommate didn't pay rent for two months, and that I didn't pay for the last month (totaling what should be one and one half months worth of rent), but they added it up incorrectly showing that we missed two total months of rent. Ultimately the bill came to be about $1800 after the deposit deduction and they wrote that I was responsible for half and so was my roommate. We were both restaurant workers and paid rent in cash and we definitely have no receipt. So I figured I'm just losing my deposit and I shouldn't even fight them because half of $585 wasn't worth it and when I asked my roommate who shared the lease, she hadn't gotten a bill at all. This was all just handwritten with no actual receipts so it seemed like a scare tactic to give up my deposit. SO. They turned me in to collections a few months ago. My ex step mom owns the collections agency. She reduced the amount in half and removed it from my credit. I hit up my old roommate who says she was never billed and nothing is on her credit (she lived with the landlord's daughter for 6 years and they're still friends). Some good ol small town bullshit. I called the office to get an explanation and the owner called me "honey" and "sweetheart" in every GD sentence. I was asking for a bill and receipts and he told me he sent one, but I moved again and needed a new one - he told me he has in my hand writing my address and if that's not up to date that's not his problem. I asked about the missing rent and how they would let us just sign and leave without telling us, he had no answer but he had record that we paid in cash so if we could provide receipts then I would be fine....sweetheart. From here my best friend took the phone out of my hand and got in a shouting match with this guy and probably wasn't our finest moment. I did finally get the copy of the shitty hand written bill from collections which I recognized from Oregon, still no receipts. If I can accomplish anything this quarantine season I want to figure out how to not pay a dime to these lying trash sacks from the sweaty pits of cornfield hell. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:52 AM PDT I read through the Covid thread and used the search function prior to, so if this has already been answered elsewhere I apologize. We recently located to NC and my wife who works in the eye care industry is collecting unemployment as she is currently furloughed due to Covid. She received notice from a coworker that they are contacting the employees and notifying them that they are being forced into FMLA and that their weekly unemployment claims will be denied. The coworker stated that their company has received a loan from the government and that they would be exempt from having to pay it back if all employees were active and not furloughed. I'm still in the process of researching into any type of recourse and not even sure if we can do anything about it. That being said I still wanted to reach out on here to see if anyone else experienced a similar situation and what options we may have available to us. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:47 AM PDT Hey all, Recently bought a house in Steuben County, NY. It was built in 1890 and has seen many owners. It took us a bit to notice this issue as we had to wait for the snow the melt and to rake the 2 years of leaves that had collected in the yard. Then, we noticed a problem- Glass. Everywhere. Here is a quick diagram of our backyard. The slanted lines denote a bank/slope. Red is high amounts of glass, orange is glass is present, yellow is glass is rare. We started picking up the big chunks, thinking it was just a few broken bottles the neighbors tossed over or something. But then it continued. There's so much glass you can get a handful by just standing in a spot and looking around. All different colors, sizes, thicknesses. Some has patterns like a decoration, some is blue, green, brown, but mostly white. Sometimes it's a whole bottleneck or bottom of a bottle, but mostly it's just very small sharp pieces. There's also other crap like plastic bits, rusty metal, etc. But so far the most obvious is the abundance of glass. Here's a photo of glass found in a just 2-foot area. The little balls are seeds- ignore. We're in a location that freezes a lot, so this stuff just keeps heaving up. We can't just cover it with more dirt. We've already picked up over a hundred shards, big pieces of bottles, and it hasn't even made a difference. We think, based on the concentration, there was a very unclean fill done to make the slopes in our yard. This was undisclosed to us. Since it was winter when we purchased, we/our inspector had no way of seeing this Spring. Is there any legal recourse we have here? We are going to have to take off several feet of dirt from the yard and bring in new soil if we want it to be safe. We also have no idea if this fill contained hazardous materials (besides the glass), or if it's safe grow edible plants in it. Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 08:36 AM PDT These masks have been provided to us the past month, and I had already complained that they do not properly seal around the nose. I was replied to with a text basically saying it's not a concern because "you dont need N95s you should just be using surgical masks". The problem is, last friday we had a high-risk patient with respiratory difficulties that we needed both a BLS and ALS crew for. That's four people in total. This patient required 15lpm of O2 via an oxygen mask(non-rebreather), which is very high flow compared to the usual nasal cannula. This creates an increased risk of exposure as the high flow air is amplifying the spread of aerosols. In fact, the ER we brought this patient to will not allow a patient inside the ER while wearing an NRB due to the elevated risk of exposing others. A patient like this does infact require we use N95 masks. All 4 of us were in direct contact with this patient without proper PPE for approximately 20-30 minutes. We are now concerned we have been infected, and dont know how to proceed. When we contacted management about this, we were told "we will email someone about it and get back to you". A short while later, we are then contacted by management stating we we had been reported for "leaving trash and used PPE in our vehicle". We cleaned and decontaminated that vehicle inside and out 3 times. We checked it over thoroughly. Apparently, right after we complain to managment about being exposed, a group of Gremlins snuck into the ambulance and dumped a bunch of trash in there. I am wondering what my options are. I would obviously like to be tested, but I need to know if I can get unemployment if I have to quarentine for 14 days. Additionally, I would like to know if I can refuse to work due to health concerns, as my job has obviously not ensure I am adequately protected from exposure, and still collect unemployment. I do not feel safe working. I do not feel like my employer is ensuring my health and safety adequately. Should I be contacting my state unemployment office for info? Should I be filing an OSHA complaint? Can I even do anything at all? [link] [comments]  |
| Is it legal for me to record a couples therapy session? Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:21 AM PDT Location: Missouri, USA Background info: This is a very long story. But the important part for this story is that I have left my spouse due to many issues, including long-term sexual abuse and his pornography addiction. We have 2 kids together. He has basically threatened to continue taking me back to court to run me out of money fighting for custody until I agree to 50/50 (which would be very easy given that he makes literally 15x my salary-- he is a specialty physician). One of the elements of his pornography addiction is that he was on servers and in groups on KiK that were exchanging child porn. He claims he never actually watched any of the kiddie porn and was just on those servers because he could get other non-consensual content there (he liked voyeurism and revenge stuff), but that gets off into other issues that aren't really relevant to my question. Legal question: He will deny any involvement at all with the child porn servers/groups except for in therapy sessions. He has made sure that all evidence of that is totally wiped from his computer, tablets, phone, etc. And with Kik...well, you know. They make that too easy. He has made sure everyone thinks I am lying/exaggerating about that. Again, except for with his therapist who I have gone to some joint sessions to with him. So what I am wondering is if it would be legal for me to record one of those sessions without him knowing as "insurance" basically, so that I have him admitting to it. I am normally not at all a sneaky nor dishonest person, but the thought of him having 50% custody of the kids and me having no actual evidence of this to present in order to argue it terrifies me. Even if I maybe wouldn't be able to use the recording in court, I'm hoping that him just knowing it exists might be enough to stop the threats. So my main question is, would creating this recording be illegal? A secondary question is, shouldn't his therapist have to report his admission that he was involved in child porn groups under mandated reporting laws? [link] [comments]  |
| Need help getting my little brother emancipated Posted: 29 Apr 2020 01:02 PM PDT My brother (16) and I (20) live with our father. Our mother signed her rights away to him 3 years ago when she had a dui. She is 3 years sober since. Our father is mentally abusive and has a huge temper (it's all screaming and yelling and throwing stuff, never physical) and he just told our mother that she can't see him anymore and he's taking my brother to a new house, which is going to kill my brother as he is a big mommas boy. I would like to know what I, him, or our mother can do to get him emancipated or the fastest way for her to be able to see him again. I also have dozens of videos of him screaming at us, throwing stuff, and one time getting so mad he threw toothpaste at a window and shattered it, with me and my brother within the vicinity. Edit : Also, my mother and I fully have the financial capabilities to get a house or apartment. Thank you!! Also, we live in Michigan. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 06:40 AM PDT I'm from Wisconsin. If you're familiar with Wisconsin landlord/tenant laws, that sentence might be all you needed to know. I live in a 3 bedroom. Signed a lease with 1 other person about a year ago. She's been a nightmare. She's also not in the same socio-economic class as me, so, to be nice, I have always paid more rent than her. She found out I was moving out. Asked me three months ago if someone could maybe move in before the lease ended. At the time, I expected to have 1 month of overlap to move, so I'd only see the person for about a week. She asked me if the person could move in two months before my lease ended. I said no. Next thing I know, I received a lease in my email, breaking my old one two months early, and adding a third person I didn't know. I called them and said I don't want that person living here. They claimed they didn't know I was unaware. Yesterday, the person moved in with 5 hours' notice. In the middle of a pandemic. My roommate didn't tell me, and she doesn't get her own set of keys, because she's not on the lease. I felt like I couldn't say no, because she moved from another state. Roommate is trying to give me an extra few hundred dollars to sweeten the deal, but I have to be basically quarantined with a person I don't know. My landlord is aware and they told my roommate it is okay to do this. They don't seem to care how I feel. Can I sue my landlord? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 10:39 AM PDT Hi all, I wasn't too sure where else to put this, so please let me know if there is another area on reddit where I should put this. Let me preface by saying that I recently moved to Austin, TX at the beginning of February after taking a Marketing research position. I had recently graduated from a small, local university in Missouri in Psychology and Data Marketing Research, and had always wanted to move to Texas, so I was pretty excited when I got the offer. The pay is also almost TRIPLE from any other offer I have received (well above 6 figures), so I was extremely excited to start, and could pay off my student debt real quickly! I won't say the name of the company, but they are small, consisting of maybe 20-30 employees total. The position description was essentially the following (not an exact description for fear of revealing employer): "Come work for a new and exciting venture in Data Analytics research! We are looking for young, motivated, self-starters who always have a positive energy and are willing to put in 110%! Apply if this describes you!" They then listed some prerequisites from which I had most of them, basically standard data analytics stuff and some other marketing skills. Nothing too out of the ordinary. The interview process was also fairly standard (from what I've heard at least, never actually made it to the interview stage). They asked an assortment of behavioral questions and background questions, like "Where did you go to college? What did you graduate with? Describe any leadership positions." Fairly basic questions, and the interviewers were extremely kind and very upbeat. After the phone interview, they emailed me back very quickly saying they were extremely interested in pursuing further. They told me how much I'd be making if they decided they wanted to hire me, and that I would just need to perform a few other simple things in order for them to hire me. They wanted a face picture and picture of me with someone I knew that also includes my face for verification purposes (thought this was a little weird, but they told me it was just to make sure I was who I said I was and that they would cross-reference with the university to make sure I wasn't faking my degree or my identity). They also made me sign a few standard employment documents and go through a background check, which I thought was also kinda weird since they never actually told me I had been hired at this point. I did all that though, since I really needed this job and it was going to pay extremely well. I sent them the images, and after about a week they called me back and congratulated me on the position. I was extremely excited, and they had quickly sent over almost $35 grand start on bonus, plus another $20 grand moving bonus. This is more money than my family makes annually, so I was very surprised. They asked if I could start within the same week (4 days to be exact) and said that they had travel all planned out for me, and temporary housing if I needed it, all free of charge. I thought this was way too quick, and I asked if I could have some more time (at least 2 weeks), but they seemed pretty strict on when they wanted me to start work. They also said it was in the contract I had signed. I was a little angry, but they had given me a very generous sign-on bonus, so I am assuming that they had given me that money to prepare for such a quick transition. So I quickly said my goodbyes to my family and headed on down to Austin. I have a friend down in Austin who said I could live with him until I find an apartment, so I took him up on his offer. When I arrived at the building, it seemed like a pretty standard office park. Nothing at all like the pictures they had on the website haha. I told reception who I was and they told me to wait in some room. I waited for almost 2 hours before my manager finally came and introduced himself and was very apologetic about the wait. They said things have been crazy since they are receiving a lot of global business attention at the moment and are hiring a lot of new folk. I assured him it was OK, and he brought me to my desk. A pretty standard desk with a computer, cubicle style. They had told me that they had just moved into this building and were beginning to migrate the rest of the teammates over, so it may seem fairly empty for the time being. And let me tell you, it was empty! I had only met two other co-workers and my manager by the time Covid-19 hit and we were all sent home, but I'll get to that later. My coworkers seemed just like me, recent graduates, but were working on different facets of research and so were in different wings of the building. Thus, we didn't have much opportunity to talk with each other. After setting up my cubicle, my manager brought me into his office. He is a very kind, understanding, and upbeat person, and we seemed to connect on a personal level. I think he was one of the people who interviewed me (although he never actually said that he was the interviewer). He told me that they had developed a brand new proprietary data marketing algorithm and had received a lot of recent financial backing. He went on talking about a whole bunch of technical stuff, saying that I'd understand what he was talking about soon enough, and kept reiterating that my job is very important and crucial to keeping the algorithm working. At this point he made me sign some more papers, one of them being, what he called, an "atypical NDA", basically saying that I had to keep what I was doing an utmost secret, and that secrecy was "50% of the job". He told me that if I broke the agreement, I would need to pay back the sign-on and moving bonus, and that they would have legal reason to pursue me financially. He told me that whenever someone asked what it was that I did, to keep it general and say "Marketing research analyst" or something like that. He made me rehearse, and he pretended to be someone asking and probing for information about what it was I did, just to make sure I understood. He then told me that people at bars or people I meet in my daily life here in Austin may try and probe me about what it was that I did, and he said that people might do this because they know how much of a success the algorithm was and that they were competing companies trying to snoop for information. He said this thing happens all the time in marketing research companies. The first few weeks seemed pretty standard. I had to watch a whole bunch of training videos (which seemed like they were made in the 80's which was a little weird??) about the importance of secrecy and how every action that I performed was going to have the ability to transform the marketing industry on a global scale...a big feat for an entry level position! I was then introduced to standard techniques of "deflection" and exactly what I should do if I think I'm being probed for information and how I should handle the situation. This lasted for 2 weeks, and then after I passed some assessments, I was introduced to a piece of software called ATARE. This was essentially the "core" of this algorithm I guess, and at my entry level position, only had access to "level 1 outer shell" (a programming term). The software had been described to me as "like an onion", and as the company gained more trust in me, and I gained more trust in them (mutual trust factor), I would be granted higher levels and a significant raise (30% each level). My manager said that since things were ramping up very quickly and that they were very proud of my initial assessments, they had decided that I be put on the expedited track, which means higher levels quicker. They said that it normally takes 2 years before a level 2 preparedness assessment can be made, but with the expedited track, I could have it done in 6 months. All I needed to do was take a personality assessment to make sure that trust was a core part of my personality. This is where things got kinda weird. This exam had three parts: written, oral, and exploratory. The oral exam seemed like a standard ethics quiz mixed in with some logic/IQ questions and some thought questions, like "True or false: You can't step into the same river twice". That sort of stuff. The oral exam was pretty much the same types of questions, but I had to answer them in a room with a man and a woman I hadn't met before. They were very serious (never smiled or joked) and seemed to be trying to gauge my facial expressions? This lasted 6 hours with only one 5 minute monitored break. Then the exploratory round....this was pretty weird. At the end of my third week (a friday), I was given a folder. They told me to open it when I get home, and to make sure no one was watching me or I'd be in violation with my NDA. They told me to not come back into work until I thought I was finished, and to take as long as I needed. I asked how long I could take, and they re-emphasized the "as long as needed". I got home and opened the folder. It contained pages of text from philosophy books, some coordinates, example purchase data history, group involvement history (case studies of people, like for example if someone was involved with the Democratic socialists of america, you had to try and match them to the other data) photos of what looked to be pictures of philosophers alongside photos of random people with varying facial expressions. A few other pages of stuff which looked like encrypted text. And worst of all, there were absolutely no instructions or anything. I had no idea what to make of this. I told my friend out of risk of violating the NDA, and he said that this was a standard exam some companies make their employees do, and some companies even use it as a recruitment tool. Is this true? I couldn't find much about it on google. I receive a call the following Wednesday from my manager that told me to forget about this portion of the exam and that I had passed the written and oral portions and that I was to shred the remaining documents. They told me that I would be continuing my work from home (I guess due to covid-19) and that I should only come to work to pick up my computer, so I went and did that. He told me I needed to be connected to a certain VPN at all times when working and to make sure I work alone and with the front camera unblocked so that my environment could be seen at all times for security purposes. He then told me that I would be given assignments via the communication application supplied by ATARE called RESPONSE and that even if I had no assignments, I was to remain at my computer from 9-5 in case I had to respond to an assignment. The next about three weeks, I did just that. I received nothing. I literally just sat at my computer not doing anything, occasionally went to the bathroom or watched youtube on my phone. It was boring, but I was still getting paid, so I didn't mind. The first assignment came in middle of March. The way that Response works is that is doesn't tell you who you got the assignment from. I assumed it was from my manager, but there was no real way of knowing, it could've been automated for all I know. Without divulging too much detail, the assignment was pretty boring. Basically I had to open up ATARE and perform data queue analysis on some data streams. My manager explained it to me early on, basically you get some input data called 'Flux' and you try and match it to corresponding output data called 'Spool'. It's kinda tricky at first, but after a few hours of it you get the hang of it. What concerns me is that I was beginning to notice that some of the flux seems to be personally identifiable information. It is very rare, but sometimes I receive flux that contained what seems to be addresses, phone numbers, first and last names, even some purchase history and one time I thought I saw coordinates with timestamp info. ATARE emphasizes that I should report anything that seems anomalous or personally identifiable, so I reported it and it seems like I am getting less personal information in the flux which is good. It also emphasized that personally identified information is encrypted, and there was no way I should've been able to see anything. But it still concerns me a little bit. I have also not heard from my manager since I've received my first assignment. I'm afraid to call him since he seemed very busy last time we spoke so I don't want to waste his time. So my question is, is this normal??? Does anyone who has a marketing research background used software like this? It pays very well, but should I be concerned in terms of violating ethical boundaries, especially with the personal identifiable information? They said this is all 100% legal, and I have no reason not to believe them . Also, if there is another spot in this site I should post this to, please let me know! Thank you ! [link] [comments]  |
| Walmart Says I Picked Up My Online Order, But I Didn't [KY] Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:52 AM PDT On Saturday, I made an order online for a quilt, to be picked up at my local Walmart. Sunday morning I received an email that my order was ready to be picked up. I planned to go get it after work on Monday to save a trip. Sunday evening, I received an email telling me that my order had been picked up, even though I had not picked it up. I called the store's pickup department Sunday evening to ask what the deal was. The associate asked for my name, and told me he did not have an order under that name in his system. I asked him how that was possible since my order had been confirmed and shown as picked up, but he did not know what to tell me. I called the store's customer service department, who instructed me to call 1-800-walmart. They did not offer any help. Sunday night, I called 1-800-walmart, and the associate said the issue would be escalated to include camera review. He told me I should hear back in 24-48 hours about a refund or replacement. I never did. I called 1-800-walmart again this morning. The associate I spoke with informed me that the store was insisting I had picked up my order and refused to offer a refund or replacement. She suggested I go to the store in person and ask to speak with management. What can I do now? I intend to go to the store and talk with management, but what do I do if they just insist I've picked it up? Can I ask to see records or video footage? I don't think I can dispute the charge on my card because there was another item on the order that I was to receive in the mail. [link] [comments]  |
| Tree service guy wants me to pay him for a tree he didn't remove Posted: 29 Apr 2020 12:06 PM PDT So a tree came down on my property a couple of weeks ago and I called a couple of tree services for quotes on having it removed. Both guys tell me $350 and both tell me that they can't say for sure when they'll be able to come around since there were a lot of trees down in the area and they were backed up. However, the FIRST guy has me sign an invoice for the work which, I thought, would just be a way of formalizing the estimate. It seemed normal to me and I didn't think twice about it. The SECOND guy however, is the first one to get the work done. He came like three days later, did the work, got paid, no problem. Now about a week and a half later the FIRST guy calls to schedule the service and I let him know that the tree is gone and not to worry about it. But now he's texting at me telling me that we had signed a contract that I need to pay him the $350 or he's going to take me to court. I'm thinking that: A) There was no service rendered and so there's no reason to pay anything (on the invoice I signed it says payment to be rendered at time of service) B) An invoice isn't even actually a contract, it's a request for payment and C) If I'm misunderstanding and it is a contract, there are no terms beyond I'll do X and you'll pay Y. The invoice is just a generic work order, there are no written clauses or conditions. There's no cancellation policy described, there's no agreement that I won't get someone else to do the work, etc. And certainly nothing of that sort was discussed word of mouth when we spoke. So anyway, I'm feeling like this guy is full of crap, but no one has ever told me they were going to pursue legal action against me and I feel jittery. Am I wrong and am I liable? Is there any more information that might be important? Thanks :D [link] [comments]  |
| I (41M) and being asked to work 20 hours a day, is that legal? Posted: 28 Apr 2020 05:57 PM PDT Hi, For legal purposes, I live/work in Pittsburgh, PA. I am a salaried employee, full-time employee. I have been working at a company for 6 months. As of right now, one of the projects I am on requires 12 hours a day to work on (I like that one and am all for the hours). I am being ask to take on another project that is actually 4 teams in one. If I am lucky, that would be 8 hours a day. I cannot emphasize how lucky I would need to be for that project to be 8 hours a day. Both projects requires weekend work, the 12 hour/week project is about 6 hours on the weekend and the new project no one knows for sure. I bet my left leg, it will be 12 hours a weekend. I approached my boss 2 weeks ago and he agreed I should only be on one. Today he told me that I have to do both because the Product Owner of the second project is leaving. This means that I am also taking on that new role and responsibilities. It is physically impossible to work 20 hours a day past a certain point. It is also impossible to succeed at both projects equally. Basically, one is going to fail. I asked him which one I should work on and he just stuttered. Do I have any legal protections from being asked to work 20 hours a day? Can I say no to working that much? I am lost here, please help. Thank you reddit! [link] [comments]  |
| Employer is having us "float time" while working and receiving unemployment Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:21 AM PDT California I work for a private company where it is fairly common to make exceptions to the rules... I am always in the minority for doing things the right way and am used to losing those battles but this one has got me losing sleep... Due to COVID-19 our business has slowed down, like many private businesses, and about a week ago my boss called me to let me know we were laying off the employees in my department. He also explained to me that moving forward we need any incoming cash flow to pay our bills. This would mean that I still need to come in to complete whatever work there is and will "float" my time worked to be paid later in the form of time off. While doing this, I am to report no hours worked so that I qualify for unemployment insurance. In the last few days things have actually picked up and with my staff gone I can easily work 40 hours in a week but am trying to keep it to a minimum because I am not comfortable with floating time off of the books, let alone 40 hours a week. Truth is, I'd rather work an hour or two a day for free to get out of the house, however the office calls me weekly to log what hours I need to float and I cannot lie that I did not go in when I did. The reality of the situation is that I work at a place where if I am one out of ten people that says they are uncomfortable with breaking the rules, whatever future job there is when COVID-19 eases up will be in jeopardy. I will end up getting my way sitting at home on unemployment and be last in line for work when it comes back. I am a manager and have worked here for 15 years but because I can't be trusted and am not loyal it will impact me. However I am also aware that this is breaking the law, and undermining how UI should work and not comfortable with that. While most of my coworkers look at it as a way to make more on unemployment while working less. My boss sees it as a way to pay the bills without having to pay employees. I am trying to play nice and take the path of least resistance here, however I am worried about 3 things:
I know this is an unprecedented situation, however I am mid management and this could be more shady or less shady than I know. From what I have heard, over half of the company is participating in the "floating time" policy while working and taking UI. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Apr 2020 09:21 AM PDT I work for a new and used car dealership in oklahoma. Ive been forced to sell flimsy and aftermarket parts to customers at humongous markup while they are under the impression they are getting genuine factory products. For example we told a customer she would be getting a factory axle and it would cost 780 dollars, what she received was an axle from a local parts store thats cost 90 dollars. My conscious hurts and they pay me just enough so i can't quit Is what they are doing illegal and what can i do to help? [link] [comments]  |
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