[at-l] Better Late than Never

[James Bullard <bullard@northnet.org>]

Ben Wrote:

>Now, I'm all for ending telemarketing, spam, and junk mail, and all those
>other annoyances. But I've also taken a lot of verbal abuse and actual
>threats that came out of anger towards the school and the calling program.
>So many, that I'm pretty much impervious to it now. I've seen kids break
>down crying, because they couldn't take the constant nastiness, but they
>couldn't find anywhere else to work. We got $7/hr, plus one hour bonuses if
>we beat our goals for the night (which went up as we gained experience).
>Eventually, I was fired (after raising over $6000- which is a *lot* by
>phoneathon standards), because I missed a day of work for a doctor's
>appointment, and couldn't find anyone to cover. They withheld my last
>paycheck as punishment.

I've been away and was just catching up on back digests when I ran onto 
Ben's post. I have 2 comments.

1) I agree that being nasty back or otherwisepunishing the person calling 
isn't a good solution. My own habit is to interrupt the script and inform 
the caller that I 'never' (I say that word with emphasis) purchase anything 
or make donations based on unsolicited phone calls. I then suggest that 
they save their efforts for someone that is more likely to be receptive. In 
spite of that I once had a young male caller tell me that I was the rudest 
person he ever called (for not letting him waste his time? Go figure!).

2) Employment is a contract. Under the employment contract employers MUST 
pay you for all hours that you work. They CANNOT legally withhold payment 
that you have earned. If an employer tries to do this you should report 
them to the Dept. of Labor. You can file a wage claim and the Dept. of 
Labor will collect the money due and give it to you. You may have to prove 
what's due. Some really sleazy employers will destroy time cards and deny 
that you worked. Keep your own copies of time records, etc. Sorry to get 
off topic but it really grates me when employers abuse their position of 
power in the employment contract and get away with it because workers don't 
know their rights.

Saunterer


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