Poor publicists.
Hi John,
I wanted to gauge your interest in Damon Root, senior editor at Reason magazine, who traces the ongoing battle over how the Supreme Court should interpret the Constitution in OVERRULED: The Long War for Control of the U.S. Supreme Court (publishing 11/4). This timely and provocative take on judicial history (and the competing forces of judicial activism v. judicial restraint) traces the long and complicated struggle between these two competing visions, and how they have driven American political life from the Civil War and Reconstruction eras, to today’s blockbuster legal battles over gay rights, gun control and health care reform…
More on the book & author:
Damon Root is senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com. In 2012 he spearheaded Reason’s multi-platform coverage of the legal challenge to President Obama’s health care law. He has been featured on the Fox Business Channel, Sirius Satellite Radio, the 92nd Street Y’s “Campaign for the American Conversation,” and numerous radio stations around the country.
Thank you,
C…….
Dear C……
To gauge my interest on a scale of cold to hot as to how interested I am in reading several hundred pages of glibertarian nonsense, we’d have to measure my disinterest in Kelvin. Thanks, but no thanks.
John
I wouldn’t want her job.
bago
Keepin it real. As in the set of real numbers.
Poopyman
She’s gonna wonder who this Kelvin guy is. A friend of Hobbes maybe?
catbirdman
That is one hilarious response, but yeah, sounds kinda gay…
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
This is becoming a really shitty week. A couple of weeks ago I was in conversation with someone at a temp agency about a position. I didn’t hear anything so late last week I started calling them to find out the situation. I left multiple voice mails last Friday, one on Monday, two on Tuesday and one yesterday without hearing back.
Finally this morning I got through to someone on that team. She asked me if I had a different number than the one I was calling from (the cell phone I’ve been using exclusively for the past several months) because they didn’t have a record of me. They didn’t have me under my old number, either. She asked me my email address and they didn’t have a record of that. Finally, she got it once I told her that my first name really is just the letter “J”.
Then she told me that I needed to take a couple of tests, alphanumeric data entry and 10-key. I told her that I’d taken them weeks ago. She said they didn’t have any record of it. I said that I’d confirmed with one of the team members that they had my test scores. She said I’d have to take them again, which is kind of a pain since I only have a laptop that doesn’t have a 10-key pad so unless I want my score to suck I have to find some other place to take it.
She said she’d send me the link to take the tests again and I reconfirmed my email. That was six hours ago and nothing has shown up. I’m trying to figure out if this is their way of telling me that there’s no point in calling them because they won’t ever find a position for me.
Zifnab25
Freezer Burn!
BGinCHI
You missed the chance to title your review thusly:
This Is Not a Book To Be Tossed Aside Lightly. It Should Be Thrown with Great Force.
Bobby B.
I’d say they’re gonna hate you on “Reason” but you probably already knew that. Plus there’s not enough Hot Food Truck Passion on your site.
Bunter
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): If they were the standard temp tests, you should have gotten your scores emailed to you by the testing company. If you call the testing company, they should be able to send the scores to you which means you can send them on to the new place and keep them for other agencies. Good luck. Oh, also, if you need to take them again, do the tutorial, those are the tests completely and you can score 100%.
Poopyman
@Bobby B.: I saw “Chef”. Does that count?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Bunter: No, the temp agency (Accountemps/Robert Half) does it in house.
Baud
… will say the same thing as every other book by conservative authors on the subject.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Bunter: Oh, I’ve scored 100% on both the Excel and Word tests. (I was assured by someone there that I was the only person he’d ever seen score 100% on the Excel test, which is a crock of shit. These people lie to you constantly.) The 10-key is harder to do that with, since it’s both accuracy and speed that you’re being tested for.
Eric U.
When it comes to ridiculing libertarian authors, Rankine is the way to go
scav
Speaking of thanks but no thanks, really
Look who nearly came to stay as “a guest of our [US] government”, despite presumably having cantaloupe-sized muslim ebola-shooting thighs. Guardian
Uncle Cosmo
John, that response is Cole, very, very Cole…
For accuracy’s sake you might have specified a Kelvin temperature in single digits…but who’s counting?
A tad pithier but probably obsolete in the era of e-books would be something on the order of
Bunter
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Well that sucks (the part where it was in-house, not the 100% part). Having dealt with a number of agencies on both sides, I can believe that. We’ve had people come in for stuff who were “proficient” and could barely turn on a computer. Wouldn’t completing the tests have generated some sort of paper trail to you? I’m guessing not or you wouldn’t be in this position. Sorry, didn’t mean to sound like a giant jerk. Nor a little one.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Bunter: You’re not the one coming off as a jerk. I’m just trying to figure out whether this is incompetence on their part or a message.
WereBear
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): At the very least, you need to communicate with them via email so you have a record!
And I tend to think incompetence. Even if they are trying to say they don’t have work for you, they are certainly sucking at that, too.
ranchandsyrup
LMAO Cole. Well done
scav
@Uncle Cosmo: I was playing with the obscurity of “What’s the rating on your submersible?” myself.
Mnemosyne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Incompetence. Temp agencies make money by sending people out to clients and making the clients happy. If they don’t have employees to send out, they don’t have clients.
I think I suggested this once before, but it may be worthwhile to call the HR departments of some of the local companies you might be interested in working for and asking what temp agencies they use. It’s not always the ones you would think.
Keith G
But she is getting some Koch money to keep her warm and to make up for whatever rejection comes her way.
Bunter
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): I’d guess incompetence. I ran into similar while looking but luckily had the test scores at hand to send while sitting with them or while at home on the phone with them. Unless of course you’re “of an age”. Are you in NYC?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Incompetence. They are going to want to have your name in their database even if there isn’t much that they can do for you. A while back (during the ramp up to ACA implementation), I was contacted by a temp agency that was looking for someone for a one year $100K compliance gig (I did not get the position). All the agencies are going to want to be able to send someone over for an interview if a big prize like that walks through the door.
different-church-lady
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): I think it’s that the sadists running today’s HR endeavors have come up with a new way to screw with people’s heads.
Iowa Old Lady
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Incompetence is most likely answer. Subtle messages are beyond most organizations.
Poopyman
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): It won’t make you feel any better, but today I found out that the hiring manager expected me to start at the new cmpany on Monday, while HR hadn’t even sent me an offer letter, so naturally I haven’t given notice at the current place.
IOW, I guess, incompetence is rampant and you’re another victim.
Cervantes
Any temperature you can denote in Kelvins can also be denoted using any other temperature scale.
Roger Moore
@Keith G:
The real Koch money only goes to the people at the top of the pile. The minions get trickled down on.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
Regardless, I’m in a really shitty mood and I really don’t want to have to gamemaster a really poorly written Pathfinder Society scenario this evening, but here I am.
If I kill all of the PCs in the first encounter, I think it means that I get to go home and go to bed.
Roger Moore
@Iowa Old Lady:
If they really want to say “fuck you”, I think they’ll say “fuck you”, if only for the pleasure of dumping on somebody.
jl
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our Cole.
If Cole had a reality show, this would have been a kind of so-so episode, but watchable.
Edit: Hope this is taken in the ‘right way’, but as my foul mouth granny would say: ‘What in the *&^!%$! is this **$$!#! world coming to that people are hawking blog columnists to a &^%!@@! thing like Balloon-Juice. That one ‘o them new-fangled damned silly-ass *&^!@! blogee things ain’t it?
Edit2: World’s going to hell in hand-basket. Dammitall. Damn kids today, you don’t know what work is, is the probem (I forgot the her tagline).
Trollhattan
Dear C,
Do you have any 40d nails? Please send me one in lieu of the Damon Root “book” and I will pound it into my skull after first heating it to orange with a propane torch. You may publish my resulting utterances as my review, some of which will qualify as jacket blurbs.
Yours for troof, etc.
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne:
That is a great suggestion.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Mnemosyne:
That would be any of them. After eight years of unemployment I’m not picky.
Elizabelle
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Good luck to you. I’m in the “think it’s incompetence of the temp company” camp.
Squeaky wheel, worm and all that.
Who knew one had to be so careful with retaining test results, etc. Live and learn.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman:
Probably. It’s just that after a while without any job offers, it all seems to be a message. The world just keeps giving me the finger.
kindness
Someone’s Rollodex (yes I’m that old) still lists you as a Reason supporter that might give a good review to one of their dweebs?
Damn. They need a better research person.
Warren Terra
Shoulda taken the free book and given it to a hamster.
Roger Moore
@Warren Terra:
Even better, write an honest review.
Heliopause
Fahrenheit would better convey your feelings, as kelvin always has a positive value.
jl
This shows Cole is mellowing. He could have said yes, and threw the poor mook into the pit of ravenous rabid howling hyenas that comprise the gentle readership of this distinguished full-service mommy blog.
BlueNC
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
+1 for incompetence. Roughly where are you located and what sort of work are you looking for?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@BlueNC: Minneapolis and I’d prefer to work in accounting since I have a masters degree in it but, again, I’m not picky. I just need a job.
Patricia Kayden
Hilarious response, John. I wonder when she’ll figure out who you are and stopping gauging your interest in rightwing hack jobs.
Suzanne
“I’m sorry, I’d love to help you, but I have a bowel movement scheduled for that day—uh, every day—that you’d like me to read it.”
shelley
Okay, somebody wanna explain Na Ga Ha Pen to me?
WereBear
@shelley: Not. Going. To. Happen.
chopper
@Cervantes:
Ted Mosby!
rea
Dear C–I haven’t had an opportunity to read Mr. Root’s book, but I strongly agree that judicial activism is ruining the country. Why, that John Roberts ought to be impeached . . .
lymie
@Bunter – Sayers fan? You perfect man servant!!!
JR in WV
I can’t understand how any member of congress could not vote to impeach Clarence, who didn’t bother to declare his wife’s income or political work, nor to recuse himself from ruling on issues involved with his wife’s organizations.
There are other moral/ethics issues other (conservative) justices on the Supremes bench, and I think they should all be asked to step down, lest they be impeached.
And that guy, Oscar, in South Africa, shot 3 times through the bathroom door? Gotta be guilty of 1st degree murder. The judge is insane. No one pulls out a gun and starts shooting 4 shots into the bathroom without knowing who is on the other side of the door.
Also, you don’t shoot four times with a gun unless you intend to kill someone, unless it’s an air pistol. Total catastrophe. Guy is guilty, guilty, guilty.
Crusty Dem
As noted above, kelvin is absolute an can be used for any temperature; milliKelvins, on the other hand….
TR
Let me guess, he thinks the judges engaged in “judicial restraint” are the ones who invented an individual right to unlimited firearms, who pulled corporate personhood out of their asses, and decided a presidential election?
Unless he means those kinds of judges should be in restraints, he’s doing it wrong.
TR
@efgoldman:
It’s very possible they know who John is and sought him out because he hates Reason. For a publicist at a trade press, any kind of reaction is good as long as it’s strong. A fiery denunciation only sparks a debate and, most important, moves books by the mile.
When Basic sent Ed Baptist’s book to the Economist, they didn’t know they’d get that insane review (“all the slaves come off as victims”) that led to so much publicity, but they knew it’d get something.
Dog On Porch
@JR in WV: I saw Nixon righteously stripped of office. Being a cur, he skated even as his minions sat in cages. I witnessed congressional democrats fail in their one vital job to enforce their Constitutional oaths, to enforce the law. The Iran-Contra lawbreaking had been exposed; they knew the score; and they bailed. It’s been downhill ever since.
Villago Delenda Est
Hmmm….has Hell frozen over? Because I’m pretty sure that Cole is not going to give the time of day to some neo-feudalist assclown from “Reason”.
BlueNC
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): OK, so unfortunately, I know nothing about accounting or the job market in Minneapolis. (I’m in–surprise–North Carolina.) I will, however, keep an eye out just in case. Maybe someone else here has better connections?
Mnemosyne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Well, pick 3 or 5 big companies with local offices and call their HR departments. They’re usually happy to tell you who they use for temps. Usually the odds are better with large companies — a small office isn’t going to use temps very often at all.
BlueNC
@BlueNC: I do have one suggestion. Look into bookkeeping jobs for a small business, possibly via a temp agency. This would involve some accounting, but mostly AP/AR work, along with basic office manager-type stuff. A smaller company would be delighted to have someone with solid skills.
Perhaps a way to get your career back in gear?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@BlueNC: I’ve been doing that. If you think small companies would be delighted to have someone with a masters degree doing their A/P, you’re wrong. They have the same allergy to hiring overqualified people that large companies do. The only difference is that they’ll actually tell you that the reason they aren’t hiring you is because you’re overqualified.
BlueNC
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Bummer. Sorry, I’m jumping into your job search approximately 7.9 years behind you, so revisiting all the stuff you’ve already done. My sympathy on a bad situation…
PhoningItIn
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): Bummer x2. I am having similar problems. I have a tape of a recruiter telling me I got the job, but the company is notoriously slow on actually getting around to onboard people. I checked in weekly. “They’re moving slow, they’re moving slow.” And “no change.” I managed to land a couple of safely short-term gigs to keep the bills paid while I waited for this.
After 5 months (the sweet spot for actual onboarding) I finally got through to a manager who said “There’s no record we extended an offer.”
I’ll never know how long the guy lied to me because he didn’t have the balls to tell me the truth.
And that’s only the worst story.
So: hang in there, you’re competent, you’re capable, and this too shall pass. This I believe.
MobiusKlein
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): No, don’t go TPK on them. It’s not the PC’s fault the temp agency sucks donkey dong.
If it the modules sucks that bad, add some Modrons, a lich, and some magic pony. Everybody loves a pony.
MobiusKlein
@PhoningItIn: p.s. Fuck recruiters.
I once realized my resume got put into the ‘B’ pile, only getting sent to suck-ass companies when one said I was the most qualified person they ever got. Ergo that company was getting the dregs, and somehow I was in the dregs category.