Background investigator resume
HoldMyResume
2019.02.12 21:00 GtheS HoldMyResume
Hey Buddy, hold my Resume while I show you how *Amazing* my background is and why you should hire me.
2011.05.05 23:03 1point618 SF, fantasy, post-apocalypse, and other genre visual arts
SF, fantasy, and post-apocalypse visual arts. Explore the visual aspects of imagined worlds. All speculative visual arts are welcome, from space vistas to fantasy landscapes to ruined cities to psychedelic paintings to dreaded monsters to f'ing dinosaurs!
2018.05.10 20:02 rofilelist C.B. Strike on BBC
Strike is a television crime drama series, based on the detective novels written by J. K. Rowling, under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, that first broadcast on BBC One on 27 August 2017. The series stars Tom Burke as Cormoran Strike, a war veteran turned private detective operating out of a tiny office in London's Denmark Street, who uses his unique insight and his background as a Special Investigation Branch Investigator to solve complex cases that have eluded the police.
2024.05.14 18:30 Competitive_Tea_6592 NYC doccs
I completed the hiring process for nyc doccs and they gave me a date for he acedemy. I recently finished fingering for BOP. Should I inform my investigator? And out of curiosity why do they request any fingerprints done by other agencies even after the background investigation is completed?
submitted by Competitive_Tea_6592 to OnTheBlock [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 18:26 Neither_Ad_3621 CyberSecurity Career
Hello everyone,
I need some advice seriously regarding my career path.
My background: B.Tech IT in 2005, Software Tester experience 5 years. Then I took a career break for my family in 2010. I restarted my IT career by doing a few Salesforce certifications and got the job. worked as a Salesforce admin for 8 months then lost job during COVID. Applied everywhere but didn't get any results.so thought of doing another course/degree, and chose Cybersecurity in WGU , currently 50% course over and in 3rd term. But I am confused where to start job hunt , and what I I put in my resume. as I have IT experience but that's a decade back s/w testing experience, and the recent Salesforce admin is not related to cybersecurity. experience, Shall I apply for tech support/help desk jobs now and then pivot to the next roles, as I have seen few people choosing this path?. months, or is there any other way, I feel very low and confused if I chose the wrong major and should have tried getting into Salesforce..Please help, please advise!!!
submitted by Neither_Ad_3621 to WGUCyberSecurity [link] [comments]
I need some advice seriously regarding my career path.
My background: B.Tech IT in 2005, Software Tester experience 5 years. Then I took a career break for my family in 2010. I restarted my IT career by doing a few Salesforce certifications and got the job. worked as a Salesforce admin for 8 months then lost job during COVID. Applied everywhere but didn't get any results.so thought of doing another course/degree, and chose Cybersecurity in WGU , currently 50% course over and in 3rd term. But I am confused where to start job hunt , and what I I put in my resume. as I have IT experience but that's a decade back s/w testing experience, and the recent Salesforce admin is not related to cybersecurity. experience, Shall I apply for tech support/help desk jobs now and then pivot to the next roles, as I have seen few people choosing this path?. months, or is there any other way, I feel very low and confused if I chose the wrong major and should have tried getting into Salesforce..Please help, please advise!!!
2024.05.14 18:25 Neither_Ad_3621 CyberSecurity Career
Hello everyone,
I need some advice seriously regarding my career path.
My background: B.Tech IT in 2005, Software Tester experience 5 years. Then I took a career break for my family in 2010. I restarted my IT career by doing a few Salesforce certifications and got the job. worked as a Salesforce admin for 8 months then lost job during COVID. Applied everywhere but didn't get any results.so thought of doing another course/degree, and chose Cybersecurity in WGU , currently 50% course over and in 3rd term. But I am confused where to start job hunt , and what I I put in my resume. as I have IT experience but that's a decade back s/w testing experience, and the recent Salesforce admin is not related to cybersecurity. experience, Shall I apply for tech support/help desk jobs now and then pivot to the next roles, as I have seen few people choosing this path?. months, or is there any other way, I feel very low and confused if I chose the wrong major and should have tried getting into Salesforce..Please help, please advise!!!
submitted by Neither_Ad_3621 to WGU [link] [comments]
I need some advice seriously regarding my career path.
My background: B.Tech IT in 2005, Software Tester experience 5 years. Then I took a career break for my family in 2010. I restarted my IT career by doing a few Salesforce certifications and got the job. worked as a Salesforce admin for 8 months then lost job during COVID. Applied everywhere but didn't get any results.so thought of doing another course/degree, and chose Cybersecurity in WGU , currently 50% course over and in 3rd term. But I am confused where to start job hunt , and what I I put in my resume. as I have IT experience but that's a decade back s/w testing experience, and the recent Salesforce admin is not related to cybersecurity. experience, Shall I apply for tech support/help desk jobs now and then pivot to the next roles, as I have seen few people choosing this path?. months, or is there any other way, I feel very low and confused if I chose the wrong major and should have tried getting into Salesforce..Please help, please advise!!!
2024.05.14 18:19 HeidiInWonderland Busted and house arrest
9:30am PA announcement for Heidi Goldstein to report to Ms. French's office. Embarrassing, class staring at me.
Waiting around the table for me was Ms. French, Coach (!), the dean (!!)...and Mom (!!!). Faces were not friendly.
Me: Mom, why are you here? Is Dad OK? Lita?
Mom: Everyone is fine.
Me: Am I in trouble? Did I do anything wrong?
Silence
Dean: We received an anonymous tip this morning, Heidi. The person claims you are engaging in behavior that could be dangerous to yourself or others. By law, we are required to investigate any and all such claims, whether or not they are anonymous.
Me: Whaaaat??? Who reported me? Why? Self-harm myself? Harm others? How? I love my school and also feel blessed for every single aspect of my life, from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. How can I be self-harming?
Dean: Coach, can you provide some background?
Coach: Two weeks ago I met with you and Lita. You talked about wanting to train to run the 10K. Do you remember what I said?
Me: Yes. You said I would need clearance from my doctor and I would have to do cross training with a certified coach.
Coach: Did you follow up?
Me: Yes, Lita and I spoke to our parents and they said they would support us. We've been researching gyms with a pool and with the right equipment. And also trainers who are certified.
Dean: But did you fulfill what you promised?
Me: No, but it is all in the works. There was just no time in our schedules to finalize the details yet.
Coach: The person who filed the complaint said you started training for the 10K on your own. Is this true?
Me: Yes, but just on weekends on our own time. Why does that matter? Why is that your business, Coach? It's my time.
Coach: Didn't I tell you about how much physical stress is involved in this type of training? It's not simply 5K + 5K. If you do not train carefully, you can injure yourselves very seriously. I am sure that your doctor would probably recommend that you even consult with a cardiologist.
Me: But before the track meets we were running well past the 5K together with you!
Coach: Gently. Under my supervision. With me walk/running in the pack, right there.
Ms. French: And, God forbid, if you had gone into cardiac arrest and died on the "it's-none-of-your-business" run, don't you think it would harm every single person in our school community, not to mention all of your family members and friends?
Me: I see where you are going with this. I understand. I'm sorry and accept responsibility.
Coach: And didn't we go through something just like this when Lita came early to the Morning Run after already doing unsupervised training? And didn't you observe her getting suspended for a week? Didn't you learn from that? You broke the trust between a coach and the athlete. That trust is not easily restored.
Me: OK. I get it. I apologize again. I deserve a suspense from the Morning Run.
Ms. French: It's not so simple, Honey. You observed Lita's punishment, right? That constitutes being forewarned and you went ahead and did virtually the same thing again on your own.
Dean: Agreed. I think we need to go further than suspending you from the Morning Run. I think a 2-day suspension from school is warranted.
Me: You can't do that to me! I'm a straight A student. I've read the Citywide Student Code for Behavior. Since when is doing more than expected a violation of "Rights and Responsibilities"?
Dean: Heidi, you said you understood, but you didn't digest what your coach said five minutes ago. You are now in denial. I don't think you have learned anything from what was just said to you. It's now a 3-day suspension.
Me: But I have important rehearsals in Jazz Band. And we are doing such an important project in Global History and Geography. You can't do this to me!
Dean: There are consequences for our actions. You are now insubordinate and it's a 4-day suspension. Anything else to say? I can go up to 10 days.
Me: This is so unfair. I don't want a suspension on my record!
Mom: Heidi, shut up. It's time for us to go home.
Dean: I am concluding this hearing at 10:05am. Thank you, everyone.
Here is actually when Mom came to my aid.
Mom: Wait a second. As you know, I'm an attorney and know that my daughter has due process rights. You did not provide me with written notification that this would be a suspense hearing rather than a guidance intervention. We are going to appeal this decision and we will win even at the first level. Come on, Heidi, let's go.
Ms. French: First go straight to your locker, Heidi, and get your things. No talking or signaIing to your friends. I will have your teachers email you your assignments and homework.
As I was leaving I saw Ms. French sit down with Mom. This what came out on our walk home.
Mom: You know, you can really be arrogant and self-righteous, Heidi, and you made things worse for yourself!
You and Lita never even told us that you were trying to break the 5K unsupervised. You broke our trust as well. You guys promised to never endanger the family with your behavior. That is exactly what you just did. They were absolutely right in suspending you.
And there are going to be consequences at home. I will have to talk to your father and Lita's parents but for now you are completely grounded until your suspension is over on Friday. We are talking about house arrest. And that means no sleepovers. And don't you dare roll your eyes, pout, or start acting like you are a victim.
And do you know what Ms. French shared with me after everyone else left? It was how much she and Coach have come to love you over the course of your year at the school, that this is just a learning experience, and I shouldn't be too tough on you. It seems that a lot of planning went into that little meeting we just left. I suspect that out of respect for you, they intentionally neglected to provide me with that due process notification so you could win an appeal and the suspense won't be on your record. There's a lot for you to reflect on.
I'm going back to work.
Me: You're right, Mom. I love you. But can't you spend the day with me?
Mom: No, I can't. Go commiserate with Frank Sinatra.
But she did give me a wink and kiss.
submitted by HeidiInWonderland to LoHeidiLita [link] [comments]
Waiting around the table for me was Ms. French, Coach (!), the dean (!!)...and Mom (!!!). Faces were not friendly.
Me: Mom, why are you here? Is Dad OK? Lita?
Mom: Everyone is fine.
Me: Am I in trouble? Did I do anything wrong?
Silence
Dean: We received an anonymous tip this morning, Heidi. The person claims you are engaging in behavior that could be dangerous to yourself or others. By law, we are required to investigate any and all such claims, whether or not they are anonymous.
Me: Whaaaat??? Who reported me? Why? Self-harm myself? Harm others? How? I love my school and also feel blessed for every single aspect of my life, from the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep. How can I be self-harming?
Dean: Coach, can you provide some background?
Coach: Two weeks ago I met with you and Lita. You talked about wanting to train to run the 10K. Do you remember what I said?
Me: Yes. You said I would need clearance from my doctor and I would have to do cross training with a certified coach.
Coach: Did you follow up?
Me: Yes, Lita and I spoke to our parents and they said they would support us. We've been researching gyms with a pool and with the right equipment. And also trainers who are certified.
Dean: But did you fulfill what you promised?
Me: No, but it is all in the works. There was just no time in our schedules to finalize the details yet.
Coach: The person who filed the complaint said you started training for the 10K on your own. Is this true?
Me: Yes, but just on weekends on our own time. Why does that matter? Why is that your business, Coach? It's my time.
Coach: Didn't I tell you about how much physical stress is involved in this type of training? It's not simply 5K + 5K. If you do not train carefully, you can injure yourselves very seriously. I am sure that your doctor would probably recommend that you even consult with a cardiologist.
Me: But before the track meets we were running well past the 5K together with you!
Coach: Gently. Under my supervision. With me walk/running in the pack, right there.
Ms. French: And, God forbid, if you had gone into cardiac arrest and died on the "it's-none-of-your-business" run, don't you think it would harm every single person in our school community, not to mention all of your family members and friends?
Me: I see where you are going with this. I understand. I'm sorry and accept responsibility.
Coach: And didn't we go through something just like this when Lita came early to the Morning Run after already doing unsupervised training? And didn't you observe her getting suspended for a week? Didn't you learn from that? You broke the trust between a coach and the athlete. That trust is not easily restored.
Me: OK. I get it. I apologize again. I deserve a suspense from the Morning Run.
Ms. French: It's not so simple, Honey. You observed Lita's punishment, right? That constitutes being forewarned and you went ahead and did virtually the same thing again on your own.
Dean: Agreed. I think we need to go further than suspending you from the Morning Run. I think a 2-day suspension from school is warranted.
Me: You can't do that to me! I'm a straight A student. I've read the Citywide Student Code for Behavior. Since when is doing more than expected a violation of "Rights and Responsibilities"?
Dean: Heidi, you said you understood, but you didn't digest what your coach said five minutes ago. You are now in denial. I don't think you have learned anything from what was just said to you. It's now a 3-day suspension.
Me: But I have important rehearsals in Jazz Band. And we are doing such an important project in Global History and Geography. You can't do this to me!
Dean: There are consequences for our actions. You are now insubordinate and it's a 4-day suspension. Anything else to say? I can go up to 10 days.
Me: This is so unfair. I don't want a suspension on my record!
Mom: Heidi, shut up. It's time for us to go home.
Dean: I am concluding this hearing at 10:05am. Thank you, everyone.
Here is actually when Mom came to my aid.
Mom: Wait a second. As you know, I'm an attorney and know that my daughter has due process rights. You did not provide me with written notification that this would be a suspense hearing rather than a guidance intervention. We are going to appeal this decision and we will win even at the first level. Come on, Heidi, let's go.
Ms. French: First go straight to your locker, Heidi, and get your things. No talking or signaIing to your friends. I will have your teachers email you your assignments and homework.
As I was leaving I saw Ms. French sit down with Mom. This what came out on our walk home.
Mom: You know, you can really be arrogant and self-righteous, Heidi, and you made things worse for yourself!
You and Lita never even told us that you were trying to break the 5K unsupervised. You broke our trust as well. You guys promised to never endanger the family with your behavior. That is exactly what you just did. They were absolutely right in suspending you.
And there are going to be consequences at home. I will have to talk to your father and Lita's parents but for now you are completely grounded until your suspension is over on Friday. We are talking about house arrest. And that means no sleepovers. And don't you dare roll your eyes, pout, or start acting like you are a victim.
And do you know what Ms. French shared with me after everyone else left? It was how much she and Coach have come to love you over the course of your year at the school, that this is just a learning experience, and I shouldn't be too tough on you. It seems that a lot of planning went into that little meeting we just left. I suspect that out of respect for you, they intentionally neglected to provide me with that due process notification so you could win an appeal and the suspense won't be on your record. There's a lot for you to reflect on.
I'm going back to work.
Me: You're right, Mom. I love you. But can't you spend the day with me?
Mom: No, I can't. Go commiserate with Frank Sinatra.
But she did give me a wink and kiss.
2024.05.14 18:12 TexASS42069 Writeup on Application Components
I neglected to include this in my cycle recap, but hopefully some future applicants find this helpful. Obviously this is not a one-size-fits-all. https://www.lsd.law/users/creep/SquidwardsHouse
Resume
This will be controversial, but it ideally should be one-page. Harvard and Yale have made explicit their preference for such. I’d say if you’ve got less than 10 years of work experience, you almost certainly can and should fit it on one page. Be concise with your verbiage. Don’t piss the reader off with small fonts (definitely no less than size 11) or crammed wording. You don’t need to patronize the reader by describing in intricate detail what some common-sense things are.
LORs
Again, I believe less is generally more, continuing with my theme. If you can effectively cover ground with two letters when you can submit up to three or four, choose 2. The only school I submitted 3 letters to was Yale, and that was because I was advised they wanted two academic letters and a military letter to speak to my five years in the Navy. Every other school I submitted one academic and one professional (military) letter.
Yale 250
I wrote about a humbling experience where essentially the main takeaway was that I didn’t need to have an opinion/express an opinion on everything. I hit on the same anecdote in every single one of my interviews, and I think it was well-received.
Harvard Statement of Purpose
-I opted for a different approach contrary to what many recommended. I did not use my traditional Personal Statement for this topic. Instead, I went with a much more direct 1-page statement addressing why I no longer wanted to pursue the JAG Corps in the military (since I’m a reapplicant from a few years ago), and how now I want to clerk, work in big law for a few years to gain experience, and then be a federal prosecutor. There was a lot of good interview fodder from this statement that Dean KJ took an interest in.
PS/HLS Statement of Perspective
My Personal Statement was very reflective in nature on my past failures and moments of growth, and how offering and accepting help is crucial to such growth. I felt this fit the prompt of Harvard’s Statement of Perspective much better for me, as stated above. For my personal statements for other schools, the only modification was I had a paragraph inserted about why I wanted to continue in public service as a federal prosecutor.
Why UVA
I made crystal clear how UVA was one of my top choices, and I think they appreciated that. I did not want to run the risk of appearing like I was coasting on stats, which often leads to people getting waitlisted or denied at UVA and similar schools. I talked about how Charlottesville mirrored my state school undergrad, and how I loved that being an island of blue in a sea of red on the political lap brings with it a perspective you can’t find easily most other places. I also discussed my goals of wanting to practice in the south after law school, which added to the authenticity in my view.
Character and Fitness
Just own it. Don’t shift the blame. Be as concise about what happened as possible and take ownership of it. I got fired as an RA for hosting a party with other RA’s in my dorm room. It was about 5 sentences in length.
Georgetown Top 10
As a huge Survivor fan, I made a detailed top 10 winners list.
Interview Advice
It’s okay to be nervous. I fucked up the intro to my Harvard interview by saying something like “I guess it’s nervous to be normal” and we laughed about it. My Yale interview started 8 minutes late because we had audio issues connecting. I was panicking on the inside from embarrassment, but tried not to let that show to my interviewer (who I could see on video still). The interview went great and we talked for twenty minutes past my allotted time. My other feedback is to give good thought as to Why X school and why law school in general. In my Harvard interview, I said something along the lines of "A lot of people grow up dreaming of coming to this school, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of them. Even more than that, though, the size of Harvard's class brings with it a diversity of backgrounds and thought that you can't find as easily anywhere else. I remember reading about conservative students in the past enjoying now-Senator Elizabeth Warren's classes when she taught here. That coupled with Harvard having the highest student veteran population of any school make it a natural fit." As for the Georgetown interview, I think a good rule of thumb is to be respectful of the other applicants’ time and answers. Try not to talk more than anyone else in the group interview, and try to pay attention to what people say to show you’re listening. Finally, (and maybe I’m old fashioned) I think it’s generally polite and professional to send a quick thank-you email to your interviewethe admissions inbox. Don’t expect a response, but I do think it’s a thoughtful touch.
submitted by TexASS42069 to lawschooladmissions [link] [comments]
Resume
This will be controversial, but it ideally should be one-page. Harvard and Yale have made explicit their preference for such. I’d say if you’ve got less than 10 years of work experience, you almost certainly can and should fit it on one page. Be concise with your verbiage. Don’t piss the reader off with small fonts (definitely no less than size 11) or crammed wording. You don’t need to patronize the reader by describing in intricate detail what some common-sense things are.
LORs
Again, I believe less is generally more, continuing with my theme. If you can effectively cover ground with two letters when you can submit up to three or four, choose 2. The only school I submitted 3 letters to was Yale, and that was because I was advised they wanted two academic letters and a military letter to speak to my five years in the Navy. Every other school I submitted one academic and one professional (military) letter.
Yale 250
I wrote about a humbling experience where essentially the main takeaway was that I didn’t need to have an opinion/express an opinion on everything. I hit on the same anecdote in every single one of my interviews, and I think it was well-received.
Harvard Statement of Purpose
-I opted for a different approach contrary to what many recommended. I did not use my traditional Personal Statement for this topic. Instead, I went with a much more direct 1-page statement addressing why I no longer wanted to pursue the JAG Corps in the military (since I’m a reapplicant from a few years ago), and how now I want to clerk, work in big law for a few years to gain experience, and then be a federal prosecutor. There was a lot of good interview fodder from this statement that Dean KJ took an interest in.
PS/HLS Statement of Perspective
My Personal Statement was very reflective in nature on my past failures and moments of growth, and how offering and accepting help is crucial to such growth. I felt this fit the prompt of Harvard’s Statement of Perspective much better for me, as stated above. For my personal statements for other schools, the only modification was I had a paragraph inserted about why I wanted to continue in public service as a federal prosecutor.
Why UVA
I made crystal clear how UVA was one of my top choices, and I think they appreciated that. I did not want to run the risk of appearing like I was coasting on stats, which often leads to people getting waitlisted or denied at UVA and similar schools. I talked about how Charlottesville mirrored my state school undergrad, and how I loved that being an island of blue in a sea of red on the political lap brings with it a perspective you can’t find easily most other places. I also discussed my goals of wanting to practice in the south after law school, which added to the authenticity in my view.
Character and Fitness
Just own it. Don’t shift the blame. Be as concise about what happened as possible and take ownership of it. I got fired as an RA for hosting a party with other RA’s in my dorm room. It was about 5 sentences in length.
Georgetown Top 10
As a huge Survivor fan, I made a detailed top 10 winners list.
Interview Advice
It’s okay to be nervous. I fucked up the intro to my Harvard interview by saying something like “I guess it’s nervous to be normal” and we laughed about it. My Yale interview started 8 minutes late because we had audio issues connecting. I was panicking on the inside from embarrassment, but tried not to let that show to my interviewer (who I could see on video still). The interview went great and we talked for twenty minutes past my allotted time. My other feedback is to give good thought as to Why X school and why law school in general. In my Harvard interview, I said something along the lines of "A lot of people grow up dreaming of coming to this school, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't one of them. Even more than that, though, the size of Harvard's class brings with it a diversity of backgrounds and thought that you can't find as easily anywhere else. I remember reading about conservative students in the past enjoying now-Senator Elizabeth Warren's classes when she taught here. That coupled with Harvard having the highest student veteran population of any school make it a natural fit." As for the Georgetown interview, I think a good rule of thumb is to be respectful of the other applicants’ time and answers. Try not to talk more than anyone else in the group interview, and try to pay attention to what people say to show you’re listening. Finally, (and maybe I’m old fashioned) I think it’s generally polite and professional to send a quick thank-you email to your interviewethe admissions inbox. Don’t expect a response, but I do think it’s a thoughtful touch.
2024.05.14 17:56 Tremblingchihuahua8 Constantly cited as "overqualified" and basically "too smart"-- I cannot get a job and I am at a loss of what to do
This has been going on for years, even before this recent hiring cycle of insanity and terrible job market. It's just even worse now.
Long story but I am a highly trained classical musician who, right before the pandemic, won a very prestigious award/scholarship to send me abroad doing research for a year, all in music. I already was starting to feel very burnt out on classical music as the lifestyle is chaotic and the pay is really not good, even though I'm semi "successful." Unless you pass onto a higher level (which is insanely competitive) you get stuck at this "technically working, but barely making $40-50,000 a year" type of level, where I've been for a while.
I went to an Ivy League with a totally different major so I have other interests outside of music, so I thought it might be of interest of me to learn a new field, especially as I'm getting older and want to build more financial security for myself.
I do have a lot of work experience, since I always worked at least part-time while pursuing music (even to the detriment of my classical music career-- but I always felt it was important to have a backup). I have lots of nonprofit experience and am smart/pick things up quickly.
I have been applying for jobs for a while-- like, years-- and admittedly I'm not always doing it "full time," I do take breaks. However, this year in particular, I've been applying for jobs in a very intense way. I often do get to the interview round and I don't mean this to brag, but people are always impressed/seem taken with me. The interviews always run long and feel successful. I often get through rounds and rounds of interviews, even getting to the references stage a couple of times.
Then, at the very end, they always seem to pull out the rug from under me and I get rejected. I've asked for feedback a couple of times, and they usually say "The hiring manager really liked you, but was worried you'd be bored" or "We feel as though with your intellectual/academic background you will want to move on quickly from a position such as this." I have tried faking the fuck out of my enthusiasm for these jobs and in fact, much of it isn't fake. I want to work, I truly do.
I've even made connections with people who are higher up than the hiring managers I'm speaking with-- they're often willing to sit down with me because of my unusual background, and the conversations always go swimmingly. They tell me they want someone like me on their team and to keep applying for jobs. At one particular company that is dominant in my city that I'm VERY interested in, the literal managing director emailed HR and asked why I hadn't been hired yet and to keep me in mind for any role that seemed to fit me.
But the cycle hasn't stopped. I sometimes do check LinkedIn because I'm curious who got the role over me, and without fail, it's someone with WAY WAY less experience than me-- like 5-7 years less. I assume I seem intimidating but I don't know how to dumb myself down enough to get the job but not too much to make it seem like I can't do the job.
I really don't say this to brag. I want to work so badly and I'm so demoralized at this point I would do almost any job within reason. By the way, I've had my resume/cover letter reviewed by multiple people, including people currently employed at the aforementioned target company, I've done interview prep, and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. How is it possible to be "too good" to be hired??? I don't know what to do.
submitted by Tremblingchihuahua8 to jobs [link] [comments]
Long story but I am a highly trained classical musician who, right before the pandemic, won a very prestigious award/scholarship to send me abroad doing research for a year, all in music. I already was starting to feel very burnt out on classical music as the lifestyle is chaotic and the pay is really not good, even though I'm semi "successful." Unless you pass onto a higher level (which is insanely competitive) you get stuck at this "technically working, but barely making $40-50,000 a year" type of level, where I've been for a while.
I went to an Ivy League with a totally different major so I have other interests outside of music, so I thought it might be of interest of me to learn a new field, especially as I'm getting older and want to build more financial security for myself.
I do have a lot of work experience, since I always worked at least part-time while pursuing music (even to the detriment of my classical music career-- but I always felt it was important to have a backup). I have lots of nonprofit experience and am smart/pick things up quickly.
I have been applying for jobs for a while-- like, years-- and admittedly I'm not always doing it "full time," I do take breaks. However, this year in particular, I've been applying for jobs in a very intense way. I often do get to the interview round and I don't mean this to brag, but people are always impressed/seem taken with me. The interviews always run long and feel successful. I often get through rounds and rounds of interviews, even getting to the references stage a couple of times.
Then, at the very end, they always seem to pull out the rug from under me and I get rejected. I've asked for feedback a couple of times, and they usually say "The hiring manager really liked you, but was worried you'd be bored" or "We feel as though with your intellectual/academic background you will want to move on quickly from a position such as this." I have tried faking the fuck out of my enthusiasm for these jobs and in fact, much of it isn't fake. I want to work, I truly do.
I've even made connections with people who are higher up than the hiring managers I'm speaking with-- they're often willing to sit down with me because of my unusual background, and the conversations always go swimmingly. They tell me they want someone like me on their team and to keep applying for jobs. At one particular company that is dominant in my city that I'm VERY interested in, the literal managing director emailed HR and asked why I hadn't been hired yet and to keep me in mind for any role that seemed to fit me.
But the cycle hasn't stopped. I sometimes do check LinkedIn because I'm curious who got the role over me, and without fail, it's someone with WAY WAY less experience than me-- like 5-7 years less. I assume I seem intimidating but I don't know how to dumb myself down enough to get the job but not too much to make it seem like I can't do the job.
I really don't say this to brag. I want to work so badly and I'm so demoralized at this point I would do almost any job within reason. By the way, I've had my resume/cover letter reviewed by multiple people, including people currently employed at the aforementioned target company, I've done interview prep, and the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. How is it possible to be "too good" to be hired??? I don't know what to do.
2024.05.14 17:37 kai_enby My Gyno Appointment Went Well!
I almost feel like this journey has been too easy.
For background, I started to struggle with my periods about 5/6 years ago. Pain gradually increased, bleeding got heavier, and the pain spread over more days starting with 1 day and eventually turning into minimum of 4. I'm UK based, and finally accepted things weren't right and called my GP last January to try and get some action. She mentioned it could be endo in that call, and referred me for an ultrasound and a gyno appointment, and prescribed tranexamic acid and co-codamol to help with pain. I had the ultrasound last August and they found an inflamed tube, but the gyno appointment was a much longer wait.
I had my gyno appointment on Saturday and I was so anxious. I've heard so many terrible stories here and from friends in real life, told to just get pregnant, or try certain forms of birth control before they'll investigate, pain invalidated etc. The gyno was so lovely, she got me to list all my symptoms, and then said I have all the classic symptoms of endometriosis and she can refer me for a diagnostic lap. She also did a physical exam and found a cervical polyp that might have been worsening some of my symptoms.
I will have a minimum of 1 year to wait for diagnostic surgery and maybe they won't find anything, but I'm just so relieved she believed me.
submitted by kai_enby to Endo [link] [comments]
For background, I started to struggle with my periods about 5/6 years ago. Pain gradually increased, bleeding got heavier, and the pain spread over more days starting with 1 day and eventually turning into minimum of 4. I'm UK based, and finally accepted things weren't right and called my GP last January to try and get some action. She mentioned it could be endo in that call, and referred me for an ultrasound and a gyno appointment, and prescribed tranexamic acid and co-codamol to help with pain. I had the ultrasound last August and they found an inflamed tube, but the gyno appointment was a much longer wait.
I had my gyno appointment on Saturday and I was so anxious. I've heard so many terrible stories here and from friends in real life, told to just get pregnant, or try certain forms of birth control before they'll investigate, pain invalidated etc. The gyno was so lovely, she got me to list all my symptoms, and then said I have all the classic symptoms of endometriosis and she can refer me for a diagnostic lap. She also did a physical exam and found a cervical polyp that might have been worsening some of my symptoms.
I will have a minimum of 1 year to wait for diagnostic surgery and maybe they won't find anything, but I'm just so relieved she believed me.
2024.05.14 17:36 arrrsalaaan Mercor is getting out of hand with obvious scams getting users to do their work in hopes of getting jobs.
I had a mercor AI interview thrice. and just to be sure i was not being shat on, i used the exact same words for all the interviews and steered the interviews in the same direction.
For the first 2, i got the response along the lines of "due to low quality of the interview, we won't be able to share your profile with our clients. schedule another interview". After the third interview, i got the confirmation that i had been "added to the 99-th percentile pre-vetted pool" (whatever the f-word that is supposed to mean). In addition to the name of the interviewer "John Sharma" (they might aswell have used Wolf Gupta, the prodigy), it was outright a red flag due to the following reasons: - Being the exact same interview, how did i get selected on the third attempt? was it my camera angle? was it my mic? was it my lighting? i am pretty confident all of them were good enough in all the "interviews". - When this happened, I was barely with 9 months of full-time experience. How can i even fall in the 99-th percentile of developers, that too globally?
I was still very skeptical until they gave me an interview with a YC startup. The interview went well, except that the interviewer ghosted me afterwards. Now my questions went deeper. Came across the following posts and discussions. https://www.reddit.com/resumes/comments/18qo0g2/is_this_legit_mercor_interview_anyone_eve - The comments are filled with obvious bot accounts https://www.reddit.com/developersIndia/comments/1azkwcp/mercor_interview_john_sharma_a_scam_with_ai/ https://www.reddit.com/developersIndia/comments/18suxu5/is_mercorcom_legitimate/
What I can gauge from the above is that they are taking User data to train their AI. Not sure if I did sign a clause to allow them to use my data for training, but capitalism.
Not only is that the issue, they seem to be promoting another scam, Remotasks. Where anyone who has a degree is super under-qualified
Hey
We’ve shortlisted you for an exciting opportunity with Remotasks (a subsidiary of Scale AI) because you passed our AI interview and have an impressive background. This role would pay 20 USD/hr.
Here is a description of the role: • Remotasks (a subsidiary of Scale AI) is looking for experienced software engineers to complete data generation tasks to improve the performance of cutting-edge AI models. • These tasks involve receiving a prompt that a model is unable to properly answer (for example, “plot the Mandelbrot set in Python”). Your responsibility will be to complete these tasks each day by writing both high quality code and an English explanation of your work. • Each task takes anywhere from 1-4 hours to complete and you will have the flexibility to finish them on your own time. The total workload is 40 hours per week. • If you excel in this role, you may be promoted to higher-paying opportunities by Remotasks and the Scale AI team in a management role.
If this opportunity excites you, please confirm your availability (meaning: when can you start working) to work 40 hours a week. We can arrange to send you the final short assessment.
Regards
XYZ Person
Recruitment Manager @ Mercor.com
I have hid the name of the person who sent me this (unless public demand), but it is someone who has not even finished college yet. I looked into this person's linkedin too and the career path seems bullshit at the best.
Now, they are apparently hiring for someone to manually rate the recorded interviews. Check the guidelines here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FIBpgorDbkq3cjCM1DA_fLEL7mzzHUjZsuGPSaRWmyc/edit#heading=h.b49v7mviz4ba
We are supposed to rate 15 of these 20 minute interviews, about 5 hours of work. If 50% of their "pre-vetted" pool candidates rate 15 interviews each, pretty sure that would be all the data required to train their entire AI.
What can we do to stop their evil schemes?
submitted by arrrsalaaan to developersIndia [link] [comments]
For the first 2, i got the response along the lines of "due to low quality of the interview, we won't be able to share your profile with our clients. schedule another interview". After the third interview, i got the confirmation that i had been "added to the 99-th percentile pre-vetted pool" (whatever the f-word that is supposed to mean). In addition to the name of the interviewer "John Sharma" (they might aswell have used Wolf Gupta, the prodigy), it was outright a red flag due to the following reasons: - Being the exact same interview, how did i get selected on the third attempt? was it my camera angle? was it my mic? was it my lighting? i am pretty confident all of them were good enough in all the "interviews". - When this happened, I was barely with 9 months of full-time experience. How can i even fall in the 99-th percentile of developers, that too globally?
I was still very skeptical until they gave me an interview with a YC startup. The interview went well, except that the interviewer ghosted me afterwards. Now my questions went deeper. Came across the following posts and discussions. https://www.reddit.com/resumes/comments/18qo0g2/is_this_legit_mercor_interview_anyone_eve - The comments are filled with obvious bot accounts https://www.reddit.com/developersIndia/comments/1azkwcp/mercor_interview_john_sharma_a_scam_with_ai/ https://www.reddit.com/developersIndia/comments/18suxu5/is_mercorcom_legitimate/
What I can gauge from the above is that they are taking User data to train their AI. Not sure if I did sign a clause to allow them to use my data for training, but capitalism.
Not only is that the issue, they seem to be promoting another scam, Remotasks. Where anyone who has a degree is super under-qualified
We’ve shortlisted you for an exciting opportunity with Remotasks (a subsidiary of Scale AI) because you passed our AI interview and have an impressive background. This role would pay 20 USD/hr.
Here is a description of the role: • Remotasks (a subsidiary of Scale AI) is looking for experienced software engineers to complete data generation tasks to improve the performance of cutting-edge AI models. • These tasks involve receiving a prompt that a model is unable to properly answer (for example, “plot the Mandelbrot set in Python”). Your responsibility will be to complete these tasks each day by writing both high quality code and an English explanation of your work. • Each task takes anywhere from 1-4 hours to complete and you will have the flexibility to finish them on your own time. The total workload is 40 hours per week. • If you excel in this role, you may be promoted to higher-paying opportunities by Remotasks and the Scale AI team in a management role.
If this opportunity excites you, please confirm your availability (meaning: when can you start working) to work 40 hours a week. We can arrange to send you the final short assessment.
Regards
XYZ Person
Recruitment Manager @ Mercor.com
Now, they are apparently hiring for someone to manually rate the recorded interviews. Check the guidelines here. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FIBpgorDbkq3cjCM1DA_fLEL7mzzHUjZsuGPSaRWmyc/edit#heading=h.b49v7mviz4ba
We are supposed to rate 15 of these 20 minute interviews, about 5 hours of work. If 50% of their "pre-vetted" pool candidates rate 15 interviews each, pretty sure that would be all the data required to train their entire AI.
What can we do to stop their evil schemes?
2024.05.14 17:22 lilbaby421 federal background investigation
i recently was offered a position with a federal governmental agency and we are required to undergo a background investigation in accordance with https://www.archives.gov/federal-registecodification/executive-orde10450.html My question is 1. does this mean a drug test? I don’t see one mentioned anywhere and no one has mentioned that. They’ve mentioned fingerprints but nothing of a drug test. 2. I used to work in a medical marijuana dispensary and have a medical marijuana card myself about 4-5 years ago. Is this something that would result in a negative background investigation?
submitted by lilbaby421 to jobs [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 17:04 Azulaisdeadinside49 Do I need to disclose my side gig on my resume?
I'm currently interviewing for an entry level position at a credit union, & the recruiter stressed that all the dates of employment I have on my resume must match up with what they find in the background check. She also questioned me about any roles I had that were not listed. I'm worried about this because, in addition to my main job, I picked up a part-time gig at a warehouse last year to make ends meet, but did not disclose this on my resume because it's not relevant for the field I'm applying in (admin/banking/clerical). Will this job come up on the background check, & if so would it disqualify me?
submitted by Azulaisdeadinside49 to jobs [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 16:11 ComedianNew2079 Top 10 Tips for Hiring a Security Guard in Vancouver
Hiring a security guard is a crucial decision for any business or individual in Vancouver looking to protect their assets, maintain a safe environment, and deter criminal activity. Whether you're seeking to hire for a commercial property, event security, or residential safety, understanding the key considerations can help ensure that you engage the most competent and reliable personnel. Here are the top 10 tips to guide you through the process of hiring a security guard in Vancouver.
Hiring the right security guard in Vancouver involves careful consideration of their licensing, experience, and skills. By following these tips, you can enhance your chances of selecting a guard who will effectively contribute to the safety and security of your premises or event. Remember to also consider how well the guard aligns with the specific cultural and operational aspects of your business or personal security needs.
submitted by ComedianNew2079 to u/ComedianNew2079 [link] [comments]
1. Determine Your Security Needs
Before beginning your search for a security guard, assess what your specific security needs are. Consider factors such as the size of the area to be monitored, the nature of the protection (e.g., theft, vandalism, access control), and whether you require armed or unarmed guards. Clearly defining your requirements will help you find a security guard who is best suited to your circumstances.2. Look for a Licensed Professional
In British Columbia, all security guards must hold a valid security license issued by the Security Services and Investigators Act. Ensure that any guard you consider hiring is licensed and check the status of their license to confirm it is current and in good standing. This not only verifies their legitimacy but also indicates that they have undergone the necessary training and background checks.3. Experience and Specialization
Experience matters when it comes to security. Look for guards who have experience specifically in the type of security you need. For instance, if you need event security, a guard with experience in handling crowds and emergency situations would be ideal. Similarly, expertise in residential security or corporate security can be invaluable depending on your requirements.4. Consider the Guard's Background and References
Always take the time to check a security guard’s references and background. This includes previous employment checks, criminal background checks, and any disciplinary actions in their professional history. Speaking to former employers can provide insight into their reliability, work ethic, and effectiveness.5. Evaluate Training and Certifications
Security guards in Vancouver must complete basic security training to obtain their license. However, additional training in areas such as first aid, crisis intervention, and advanced security techniques can be beneficial. Verify the training certificates and look for guards who are committed to continuous education in their field.6. Interview Candidates Thoroughly
When interviewing potential security guards, pay attention to their communication skills, alertness, and professionalism. These qualities are just as important as their physical ability to manage security tasks. Ask scenario-based questions to assess their judgement and problem-solving skills.7. Assess Their Physical Fitness
Depending on the nature of the job, physical fitness can be an essential requirement for a security guard. Ensure that the candidates have the physical capabilities required to perform their duties, especially if the job involves extensive patrols or responding to emergencies.8. Observational Skills
A good security guard must have excellent observational skills. During the hiring process, evaluate their ability to quickly and accurately assess a situation. Guards must be able to notice out of the ordinary occurrences and act swiftly to resolve issues.9. Technology Proficiency
In today’s security landscape, being technologically adept is increasingly important. Many modern security systems involve digital surveillance, electronic reporting, and the use of technological devices. Ensure that the security guard you hire is comfortable with using technology and can adapt to new tools and systems.10. Choose a Security Guard with Strong Interpersonal Skills
Lastly, the ability to handle and interact with people respectfully and effectively is crucial. Security guards often deal with the public, and their manner can affect your business's reputation and the effectiveness of their role. Look for guards who are approachable, good communicators, and capable of deescalating tense situations.Hiring the right security guard in Vancouver involves careful consideration of their licensing, experience, and skills. By following these tips, you can enhance your chances of selecting a guard who will effectively contribute to the safety and security of your premises or event. Remember to also consider how well the guard aligns with the specific cultural and operational aspects of your business or personal security needs.
2024.05.14 16:11 markimdreaming I lived my scariest experience to date for a homework
I’ve always been really into ghost stories, or urban legends in general. The White Lady, haunted dolls, vampires, black eyed children, that kind of stuff. I know that, today, people my age aren’t big fans of that kind of horror anymore, preferring it things like the Backrooms, analog horror, all the new kinds of scary media. Honestly, I get it, things do need to evolve, and when we see everything that’s happening in the world, it’s understandable that a good old ghost story don’t do the job anymore.
Still, the “old fashioned” horror (it’s not that old, but things move fast on the internet) is always my jam. I grew up watching youtubers investigating haunted places, ghost hunting, with all their accessories, EMF meters, their little radio thing that they use to listen to radio frequencies so that they can hear any interference, their antenna that beeps when something approaches it, voice recorders, special flashlights, and let me tell you that all this, it was doing it for me.
So, since my, probably 7 years, I dreamt of doing these things myself. Of course, I tried everything a young boy is able to do, like Ouija or stupidly walking around my house with my phone filming, hoping that some random deceased person with unfinished business will show up to, I don’t know, have a chat. I wish I could say that other people’s judgement doesn’t affect me, but that would be a lie, so, going in to high school, I had to socially tone down my interest for those things in order to have friends. None of my friends and classmates knew about my persisting passion for ghosts and creepy stories.
I realize that keeping this such a secret is a bit ridiculous, especially approaching my 18th birthday, but, you know, it would be even weirder to reveal it after hiding it for almost 6 years like it was something super taboo. So here I was, I started hiding my passion at 12 to avoid other’s judging it, and I’m now still hiding it at 17 to avoid others judging the fact that I hid it… A bit pathetic I got to admit.
Anyway, everything started a few days ago. I have an art history class at school and the teacher really likes to give us big works of research. This time, he had a new idea, the whole class will be divided into groups of two, and each group will receive a building from our city that the teacher had choose for his architectural and artistic interests, and we’ll have to give it a visit and write an analysis on the different things we’ll notice and link it to what we saw in class. Since all the buildings were not public places, he had asked the authorization of every property’s owner.
Honestly, this could have been worse. This actually sounded kinda cool to do. Now, what I was concerned about was who will be my partner. Obviously, I was hoping for one of my friends. After explaining the rules and exact instructions for the work, he started to announce the groups. I was waiting to hear my name, anxious, as all my friends were slowly starting to be put into their groups.
“Joshua!” The teacher said (yeah that’s my name). “You will be with…” I was holding on to my chair. “… Elizabeth!”
I turned to Elizabeth, and we looked at each other. Neither one of us seemed excited. It wasn’t a terrible pair, I thought to myself, I just didn’t know what to think of it exactly. Elizabeth was a pretty popular girl, not that I was an outcast or anything, but she was still way more popular than me. I didn’t know much more about her, despite the fact that we were in the same class since my first year of high school, but it looked like she was going to be an okay partner.
The teacher then gave us our building. I won’t reveal the real name of what he gave us so I’ll call it “Guaraldi’s Street 22”. Apparently, it was a pretty old house that had somewhat of an historic value to it. The teacher gave us some information so we wouldn’t stumble there without any prior knowledge. The owner was an old woman who had always lived there. She was apparently very glad to open her doors to young students and was ready to answer any questions we could have. He warned us that she had a weak audition and that we would have to speak loudly. The teacher then recommended us to do a little bit of research before going there, so we could already have some idea of where we were entering.
I then found myself in front of Elizabeth. I think the last time we even talked to each other was months ago when she was distributing a test to the class and that I said “Thanks”, so, yeah, not a lot of background. I noticed, and I don’t know why it took me so long, I guess I never paid much attention to her, that she was dressed in kind of an old style, she wore some clearly used dungarees. The date the teacher had scheduled for our visit was on Sunday, and we were Thursday.
“So, hum, I guess, we can both do research on our side, and we’ll meet, maybe at lunch break tomorrow to get on the same page. Is that good for you?” She asked me.
“Yeah, that’s good, we can do that.”
“Okay, then, see you tomorrow.” She said.
“See you.”
On that she turned her feet and left for her break. The rest of the day went by and I got back home. As usual, my mom wasn’t there, she often has to work late as she’s a single mom to me and my little sister Rosa. I ate my diner and went to my room. I opened my computer to start my research. It wasn’t hard to find information, even though things were repeating themselves a lot: “so much historical meaning for the city”, “a perfect example of “art-deco” architecture”, “a house filled with stories”. There was a lot of talk by local medias about it, but not much actual facts.
It was so weak, that I had to go to page 2 of the search results on google, or, as I like to call them, “the abyss of the internet” (I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s not often that you have to go there).
Then, something caught my eyes. It was a forum about paranormal experiences, and the address was mentioned on a post. I immediately clicked on it and read the whole thing. It wasn’t exactly the most thrilling story I’ve read, but here’s what it basically said.
Apparently, the owner opened the house as a cottage during the summer, and the person posting was narrating what he experienced during his passage there. He described a very special and kinda suffocating vibe that was apparently all around the house, and the feeling of being observed all the time. He also talked about hearing voices at random moments. They were brief but often mentioned his name. The end of his testimony talked about his last night, when he said he saw a little child with no facial expression in front of his bed, who slowly started to climb into it and grabbed his legs, trying to pull him outside of his bed. The poster said he eventually succeeded to push the kid away, despite his unreal strength, and that the boy ended up running out of the room, laughing. When he spoke to the owner about it the next morning, she said that it must have been his imagination playing tricks on him, as she didn’t believe in paranormal and that nothing similar ever happened to her.
This wasn’t much, it could have been a complete lie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my curiosity. The story was as basic as it could be, but it was so specific for it to happen in that place, which was absolutely not famous, and even less for any paranormal events. I kept that in the back of my mind and continued my research, but I didn’t find much more, so I went to sleep.
As I was lying in my bed, I was thinking. What if the person who posted his story said the truth. This was the first time I was going to enter somewhere that old and charged with history, this could be the perfect place for my first ghost-hunt. But of course, I was going for school and won’t be alone, plus, it’s not really respectful to the owner, who kindly opened the doors of her family house to us. And even if I wanted to, I’d be constantly with Elizabeth, so, it was not really an option. I looked at the EMF meter I received for a birthday on my shelf and thought to myself that this would be for another time.
The next day, as planned, I met with Elizabeth at lunch break. We started to share the results of our research, where I did not include the post from the forum for obvious reasons. We talked a bit before coming to a clear conclusion.
“Yeah, the thing is, we have the same exact stuff, there isn’t much interesting infos to be found online, except very surface level stuff.” She said.
“Yes, I think we should prepare the questions we want to ask the owner instead.” I answered.
“You’re right, do you think you can have yours for Sunday?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
We exchanged a bit more and eventually went back to class.
On Saturday, I prepared a few questions to ask the owner.
Then came today, Sunday. The meeting was planned at 11AM. I woke up normally, took a breakfast, got dressed, everything. Before leaving my room, I took one last look at the room and I saw my EMF meter. It was like he was begging me to take him. I grabbed it and left. I didn’t know if I would actually use it, but I had it. It had an option where instead of lighting the small lamps he was vibrating, so I activated that and put it in my pocket.
I arrived at the house and Elizabeth was already waiting for me. We knocked and we could hear the owner walking towards the door saying “Yes, yes, just a second.” She opened and she looked like the sweetest thing ever. She was short and had a naturally kind face. We could see that she was clearly dressed and make up for the occasion. She welcomed us and let us in happily. The hallway was very pretty, I understood why our teacher got us this house, it was indeed very interesting. The walls were covered with paintings and old pictures, mostly portraits. On everyone of these, the people had a very serious look, but that’s not unusual for old pictures.
We walked to the living room where she served us tea and we sat together.
“So, I think you have some questions for me?” She asked. You could see that she was very glad to talk. “Don’t be shy, I’m open.”
Elizabeth started to ask her first question then I did, and we could ask her everything.
The house was her family’s for many generations, but it hadn’t always been theirs. All the persons in the hallway, paintings or pictures, were previous habitants of the house, and they went as far as the 15th century, so, yeah, it was all pretty old. She said they could only know the identity of some of the first generations but that a lot of the people were non identified. She answered a lot of other questions regarding the architectural and artistic heritage of the building, and she was surprisingly very interesting to listen to. Her enthusiasm and kindness were contagious, and we both couldn’t help but ask more questions.
Eventually, we arrived to the end of our list, and it was time for us to visit, take notes, analyze, all that. She asked us not to touch anything, as a lot of things had a lot of value, but let us wander free in the house. She said she’ll be making cookies for when we’ll be done. Elizabeth and I found ourselves alone in the living room and finished our tea.
“God,… She’s adorable.” Said Elizabeth with a smile.
“Yes, she’s so sweet, I wasn’t expecting that.” I said.
“Let’s, maybe start with there.” She said, pointing to the room besides us.
We got up and entered it. The walls were covered by huge bookshelves. Elizabeth started to take notes, looking at the room, and I started inspecting the books. There was probably a more than a thousand books, and some of them looked super old. I read the titles of some of them, and the least I could say was that it needed to be rearranged. “Cooking Asian Food”, “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince”, some old book with the title erased, and even a CD in the middle, it was a bit random.
We eventually moved on to the hallway. It was a bit oppressing with all those eyes who seemed to observe us. Elizabeth did mention how it felt a bit weird and we started to take notes again. At some point, my look stopped on one painting at the back of the hall. It was a young lady, dressed classically, maybe a bit poorly even, for someone who would have lived there. She was kinda pretty, if I’m being honest. But the reason why it caught my eyes was that it was the only one who was smiling. All the other people represented looked dead serious, but her, she smiled. A sweet, even caring and warm smile. I noticed that it seemed like she was staring at me. Of course, a lot of paintings give that same impression, but it was more intense on her.
My heart skipped a beat. I was sure that I just saw her winked to me. I let out a gasp. I was convinced she winked at me. The vibe went from slightly oppressive to extremely heavy. Then we both heard it.
“Elizabeth.”
An unrecognizable voice had just whispered. Elizabeth turned to me.
“Did you say that?” She asked.
“Elizabeth.”
A younger voice this time. We were facing each other, so we knew it couldn’t be one of us this time, and the owner was in the kitchen. Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide and she slowly walked towards me.
“Elizabeth.”
She jumped.
“WHAT THE… fuck?” I let out. We were looking around us.
“Joshua, I don’t like this…”
“Yeah, me neither.”
We were frozen in place, with all the paintings looking right to us.
“Elizabeth.”
That time it was a deep voice, and it came from behind us. We turned. Slowly, all the faces of the paintings and pictures started to clearly move. They were opening their eyes wide and opening their mouths, maintaining their serious, and now even melancholic look.
“Holy shit, holy shit, what the fuck is that, what is it!” Elizabeth was mumbling, panicking as I was starting to breathe faster.
All the people started to say her name together on repeat: “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth…” I turned my head to the painting of the young lady from earlier, and she was the only one that wasn’t moving, still the same smile, she looked at peace.
I don’t remember exactly what I was whispering at that moment, but we were both freaking out.
We heard some scratching noise. Long, dirty hands with sharp nails, almost inhumans, were piercing the pictures and paintings. The eyes of the people were becoming all black, and their jaws were opening more than humanly possible as they kept on repeating her name. The hands were all getting closer from us. We were now touching one another, completely surrounded by those hands. Then, they moved way faster and a lot of them got their nails right into Elizabeth’s skin and pierced it while descending all over her body.
She screamed loudly out of pain. It was a terrifying scream. All the hands got to their pictures and back inside of it while closing what they pierced. Soon, the pictures and paintings were back to normal, but Elizabeth was bleeding from all over her body and was on the floor, crying. I got to her level and tried as much as possible to reassure her, but I wasn’t very effective as I was myself in shock and terrified.
We heard the owner walk towards us.
“What’s happening to you two? I heard screams, are you okay?”
She entered the hallway and saw the scene. She looked completely shocked.
“But what happened?” She asked.
Both of us were unable to answer to her, we had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make us sound crazy, so we just looked at her with whatever faces we were making at that moment. She didn’t wait long and went to take a first aid kid. She sat down and put some bandages all over Elizabeth, as I was reflecting on what happened. When she was done, we both wanted to leave, so we said that we had what we needed for now. She looked sorry and packed some cookies for each of us. As we opened the door to leave, she articulated one last phrase.
“I hope you’ll come back.” She had a look and a tone of sadness. We got out and were now on the street.
We both looked at each other. She was covered in bands, like she got into a huge fight. I started to speak but she lifted her hand.
“Not today. Another one.” She said. “I’ll see you at school.” And she left.
I got on my way too and gave one last look to the house. The old owner was watching me from her window, and I couldn’t tell what her expression was.
I was too tired so I ignored it and went back to my house.
I’m posting this now that I’m back at home. I have no news of Elizabeth, but she did add me on Instagram, so…
I have no idea what I should do now, I have so many questions, so, if anyone has any theories, I’ll take it. I’m also open to questions of course…
submitted by markimdreaming to nosleep [link] [comments]
Still, the “old fashioned” horror (it’s not that old, but things move fast on the internet) is always my jam. I grew up watching youtubers investigating haunted places, ghost hunting, with all their accessories, EMF meters, their little radio thing that they use to listen to radio frequencies so that they can hear any interference, their antenna that beeps when something approaches it, voice recorders, special flashlights, and let me tell you that all this, it was doing it for me.
So, since my, probably 7 years, I dreamt of doing these things myself. Of course, I tried everything a young boy is able to do, like Ouija or stupidly walking around my house with my phone filming, hoping that some random deceased person with unfinished business will show up to, I don’t know, have a chat. I wish I could say that other people’s judgement doesn’t affect me, but that would be a lie, so, going in to high school, I had to socially tone down my interest for those things in order to have friends. None of my friends and classmates knew about my persisting passion for ghosts and creepy stories.
I realize that keeping this such a secret is a bit ridiculous, especially approaching my 18th birthday, but, you know, it would be even weirder to reveal it after hiding it for almost 6 years like it was something super taboo. So here I was, I started hiding my passion at 12 to avoid other’s judging it, and I’m now still hiding it at 17 to avoid others judging the fact that I hid it… A bit pathetic I got to admit.
Anyway, everything started a few days ago. I have an art history class at school and the teacher really likes to give us big works of research. This time, he had a new idea, the whole class will be divided into groups of two, and each group will receive a building from our city that the teacher had choose for his architectural and artistic interests, and we’ll have to give it a visit and write an analysis on the different things we’ll notice and link it to what we saw in class. Since all the buildings were not public places, he had asked the authorization of every property’s owner.
Honestly, this could have been worse. This actually sounded kinda cool to do. Now, what I was concerned about was who will be my partner. Obviously, I was hoping for one of my friends. After explaining the rules and exact instructions for the work, he started to announce the groups. I was waiting to hear my name, anxious, as all my friends were slowly starting to be put into their groups.
“Joshua!” The teacher said (yeah that’s my name). “You will be with…” I was holding on to my chair. “… Elizabeth!”
I turned to Elizabeth, and we looked at each other. Neither one of us seemed excited. It wasn’t a terrible pair, I thought to myself, I just didn’t know what to think of it exactly. Elizabeth was a pretty popular girl, not that I was an outcast or anything, but she was still way more popular than me. I didn’t know much more about her, despite the fact that we were in the same class since my first year of high school, but it looked like she was going to be an okay partner.
The teacher then gave us our building. I won’t reveal the real name of what he gave us so I’ll call it “Guaraldi’s Street 22”. Apparently, it was a pretty old house that had somewhat of an historic value to it. The teacher gave us some information so we wouldn’t stumble there without any prior knowledge. The owner was an old woman who had always lived there. She was apparently very glad to open her doors to young students and was ready to answer any questions we could have. He warned us that she had a weak audition and that we would have to speak loudly. The teacher then recommended us to do a little bit of research before going there, so we could already have some idea of where we were entering.
I then found myself in front of Elizabeth. I think the last time we even talked to each other was months ago when she was distributing a test to the class and that I said “Thanks”, so, yeah, not a lot of background. I noticed, and I don’t know why it took me so long, I guess I never paid much attention to her, that she was dressed in kind of an old style, she wore some clearly used dungarees. The date the teacher had scheduled for our visit was on Sunday, and we were Thursday.
“So, hum, I guess, we can both do research on our side, and we’ll meet, maybe at lunch break tomorrow to get on the same page. Is that good for you?” She asked me.
“Yeah, that’s good, we can do that.”
“Okay, then, see you tomorrow.” She said.
“See you.”
On that she turned her feet and left for her break. The rest of the day went by and I got back home. As usual, my mom wasn’t there, she often has to work late as she’s a single mom to me and my little sister Rosa. I ate my diner and went to my room. I opened my computer to start my research. It wasn’t hard to find information, even though things were repeating themselves a lot: “so much historical meaning for the city”, “a perfect example of “art-deco” architecture”, “a house filled with stories”. There was a lot of talk by local medias about it, but not much actual facts.
It was so weak, that I had to go to page 2 of the search results on google, or, as I like to call them, “the abyss of the internet” (I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s not often that you have to go there).
Then, something caught my eyes. It was a forum about paranormal experiences, and the address was mentioned on a post. I immediately clicked on it and read the whole thing. It wasn’t exactly the most thrilling story I’ve read, but here’s what it basically said.
Apparently, the owner opened the house as a cottage during the summer, and the person posting was narrating what he experienced during his passage there. He described a very special and kinda suffocating vibe that was apparently all around the house, and the feeling of being observed all the time. He also talked about hearing voices at random moments. They were brief but often mentioned his name. The end of his testimony talked about his last night, when he said he saw a little child with no facial expression in front of his bed, who slowly started to climb into it and grabbed his legs, trying to pull him outside of his bed. The poster said he eventually succeeded to push the kid away, despite his unreal strength, and that the boy ended up running out of the room, laughing. When he spoke to the owner about it the next morning, she said that it must have been his imagination playing tricks on him, as she didn’t believe in paranormal and that nothing similar ever happened to her.
This wasn’t much, it could have been a complete lie, but I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my curiosity. The story was as basic as it could be, but it was so specific for it to happen in that place, which was absolutely not famous, and even less for any paranormal events. I kept that in the back of my mind and continued my research, but I didn’t find much more, so I went to sleep.
As I was lying in my bed, I was thinking. What if the person who posted his story said the truth. This was the first time I was going to enter somewhere that old and charged with history, this could be the perfect place for my first ghost-hunt. But of course, I was going for school and won’t be alone, plus, it’s not really respectful to the owner, who kindly opened the doors of her family house to us. And even if I wanted to, I’d be constantly with Elizabeth, so, it was not really an option. I looked at the EMF meter I received for a birthday on my shelf and thought to myself that this would be for another time.
The next day, as planned, I met with Elizabeth at lunch break. We started to share the results of our research, where I did not include the post from the forum for obvious reasons. We talked a bit before coming to a clear conclusion.
“Yeah, the thing is, we have the same exact stuff, there isn’t much interesting infos to be found online, except very surface level stuff.” She said.
“Yes, I think we should prepare the questions we want to ask the owner instead.” I answered.
“You’re right, do you think you can have yours for Sunday?”
“Yeah, no problem.”
We exchanged a bit more and eventually went back to class.
On Saturday, I prepared a few questions to ask the owner.
Then came today, Sunday. The meeting was planned at 11AM. I woke up normally, took a breakfast, got dressed, everything. Before leaving my room, I took one last look at the room and I saw my EMF meter. It was like he was begging me to take him. I grabbed it and left. I didn’t know if I would actually use it, but I had it. It had an option where instead of lighting the small lamps he was vibrating, so I activated that and put it in my pocket.
I arrived at the house and Elizabeth was already waiting for me. We knocked and we could hear the owner walking towards the door saying “Yes, yes, just a second.” She opened and she looked like the sweetest thing ever. She was short and had a naturally kind face. We could see that she was clearly dressed and make up for the occasion. She welcomed us and let us in happily. The hallway was very pretty, I understood why our teacher got us this house, it was indeed very interesting. The walls were covered with paintings and old pictures, mostly portraits. On everyone of these, the people had a very serious look, but that’s not unusual for old pictures.
We walked to the living room where she served us tea and we sat together.
“So, I think you have some questions for me?” She asked. You could see that she was very glad to talk. “Don’t be shy, I’m open.”
Elizabeth started to ask her first question then I did, and we could ask her everything.
The house was her family’s for many generations, but it hadn’t always been theirs. All the persons in the hallway, paintings or pictures, were previous habitants of the house, and they went as far as the 15th century, so, yeah, it was all pretty old. She said they could only know the identity of some of the first generations but that a lot of the people were non identified. She answered a lot of other questions regarding the architectural and artistic heritage of the building, and she was surprisingly very interesting to listen to. Her enthusiasm and kindness were contagious, and we both couldn’t help but ask more questions.
Eventually, we arrived to the end of our list, and it was time for us to visit, take notes, analyze, all that. She asked us not to touch anything, as a lot of things had a lot of value, but let us wander free in the house. She said she’ll be making cookies for when we’ll be done. Elizabeth and I found ourselves alone in the living room and finished our tea.
“God,… She’s adorable.” Said Elizabeth with a smile.
“Yes, she’s so sweet, I wasn’t expecting that.” I said.
“Let’s, maybe start with there.” She said, pointing to the room besides us.
We got up and entered it. The walls were covered by huge bookshelves. Elizabeth started to take notes, looking at the room, and I started inspecting the books. There was probably a more than a thousand books, and some of them looked super old. I read the titles of some of them, and the least I could say was that it needed to be rearranged. “Cooking Asian Food”, “Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince”, some old book with the title erased, and even a CD in the middle, it was a bit random.
We eventually moved on to the hallway. It was a bit oppressing with all those eyes who seemed to observe us. Elizabeth did mention how it felt a bit weird and we started to take notes again. At some point, my look stopped on one painting at the back of the hall. It was a young lady, dressed classically, maybe a bit poorly even, for someone who would have lived there. She was kinda pretty, if I’m being honest. But the reason why it caught my eyes was that it was the only one who was smiling. All the other people represented looked dead serious, but her, she smiled. A sweet, even caring and warm smile. I noticed that it seemed like she was staring at me. Of course, a lot of paintings give that same impression, but it was more intense on her.
My heart skipped a beat. I was sure that I just saw her winked to me. I let out a gasp. I was convinced she winked at me. The vibe went from slightly oppressive to extremely heavy. Then we both heard it.
“Elizabeth.”
An unrecognizable voice had just whispered. Elizabeth turned to me.
“Did you say that?” She asked.
“Elizabeth.”
A younger voice this time. We were facing each other, so we knew it couldn’t be one of us this time, and the owner was in the kitchen. Elizabeth’s eyes opened wide and she slowly walked towards me.
“Elizabeth.”
She jumped.
“WHAT THE… fuck?” I let out. We were looking around us.
“Joshua, I don’t like this…”
“Yeah, me neither.”
We were frozen in place, with all the paintings looking right to us.
“Elizabeth.”
That time it was a deep voice, and it came from behind us. We turned. Slowly, all the faces of the paintings and pictures started to clearly move. They were opening their eyes wide and opening their mouths, maintaining their serious, and now even melancholic look.
“Holy shit, holy shit, what the fuck is that, what is it!” Elizabeth was mumbling, panicking as I was starting to breathe faster.
All the people started to say her name together on repeat: “Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Elizabeth…” I turned my head to the painting of the young lady from earlier, and she was the only one that wasn’t moving, still the same smile, she looked at peace.
I don’t remember exactly what I was whispering at that moment, but we were both freaking out.
We heard some scratching noise. Long, dirty hands with sharp nails, almost inhumans, were piercing the pictures and paintings. The eyes of the people were becoming all black, and their jaws were opening more than humanly possible as they kept on repeating her name. The hands were all getting closer from us. We were now touching one another, completely surrounded by those hands. Then, they moved way faster and a lot of them got their nails right into Elizabeth’s skin and pierced it while descending all over her body.
She screamed loudly out of pain. It was a terrifying scream. All the hands got to their pictures and back inside of it while closing what they pierced. Soon, the pictures and paintings were back to normal, but Elizabeth was bleeding from all over her body and was on the floor, crying. I got to her level and tried as much as possible to reassure her, but I wasn’t very effective as I was myself in shock and terrified.
We heard the owner walk towards us.
“What’s happening to you two? I heard screams, are you okay?”
She entered the hallway and saw the scene. She looked completely shocked.
“But what happened?” She asked.
Both of us were unable to answer to her, we had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make us sound crazy, so we just looked at her with whatever faces we were making at that moment. She didn’t wait long and went to take a first aid kid. She sat down and put some bandages all over Elizabeth, as I was reflecting on what happened. When she was done, we both wanted to leave, so we said that we had what we needed for now. She looked sorry and packed some cookies for each of us. As we opened the door to leave, she articulated one last phrase.
“I hope you’ll come back.” She had a look and a tone of sadness. We got out and were now on the street.
We both looked at each other. She was covered in bands, like she got into a huge fight. I started to speak but she lifted her hand.
“Not today. Another one.” She said. “I’ll see you at school.” And she left.
I got on my way too and gave one last look to the house. The old owner was watching me from her window, and I couldn’t tell what her expression was.
I was too tired so I ignored it and went back to my house.
I’m posting this now that I’m back at home. I have no news of Elizabeth, but she did add me on Instagram, so…
I have no idea what I should do now, I have so many questions, so, if anyone has any theories, I’ll take it. I’m also open to questions of course…
2024.05.14 15:13 piplupsfav Looking for a job in Raleigh
I have a background in sales, retail, serving, and mainly marketing, specifically content marketing. Looking into the Raleigh Garner area but anywhere in the neighboring areas like Cary, Holly Springs, Fuquay Varina, etc is a possibility. I feel like marketing jobs aren’t in demand in the area so I don’t mind tailoring my resume for other positions. Preferably places that hire quick and/or put a livable wage!
submitted by piplupsfav to raleigh [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 15:07 smartesteveryday My reasons for not donating to Creators for Palestine
Hi there,
I wanted to take the time to write out a detailed explanation as to why some people might be hesitant donating to charitable organizations and why I personally would be in the 5% of people who would not follow Ludwig's recommendation of donating to Creators for Palestine. I'm also not here to be antagonistic towards others who donated but merely offer my perspective and decision making process as someone who has gathered knowledge about economics as well as psychology due to curiosity, specifically when it comes to the potential for corruption and ensuring money spent is used towards the goals a charitable organization is expressing.
I also wanted to thank Ludwig for his respectful acknowledgement of the fact that not everyone would be prepared to donate like he did. I don't like how he's been treated for doing that and perhaps offering my point of view in detail will give some weight to that perspective and get people to empathize with both my position and his intent to validate others who see things differently.
World economics is something I became curious and interested in due to the 2008 financial collapse. It seemed mindboggling to me that various trusted institutions would engage in manipulative behavior on such a massive scale, something that many documentaries have covered as well as the movie The Big Short.
My interest did not stop there. A lesser publicized story regarding the HSBC also manifested between then and now that shares insights into how our modern economy operates and how that manipulative behavior, which has yet to be criminalized and legislated against, is leading to funding organizations who are harming the public at large.
There have been little amendments to that very system as a whole and charities, are also entities that are financial institutions that can be used for illicit purposes as they exist in this very space that lacks proper oversight and regulations due to what is permitted on the global economic stage which is the hiding of assets and the effortlessness of creating corporate entities out of thin air. We've seen evidence of this being reported as well when it comes to charitable organizations claiming they're doing something for a cause, only to funnel that money towards harmful and exploitative actors.
Basically, if you have the capital, you can set up a meeting with a law firm, assign a signatory, or even hire one through them and whatever happens with that account, is going to be completely untraceable and outside of public scrutiny. One of the reasons we now have this information is due to the tireless work of the ICIJ and their release of the Paradise Papers as well as other investigative works they undertook regarding the offshore economy.
Because of this, for me, a charitable organization needs to have an established record and a history of demonstrable humanitarian support, in order for me to sign up with them. Things like food banks for example, will have a long history of providing a population food. In fact, one of the best things you can do is give them money as they will be more effective when it comes to meeting demands vs having a surplus that is perishable and can expire.
When one looks at the PCRF, one can see that it was established in 1991. That means there's a longstanding record of their operations and effectiveness. However, when one looks at that record, one is met with some startling discoveries.
One such discovery is that its operational budget for 2021 was 13.7 million, which is money that didn't get to the children of Palestine. It took in 21.7 million, which means that only 7.3 million dollars of that money was supposedly provided to relief efforts. That's like 33%.
Then you have the instance of the US Treasury deciding to freeze the assets of one of its donors on suspicion that it was funneling money to Hamas, which we've seen in the current economic climate and through history, is a very real threat. And that's just the tip of the iceberg as you can see on the page that I linked.
Lets say for the sake of argument that these concerns are unfounded though and that the operational costs in 2021 were justified due to the challenges of getting aid to that area of the world and that the US Treasury was engaging in a complete witch hunt and everything else has some sort of reasonable explanation.
Why, would one require a fourth party, through Tiltify, in order to then give money to the PCRF? It does not make any logical sense whatsoever to me, especially when they are actively taking a cut of charitable donations as well. The PCRF has its own website with a fully functional donation page, why involve a fourth party in that donation chain?
Another thing I look at, are the people who are leading these charitable organizations.
Michael Wasserman, the founder of Tiltify, his educational background? Is in music. All of a sudden, after embarking into the field he went to school for, this guy makes a drastic career change, launching himself into the field of philanthropy and business. That seems odd to me.
All of these reasons combined are why when someone recommends that I donate to a charity that has shown the potential for corruptive practices, my response is along the lines of no thank you. It's not because I do not empathize with the events taking place in Palestine but it comes from a place of wanting that money to get to the people in need.
When it comes to the psychology at play Dr Ramani is an expert on narcissism and she estimates that about 1 in 6 people are narcissists.
These are individuals who have no empathy to speak of. They know right from wrong but ultimately, people are just things for them to manipulate and control. More often than not, these are the people who find themselves in positions of power and control because they spend a lifetime practicing the art of manipulation and deception so they can obtain these positions by any and all means necessary.
They would have absolutely no problems using an event like what's happening in Gaza in order to gather money for themselves with the illusion of helping others and using people's empathy against them who are looking to donate to a good cause. In fact, they think they're entitled to it.
Narcissists will often do this thing called breadcrumbing where they will give a breadcrumb to someone who is starving either literally or emotionally, in order to give the perception that they are doing something when in reality it's a manipulative self-serving behavior. This would also manifest in a business because we're hierarchical creatures, their presence would lead to them having ultimate power and control over that company, its environment and a business' behaviour would reflect the personality type of that leader.
Empaths, their antithesis? Would be the ones who would take the dollars received and ensure victims get the lions share whilst keeping operational costs down.
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger strikes me as such an individual. An empath. She actually went to Gaza to see and understand the environment she was tasking herself and the organization she represents to help survivors of a historical genocidal attack from Israel at the command of Netanyahu. It seems far more probable to me that funding the International Committee of the Red Cross will achieve the goal of providing relief to survivors in desperate need.
These are the reasons why I take great care choosing what charitable organization to engage with and promote and I think it's perfectly reasonable to do so.
I'm grateful that there are people like Ludwig who respects that however I still felt a need to justify this position due to recent events that made me feel like I was doing something wrong because he was made to feel like he was doing something wrong for simply acknowledging people like me.
And it felt kinda shitty to be honest.
submitted by smartesteveryday to LudwigAhgren [link] [comments]
I wanted to take the time to write out a detailed explanation as to why some people might be hesitant donating to charitable organizations and why I personally would be in the 5% of people who would not follow Ludwig's recommendation of donating to Creators for Palestine. I'm also not here to be antagonistic towards others who donated but merely offer my perspective and decision making process as someone who has gathered knowledge about economics as well as psychology due to curiosity, specifically when it comes to the potential for corruption and ensuring money spent is used towards the goals a charitable organization is expressing.
I also wanted to thank Ludwig for his respectful acknowledgement of the fact that not everyone would be prepared to donate like he did. I don't like how he's been treated for doing that and perhaps offering my point of view in detail will give some weight to that perspective and get people to empathize with both my position and his intent to validate others who see things differently.
World economics is something I became curious and interested in due to the 2008 financial collapse. It seemed mindboggling to me that various trusted institutions would engage in manipulative behavior on such a massive scale, something that many documentaries have covered as well as the movie The Big Short.
My interest did not stop there. A lesser publicized story regarding the HSBC also manifested between then and now that shares insights into how our modern economy operates and how that manipulative behavior, which has yet to be criminalized and legislated against, is leading to funding organizations who are harming the public at large.
There have been little amendments to that very system as a whole and charities, are also entities that are financial institutions that can be used for illicit purposes as they exist in this very space that lacks proper oversight and regulations due to what is permitted on the global economic stage which is the hiding of assets and the effortlessness of creating corporate entities out of thin air. We've seen evidence of this being reported as well when it comes to charitable organizations claiming they're doing something for a cause, only to funnel that money towards harmful and exploitative actors.
Basically, if you have the capital, you can set up a meeting with a law firm, assign a signatory, or even hire one through them and whatever happens with that account, is going to be completely untraceable and outside of public scrutiny. One of the reasons we now have this information is due to the tireless work of the ICIJ and their release of the Paradise Papers as well as other investigative works they undertook regarding the offshore economy.
Because of this, for me, a charitable organization needs to have an established record and a history of demonstrable humanitarian support, in order for me to sign up with them. Things like food banks for example, will have a long history of providing a population food. In fact, one of the best things you can do is give them money as they will be more effective when it comes to meeting demands vs having a surplus that is perishable and can expire.
When one looks at the PCRF, one can see that it was established in 1991. That means there's a longstanding record of their operations and effectiveness. However, when one looks at that record, one is met with some startling discoveries.
One such discovery is that its operational budget for 2021 was 13.7 million, which is money that didn't get to the children of Palestine. It took in 21.7 million, which means that only 7.3 million dollars of that money was supposedly provided to relief efforts. That's like 33%.
Then you have the instance of the US Treasury deciding to freeze the assets of one of its donors on suspicion that it was funneling money to Hamas, which we've seen in the current economic climate and through history, is a very real threat. And that's just the tip of the iceberg as you can see on the page that I linked.
Lets say for the sake of argument that these concerns are unfounded though and that the operational costs in 2021 were justified due to the challenges of getting aid to that area of the world and that the US Treasury was engaging in a complete witch hunt and everything else has some sort of reasonable explanation.
Why, would one require a fourth party, through Tiltify, in order to then give money to the PCRF? It does not make any logical sense whatsoever to me, especially when they are actively taking a cut of charitable donations as well. The PCRF has its own website with a fully functional donation page, why involve a fourth party in that donation chain?
Another thing I look at, are the people who are leading these charitable organizations.
Michael Wasserman, the founder of Tiltify, his educational background? Is in music. All of a sudden, after embarking into the field he went to school for, this guy makes a drastic career change, launching himself into the field of philanthropy and business. That seems odd to me.
All of these reasons combined are why when someone recommends that I donate to a charity that has shown the potential for corruptive practices, my response is along the lines of no thank you. It's not because I do not empathize with the events taking place in Palestine but it comes from a place of wanting that money to get to the people in need.
When it comes to the psychology at play Dr Ramani is an expert on narcissism and she estimates that about 1 in 6 people are narcissists.
These are individuals who have no empathy to speak of. They know right from wrong but ultimately, people are just things for them to manipulate and control. More often than not, these are the people who find themselves in positions of power and control because they spend a lifetime practicing the art of manipulation and deception so they can obtain these positions by any and all means necessary.
They would have absolutely no problems using an event like what's happening in Gaza in order to gather money for themselves with the illusion of helping others and using people's empathy against them who are looking to donate to a good cause. In fact, they think they're entitled to it.
Narcissists will often do this thing called breadcrumbing where they will give a breadcrumb to someone who is starving either literally or emotionally, in order to give the perception that they are doing something when in reality it's a manipulative self-serving behavior. This would also manifest in a business because we're hierarchical creatures, their presence would lead to them having ultimate power and control over that company, its environment and a business' behaviour would reflect the personality type of that leader.
Empaths, their antithesis? Would be the ones who would take the dollars received and ensure victims get the lions share whilst keeping operational costs down.
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger strikes me as such an individual. An empath. She actually went to Gaza to see and understand the environment she was tasking herself and the organization she represents to help survivors of a historical genocidal attack from Israel at the command of Netanyahu. It seems far more probable to me that funding the International Committee of the Red Cross will achieve the goal of providing relief to survivors in desperate need.
These are the reasons why I take great care choosing what charitable organization to engage with and promote and I think it's perfectly reasonable to do so.
I'm grateful that there are people like Ludwig who respects that however I still felt a need to justify this position due to recent events that made me feel like I was doing something wrong because he was made to feel like he was doing something wrong for simply acknowledging people like me.
And it felt kinda shitty to be honest.
2024.05.14 15:03 gaietyyyyy Background Checking - Need help :(
Currently overthinking. Already signed a JO but my past haunts me. June 26 2019 to August 9, 2019 was my very first employment with a BPO company in which I did resign/awol. I don't have clearance or COE of that company and I didn't disclose that to my resume and also in the background checking. 3rd party BG checker asked the gap for May-August. Nag-ask ako sa recruiter kung ano sasabihin ko if ever they asked and sabi nya wag ko na daw idisclose about sa very 1st employment ko since 1 month lang naman. Sinagot ko yung 3rd BG checker na I waited to graduate at that time but I lied about the 1st employment saying na pumunta ako sa province at that time.
Now, my expected start date is this May 20. I am done with the PEME, submitted pre-employment documents and kinakabahan lang talaga ako sa background checking na to since the contributions for June-August 2019 are visible in SSS.
Here's my employment history: 1st BPO: 1 month (June 26, 2019 - August 9, 2019 - No COE but surrendered equipment 2nd BPO: 2 yrs 8 months - COE available 3rd BPO: 1 yr and 9 months - Acknowledged RL available
So am I just really overthinking or maghanap na ako ng work? The recruiter told me na HR or the Team Lead will send me a message about that but now, I'm not sure na. If ever I fail the background screening, will they let me know and let me explain? Or straight up cancellation of job offer? Haha i really want this to work. 2 months na ako unemployed. 😭
submitted by gaietyyyyy to BPOinPH [link] [comments]
Now, my expected start date is this May 20. I am done with the PEME, submitted pre-employment documents and kinakabahan lang talaga ako sa background checking na to since the contributions for June-August 2019 are visible in SSS.
Here's my employment history: 1st BPO: 1 month (June 26, 2019 - August 9, 2019 - No COE but surrendered equipment 2nd BPO: 2 yrs 8 months - COE available 3rd BPO: 1 yr and 9 months - Acknowledged RL available
So am I just really overthinking or maghanap na ako ng work? The recruiter told me na HR or the Team Lead will send me a message about that but now, I'm not sure na. If ever I fail the background screening, will they let me know and let me explain? Or straight up cancellation of job offer? Haha i really want this to work. 2 months na ako unemployed. 😭
2024.05.14 14:57 Abhi_yawns123 advice/suggestion on exploring PNP pathways
I got 2 years of fast food experience and an IT diploma. Despite my efforts, breaking into this job market without any experience has proven challenging. Currently, I am striving to enhance my resume by acquiring certs to gain skilled work experience in my field. My work permit expires in the next 2 years since I almost lost a year trying to find skilled work in my field. Assuming I max out my IELTS score and gain a year of skilled experience I will get up to 437. I'm also learning French to become more competent. Given my background, I'm seeking advice on other potential pathways like provincial Nominee Programs in rural towns or alternative provinces, where I can effectively leverage my education and experience.
submitted by Abhi_yawns123 to ImmigrationCanada [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 14:20 luckyyoubleach Online harassment going on for about a year..
I have read the rules.
This is not for me, by the way.
So, the goal here is to avoid this particular person; my friend..her ex has been harassing her for months..and months. And till this day, it’s still ongoing.
Please let me know if you need to know more on this.
But anyways, I advised her to make a whole backup account and don’t tell anyone else about it. I want to know what you guys think of on this. What should she do besides what I have advised?
submitted by luckyyoubleach to opsec [link] [comments]
This is not for me, by the way.
So, the goal here is to avoid this particular person; my friend..her ex has been harassing her for months..and months. And till this day, it’s still ongoing.
- Background information: They’ve met a while ago online, and their relationship was good until suddenly it went downhill in August 2023. God who knows what her ex knows about her, but I know that he knows her email address, old passwords, IP address, social media, and even her phone number too. They even know her old home address..so, yeah she got doxxed. He kept contacting her, saying stuff like “I miss you. I want you to come back,” even though he knows he was in the wrong..(I don’t know the whole story, but he is exhibiting narcissistic behavior..which plays a part in why he’s keeping this going for a year, and I know that he is actually creepy..being attracted to children, ugh.)
Please let me know if you need to know more on this.
But anyways, I advised her to make a whole backup account and don’t tell anyone else about it. I want to know what you guys think of on this. What should she do besides what I have advised?
2024.05.14 14:13 hellopriyasharma Making a Rainy Season Chart for Preschool: A Complete Guide.
 | The Rainy Season Chart for Preschool is a bright instructional tool created to captivate young minds with the joys of the rainy season. Crafting this chart may be a meaningful experience for preschoolers since it mixes creativity and learning, allowing them to explore weather patterns visually. This article will follow you through the process of producing a handmade chart that depicts the essence of the rainy season by incorporating aspects such as rainfall, clouds, and the lifetime of a raindrop. submitted by hellopriyasharma to preschoolwithpriya [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/4z61n34jvd0d1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3cc399fb26fdf7943541149380f32d46baa76e36 Materials Needed
Step 1: Planning Your ChartStart by deciding what elements you want to include on your Rainy Season Chart. Will it be purely illustrative, or will it include facts about the rainy season? Here are a few ideas:
Step 2: Creating the BackgroundChoose a color that represents the rainy season (such as gray or blue) and cover your poster board. This will serve as the backdrop for your chart.
Step 3: Adding Clouds and RainUse cotton balls to create fluffy clouds at the top of your chart. Glue them to the poster board in clusters to mimic the sky's appearance during the rainy season.
Step 4: Illustrating Rainy Season ActivitiesThis part is especially fun and engaging for children. Draw or use pictures to show common rainy season activities.
Step 5: Incorporating Educational ElementsTo make the chart educational, include simple facts or data about the rainy season. This can be in the form of Handmade Charts for Preschool that detail the water cycle or Kindergarten Seasons Chart for Preschoolers that explains different weather patterns.
Step 6: Finishing TouchesReview your chart to ensure it's engaging and informative. You can add glitter to raindrops for a sparkling effect or use a marker to outline illustrations and make them pop.
Step 7: Sharing and DiscussionOnce your Rainy Season Chart for Preschool is complete, share it with your class. Use it as a tool to initiate discussions about the rainy season, asking children about their experiences and what they've learned from the chart.
Utilizing TechnologyIn today’s digital age, integrating traditional teaching methods with technology can enhance the learning experience. A school parent app can be a great way to share your rainy season chart with parents, keeping them informed about their child's learning and encouraging discussions at home about the rainy season.
Conclusion: Fostering Creativity and LearningMaking a Rainy Season Chart for Preschool is more than simply an art project; it's a dynamic educational activity that promotes creativity, piques curiosity about the natural world, and supports core learning about weather patterns. Using this step-by-step method, instructors can design interesting, informative charts that capture young learners' imaginations and promote a greater understanding of the world around them. By embracing these hands-on activities, we cultivate well-rounded learners who are ready to investigate and challenge their surroundings. |
2024.05.14 14:04 medquik Demystifying Provider Credentialing: A Comprehensive Guide for Healthcare Professionals
 | https://preview.redd.it/9p4rf9l3ud0d1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51ca288e225c1a02e11f3ad30e18084fac447088 submitted by medquik to Medical_Billings_USA [link] [comments] Entering the rewarding field of healthcare often necessitates a complex yet crucial process: provider credentialing services . For aspiring doctors, nurses, therapists, and other healthcare professionals, navigating credentialing requirements can feel overwhelming. This comprehensive guide empowers you with the knowledge and tools to demystify the credentialing process, ensuring a smooth and efficient journey towards practicing your chosen profession. Understanding Provider Credentialing: The Gates to PracticeProvider credentialing is the process by which healthcare organizations and insurance companies verify the qualifications of healthcare professionals. It ensures that those providing care meet the necessary standards of education, training, licensure, and experience to deliver safe and effective patient care.The Credentialing Process: A Step-by-Step BreakdownThe credentialing process can vary slightly depending on the specific profession, healthcare organization, and state regulations. However, here's a general breakdown of the key steps involved:
Valuable Tips for Streamlining Your Credentialing JourneyHere are some valuable tips to navigate the credentialing process efficiently:
Beyond the Basics: Additional Considerations for SuccessWhile the steps outlined above provide a general roadmap, here are some additional considerations to ensure a successful credentialing journey:
Embrace Credentialing as a Stepping StoneWhile the credentialing process may seem daunting initially, view it as a crucial step towards your professional goals. By understanding the process, organizing your documents, and following these valuable tips, you can navigate credentialing efficiently and pave the way for a rewarding career in healthcare.Looking Ahead: The Evolving Landscape of CredentialingThe healthcare landscape is constantly evolving, and credentialing requirements may adapt accordingly. Here are some trends to keep an eye on:
Conclusion: Empowering Healthcare Professionals with KnowledgeDemystifying the credentialing services for providers equips healthcare professionals with the knowledge and tools to navigate this crucial step with confidence. Remember, credentialing serves a vital purpose – it ensures qualified and competent individuals deliver care to patients. By embracing this process, healthcare professionals contribute to a stronger and more trustworthy healthcare system for everyone.As you embark on your journey in healthcare, remember that credentialing is just the beginning. A commitment to lifelong learning, compassionate patient care, and continuous improvement will pave the way for a successful and fulfilling career in this noble profession. We wish you all the best on your credentialing journey and your future endeavors in healthcare! |
2024.05.14 14:01 Zappingsbrew A post talking about 400 words
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weather, web, website, wedding, week, weekend, weekly, weigh, weight, welcome, welfare, well, west, western, wet, what, whatever, wheel, when, whenever, where, whereas, whether, which, while, whisper, white, who, whole, whom, whose, why, wide, widely, widespread, wife, wild, wildlife, will, willing, win, wind, window, wine, wing, winner, winter, wipe, wire, wisdom, wise, wish, with, withdraw, within, without, witness, woman, wonder, wonderful, wood, wooden, word, work, worker, working, workout, workplace, works, workshop, world, worried, worry, worth, would, wound, wrap, write, writer, writing, wrong, yard, yeah, year, yell, yellow, yes, yesterday, yet, yield, you, young, your, yours, yourself, youth, zone.
submitted by Zappingsbrew to u/Zappingsbrew [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 13:16 Crafter66 Forced by workplace to take annual leave? Where do I stand?
Hello all and thanks in advance for taking the time to read and provide any assistance or two cents you may provide.
I'll start off by saying I work for one of the largest companies in Australia, in a Melbourne location. One whom has a relatively consistent reputation for intentionally misleading its clients, mishandling private and confidential information, and often times providing no solution to any client whom has been effected by any wrong doing of them. I will add that within my company, I feel as if the same culture is reflected internally toward employees too.
I currently have an annual leave balance of 37 days. Today my line manager (let's call him Harrison) received a teams message from his line leader (let's call him Keith). Keith provided a screenshot of my annual leave balance and stated that it was not acceptable that I have such annual leave balance and my balance must be either at, or below 5 days at any given time. All of the other employees on my level have received the exact same correspondence regarding their annual leave. I will add- It is not, and has never been a term or condition (or even mentioned at the slightest) on any employment contract, internal document, or agreement by anyone in my position.
I have been directed that I must submit annual leave requests (dates at Keith's discretion) so that within 6 months time, I will hold no more than 5 days in my balance. I have been told, just after finding out of this strange demand today, that my deadline is at the end of the week (3 days from now). It has been STRONGLY recommended to everyone on the list that they use their annual leave to provide themselves with 3 day weekends for 6 months to minimise the impact to the business of having someone out of a desk for a long period at a time. They state that doing so will provide 'mini recharges' and 'mini energy boosts' through bus times of the year for our business to sustain productivity through the end of financial year period.
This absolutely does not reflect my personal goals or objectives as I do not need, nor want 3 day weekends for 'mini recharges'.
I have explained to my employer what they already know ( and surprisingly still sent this insensitive direction to me) that I currently have a very close family member overseas whom is about to pass away due to a terminal illness, which my family and I will need to visit before this occurs. The timeframe which we will do that is outside of this 6 month window, It is more like 6-12 months. The leave required for me to do this will be approximately 3 or 4 weeks, understandably to spend the last month of their life or so with a very close member of our family whom has been a part of our lives for 20+ years.
My company has already asked me to move to a different location whilst another employee deals with a family emergency because they could not find a candidate for it, I agreed to move to the other location for one month and was not provided any compensation for doing so. One month had passed and I had to ask my employer when I would be transferred back to my original home location. I was told "oh yeah they quit because they had some family issues and nobody wanted to move here and we couldn't hire anyone else because they were all rubbish, so you're staying here now". -all without signing any documents or any notification on my part. And for the cherry on top, my annual salary was cut $14,500. I only realised after 4 months, and upon asking Keith why this was, I was told "yes this location has less clients than your original home location, so the salary reflects that" - May I also add, my new location, because of me, is now sitting on the top of the leaderboards for the performance for all locations, and I am by far the hardest working and highest achieving in my role out of all of our locations- as shown in the company's own data. Though I am paid $14,500 less than before and even a whopping $24,000 per year less than my old colleague at my original location whom was in the same role as me with only 6 a month more tenure.
Further, I have explained to my employer that I am on the brink of experiencing financial hardship and cannot continue to have my paycheques issued with incorrect payments on them (which they frequently admit to making mistakes on), that I need to ensure my sick leave is processed correctly, that my annual leave is taken seriously etc. As well as that I, not only have a whole family, including children with early childhood education to pay for, though a car repayment, a mortgage and food and living expenses for us all. My employer does not seem to take this seriously and has currently spent a grand total of 9 months investigating a significant claim I have made regarding over $10,000 of underpayment to myself. The HR team whom has been tasked with reviewing it seems to disappear off the face of the earth and be uncontactable for 3 weeks at a time whenever they feel like it, and seem like reviewing HR cases is what they can do if they so feel like it, but that is kinda deviating from my issue at present though.
I feel like I am being wronged and violated at every stage of my employment an absolutely squeezed to work the life out of me with zero regard to even let me have my own annual leave balance that I have accumulated and have already told the company I will definitely use, just not within the next 6 months, and I have explained time and time again that forcing me to diminish my balance so low would put me at a 100% risk of significant financial hardship, such as not being able to make mortgage or car repayments, and my children attending school without lunch, and myself not being able to eat any proper and nutritious meals whatsoever. It seems to fall on deaf ears each time.
TLDR; I am being forced to purposely diminish my annual leave to an amount that would put me in significant financial hardship even though I have never signed or agreed to do such thing and this policy was made at the drop of a hat and my employer simply won't listen and doesn't care about my genuine reasons why I do not want to intentionally diminish my annual leave balance so low.
Of course I understand that no advice here provided replaces a face to face consultation with a legal advisor in this area, though am interested to receive insight and opinions from those in the field, with a legal background or those opinions of laypeople reading this.
Thank you all so much for your time and lots of blessings to all who provide insight!
submitted by Crafter66 to AusLegal [link] [comments]
I'll start off by saying I work for one of the largest companies in Australia, in a Melbourne location. One whom has a relatively consistent reputation for intentionally misleading its clients, mishandling private and confidential information, and often times providing no solution to any client whom has been effected by any wrong doing of them. I will add that within my company, I feel as if the same culture is reflected internally toward employees too.
I currently have an annual leave balance of 37 days. Today my line manager (let's call him Harrison) received a teams message from his line leader (let's call him Keith). Keith provided a screenshot of my annual leave balance and stated that it was not acceptable that I have such annual leave balance and my balance must be either at, or below 5 days at any given time. All of the other employees on my level have received the exact same correspondence regarding their annual leave. I will add- It is not, and has never been a term or condition (or even mentioned at the slightest) on any employment contract, internal document, or agreement by anyone in my position.
I have been directed that I must submit annual leave requests (dates at Keith's discretion) so that within 6 months time, I will hold no more than 5 days in my balance. I have been told, just after finding out of this strange demand today, that my deadline is at the end of the week (3 days from now). It has been STRONGLY recommended to everyone on the list that they use their annual leave to provide themselves with 3 day weekends for 6 months to minimise the impact to the business of having someone out of a desk for a long period at a time. They state that doing so will provide 'mini recharges' and 'mini energy boosts' through bus times of the year for our business to sustain productivity through the end of financial year period.
This absolutely does not reflect my personal goals or objectives as I do not need, nor want 3 day weekends for 'mini recharges'.
I have explained to my employer what they already know ( and surprisingly still sent this insensitive direction to me) that I currently have a very close family member overseas whom is about to pass away due to a terminal illness, which my family and I will need to visit before this occurs. The timeframe which we will do that is outside of this 6 month window, It is more like 6-12 months. The leave required for me to do this will be approximately 3 or 4 weeks, understandably to spend the last month of their life or so with a very close member of our family whom has been a part of our lives for 20+ years.
My company has already asked me to move to a different location whilst another employee deals with a family emergency because they could not find a candidate for it, I agreed to move to the other location for one month and was not provided any compensation for doing so. One month had passed and I had to ask my employer when I would be transferred back to my original home location. I was told "oh yeah they quit because they had some family issues and nobody wanted to move here and we couldn't hire anyone else because they were all rubbish, so you're staying here now". -all without signing any documents or any notification on my part. And for the cherry on top, my annual salary was cut $14,500. I only realised after 4 months, and upon asking Keith why this was, I was told "yes this location has less clients than your original home location, so the salary reflects that" - May I also add, my new location, because of me, is now sitting on the top of the leaderboards for the performance for all locations, and I am by far the hardest working and highest achieving in my role out of all of our locations- as shown in the company's own data. Though I am paid $14,500 less than before and even a whopping $24,000 per year less than my old colleague at my original location whom was in the same role as me with only 6 a month more tenure.
Further, I have explained to my employer that I am on the brink of experiencing financial hardship and cannot continue to have my paycheques issued with incorrect payments on them (which they frequently admit to making mistakes on), that I need to ensure my sick leave is processed correctly, that my annual leave is taken seriously etc. As well as that I, not only have a whole family, including children with early childhood education to pay for, though a car repayment, a mortgage and food and living expenses for us all. My employer does not seem to take this seriously and has currently spent a grand total of 9 months investigating a significant claim I have made regarding over $10,000 of underpayment to myself. The HR team whom has been tasked with reviewing it seems to disappear off the face of the earth and be uncontactable for 3 weeks at a time whenever they feel like it, and seem like reviewing HR cases is what they can do if they so feel like it, but that is kinda deviating from my issue at present though.
I feel like I am being wronged and violated at every stage of my employment an absolutely squeezed to work the life out of me with zero regard to even let me have my own annual leave balance that I have accumulated and have already told the company I will definitely use, just not within the next 6 months, and I have explained time and time again that forcing me to diminish my balance so low would put me at a 100% risk of significant financial hardship, such as not being able to make mortgage or car repayments, and my children attending school without lunch, and myself not being able to eat any proper and nutritious meals whatsoever. It seems to fall on deaf ears each time.
TLDR; I am being forced to purposely diminish my annual leave to an amount that would put me in significant financial hardship even though I have never signed or agreed to do such thing and this policy was made at the drop of a hat and my employer simply won't listen and doesn't care about my genuine reasons why I do not want to intentionally diminish my annual leave balance so low.
Of course I understand that no advice here provided replaces a face to face consultation with a legal advisor in this area, though am interested to receive insight and opinions from those in the field, with a legal background or those opinions of laypeople reading this.
Thank you all so much for your time and lots of blessings to all who provide insight!
2024.05.14 12:40 Specialist_Bake6514 Vapiano P3: Italian Food Made in Germany
 | The kitchen is on fire. Welcome to the final part of the Vapiano story where the tables are turning. In the first two episodes we followed Mark Korzilius' journey from setbacks to founding Vapiano, a groundbreaking restaurant concept, highlighting its fresh ingredients, dynamic atmosphere, and data-driven operations that drove rapid success. While achieving initial profitability and garnering attention from industry giants like McDonald's, Vapiano's global expansion has led to stellar revenue growth. However, it has also resulted in the emergence of numerous side projects (or distractions), operational challenges, increased costs, significant investments, and a notable accumulation of debt. This underscores the prioritization of top-line growth over profitable growth. We will continue on this thread and see how the story ends, but I would encourage you to read part one and two for better context. Vapiano P1: Italian Food Made in Germany (substack.com). Let's dig in. submitted by Specialist_Bake6514 to unpackbusinesses [link] [comments] Before Going Public We are now in 2015 and the year is a disaster for Vapiano's PR department. Employee time stamps are being manipulated, endless overtime for employees and high turnover in managerial roles are reported; mice in the kitchen and even rotten food allegedly found. The company is confronted with allegations of exceeding working hours among trainees in an article published by Welt am Sonntag, while the same outlet accuses Vapiano of manipulating punch times. The auditing firm PwC is commissioned to investigate the allegations and finds that there is no systematic approach but rather misconduct by individual employees, a mistake that’s being corrected. Internal however, investigations into stamp times are carried out regularly now and beyond its obvious reputational impact, this sucks up valuable management time and attention. In the summer of 2015 CEO, co-founder and investor Gregor Gerlach, who has been running the group since 2011 is stepping down and Jochen Halfmann is taking over. A new Vapiano People Program with an App is being developed with the aim to better interact with customers that will incorporate innovate features such as mobile pay. The German website sees a launch of new magazine to further promote the brand and there is now a full inhouse blogger and Instagram team being installed. In October the company buys seven restaurants from original co-founder, former co-investor and ex-president previously responsible for internation expansion Kent Hahne (2x Bonn, 3x Cologne, 1x Koblenz and one in Cologne that’s under construction). This package of Vapiano restaurants is very successful and generates net sales of more than 20 million euros in 2014. Hahne opened his first Vapiano restaurant in Cologne in August 2006 and in 2015 with his company apeiron AG, Hahne operates six L'Osteria franchise restaurants, a direct Vapiano competitor, and two self-owned restaurants GinYuu. Then in November of 2015, the next public relations bomb goes off with allegations regarding the company's quality standards. The company immediately investigates the issue through internal and external specialists but finds no evidence of any quality issues. Nevertheless, knowing that the group is now being closely watched, the company’s already in place hygiene standards are being reinforced. Additional audits and inspections are performed nationally. Further, all Vapianos worldwide are being audited twice by the partners SGS Institut Fresenius and SAI Global. Auditing software is purchased to simplify the implementation of the audits and the resulting measures. Apart from the external examinations, there is a food sampling plan in place being performed continuously. Again, all of this sucks up costs, management time and attention. With all these tumultuous developments the company’s growth engine is undeterred. Revenue grows by a whopping 50 million euros to 202 million euros, an increase of 33%. Impressive. While average spent per customer increases in all countries, the number of customers per day in Germany decreases by 3.3% partially due to the negative press towards the end of the year. Five own, four JV and 19 new franchise restaurants are added that year to the group, the total number of own managed restaurants grows to 51, there are 31 JVs and 84 franchises which bringing the total to 166 Vapiano restaurants. Global restaurant sales are now above 400 million euros. But while revenue grows by an astronomical 50 million euros, operating profits, alarmingly, shrink again. Gross margins are staying perfectly healthy above 75% but operating costs keep growing disproportionately fast. The Company’s outstanding debt jumps by almost 30 million, close to 85 million euros by the end of the year. With operating profits at 9.5 million euros, alarm bells should be going off right now. In Q4 of 2015, new CEO Jochen Halfmann introduces Strategy 2020. The new strategy includes five essential points. One, profitable growth in the newly defined core markets of Germany and Austria as well as in the UK, Netherlands, France and USA. Two, operational excellence through strict “best practice” management. Three, further development and digitalization of the concept considering guest feedback. Four, greater focus on long-term employee retention and five, building a modern and sustainable IT landscape. Sound’s good on paper but let’s see how things pan out. Vapiano's investments (capital expenditures) that year are primarily directed towards new restaurant openings, renovations of existing establishments, and share acquisitions in other Vapiano restaurants from franchisees or JV partners. A significant portion of funds is allocated to the digitalization of the guest experience, including the development of a new app scheduled for market release in 2016 and the implementation of a time recording system across all group restaurants. The world's first standalone Vapiano restaurant with a delivery service that year is built in Fürth, Germany. The company keeps expanding its presence in both inner-city locations and international markets, such as Shanghai, China. To finance all of this, the group has its own operating cash flow which comes in at 18 million while capital expenditures are 26 million euros plus 14 million for acquisitions. The funding gab is filled with 26 million euros of new debt and a seven-million-euro equity raise. At that end of the year and after the equity raise Gregor Gerlach (through his AP Leipzig GmbH & Co. KG entity) holds 30.1%, Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander through their Exchange Bio GmbH hold 25.5% and the Tchibo heirs, Herz through their Mayfair Beteiligungsfonds II GmbH & Co. KG hold 44,4%. But for the first time the restaurant’s concept that was so successful to date is being questioned. Some customers are starting to mislike the operational flow of the concept itself. If you want pasta, you must queue for pasta. If you want pizza you stand in a different queue. A small side salad, yet another queue. "You spend more time carrying trays than an actress in Berlin-Mitte. The audience in the pasta limbo can only consist of people who have worked for an insurance company for a long time and, like Stockholm syndrome, they can no longer get away from the industrial canteen feeling," writes TV host Beisenherz provocatively. While overly harsh in his assessment he's not entirely wrong judging by customers venting their frustrations in forums and social media channels. It isn’t uncommon for those who ordered pizza to have already finished eating while there is little movement in the pasta queue. Long term that doesn't go down well, QSRs competitors like L’Osteria are handling this process differently, with much success. https://preview.redd.it/6cas01oked0d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=2da6e0b4bc0e07dbee558de412feb414cd598d4a Tipping PointWhere are now in the year 2016 and things start to deteriorate visibility. Perhaps not for the leman’s eye but any business minded observer can see that there are problems under the hood. Yes, revenue grows yet another whopping 50 million to almost 250 million euros but half of that growth, comes from acquisitions of restaurants that the group didn’t already own 100%, which is now being fully consolidated within the group’s accounts. Here is a concrete example. In the past, Vapiano SE, the group’s top holding company held an indirect 50% stake in a French subgroup via the subsidiary VAP Restaurants SA, based in Luxembourg, and included this as an associated company in the Vapiano SE consolidated financial statements using the equity method. Due to the acquisition of additional shares in September of 2016, Vapiano SE's indirect share in the French subgroup increased to 75%. This means that Vapiano SE takes control of the French subgroup, which is therefore included in the group’s financial statements as part of the full consolidation. The revenue from the acquired subsidiary now recorded in the consolidated income statement amounts to 12.8 million euros. While that’s great for the top line, the loss of the fully consolidated entity equates to 0.2 million euros. Yes, you are buying revenue, but there are losses attached to them, not profits. A similar case is the Swedish entity that runs eight restaurants with revenue of 11.5 million euros but has losses of 235 thousand euros. So much for Strategy 2020 and “profitable” growth.That year the group’s operating profits are absolutely tanking, halving to 3.5 million euros. Operating profits are now a mere 1,4% of revenue. Remember original founder Mark Korzilius who talked about operating margins of 25% to 28% at the restaurant level? Yes, there are overhead costs for the organization that sits above the chain of restaurants, but operating margins that low indicates a course correction is needed. What’s telling is that in the annual report, in the management discussion section, the company starts talking about EBITDA as a proxy measure of profitability, rather than operating profit or net income. This wasn’t the case in the years before. Is this window dressing for an upcoming IPO? EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization. How can you measure profitability of a restaurant chain that absolutely and unequivocally needs capital investment to maintain its restaurant operations, the very source of cash generation, by simply excluding this maintenance charge (depreciation in the income statement)? Vapiano’s own annual report talks about the fact that existing restaurants must be rejuvenated from time to time and that new interior designs have to be implemented every few years. These things wear and tear, they go out of style, kitchen equipment breaks and needs replacement. This business absolutely needs maintenance capital expenditure, why anyone talks of profits before these maintenance costs is beyond me. Fun fact: in the previous annual report EBITDA is mentioned seven times, mostly around restaurant acquisitions and financing, not however as a profit indication for the group. In the new annual report, EBITDA is mentioned 28 times. Maybe it’s just me but belated Charlie Munger liked to call EBITDA: bullsh*t earnings. When in doubt I stick with Charlie. Interestingly, EBITDA for Vapiano keeps growing while operating and net profits keep falling. Operating cashflow for the group that year is about 21 million euros, but capital expenditure is 30 million and acquisitions for subsidiaries another 20 million. To finance these expenditures another 28 million euros of debt and 16 million of equity is raised. Net debt rises above 130 million euro. The operating cashflow of the group before any capital expenditures is 21 million euros. I am not sure free cash flow would be significantly positive after maintenance capex is paid out; it’s not broken out so we can’t be sure. Granted, I am not on the ground during this time, and I am not in the board room, I am simply reading what’s in front of me, but to me this is starting to look like a distressed situation. Regardless, the following year the company goes public. IPOWhere are now in the year 2017 and its Vapiano’s first year as public company. The company’s annual report reads the following “Sales revenue, like-for-like growth (LfL) and the earnings figures EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are used as the most important financial performance indicators for controlling operational business activities.” The very same report however also says: “The majority of the group's investments regularly go towards opening new restaurant locations and modernizing existing restaurants. The latter are differentiated into regular replacement investments that occur during ongoing operations (Maintenance CAPEX) and fundamental investments in the renovation of a restaurant (Remodeling CAPEX). On average, a restaurant remodeling takes place nine years after opening.” It says it right there in their own report; every nine years a remodeling is taking place. Remodeling and updating is not cost free, so why exclude depreciation charges which reflect capital expenditures? I understand that perhaps you would want to strip out one-off opening costs, that’s fine and fair, but don’t go overboard.The number of restaurants increases by 26 (previous year: 13) to a total of 205. The increase consists of 27 new openings and one closure. Group revenue grows to an astonishing 325 million euros but here comes the shocker, operating profits turn negative to 25 million. Fine, strip out foreign exchange losses of 3 million, IPO costs of 5.8 million and new opening costs of 6.1 million and you still have 10 million euros of operational losses. All the while the debt load of almost 130 million hasn’t materially changed, so those operating losses are before a six-million-euro interest payment. 184 million euros are raised through the IPO of which 85 million go to the company. This money is earmarked for further expansion as the group has ambitions to almost double the footprint to 330 restaurants by the end of 2020. The company is currently not profitable on an operating basis, and still wants to expand aggressively? I don’t get it. The remaining 100 million euros of the IPO money raised is distributed to co-founder Gregor Gerlach and Wella heirs Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander. The family office of the former Tchibo owners Günter and Daniela Herz with a 44% stake, don’t sell a single share. After the IPO, 32% of all the company’s shares are now in free float. One year later, in 2018, things get even worse. Revenue grows to 371 million, but operating losses mount to 85 million euros, that’s before interest expenses of 9 million. Even the beloved EBITDA figure turns negative, meaning the operating business before any expansionary or even maintenance capital expenditures is loss making. All regions are experiencing significant deterioration in their earnings profiles. Like for like sales are down 1% across the board. That’s revenue, not profitability. The question naturally arises: is the Group approaching its natural saturation point here or this operational by nature? The operating cash flow is now 9 million while financing cost are close to 7 million. That leaves 2 million for maintenance capital for 74 own restaurants and 76 joint ventures ones. Describing this as financially tight, would be an understatement. Things are not looking good at this point. Yet the company still grows restaurants by 26 new sites. 64 million euros are spent on acquisitions, new openings, and maintenance costs, financed through a 20 million-euro equity raise and 72 million of new debt. The Company now has net debt outstanding of over 160 million euros. After the equity raise and by the end of the year 2018, Mayfair owns 47.4%, VAP Leipzig, Gregor Gerlach’s entity owns 18.9% and the Sander couple own 15.5% of the company. Yes, the Sanders and Gerlach may have taken 100 million euros off the table, but they still have substantial skin in the game. Plus, Mayfair hasn’t sold a single share and instead injects more money into the company through the equity round. The stock has now fallen from its IPO price of 23 euros per share to under 6 euros by the end of 2018. Something must be done here. And indeed, there is pivot in strategy and a hard push for change. At last, the management team abandons its aggressive growth plan and curtails new openings significantly. Additionally, the team wants to run a thorough analysis of weak locations to then either discontinue or sell sites. In Europe, the operating focus will be put on corporate restaurants and joint ventures in major cities to ensure the ideal size and location to match the respective demographic target group. Outside of Europe, the franchising business is being expanded and at the same time a consolidation of the existing corporate and joint venture markets is being sought. All future investments will be reviewed to achieve higher rates of returns on new openings. Investments are also being made in the renovation of older restaurants. The goal in the future is to also open smaller formats, like Mini-Vapianos (less than 400 square meters) or Freestander at prominent transportation hubs outside city centers (currently in Fürth and Toulouse) to cater to individual location requirements, and to enter new partnerships. I am not sure why management hasn’t stopped all expansion altogether, bringing the ship in order first, getting profitable, clean up, all hands-on deck before considering any further expansions whatsoever. But again, it’s easy to comment from the sidelines; maybe they saw white spaces that would be covered by competing concepts if they weren’t moving fast and aggressively enough. Although pushing internationally means competing with local players such as Jamie's Italian, Prezzo, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Nando's and many more which brings in its own dynamic. Management also aims to enhance guest satisfaction. This involves refining operational processes, reorganizing the support center, and refocusing on the core offering: providing fresh and high-quality Italian food at affordable prices for a broad audience. The group also aims to reduce waiting times, especially during lunch, while also improving the evening atmosphere. There is even what I would call an evolution, away from Vapiano’s original concept, reorientating the customer journey. The ordering flow is being changed, offering guests synchronized preparations of all dishes while eliminating wait times at the cooking stations. The open show kitchen remains, staying true to original mantra of freshness and transparency but now guests can choose their preferred method of ordering through a mobile app, using a digital order point (kiosk), or by personally placing an order with a waiter. Guests can still freely choose their table and are then informed about the complete preparation of their order through a pager or their smartphone. This is a substantial deviation from the original concept, but a needed one. The group is also exploring and implementing the expansion of take-away and home delivery services but only at suitable locations, not universally across new openings. I am not sure why home delivery is even a priority here; it adds operational complexity. It’s better to clean up shop first and get back to the basics before adding new complexities. To be fair management does try to simplify. There are 49 different permanent dishes on the menu and additional 10 seasonal ones. Customers can choose from eleven different types of pasta. There is simply too much choice, and it makes orders complicated. The company announced to slim the menu down to its most popular and typical Vapiano dishes. There’s no need for an Asian salad at an Italian restaurant. "We have to go back to the roots, i.e. classic, honest Italian cuisine" says COO Everke. Regardless, in November of 2018, the supervisory board pulls the plug on CEO Jochen Halfmann and replaces him with Cornelius Everke. Everke himself has just become COO five months ago. Since 2017 he was responsible for international expansion. From 2011 to 2017 that role was filled by Mario Bauer – put a pin in that name, he’ll play a key role in the groups fate later. Then nine months later, in the middle of 2019, Cornelius Everke quits. He essentially concludes that his skillset and experience in the areas of internation expansion is no longer needed in the foreseeable future. To put it differently: Vapiano has moved from a growth story and has become a restructuring case, and other skills are required for that job. In June of 2019 Everke says the following “(we’ve) made a bit of a mistake when it came to foreign expansion”. No sh#t. Vapiano postpones the presentation of the 2018 annual financial statements three times in the spring of 2019, citing negotiations over an urgently needed loan of 30 million euros. It’s not until the end of May that a binding loan commitment comes through from the financing banks and major shareholders. We are now in August of 2019 and the corona pandemic is just around the corner. Supervisory board chief Vanessa Hall takes over as interim-CEO and things are unravelling. Visitor numbers are declining; originally, it was planned to sell the US business but halfway through the year the buyer cannot come up with the money. But not all restaurants are performing poorly. The group's poor figures contrast starkly as an example with the experiences of the Swiss-German franchisee, who runs six restaurants. The Sodano family in Switzerland pays Vapiano a royalty of 6% of sales for the use of the brand. Enrico Sodano explains in an interview that they operate largely autonomously from the licensor. If an “accident” were to occur, he could immediately replace the Vapiano sign with Sodano, he says. The family concluded the rents and contracts with employees and suppliers independently. The Sodano family have six locations in Bern, Basel and Zurich, around one million guests every year and 350 employees. Things are going well on the ground. The delivery service they’ve built is offering them a second income stream. Expansion into Winterthur, St. Gallen and Lucerne are being planned; small locations with 150 to 250 square meters and an attached delivery service. Originally, Vapiano restaurants used to be huge but for such a large restaurant to be profitable, 800 to 1,000 guests per day are needed. That’s possible in medium-sized cities, but not in smaller towns which is why the Vapiano group now also supports smaller formats. Back to our corporate drama. The 2019 annual report would be the last report the group files. By the end 2019 the outstanding debt of the company is at an astronomical 450 million euros. Revenue has grown by another 7%, produced by four net new openings through two JVs and two franchise restaurants but operating losses come in at 317 million euros. That sound like an absolute shocker at first but depreciation and amortization charges are 345 million, so that operating cash flow is actually positive but unfortunately capital expenditures and interest payments are so large that they are eating up all of the company’s operating cash flow. Then in the beginning of 2020 Corona hits with full force and the world shuts down. As a result of the measures to prevent further spreading of the virus, the group is forced to cease all global business operations (except in Sweden). While all these shutdowns are happening, the group is the middle of negotiating with its lending banks and main shareholders. There are additional financing needs for restructuring measures, even without a pandemic happening in the background. The situation is so dire that the company starts pleading to the German government to roll out the package of financial help more quickly. Unfortunately, it’s to no end. The rapid closure of restaurants and the resulting lack of operating cash inflows in conjunction with the additional financing requirements, lead to the company’s final knockout punch. In April of 2020, the Vapiano group officially files for insolvency proceedings. The end of an era. New BeginningsBecause of the pandemic, the majority of the group's subsidiaries in Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Sweden, and China also file for insolvency or seek liquidation. The US business never gets sold in the end and is wound down. In the summer of 2020, significant group divestments occur, including the sale of 75% shares in the group's French subsidiaries, shares in franchisor companies, Australian subsidiaries, German subsidiaries, associated companies, self-managed restaurants in Germany, and insolvency-related sales in the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Sweden. The buyer of the Vapiano brand and one of these bundles of Vapiano restaurants is company named Love & Food Restaurant Holding, a consortium led by Mario C. Bauer – a name I told you to remember. Bauer was a former Vapiano board member and led the national and international expansion, opening 200 sites in 33 countries from 2011 to 2017 until he was succeeded by Cornelius Everke. Bauer didn’t feel comfortable with the IPO at the time but clearly has a lot of managerial and entrepreneurial talent.The buyer consortium is an absolute A-Team comprised of European QSR top league hitters, including the founder of the Pret A Manger chain Sinclair Beecham; Henry McGovern, the founder and Ex-CEO of the giant international restaurant and foodservice operator AmRest; the Van der Valk Family that runs hotels and Vapiano restaurants in the Netherlands, and co-founder and ex-CEO Gregor Gerlach. The acquisition value is 15 million euros and entails 30 Vapiano restaurants in Germany, albeit that’s just the purchase price which comes on top of any capital investment needed to refresh and return the sites to its former glory. Nevertheless, just as a thought experiment, if you can get each site to 2 million euros of revenue and 400,000 euros in operating profit on average, which wouldn’t be an overly aggressively assumption given the company’s history, you’ve got yourself a package that can deliver restaurant-level operating profits of 12 million euros or more. It’s not disclosed how much capex was needed to refresh the operations, just that fact that the overall investment plus purchase price was a middle double-digit million-euro figure. Stil, it probably was a decent purchase. The same consortium buys Vapiano’s French business for 25 million euros just two weeks prior. After the transaction concludes, the master franchise is given to Delf Neumann and his Gastro & Soul GmbH. Neumann is an experienced operator, and he is ambitious to revitalise the brand with new services and products. For example, instead of pizza, the restaurants will be serving pinsa - a flatbread made from sourdough, wheat and rice flour, topped similarly to a pizza. It targets a more health-oriented customer base looking for a less calory heavy option. The menu overall is expanded by including a variety of vegan and vegetarian dishes. https://preview.redd.it/kpt7ea6red0d1.png?width=1242&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9930ced85ee364e9df414547cae06b47a03fc19 Today Neumann’s Gastro & Soul GmbH operates 18 Vapianos on its own account and has 29 franchise sites, amongst other brands. By the year 2021, Vapiano operates 191 restaurants in 34 countries. This is around 50 fewer sites than before the bankruptcy. The number of branches is particularly thinned out in Germany – from 80 to 55. Nevertheless, Vapiano's home country remains by far the largest market, followed by France with 35 restaurants and Austria with 15 locations. “We have shrunk ourselves to health,” says Bauer in the aftermath and there is no further shrinking planned. Quite the opposite, the smell of expansion is in the air again – pun intended. Not as aggressively as before and with a new menu and ordering process. Overall, the team around Bauer is filled with industry experts with knowledge and networks gained over decades who have a great track record, a long-term view, and the staying power to let Vapiano breath and finds its way back to success. The pressure of being a public company with all the associated quarterly, half-year and yearly disincentives have been removed. The menu is changed and extended with new types of pasta and sauces with significantly more vegetarian and vegan dishes available. Guests can order with restaurant staff, at terminals or on their phones and there are barcodes attached to the tables identify the respective seat. The food is brought to your table, all at the same time if you are in a group, no more annoyances with waiting in line. There is a plan for smaller, 350 square meter locations, with half the number of guests and significantly fewer staff and less set-up costs required to make the economics work. Locations that capitalize on remote work and increased demand for local lunch options, higher population density with shorter delivery routes and therefore cost-effective in house delivery services are targeted. And Bauer is testing the concept of ghost kitchens, which operate without a dining room or service staff, focusing solely on preparing food for delivery services, which for obvious reasons have a very different operational set up and footprint. Original founder Mark Korzilius however is not entirely convinced. He is not a fan of the pinsa for instance and he considers Vapiano's pizza as its cash cow, flagship product and believes that the core Vapiano proposition of Pizza, Pasta, Bar that has given the company its original success is being diluted. He instead admires the competitor L'Osteria, saying they’ve done a better job by focusing on Italian classics, especially the impressively large pizzas that sticks out beyond the plate is leaving every customer in awe. The guys who run L’Osteria are the same guys who have built Vapiano with him in the first place. Bauer on the other hand, like a true business leader, remains undeterred, stating that he is frequently asked whether Vapiano's restart was bold or foolish. He believes in entrepreneurship, franchising, in his experienced fellow partners and importantly the Vapiano concept. By the year 2024 you can find over 140 Vapiano branded restaurant in 27 countries across the globe, including locations far away from its birthplace like Australia, USA, Columbia, Chile, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. And why not? Italian food is, and will remain to be, incredibly popular. Vapiano offers fresh and tasty food at affordable prices in a good atmosphere. This combination of attributes should attract a lot of customers. It certainly has in the past. For more stories: WIP Thomas Weitzendoerfer Substack |