5 Things You Should Know – Part 420

jazz

June 18, 2021

Here are 5 things you should know.

1. In the US while you are working, if you feel there is an imminent threat of death or injury – you can stop working.

https://www.osha.gov/as/opa/worker/danger.html

Employers know this, but few will tell employees about it. Workers are pressured into risking life and injury because of year-end review raises, bonuses, and the timeline of work that needs to be completed. You can call and record the conversation with the supervisor or the person in charge. If the person in charge starts debating your opinion, hang up and call OSHA and the Department of Labor. The reason for calling to Dept of labor is to insulate the employee from any retaliation from the employer. HR works for the employer, OSHA and the Dept of Labor works for you.

2. If you are a server/ bartender it’s completely illegal to be forced by an employer to pay for a walked tab.

According to the US Department of Labor;

Where deductions for walk-outs, breakage, or cash register shortages reduce the employee’s wages below the minimum wage, such deductions are illegal. Where a tipped employee is paid $2.13 per hour in direct (or cash) wages and the employer claims the maximum tip credit of $5.12 per hour, no such deductions can be made without reducing the employee below the minimum wage (even where the employee receives more than $5.12 per hour in tips).

Unfortunately… they can still get angry and petty, and find a way to fire you if they feel like it / are that shitty… but who really wants to work for those people, anyway?

Don’t let them convince you you have any obligation to pay for a tab, ever.

Source: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/15-flsa-tipped-employees

3. There is an app called Be My Eyes that allows visually impaired people to video call volunteers to ask for visual assistance.

The app is free to download and you can sign up as a volunteer or a visually impaired / blind person. If you need visual help (examples given are picking the right color of an item of clothing, or the right brand of the product when shopping) and you are visually impaired, you press a button on the app. The app will call multiple volunteers (volunteers do not need to have the app open to receive a call, they just have to be logged in), and whoever picks up the quickest is connected by video call. The volunteer can then assist you in whatever task you need help with.

Thought it was a great idea and a helpful app. Currently, there are over 4 million volunteers signed up, but only 310, 000 visually impaired or blind people.

4. If you’re out with people and don’t want to drink for any reason; having a non-alcoholic drink (anything really) in your hand can help you feel at ease and signal others you don’t need a drink.

Our society expects people to drink, and there are hundreds of reasons people don’t. A lot of people simply get very anxious about the possibility they can be called out or asked why they don’t drink.

Hope this tip helps you.