bad careers/ music saves lives/ Indian girl labor

Dec. 28 Bad careers: I was watching 20/20 on Nov. 30, 2012.  It was a "True Confessions" episodes about people's careers.  It did make me appreciate my job and think about what occupation to not go into. Hotels: They showed this video in an underground parking lot.  They interviewed Heads in Beds author Jacob Tomsky who worked in a hotel for years. Tip #1: "Tip now, or pay later."  There is staff revenge like the above footage of a valet and his crazy parking with a client's car.  There are poor and rude customers, and the hotel makes a profile of you.  If you're rich or at least nice, you're a FOB (Friend -of -Ben -money).  Or you're a PITA (pain-in-the-ass). There is video footage where a hotel guest puts a camera in his room.  A hotel manager stole cash from the safe.  Concierge will find a paid companion and be your alibi when you cheat on your spouse.  Concierge will need a cut of money to get the things you want. Mainly, don't complain and show love to the staff- as in money. Here's his book:   http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2012/12/12/heads-in-beds-jacob-tomsky/1732157/ Gym: Personal trainer Ryan tells all about how gyms work.  20/20 gets models to go undercover.  There is overweight woman Abby and hot woman Kristen.  Kristen gets her $200 gym fee waived and Abby doesn't.  Kristin gets all the good prices at all 4 gyms. Ryan: If there are hot people on the floor, more people will work out here. Ryan is really fit, and he works out everyday for 3hrs.  He doesn't drink. There is a Down Size gym where they only take overweight people.  20/20 host talks to Gym Manager about prices and the 2 models they hired.  At first the Gym Manager says there is no wiggle room for deals.  The host shows the models and he says he doesn't recognize them.  He does back pedal a bit. Repo man: They interviewed Matt Pittman.  He records all his towings and puts it on on Youtube. Matt: I possessed a car on the day of a dead man's funeral.  I've been shot at, I had a shovel hit on the head. The footage of MP fights and argues with everybody he possesses cars from. It's kind of a grey issue.  He tows the car, or he gets a key from the bank and gets into the car and takes it.  Kind of like stealing there.  He has a license plate camera on his car and it recognizes the plate.  He possesses cars on wedding parking lots. They interviewed another guy Marcellus: "A woman offered me sexual favors so I won't tow her car.  But I'm married, so I can't." Me: More like you won't.  This sounds like a terrible job. Cop: There is a dashboard video of a car pulling back and driving onto the top of the police car.  They interviewed an NYPD Sergeant. There was a cop speeding to get to his second job and a female cop arrests him.  No special treatment. How to avoid a ticket: Put your hands on the wheel.  It will immediately calm down a cop if they can see your hands.  Be apologetic.  Act like you didn't know you're over the limit.  Don't give excuses of why you're driving so fast.  They don't want to hear it. Justin Hopson wrote a book called Behind the Blue Wall.  He was a cop.  In 2002, he was on duty.  One of the cops arrested the passenger for DUI.  The driver had run away.  Hopson won't lie.  He was assaulted by other officers. They showed a clip of that NYPD cop who bought boots for a homeless man.  They discussed that cops do like eating donuts. Dec. 31 Music saves lives: I was reading the Globe and Mail.  "The Ode to Garbage in B-Minor" by Marcia Adair was published on Dec. 22, 2012. In Cateura, a village built on top of a landfill on Asuncion, Paraguay is full of gangs and families make a living by sifting through garbage for things they could sell.  I remember in gr. 11, I saw The People Bomb about a village like that. Favio Chavez is a ecologist and musician says that 40% of kids don't finish school because the families need them to work: "There is an idea that nothing is worth studying because the study does not help them to eat. He teaches the kids how to play instruments like guitar.  Parents and kids were skeptical, but thought it would be better than hanging out on the streets.  He then started making instruments out of the recycled material from the landfill.  The things are like: "tail pieces made of forks, tuning pegs made from gnocchi moulds."  Other pros are that kids don't worry about instruments being stolen or have a relative sell it for food or drugs.  He teaches 50 students full-time and has toured the Recycled Orchestra to Rio de Janeiro, Panama, and Bogata.  There is a documentary called Landfill Harmonic that will be released next year. He says: "Doing music causes children to connect in a special way and feel they are building beauty together.  This is the essence of our orchestra." I then looked up the trailer.  It's really inspirational and they play beautifully. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXynrsrTKbI Indian girl labor: On Dec. 29, 2012, I read an article in the Globe and Mail called "Dowry schemes lure girls to bonded labour" by Stephanie Nolan.  It's about this girl Vasandi in India who lives in this small village.  She was 16 and had a gr. 7 education.  There was this factory where she could work and get 3 meals a day, and there's satellite TV and a pool.  After she worked there for 3 yrs, she would get 36,000 rupees ($650).  However, it was 12 hr work days and they're too tired to watch TV and they don't know how to swim, so they just dip their feet in the pool. "H&M, Abercrombie and Fitch and Marks and Spencer have all sourced materials from this area over the past few years." Vasinda quit after 2 yrs because girls were getting injured or getting sick from being overworked.  She thought she would get partial bonus, but she didn't.  She saw 6 out of 600 girls get the bonus the entire 2 yrs she was there.  Almost anyone close to the 3 yr mark would be fired. Most workers are under 18, and a fifth of them younger than 14. H&M: "schemes as absolutely unacceptable" but the factories are the secondary suppliers and "we do not have direct contractual influence." Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women and Rights, Education, and Development (READ) are trying to help them. China labor: I found this on Yahoo: "KMart Shopper Finds Chilling Letter."  The letter from a China factory talks about working 15hr work days.  No days off.  If they don't work, they will be tortured or beat up. "(Julie) Keith handed over the letter to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who are now investigating the letter and verifying its identity. Sears Holdings, which owns Kmart, is also investigating the factory." http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/kmart-shopper-finds-chilling-letter-162659934.html I guess the point is, think consciously about where you're buying your stuff from.  Also be grateful about your job.  At least it's not as crappy as the ones in 3rd world countries.