Tips For Finding The Right Job In California: Fill & Download for Free

What is the smallest mistake you've seen someone get fired for?Back in the day, I was fired by Home Depot for leaving the grounds during my 15-minute break.I had just graduated from college with my Dual Major B.S. degree.I owed $20,000 in FAFSA student loans.I was working a full-time job, with decent pay, I was hired to start the same week I graduated with my Dual Major B.S. in May 6th of 1996. This job was Mon-Fri from 8 am to 5 pm. But it was not enough to pay off my student loan in record time.Hughes Electronics (at the time the largest employer in Socal) their division HCI Hughes Communications Inc.; Hired me on May 1st; 1 week before I was scheduled to graduate on May 6th in 1996. It was our division that created and launched all the DirecTV satellites and network and broadcast; DirecTV Latin America, DirecTV Japan.So I got a part-time job on top of my FULL-Time Employment job, aka (FTE) job.This part-time job was at Home Depot in SoCal. So I would work there Mon-Fri from 6 pm until closing which was at 11 pm (so 5 hours; 5 x 5 = 25 hours a week) and then 8 hours on Saturday and Sunday (8 x 2= 16 hrs). 25 + 16 = 41 hours a week.So basically I was working 2 full-time jobs. And every paycheck from Home Depot, I wouldn’t even look at it. I just paid the whole check to my FAFSA student loan. And thus I paid OFF my $20k FAFSA student loan in 1 1/2 years. Back then Home Depot paid $13 an hour, which was good pay, very good pay for a part-time job.But man that Home Depot job was “work”. You “worked”: helping customers find things in the plumbing Dept. where I worked, show them the right faucets, they right pipes, the right sprinkler systems, the right sinks, the right sewer traps, the right fiberglass shower stalls, and the right water heaters and so on so forth, then closing every night you had to straighten out each aisle and sweep the floors to make it neat for the next day and morning opening crew. The point is with that job, you didn’t sit on your laurels, you were constantly on your feet and moving.But it was FUN, I loved it. The time flew by. Except for my painful achy-breaky feet hurt so bad at nights, I cried after getting off work and wanted to quit.The first few days and weeks, I remember going home and crying my feet hurt so badly. For the first time in my life, I understood and had empathy for ladies and women who I had heard say “my feet are killing me” I guess from wearing high heels or whatever. In the first few weeks, I didn’t know if I could make it my feet hurt so bad every night after getting off of work.At my job, regular day job, we wore the “pedometers”. And it showed I walked 3 miles a day in an 8 hour day because I did IT Tech support and we walked to all the employees who’s computer we had to fix. But the place was OFFICE SPACE and “Carpeted and partly has insulation and that foam also underneath the carpet”.At Home Depot I walked 3 miles also in a 5-hour shift.That concrete floor with reinforced rebar in the Home Depot store must have 2′ to 3′ thick. That floor did not give at all. I tried and tried different shoes, tennis shoes, track shoes, running shoes, walking shoes, construction shoes, boots, I finally found one, they were called “Wolverines” and Sears carried them. They were construction boots but they worked. And I still have them, I never threw them out. After I found those shoes my feet stopped hurting, Then I knew I could make it working two jobs.=======================Well, the way the Labor laws work. The 15 minutes breaks belong to the Employer so they can dictate what you can and can’t do during those 15 minutes. And Home Depot’s policy was you could ‘NOT’ leave their grounds on your break.Lunchtime was your time because you clocked out and were free to do whatever and go where ever you wanted.Looking back, if we had Uber-Eats back then I would not have gotten fired. LOLWell, it was a Saturday, and we had an early morning 5 am all hands and feet meeting. And when the meeting was over we opened the store at 6 am and worked.Well by 8 am we were starving. So Caesar in the phone room says to me, Dude calls ahead and order 4 Denny’s Grand Slam BREAKFAST (which at the time were on special $2.00 each; and included 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 sausages, 2 bacon) and run to Denny’s and get them. Here’s $20.00 one for me, you, Sal, and Valerie.Caesar was treating us to breakfast.So I called ahead and went picked up the 4 Denny’s Grand Slams and came back in less than 10 minutes. Denny’s was right up the street as the next block over.=====================================The Home Depot Assistant Manager at the time saw the 4 Denny’s breakfast and went around, “who got these Grand slam breakfasts? who left the grounds”? He kept asking and asking around and no one would answer. Finally, someone says to go ask ‘me’.Well, I was fired for that, for leaving the Home Depot Grounds to pickup 4 Denny’s Grand Slam breakfasts for the 4 of us on my 15-minute break.The Assistant Manager handed me the CASH right there counted it out and my stint at Home Depot was OVER. I had already worked there for 1 1/2 years at this point part-time in the Plumbing dept. They didn’t even cut me some slack or a warning or written write up, just paid me and GONE.Under California Labor laws when you fired, let go, discharged, laid off, whatever? The employer has to pay you and give your last check or cash right then and there. So they paid me the cash and counted it out and handed the cash to me and I took off my Orange Home Depot Apron and left.Follow-up: Several fellow Home Depot employees’ at that store and customers got him, GOT IN the Assistant Managers FACE, RIGHT UP IN HIS FACE, and said, “why’d you fire him for, he was a good worker”?“I was the pipe cutter and threader specialist”. In the Home Depot Plumbing Dept. Customers would buy custom length galvanized pipe and needed them cut to length and threaded. A lot of the customers were contractors and knew me by sight and by name. And I was the specialist on that machine. I was also good at making good recommendations for the right Faucets to buy and why, the right drain traps and how to put them together, and the right sprinkler systems for their yards, the right water heaters, and much more.It scared the be-Jesus out of that Assistant Manager and he transferred out of that store.I was okay with it, I did what I wanted to do. which was to use that part-time job at $13 dollars an hour to pay-off my FAFSA Student loan and I did that. I paid off the $20k in record time in that 1 1/2 year. That’s like taking a 2nd job and paying for and paying off a decent car for $20k, which are about what they go for today. But I did it in 1 1/2 years.I got over it, It was a kind of relief to get fired, I was tired of working 2 jobs for almost 2 years straight. LOL. So it was a blessing in disguise. No big deal I moved on.==========================================================Yeah, then later I went back to school and got my MBA $20k that cost me. i PAID THAT OFF ALSO.Then I went back to Law School and got my J.D. Law Degree and owed $100k, I whittled it down; now I only owe $46k I think.==========================================================BTW if you ever need to replace your home water heater? Here are the steps.Replaced a 40-gallon water heater by myself. Mildly difficult. Here are the steps.At night (Maybe a Friday night) (so you can work on it Saturday Morning) after everyone is done with showers around 9–10–11 pm.Turn off the water heater pilot flame, by closing the Gas Valve at the water heater or if it’s electric turn-off the electrical connection.The water in the heater will cool over-night and be cool by morning.In the morning, let everyone brush their teeth, then TURN-OFF the Water main so there is no water pressure. Then proceed with the next instruction.Get a long garden hose, or long enough to plug into the bottom outlet on the water heater to where ever is closest outside.Open that valve and drain the water heater. That may take a good 15 to 20 minutes.Now the water heater should be pretty light to move and remove.Close the gas line to the house or the fuse if it’s an electric water heater.remove the topwater lines, gas lines and heater vent,Remove any earthquake straps and pull out the water heater. It’s slightly heavy so get some help or just walk the heater, swing it back and forth to get it outside.Install the new water heater and everything in reverse.Then TURN-ON the Water main and check for leaks.Make sure you use “white plumbers tape” on the threaded parts to create a good seal for the water lines.12. Yellow plumbers tape is for the gas line.A TIP: If this is a Gas Water heater. Once the New Water Heater is installed? The igniter will not light up until you BLEED THE GAS LINE to get the Air bubbles out. To do this open the valve at the top until you smell gas then close it. Then bleed the bottom valve by the igniter by opening it up until you smell gas then close it. NOW IGNITE THE PILOT FLAME and it should light up immediately.NOW ANOTHER TIP: DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT Buy a GE water heater, their IGNITER ELEMENT ALWAYS GOES BAD, AND HAS A KNOWN DEFECT. That’s why Home Depot no longer carries GE, they now carry Rheem WATER HEATERS which are much better quality.If you call Home Depot, they’ll just give you the phone number for GE Customer support and GE WILL have you do some troubleshooting then GE will send you a new igniter in the mail. And you have to open the bottom igniter apparatus and replace the igniter element. All this can take days or a whole week to wait for the igniter to arrive by mail. So you have a WHOLE FREAKING WEEK WITHOUT HOT WATER. Ouch!One last suggestion, if you want your water heater to LAST 15–20–30 years, do this preventative maintenance. Once a year FLUSH THE WATER HEATER:TURN-OFF the pilot flame in your water heater after the last shower at night on a Friday. Or cut the fuse or electrical switch for Electric water heaters. By morning the tank will be cool. Hook up the same hose and OPEN THE VALVE and DRAIN The Tank with the hose. TURN OFF THE WATER MAIN. Once water stopped coming out.Now TURN-ON the Water Main, let the water pressure flush out all the built-up calcium deposits. Run it for about 5 minutes THEN close the valve and disconnect the hose and let the water heater fill up for about 30 minutes.Now Re-Ignite the Pilot flame or turn on the fuse for the electric water heater.This whole process will KEEP CALCIUM DEPOSITS OUT and make your water heater double or triple it’s life span.if you like this answer please give me an upvote below - ThanksThank you for all the Upvotes. I only rolled this answer out a Few days ago and now it’s up to 2300+ upvotes and past that. Thanks again!Please answer my one question survey. I'm thinking of holding a Quora convention so you could meet the people Asking the questions andthe ones answering your question.It would be in Held in Los Angeles where I'm from. Thanks, and please upvote and reply below.

Yes. We are rapidly reaching a tipping point where public confidence in the system will be lost and people will take matters into their own hands with predictable and dismal results.FIRST:Judges need to be much more carefully examined and vetted. Start with the tone in the courtroom. Too many judges are there because their law school buddy became politically powerful. Ask yourself why in Nevada judges pay a couple million dollars in campaign costs for a job that pays less than $100,000 a year.We need to clean house in the state trial courts.And, it would help if we offer judicial salaries at least as much as Big Law pays its first-year associates straight from law school.SECOND:The Judiciary is the third-branch of our form of Constitutional Government yet it is being defunded in most states. Especially in California where Chief Justice Ronald George was allowed to virtually bankrupt the state courts with an ill-advised attempt to put every court into the same computerized filing system. Look at your local courthouse—how healthy is your local court system?We do not pay to maintain our courts, appropriately detain the convicted, or give trials to those with the right to a trial. Particularly in civil cases—trials in such cases in California are disappearing. We now send everyone to arbitration, which is arbitrary and no better than the old-fashioned duels with pistols at 20 paces.THIRD:More prosecutorial oversight. Prosecutors have been given too much power. Your typical judge has much more oversight than a prosecutor. The Jussee Smollett case is just the tip of the iceberg. I think the FISA warrants against the Trump Campaign are an excellent example of what happens when prosecutors are virtually immune from examination or oversight.(If we don’t look into the Trump campaign issue because we don’t like Trump, then just imagine your candidate of choice being “investigated” by someone with whom you disagree—the process is more important than the politician.)The bigger problem than letting guilty people walk free, i.e. the OJ Simpson or Smollett case, is the rampant over-charging of minor offenses with the goal of forcing defendants to take bad deals.Because we do not pay attention to our jury service nor give real meaning to the presumption of innocence, we are starting to force innocent people to plead guilty.FOURTH:Involvement by the public. Towns used to be proud of their courts. The town was literally built around the courthouse. Judges were respected. Now people will lie, cheat and steal to avoid jury service and they are trained in how the justice system works by celebrity judges like Judge Judy, who in reality have absolutely no relation to a real courtroom.Insurance companies have been allowed to hobble the Plaintiff’s bar to the point where most cases aren’t worth the cost of trial—letting the small stuff slide is no way to run a justice system. The problem of “lawsuit abuse” was a creation of the medical malpractice insurance carriers—and it worked. Just try to find a lawyer willing to take a medical malpractice case now.FIFTH:Reform the prison system. Get the addicts out of prison—they only learn how to become real criminals. We can build many more minimum security prisons than we currently have and give prisoners an incentive for good conduct by allowing them to earn the right to transfer to such facilities. These minimum security facilities require fewer prison guards as well as prison guards with less training, they reduce injuries and attacks against other prisoners and as shown by the California Convict Fire Fighting teams, giving prisoners the ability to progressively earn back the trust of society reduces recidivism dramatically.Real prisons require consummate professionals—prison guards are well paid for good reason. We waste them by using them for populations that would respond well to positive incentives when we should be using them only for the absolute worst of the worst.Prisoners come in different flavors. Some need to just be put down—you’ll never reform a serial child molester or the kind of prisoner that kills his cell mate. Make the death penalty both easier and more strictly limited to cases where there isn’t the chance of evidentiary errors.SIXTH:Our criminal justice system is also our mental health system. A surprising amount of our prisoners and inmates are not evil, they are mentally ill.Our neglect of mental health issues are turning our cities into public toilets. Tolerance and liberal values do not justify the kind of situation you see in San Francisco—that’s not liberal policies, that’s negligent government more interested in superficial soundbites than real solutions.SEVENTH:STOP making more federal laws. States need to step up their game and solve their own problems—that’s why they exist. Let the federal government handle North Korea and/or trade negotiations—but instead we rely on the federal government to solve local problems. That’s a big mistake.States need to act themselves and with innovation. Term limits have sapped the ability of many state legislatures to do their jobs. Do you fire your doctor after they get 12 years of experience? Yet, we expect novice legislators to solve difficult problems of policy and are surprised to find that the special-interests are really in control.The longer I’m around, the less confidence I have that anything will get done. We seem to have lost the will to engage with the issues. We spend more time investigating opposing parties than debating issues.

A2A:I’ve lived in the Bay Area more or less since 1992. There have always been “homeless” individuals here. The current noise around the problem has gotten more voluble not only because there are objectively more homeless (which I think is true; numbers are up from 20–30 years ago), but also because the problem is just frankly more visible.We have had a visible homeless problem in San Francisco at least since the days of Art Agnos, if not Dianne Feinstein. Various mayors have tried various approaches with limited to poor success.However, in the past, the homeless tended to concentrate in certain parts of the city (the Tenderloin, Civic Centre, under the Central Freeway, Mid Market) that were ‘poor’ neighbourhoods. The previous mayor, Ed Lee, made a move to more aggressively confront camps, which resulted in homeless moving more into the residential parts of the city. That, coupled with the gentrification of formerly lower-middle class areas (like the Mission, Hayes Valley) have put more middle and upper middle class people directly in contact.And these people complain and more to the point, they vote.The homeless “crisis” that has hit the radar in the past few years is not new.What to do?It’s a very, very complicated problem, and so the solution - if one exists - is not simple. I do not pretend that this is even an answer, let alone the answer.First, we need to face up to the fact that the “homeless” are not monolithic. While many have serious drug and/or mental health issues, it’s not all of them. While many are people who previously were working poor and just fell on hard times due to a job loss or health issues, this is a minority of the hardcore homeless. While it’s true that some simply got priced out as rents rose, this also is a small minority.Any solution needs to look long and hard at just who the homeless are. Different people need different help. For example, a guy who cleans houses for low wages probably does not need a lot of wrap-around services - he just needs access to affordable housing. A meth addict who cannot walk upright is not going to benefit from “affordable” housing - any rent that is not zero dollars per month - and includes services to help him with his addiction - is not “affordable.”Surveys by various advocacy groups are tendentious if not outright fraudulent. Let’s get an actual handle on who makes the group up.Second, since such a big percentage are mentally ill, we need to reopen care facilities, and make it easier for the state to force mentally disabled people into care. It is illiberal and cruel that a person who is plainly non compos mentis be allowed the “right” to live on the streets just because he is over 18. If the severely disabled (schizophrenia, for example) person were 17, we would not let them have such a perverse “freedom.” If he were an animal, we would not leave him to fend for himself on the streets.Laws allowing for commitment need to be loosened so people who need help can get it.Third, cities (and not just the big ones like SF) need to look at how housing can be expanded. We have insane prices because of supply and demand. If three people compete for two homes, the price is going to rise. Rapidly. That is an iron-clad law. Zoning and environmental laws have given local NIMBYs control. The irony is you get people like Rob Reiner protesting on the one hand about how the US should more or less throw open its borders, but then go back to his personal enclave in Malibu and oppose all development to the effect that no-one other than rich people like himself can live there. Modestly expanding housing stock all over the state will curb prices so that middle class people can stay here. If we do not build more housing of all types, prices will rise.Fourth, for the truly poor, we need to accept that not everyone can live in San Francisco. Building low income housing - especially for those transitioning from the streets - in the most expensive dirt in the US is flat-out stupid. We should encourage people who cannot afford the basics of a roof over their heads to find other places to go.Fifth - the problem is far greater than just one city. San Francisco (the epicentre of the ‘crisis’) is 49 square miles. We have 800,000 residents. California is a state of 40 million. The US is a nation of 330 million. That a city can ‘solve’ the nation’s homeless problems is unrealistic. We need regional and national solutions. And sorry to the “resisters” out here - that means cooperating with the feds, not just taking their money.Sixth and finally, the US needs to look long and hard at its immigration policies. I am not in the camp that illegal (and some legal) immigrants are coming to sponge off of the US welfare dole. The reality is, most are extremely hard-working people who are willing to do difficult, back-breaking and dirty work for very low wages. Progressives say that illegals are coming to do the work “Americans won’t do.”This is false.But they are coming to do work that Americans won’t do - for the wages that the immigrants will accept.The benefits (low prices, profits to the businesses who hire them) accrue largely to those in the top of the income distribution. The costs - social especially - fall on the lower middle class and poor who do not tend to eat in restaurants, stay in hotels, or have their homes cleaned for low wages. The small army of hard working (but yes, illegal) immigrants drive up costs as they, too, need housing, drive down wages, and place strains on social support nets. If we enforced our immigration laws, your avocado toast might cost more, but the pressures on our lower income communities would be reduced.This would not solve the problem, but I suspect it would move us in the right direction.