Outrageous and slack

Wholesales shun mothers, 'old' people

A number of wholesale stores in Kingston's busy Cross Roads area are refusing to hire people over 23 years old, claiming that they are old, a Sunday Observer probe has uncovered. At the same time, at least one store owner is averse to employing women with children as, he said, mothers are unreliable.

(Click here to read the rest of the slackness these people are keeping up.)

You've got to be kidding me? Dem tings still going on in this day and age? Maybe it's because I'm in America why I'm sitting at my desk fairly trembling in disbelief. If anyone tries that here it would be a straight lawuit before they'd even finished explaining... or so I'd like to think. Clearly it's because this is happening in Cross Roads and below why no one has jumped up to high about it in Jamaica. Because I definitely know that had it been upper middle class or upper class being subjected to this kind of treatment in New Kingston it wouldn't go so. And probably the same thing goes for over here too. (Yes people, the first blush is gone, live here long enough and you see that the same tings that gwaan a yard, happen right over here big and bold in the U S of A.)

But no, I'm sorry, maybe it's because my pride hurting me because I'm now on my way out to pasture at over 24 years old — with a child no less! — lawks, life looking bad. Is this what Jamaica has come to? I'm sorry to pull out the emancipation, slavery and independence card, but really now, after all that, we come to this? Just last week I was explaining to my boss about Jamaica's national heroes and what they went through, especially about Nanny of the Maroons who alledgedly caught a couple bullets in her backside.

The sad thing is that the "old people" (have to put it in quotations because that over 23 stipulation is madness) and the mothers probably had something to do with it too, cause you know we're a stubborn set of people from day and nuff people love skull work and school whenever they can. At the same time though I know I have to thank God because I have a boss with two children who understands that sometimes stuff does happen. Like week before last I hadn't even been at work 10 mins after coming in late because I had to stay home with the Moo, when braps is the day care that calling, telling me to come back for her because she had "uncontained" poo again. Nuff people not so understanding. I don't know what irks me worse, the wholesale manager or the Pay and Conditions Employment branch manager who carried on about the law. Slack and out of order.

But such is life on the rock.

Update: October, 28, 2007

Interesting, don't you think, that this story ran in Friday's Gleaner?

'Labour laws need to be amended'

Nevertheless, I'm sure that laws must exist dealing with what the Sunday Observer investigative piece covered. And if they don't, it's a crying shame and a sorry indictment on our country.

Dumbledore's gay?

Of all the random news to come across on Saturday night, I saw this one DrudgeReport.com:

J.K. Rowling Outs Hogwarts Character ...

As I was telling a friend online a couple seconds ago, thank goodness the series is finished and that I won't be reading the books for the first time. Finding out that Dumbledore is gay would put his relationship with Harry in a whole new light. Rowling was right to say that this will give the Christian groups that oppose the books more ammo for their cause. Such is life I suppose. Right now I'm looking forward to the big screen debut of another series that Christian groups love to hate...

The Golden Compass, the first book in Philip Pullman's

His Dark Materials trilogy.

Putting PC on the map

Panama City, Fla. is sure on the map. Every major U.S. television news outfit has devoted sometime last week to the Martin Lee Anderson, especially after the verdict came down last Friday. Here are a couple of points that I've been pondering:

• Both sides (prosecution and defense) agree that manhandling/beating didn't cause Anderson's death. But you'd never get that impression listening to the national media. It's as if Rodney King had happened all over again and the drill instructors had pulled the poor boy off the street and started wailing on him. It's not that there can't be questions about the "use of force matrix" and the other tactics the guards employed, but let's at least get that first fact straight? See http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/269291.html for an example of what I mean.



• When all else fails, of course, we pull the race card. I haven't gotten a good explanation for why the race card has been called because the DIs are white, black and one Asian. Mind you I have heard that the non-whites were made "honorary whites" or were "following on the white man's coat tails." Sad isn't it that minorities can be portrayed in so many different ways all depending on the situation? As our local talk show host said this morning, he can't understand why the NAACP is so incensed that two black men were acquited of a crime in a small southern mostly white town.



• Why were CourtTV broadcasters so shocked that PC hadn't broken out into riots after the verdict came down? I wanted to roll with laughter when I heard them saying, yes and students are out in the streets demonstrating... and then they didn't mentioned that the demonstrations were happening in the state capital of Tallahassee, hours away. Maybe because I remember what riot tension feels like and I'm sure most Jamaicans will agree that the April '99 Gas Riots were riots indeed. See http://www.j-zone.com/riots/pictures/ for some pretty good pictures from various areas that were affected. These people all need to smell tear gas wafting into their living rooms and sweet talk their way through a couple road blocks before they can talk about riots. But like I said to my boss, if thos verdict had come down a few weeks or months after Anderson died, then all bets would be off. I could well and see lots of angry people out on the street then.

I dunno, maybe it's because I'm not from here and grew up in the West Indies why I hold these views. It is sad that Martin Lee Anderson died though. As a mother I cannot and do not even want to imagine loosing my child. No matter anyone's faults or shortcomings, they could be me worst enemy, losing a child isn't something I'd wish on anyone.

Stop for humor

I thought that this news story was just too cute. Oaklawn, Ill. has started adding smaller signs like the one in this photo to its stop signs in an attempt to curb people running stop signs. (Want to read the short story? Click here.) There are other signs one of which says "And smell the roses." It would be even more interesting if we'll see a follow-up on this in a couple months time to see what — if any — imapct this has.