MSGID: 1:153/757.0 03f7e65c   
   REPLY: 1:135/392 7ca8c054   
   TZUTC: -0800   
   CHARSET: LATIN-1   
   > I happen to be the best at my job than anyone the parking office has ever   
   > had, save one guy many years ago.  And I broke his record long ago.   
   > I like to joke they can't do without me.  And in many ways they can't.   
   > I've been there since January '02, (save for a couple of years I've been   
   > "retired" and even then I'm asked to return to train people).   
   > I even "wrote the book" on training, literally.   
   > When the old supervisor left I was tired of he said/she said ways of   
   >doing things and sat down one weekend and wrote the current training manual so   
   > everything was in black and white and it all the same for everyone.  If in   
   > doubt, refer to the manual.  (My t   
   > Both my civilian and security supervisors said that I knew more about my   
   > job than anyone else did.  The job itself, how to handle people (I use   
   > humour a lot), the little ins and outs I pass along, etc.  Whether the other   
   > person uses that, does the job, etc   
      
   Exceptoins to every rule, including the one about nobody is indispensible.     
      
   You're something nobody wants to keep or pay for any more: someone with years    
   of solid hands-on experience.   
      
   Sad. . . I'll take one of you over random 10 guys who together cost less than    
   you deserve. (value to the company should be the only metric used to assign   
   pay rate, not years around)   
      
   My boss feels the same & regularly offers me raises.  (He's wise enough to   
   know if I'm worth more than I'm getting, eventually,Icould be lured away by   
   someone  willing to pay full price, then I'm working for his competition)   
      
   I was warned right off that this field doesn't lead to big paycheques, so I    
   tend to be a rainmaker, to ensure there's new revenue rolling in, so those    
   spontaneous increases keep coming. . .   
      
   One year, it was funny -- the city workers were on strike for 6 weeks (no pay    
   comingv in) then settled for a 5% raise split up over the next 3 years. I had    
   just got, about that time, a 10% raise all at once, & a 20% one just before   
   the strike!   
      
   I guess I'd modify my previous statement about irreplaceability with "have an    
   accurate understanding of your overall value to the company's owner(s) & aim    
   for higher."   
      
   >> I'm with you, but Canada has this Liberal-led disarming tradition going   
   > strong now.   
   > I like the bumper sticker: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have   
   > guns.   
      
   or: "When marriage is outlawed, only outlaws will have inlaws."   
      
   >> I think it's easy enough to ensure legal guns aren't fed into the illegal   
   > side of things. . .   
   > That isn't always possible, just as keeping anything from being stolen.   
      
   My method would ensure every gun made would be on file, with the unique pin    
   marks & barrel striations in a central law enforcemnent database.   
      
   If it is used in a crime, track the last owner & either connect them to the    
   crime as prime suspect, or tag them as an accessory.   
      
   This should change the paradigm out there drastically, scaring off some who    
   shouldn't have a gun (the 2nd A is clear: "part of a well-ordered militia" --    
   that means regular training & practice.  Obviously past military or police    
   trauining counts for something, too, especially, as you can technically be    
   called back to duty any time once discharged.   
      
   Foir me, if I was American, I'd want my country, neighbourhood & family to be    
   as safe as possible & the current 2nd A mess isn't achieving that to the   
   sense  that Tommy Jefferson intended.   
      
   The guy(or gal, or minor) who is well-trained & practiced, is not the problem.   
      
   "Any warm body who can afford an NRA gun for sale" is, though.   
      
   I'm sure you've seen the exposé vidfs of guys buying AR15s or worse at a gun    
   show while masquerading as an ex-con planning to kill his neighbour asap.   
      
   As one guy said it, rather tongue-in-cheekily, "I don't want to wait 7 days   
   to  buy a gun -- I can't stay mad that long!"   
      
   > One can have all the gun laws on the books, make it tough to get one,   
   >ammo, et.  But the bad guy isn't going through all that to get a gun.  He will   
   > get his from his friendly neigbhourhood gun dealer's trunk.   
      
   Unless every gun, at point of manufacture is set to be identified easily   
   almost anytime down the line.   
      
   The Coast Guard & BATF's jobs are to keep foreign originated guns(etc) from    
   entering the country.   
      
   Even as an outsider, I'd just like to see the periodic slaughter of dozens or    
   more children come to an end.   
      
   >> I don't own a gun, & am fine without one   
   > Same here, but I'm a proud member of the NRA and support gun rights.   
      
   I would be, too.   
      
   > The last time I recall holding a live gun was in the Navy 50 years ago.   
   > We had a Marine detachment, security for the admiral onboard.   
   > One day this Marine was using old paint cans tossed overboard for target   
   > practice and hit it multiple times as we cruised along at sea.   
   > I watched a couple of minutes, telling him he was very good.   
   > He handed me his sidearm and and wanted me to do the same.   
   > I never came near that floating can.   
   > He said I wasn't very good.   
   > I pointed to the 8" turret behind me saying that's what I fire and seldom   
   > miss.    
      
   Did you also do small arms training/drills?   
      
   I guess you suport gun rights mainly for those who, like yourself, have a    
   healthy appreciation for what guns are and can do, eh?   
      
   A friend of mine jumped through near infinte loops to get her habndgun   
   licence  here.  She's no NRA whackjob, but neither was she out to become a   
   victim of an  abusive & threatening ex-husband.   
      
   She trained & praxcticed(& still does)   
      
   I want her armed & others just like her -- responsible & all about personal    
   responsibility over "I got them thar rights, you know"   
      
   Because the poo-storm Jefferson envisioned from his own country's leadership,    
   is coming up here.   
      
   There are several militias traing up north who have caves full of ready to   
   use  ammo, & dozens of guns each masrtching said ammo.   
      
   When The Man shjows up to confiscate, they can all fiund a beat up riflke in   
   a  closet that matches the type registered & hand it over, "There you go, sir."   
      
   "Where are the 8 million rounds of ammo you've bought over the years?"   
      
     "Oh, somewhere back there in the woods where I target shoot birds & stuff,    
   but I suck at it."   
      
   most quality assault rifles have an equivalent round size in a hunting rifle   
   of some sort (old, crappy, leftover from their daddy's time in WW2 -- doesn't    
   matter for the purposes of these groups to lay low & prepare)   
      
   I expect you've got a number of groups up in Idaho & Montana similarly equipped   
   & practiced, even outside the obvious nutjob cults. . .   
      
   --- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-5   
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