44 of 45 - Exterminating Sweatshops

   We were looking for 114 Cabrillo, Costa Mesa. On one side there was a gas station, a completely uninhabited looking square building, an empty lot, and cheap houses. On the other side there were some businesses, and then cheap houses. We drove right past the uninhabited building at first because it looked, well, uninhabited. Looking at the addresses though we concluded 114 was either that or the empty lot. I was beginning to think it was a crank call or something. We called the contact information and a woman confirmed that it was the uninhabited looking building. Despite this we still felt incredulous. The building was small and square, all the windows were closed and shuttered and didn't look like they'd been opened in awhile. There were no signs of life anywhere on the building.
   Bobby went to the door and talked to a lady inside. When he returned he reported there were "numerous asian women making purses inside," and that when he asked the lady who'd come to the door if it was a business or a residency (you get the picture yet that it REALLY didn't look like a normal inhabited structure?), she seemed to have to think about it before hesitently saying it was a residence.
   We removed a swarm of bees from a tree right outside its entrance.

   Needless to say, I think there's a fairly good chance its a sweatshop. I seriously think I just might make an anonymous tip to the cops.. maybe in a week so it isn't obvious it was one of the bee guys that came today. Someone remind me in a week, if you think I should.

   As I mentioned the other day, I've been riding around with Robert "Bobby" Wagner. "Robert Wagner" as it turns out is also the name of the actor that played "Number Two" in the Austen Powers movies.
   This morning we removed bees from the chimney of an elderly woman in Newport Beach. After we'd done the paperwork and were just preparing to leave she came running out signalling us to come back. She handed Bobby a peice of paper with the actor Robert Wagner's signature on it. She gave it to him.
   If Bobby was MY assistant I'd totally call him "number two."


   I guess the other two new assistant technicians had also noticed that $2000/mo will probably be less than the same hours at $10/hr. Consequently the boss, David Mardner, told us today he'd keep us at an hourly wage rather than the monthly salary ... but he doesn't want to pay the time and a half that is required for hourly wage-earners working more than 40 hours a week, so we'll all be capped at 40 hours a week.
   That means I'm done for the week today after four days of work. That also means we can't earn more than $400 a week, whereas the salary would've been $500 a week. Even if it means I'd likely be frequently making less than $10/hr with the salary, I could earn 20% more. I really don't mind the long hours -- so far its seriously been kinda fun out there. So I think I might ask if I can be put on the salary when I get back on Tuesday.

   On that note, I will be heading up to Santa Cruz for the weekend (Friday evening through Monday evening) for my cousin Chelsea's wedding (her and her fiance: figure 1, figure 2)

Picture of the Day - (more relevant to the year ago today than to today)

Previously on Emosnail
   Year Ago Today: Photo Essay: The Irvine Spectrum - once again I recommend viewing the pictures on flickr over photobucket. See also: the satellite view.