So, I went to Justice Court

Last December I got a ticket for failing to stop while entering a roadway. I thought that I did stop so I decided to fight the charge in court. The whole process took nine months and I had to go to court several times for my arraignment, pre-trial conference, trial, and then sentencing which was this morning (I lost). I'm not sure if this is how it works in other states in the US but where I live they schedule multiple cases for the same courtroom and time and then go down the list in alphabetical order, which means you have to sit through everyone else's case until your turn comes up. Most of the time it was boring as hell but there were some interesting cases.

Just about every Mexican person there was charged with operating a motor vehicle when never having obtained a driver's license. I thought it was interesting just how many people there were that got charged with this violation, it was more than a few. Here in Utah they require that you bring in your birth certificate, social security card, and other documents that I can't remember to get a driver's license, in an effort to deter illegal immigrants from moving into the state by making it hard for them to live here. It seems as though many people are just choosing to drive without a license and take the risk of getting caught.

There was a woman during one of the court sessions who was charged with domestic violence in front of a child. According to her story, Her and her husband were on their way to pick up their teenage son from wrestling practice. He was waiting for them by the curb and the husband acted like he was going to run him over to scare him. Then when the son got into the truck, the husband starting telling him how he was a loser, how he was never going to amount to anything, and stuff like that. The woman was tired of him abusing her son so she slapped him across the face and jumped out of the truck. What does our honorable gentlemen do? He calls the cops on her for slapping him. She had to pay a fine of around $2000, if I remember correctly, and take some sort of counseling class that I can't remember the name of. This case seemed like a terrible misapplication of the law to me.

This morning there was a girl who was a former polygamist, I could tell from her accent and her last name. Her highest level of education was the 6th grade, and she was 18 or 19 years old.

This morning there was also this big woman who was riding a Jazzy, one of those four-wheeled scooters with a big seat that the elderly and the morbidly obese like to ride. She had a brain injury and had to have an attorney appointed to her because she had a difficult time understanding the judge. Apparently she got hit by a car while she was riding her Jazzy down the road so the police officer gave her a ticket for riding a bicycle or a moped in the wrong lane of traffic.

Sounds great to me, you break the law, you get punished.

If the punishments were harsher, these crimes would happen less often.

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Originally Posted by Tuuvi

There was a woman during one of the court sessions who was charged with domestic violence in front of a child. According to her story, Her and her husband were on their way to pick up their teenage son from wrestling practice. He was waiting for them by the curb and the husband acted like he was going to run him over to scare him. Then when the son got into the truck, the husband starting telling him how he was a loser, how he was never going to amount to anything, and stuff like that. The woman was tired of him abusing her son so she slapped him across the face and jumped out of the truck. What does our honorable gentlemen do? He calls the cops on her for slapping him. She had to pay a fine of around $2000, if I remember correctly, and take some sort of counseling class that I can't remember the name of. This case seemed like a terrible misapplication of the law to me.

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You did only hear one side of the story. I wouldn't make a judgement based on that.

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Originally Posted by Husar

Sounds great to me, you break the law, you get punished.

If the punishments were harsher, these crimes would happen less often.

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I'm not sure that punishment as a deterrent really works. Maybe for certain people, but if they've committed to the crime they're not doing it thinking about the sentencing.

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Originally Posted by Husar

Sounds great to me, you break the law, you get punished.

If the punishments were harsher, these crimes would happen less often.

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Spot the German in the thread.

I went through a brief, non-criminal legal thing. Had to spend a bit of time sorting it out at the local Judicial Center.

What I miss now is the regular parade of neck tattoos.

https://i.imgur.com/s6oV8eC.jpg

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Originally Posted by Rhyfelwyr

Spot the German in the thread.

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I merely wanted to say that before anyone else does and makes me angry.
I could've made a comment about the US justice system but that only makes other people angry and we only have anecdotes here.
Was an interesting read though.

:laugh4:

Almost forgot the other thing, in addition to neck tattoos.

In the Judicial Center parking lot—and pretty much nowhere else—there were a lot of cars with giant decals of their brand. I have no explanation for this. You'd be like, "Hey, that's a Honda, because there's a giant sticker on the windshield that says HONDA, so now I know."

Why? Why not, I guess.

So: Neck tattoos and giant car brand windshield decals. These appear to be the markings of criminal masterminds.

https://i.imgur.com/NqpQwta.jpg

I wonder if the tramp stamp comes with either human or their name on it so their latest partner if they aren't illiterate can have a clue.

Dunno. I may be showing my age and middle-classness, but there's something about a neck tattoo that screams, "Please do not employ me." You know?

https://i.imgur.com/SWdVmdT.jpg

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Originally Posted by Lemur

Dunno. I may be showing my age and middle-classness, but there's something about a neck tattoo that screams, "Please do not employ me." You know?

https://i.imgur.com/SWdVmdT.jpg

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Side Note:

The classic counter comments about a book and its cover, that I have a neck tat and I am doing fine, and that its not like it was twenty years ago, should be skipped. Our Lemur has, I suspect, heard them all a time or 16 before. Moreover, in a majority of cases, he's quite right. Whether or not employers should consider such a thing, they do, and your chances of employment are less.

Is this the thread where we bitch about poor people?

No it's a thread where we bitch about people making poor life choices.

Is that you Pa?

I pay high Aussie taxes, mortgage for over priced Sydney property and am a Westie.

So yes I have an opinion about people who have no barriers to getting a job other than their life choices.

Always bear this in mind if you want to get a tattoo:

https://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8742/v2i4.jpg

I think we might have a winner...

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ink_prod/pho...too__large.jpg

Apparently Kelly isn't much for eye contact...

I envision a future in which all humans have their entire skin removed and replaced with a polyurethane coating.

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Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

I envision a future where everyone's tatted up all over. Love it.

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I envision a future where the last surviving industry in the US is laser tattoo removal. :tongue2:

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Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh

your chances of employment are less.

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To get semi-serious for a second: What's the single most important thing you look for when you're hiring somebody for a position? Any position?

I'd say good judgment, or "common sense," or whatever you want to call it. IMHO, this is more important than degrees, accreditations, work experience, or even basic competence. (Although these things may indicate good judgment.)

What tells the forklift operator not to park where he's blocking the truck bay? Good judgment. What tells your secretary/attendant not to get weird or cute when answering the phone? Good judgment. I don't care how low somebody is in the corporate structure, they are making decisions all day long, and the quality of their thinking/judgment/common sense will be reflected in the results.

I'd rather take someone with low experience/skills and train 'em up if they can demonstrate good judgment, rather than deal with someone who's highly qualified but full of unnecessary drama.

And what does a neck tattoo indicate? A lack of good judgment, at least for anyone trying to get along with the basic norms of business life.

So ... yeah. I'm not being flip: A neck tattoo says "I don't want to be employed."

P.S.: I have worked in organizations where management tried to compensate for bad judgement by making policies for absolutely everything. I have never seen this succeed in a real-life setting. All this sort of managing does is make your competent people mad, while having low-to-no effect on idiots. You can't train stupid, and you can't make policies that cover every possible way somebody might screw up. Better to just look for people with a certain level of common sense, and be willing to fire the idiots. There's no other way that works.

People who get neck tattoos are generally a bit déclassé.

Tattoos are trashy and you can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery

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Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

I got six tattoos, including some on my forearms and one on my leg.

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Fair enough, but speaking as a stuffed shirt who hires and fires: I don't give a damn about forearms and legs. Perfectly rational, sane, common-sense-endowed people get ink there.

It's face and neck tattoos that set me back, and make me go, "Huh. Maybe you don't make great decisions."

Tattoos ruin a perfect skin, they make you unclean and unworthy. You have been gifted a working body with a delicate ecosystem and then you burn parts of it for shallow optical effects. As a purist I can only oppose this, people also don't buy apples and bananas with tainted skin, why should humans be any different from apples?

TL;DR: I'm a tolerant person but I am not fond of tattoos, I like my humans bio-natural.

Does that mean Germany will send people with acne to the camps now?

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Originally Posted by Montmorency

Does that mean Germany will send people with acne to the camps now?

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Yes. Acne Camp.

Or maybe Camp Wonder.

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Originally Posted by Montmorency

Does that mean Germany will send people with acne to the camps now?

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Acne is not something people do to their body voluntarily, it is caused by rogue bacteria.

If you are like me, you get tattooed compulsively knowing that you will regret it when you are older and more settled.

It's concealed by clothing, but I'm gonna have some explaining to do to future Mrs. Rhyfelwyr, haha.

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Originally Posted by Strike For The South

People who get neck tattoos are generally a bit report buttonable.

Tattoos are trashy and you can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery

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I'm far from being the most "politically correct" of persons, Strike, but the last word of the first sentence you posted here is inappropriate and inherently misogynistic. Nor was it even necessary, as "trashy" "déclassé" or "nekulturney" could have conveyed the essence of your comment just as well.

I'll change it. I don't think it's misogynistic though