Psst! Is that Bin Laden over there? (Part 2)

The groovy new laws, as described below in (Part 1) are nowhere near as simple to comply with as one would think.

For public servants are involved.

Commonsense would be for Mine Host to simply be issued (by the Office of Gaming Regulation or Aus-Trac) a stack of forms with which to report Big Wins, accompanied by a stern letter instructing Mine Host to report all "Big Wins" or else face big strife.

A simple list of current Gaming Licences would reveal to Aus-Trac who is to be contacted about this new law.

Aus-Trac did use this list to contact Mine Host, but to give a deadline by which the Wayside Tavern had to register ONLINE. This registration was complex, being page after page after page after layer of pages at an Aus-Trac website. There was so much difficulty filling it out that Aus-Trac engaged a team of telephonists to phone to all gaming sites and TALK us through filling in the form. The form was nothing more than an acknowledgement that Mine Host is aware of the new law and intends to comply with it.

Once the form was filled out (along with some acidic observations as to the pointlessness of the form) Mine Host presumed that would be it.

Hahahaha..... Commonwealth Public Service are involved, so dickheadsmanship shall reign supreme.

Shortly afterward Mine Host received yet another telephone call, reminding him that he had to fill out YET ANOTHER complex online form. This next form being to confirm that one has filled out the previous form. (This is not a joke)

Of course, filling out these forms was a frustrating and time consuming experience. Mine Host was unable to see the point of it.

Expressing this to the public servant (unhelpfully a new Australian with severe accent difficuties) Mine Host detected in her a complete and total incomprehension of why Mine Host would consider he had better things to do with his time than fill out forms to say he has filled out another form that he has filled out to say he is aware of a particular law, and why had just this one law been singled out to have forms filled out about it?

Becoming more & more frustrated, Mine Host pointed out that he did not blame the (fresh from the sub-continent) Australian public servant helping him to fill out the form, but that he did blame the Federal Government for inflicting this, this, this.... bulldust.... upon working Australians (ie, upon Mine Host).

A meaningless "cluck-cluck" of fake sympathy from the sub-continental if-you-insist-upon-speaking-in-that-accent-don't-expect-me-to-understand-you-sir Australian Public Servant triggered something in Mine Host.

He pointed out that he DID blame the federal government, and contrary to what the sub-continentally accented Australian Public Servant lady said, Mine Host actually COULD do something about it. He could use his vote, he could speak to his federal member, and most effective, he could influence the regulars.

In particular, Mine Host would be making it plain to all punters that their privacy was being invaded by the federal government, & perhaps they should consider this at voting time.

Mine Host went on to point out that his federal seat was held by the government, but quite marginally, and if every one of his customers changed their vote, the seat may well change hands.

Brief pause:

Then supercharged shock from the sub-continentally accented Australian Public Servant lady:

"You mean...... vote against... KEVIN?"

She could have reacted no more frantically if Mine Host had suggested we privatise the Commonwealth Public Service, or perhaps repatriate all Hindus.

Mine Host (quite reasonably) pointed out that if "Kevin" was going to make laws that caused inconvenience, discomfort, and social embarrassment to the punters of the Wayside Tavern, then "Kevin" could quite reasonably expect those punters to vote against him. If the Wayside Tavern had enough votes to cause a seat to change parties, and the government had a margin of one seat, then this would cause the government to fall. (For "Kevin" to lose government - in language understood by the sub-continentally accented Australian Public Servant lady)

Mine Host had the impression that the sub-continentally accented Australian Public Servant lady had never before encountered a coherently stated calm belief that Kevin should be voted out.

It shocked the living daylights out of her.

Psst! Is that Bin Laden over there? (Part 1)

Recent "Money Laundering" legislation has been a source of amusement and stress (in equal measures) for Mine Host.

Anti-terrorism money tracking measures have brought changes to the pub trade.

If you win more than $10,000 gambling in a pub, the pub must immediately report you to "Aus-Trac" (the name would indicate a machinery dealership, however it is some sort of federal govt anti-money laundering outfit)

If the pub does not immediately report you, the consequences are serious (for the pub, the feds have lots of power).

Aus-Trac is immediately notifed of a win of $>10,000 by the relevant statutory authority. This is either the TAB if you won on the horses, or the Electronic Gaming Monitor if you won on the poker machines.

Once Aus-Trac is thus notified, the pub has a short time span (a couple of days) to lodge an accompanying paper form,
1. Confirming the win,
2. Listing the personal details of the winner, and
3. The signature and printed name of the individual who verified the ID of the winner, and
4. A copy of the ID that the winner presented.

No verifiable ID, no payment. That is the federal law. (The opposite of state law, which says winners must be paid within 24 hours, with no ID required. Federal law trumps state law, I hope)

The punters were unhappy at having to provide verifiable ID, being scared their wives would discover they won more than $10,000 in the pub. Nor do they want the Tax Office to know (gambling winnings are not taxable, but most punters prefer to err on the side of caution)

Pointing out to them that the law now says this form must be filled out, with their ID, blah blah blah, goes straight over their head. However, Mine Hosts directive: "no ID, no payment" was a concept they quickly grasped.

Mine Host is of the belief that if Bin Laden (or other nefarious types) wish to launder some money in Australia, they are unlikely to (A) turn up beyond the Black Stump to do it, and (B) put it on a horse. Betting on the gee-gees being a ...er... most unreliable financial strategy, never mind as a method of washing cash.

450 jobs saved by Mine Host

A topic of recent minor discussions among Wayside Tavern staff has been the announcement that 1850 workers will be retrenched, by the (previously unheard of) corporation Pacific Brands.

Much discussion has focused upon the gross salary of the CEO, on which products of the corporation should perhaps be boycotted, on $17 million provided by the federal govt to Pacific Brands for the purpose of preserving jobs, etc etc etc.

Little to no discussion noted that 7,000 workers still depend upon Pacific Brands for a job, or that this is the only major clothing manufacturer to have not moved completely offshore, and thus preserved any jobs in Australia.

Mine Host, strolling innocently past, was asked for input (not required, as minds had been made up, Pacific Brands deserved to be punished)

With zealotic smirking faces, the collected staff waited for either an affirmation of their anti-Pacific Brands resolve, or for Mine Host to side with the devil and make a comment supportive of the management of Pacific Brands.

Faces fell collectively and an extended silence followed what Mine Host had to say:

By firing 1850 staff, Pacific Brands are not saving 1850 wages, they are saving 1950 wages as the payroll tax on those 1850 is (roughly) the same amount as the wages of 100 workers. (stunned silence from the staff).
Furthermore, Pacific Brands still has 7,000 workers, thus is paying payroll tax equal to another 350 wages.

Total payroll tax paid to state governments by Pacific Brands, the same amount as the wages of 450 workers. (continued stunned silence from staff, and they start to glance at each other)

450 more people could have had a full time job at Pacific Brands, instead the state governments had taken that money away from Pacific Brands.

Continuing his stroll, Mine Host noted that nobody was saying anything.

Snake Sheds Skin, Reemerges as Snake

Queensland once again has a new liquor act. Effective as of the 1st of January 2009.

Not sure what the informal name for this new legislation will be, probably the "Bligh" act, (it replaces the "Goss" act, which replaced the "Joh" act) (Named for the Premiers at the time)

This new act is allegedly the result of two years of consultation with the industry and the public. Like fun it is! There is little sign of any of the suggestions from the public or industry.

Despite an entire two years to get it right, there are some conflicting parts in the act, and some really, really odd stuff. Some stuff hasn't been thought through very well, no surprise to those who have had to observe Premier Bligh in action, thought isn't a strong point.

As can be expected from a Premier who is a wowser, and whose offsider is a zealot/wowser, the act doesn't contain much good news for those whose living has to be made from the liquor industry.

Mine Host's favourite quote from the Premier: "The hotel industry has to pay for what it has done to Qld"
Sort of covers lots of things in one doesn't it? And about not just the liquor industry.

Mine Host notes that he is no longer the holder of a "general" licence, it is now a "commercial" licence. How exciting, lots of new terminology to learn.

The ineptness of the new act kept Mine Host fully occupied for most of the month of January, as even when legislation is badly written (or plain stupid) it will still take your livlihood away if you aren't careful!

hibernation

Had a brief hospital stay for a minor surgery.

Have been instructed by the doc to have all of February off work.
Been busily ignoring that ever since. (Spreadsheet jockeys can work from their bedroom, front verandah, (or the beach, park, wherever) and luckily aren't subject to the same physical fitness requirements as bulldozer drivers, ringers, cops. Work certainly piled up during the week in hospital.

Been saving up some "you couldn't make it up" tales from the pub trade.

Gnash my Teeth!!

Many frustrations exist in this life.

One of the more prevalent frustrations of modern life has come with the expansion of computer/internet/email usage among the general population.

Penetration into the general community of computer/internet useage must be approaching (or even exceeding) the penetration of telephones (pre pocketsized mobiles).

Just as Dorothy's house arrived into the life of the Wicked Witch of the East, so have computers/internet just appeared in the otherwise orderly life of the adult generation.

The bulk of computer/internet users are self-taught. Most people have become proficient in mundane tasks, thus masking their underlying incomprehension of even the simplest technical matters.

Mine Host is constantly amazed when somebody possessing above average intelligence, engineering skill, and problem-sovling abilities, will use interchageably any/all of the following terms:

Computer
Internet
Monitor/Screen
Modem
Email
Bigpond
Wireless (Network)
Windows
Application Software (any)

.... quite difficult when someone has become het up over the (choose any term above) and you're trying to solve it for them over the phone .

What the *bleep*bleep* did you expect me to do?

A council staffer & a contractor entered the Wayside Tavern (during a busy meal trade and without notice) demanding that Mine Host make time to meet with them then & there.

The driveway of the Wayside Tavern was to be dug up & reconcreted (for secret local authority reasons), and that this would have "a temporary impact upon your drive-through trade".

They snorted contemptuously at Mine Host's serious answer to their question of "when would be the most convenient time to do this work?" (Answer: Midnight the day before Good Friday, alternatively Midnight Christmas Eve)

These fellows have reached middle age, yet have had insufficient interaction with the working economy to be able to comprehend that there are people whose business is at work almost every hour of the day, every day of the year.

So removed from reality are these fellows that they assumed Mine Host was jesting.

The contractor (at what he believed was a smart alec remark by Mine Host) became short, and announced that he had "tried to cooperate", he noted Mine Host's statement that Sunday, Monday, Tuesday were the slowest part of the week, that he "would endeavour" to carry out the works during the nominated slow period, and that Wayside Tavern would recieve "one day's notice" of the excavation works.

"After all" explained the council staffer "we all have to share the financial pain of CBD improvements" (He doesn't)

Mine Host agreed that 24 hours notice of a 3 day closure would be plenty of time for him to lay off the staff of the drive-through shop.

The mood changed with whipcrack speed.

For some reason it always happens to this exact same script: Some regulation/bylaw which will hurt a business elicits a smug "oh well, can't be helped" attitude from the public servant who makes the decision, but when this is translated into job losses the smugness is replaced by distinct unease & discomfort.

"You.. er.. can't just DO that you know". (I can) (THIS always happens too, right on script, they go from "impartial" local authority regulator to informal Industrial Relations advocate - which is waaaay outside their letters of marque)

Someone who three seconds before couldn't give a hoot about Mine Host losing money thanks to some directive suddenly becomes almost hotheaded when smacked by the reality that their "impartial" application of this directive has just cost the job of an ordinary worker, and becomes most anxiously concerned that nobody lose their job.

The about face is quite comical. I really should capture it on film one day.

"You force a 3-day closure of their workplace, you force a 3-day closure of their job! It is that simple"

Mine Host then did make a smart alec comment: "We all have to share the financial pain of the improvements to the CBD you know"

Mine Host expects when the excations happen there will now be the utmost consideration given to minimising the impact upon the Wayside Tavern.

Think of it how you may, but Mine Host has saved the pay-packet of staff. As a bonus a pair of stuck-up tin gods have had one put over them.

Man of Fairy Floss.

Mine Host has:
Held an actual job for 4 years (and longer).
Spoken coherently in public without a teleprompter.
Run something, run it successfully.

Thus:
Mine Host recognises an inferior being in the president-elect of the USA. (who has yet to achieve ANY of the above)

Retirement Village?

The road up the east coast....
Mine Host recently had occassion to visit Kuala Terengganu, a city with a population of almost 300,000.
Though the place had nothing like the metropolitan feel or hustle & bustle of Queensland coastal cities with populations less than one third the size.
The place had a sleepy feel and a bustle which would have matched a population of 20,000 or less.

These houses could do with a coat of paint, but note the impeccable condition of the rooftops, in particular the superior valley guttering. These houses are well maintained. This is a place which gets rain.
A couple from Mine Host's town have retired here. (er.. not to one of the houses above, those are not typical of Kuala Terengganu) Happy as larry with their choice, they feel at home here.

An uncommon choice of location for retirement, especially for people whose umpteen generations in Queensland had been spent in the same town.

Perhaps they felt like a fish out of water in Qld. Even the largest established muslim population in Qld isn't all that large. (Newer, immigrant, 2nd generation or convert populations in the big smoke are a different kettle of fish)

In an event remniscent of the catholic/protestant divide of years gone by, the wife of the couple had been prevented from marrying "outside the faith".

In a smallish town there was no escaping what her parents forbade to her. Her beloved from the years of her youth operated a shop directly across the road from the business where she was employed. For the 40+ years of her working life she could see accross, and he back. Her employer of later years would occassionally send her accross to the shop on an errand....

....Without any hint of a late deviation from the path and ultimate destination forced upon them in their youth, one could still see the spark, alive in two people now each a grandparent, the spark of what both their parents had forbidden. He forbidden to marry outside his race, she from marrying outside her faith.

If only their parents could have seen that by the time their children were grandparents the religion/race mixing taboo, unthinkable in the 1950's, would be an irrelevance, that their great-grandchildren intermarry between chinese, malay, ceylonese, japanese and arab without any concept of the frantic social taboo which would have once overshadowed even the suggestion of kids "walking out" together.

The husband of the retired couple, surprisingly for an umpteenth generation Australian, suffered no discrimination or anything for an act which would in another time have had him killed by firing squad. Even in other parts of Australia it would have seen him if not jailed, at the very least shunned by many, sent to Coventry for life.

For in his youth he had journeyed from Australia to Indonesia and joined a "foreign legion" of fighters to oppose Australian and Commonwealth troops during the Konfrontasi.

The "Claret" incursions of the Konfrontasi were grim enough. One can only imagine the outcome if Australian troops, fighting to keep Sabah and Sarawak as Malay territory, had in the aftermath of a contact, made the discovery that one of their opponents, instead of a javanese conscript, was a turncoat white Australian (complete with a Scots name) who had paid his own passage and voluteered to take them on.

Immigration to a new land, with no family ties or reception at the destination, a new way of life, and new language, never to return to where your family has lived for generations, is a step not usually taken in the twilight of one's life.

To side with Angels, or the Devil?

Mine Host, with limited knowledge of foreign stuff has, as always, been bamboozled by coverage of the yank presidential election campaign.

Not that you need to know much. Just find out which candidate Jane Fonda supports;

...then vote for the other feller.

Eenie Meenie Miney Mo

With the upcoming return to unfair dismissal laws spurring the dismissal of roughly 10 staff, Mine Host has to decide who will go.

Will it be decided by coin toss?
Last on first off?
Who has had the most sick days?
Those of ill-temper?

To decide who finishes up, the method used will be: Who is the most useless?

One put his head on the chopping block this very week.

It is not often staff perform abominably in the presence of the boss. However such stupid creatures do exist.

Mine Host is lurking in the boutique bottle shop, in discussion with the retail manager, the counter manned by an able bodied 55-yo male staff.

A frail woman of more than 70 years of age enters the shop. A regular customer. One bottle of spirits and one of fortified wine. She gives her order to the attendant, who is leaning on the counter as would a 17 year old.

Without lifting his elbows from the counter, he jerks his thumb & grunts to her "They're on the shelf over there".

Mine Host stops his conversation long enough to indicate with his hands to the old dear to not move, fetches the bottles, conducts the sale and pushes her trolley to her car. Once she is gone the attendant is summarily dismissed, an employee of about one year's standing.

An able bodied mature aged male who would force a frail elderly woman to fetch & carry, ...well... such a twerp would have to be berefit of any character or moral fibre.

Especially as fetching bottles & carrying to the car is a service we provide.

Bar Trade

"Traditional" public bar trade is less than 3% of the gross income of the Wayside Tavern.

By quoting this one statistic Mine Host puts into perspective the common misconception that over-the-bar sales of liquor are of any importance to a pub.

What a Cute Little Doggy Woggy!

The Wayside Tavern has seen many & varied workplace injuries.
Most (ie the genuine ones) are related to broken glass.

There is an exception to every rule:

One of the lads is quite ill. He is pale & lacks energy, and in a sure-fire test that he really is ill, declines to partake of alcohol.

He and another guard were escorting an evictee from the premises. The eviction was quite straighforward, the evictee being a lightweight in capacity for both liquor and violence. Thus no trouble was anticipated, they just grabbed an elbow each & marched him out.

At the Wayside Tavern placid evictees are released at the door & advised where to find a taxi.

This event occurred at 1.30am, at this time the street in front of the Wayside Tavern is empty.

Correction, is usually empty. For as he changed balance & released the evictee, this lad tripped on a passing Scotty Dog, fell to the concrete breaking this skin on his arm and collecting the serious infection.

10 Years

October 1998.

Mine Host is wrapping up the loose ends of several years in the coffee & halal kebab business in western Sydney.

Options for the future are pondered:
1/. Go back to being a Ringer. Not on your nelly!
2/. Find a pizza/kebab/coffee shop somewhere available on vendor finace. Rather not.

Then a conversation with someone from his hometown reveals that the boss of one of the pubs has just abandoned the place.
Next thing the owner of the pub is wanting a meeting with Mine Host.
Mine Host is short (very short) on capital, but longer on expertise, and in the past has been particularly non-traditional in his approach to handling a pub. (This is why the owner has contacted him, he wants someone who can make the place pay)

Mine Host offers to share in the debt, and all the work. An interim operator (who had no interest in staying) has picked the pub up somewhat.

Negotiations completed Mine Host journeys north to the Wayside Tavern.
For several years it didn't look like working, the bank was too unforgiving of the way the previous owner had operated.

10 years later. Mine Host is established in the pub trade.

Some now almost nostaligic memories:
Watching the door (especially in the hours prior to opening time) in case of arrival of the official Recievers.
Keeping yesterday's takings packed inside a bag of clothing, "personal possessions" in the hope Receivers would unwittingly allow Mine Host to carry it off the premises.
Ordering wine by the half-box, as there wasn't the money to pay for a full box.
Working public holidays himself, from 5am until midnight, to save the cost of public holiday rates.
Staying up Saturday night (Sunday morning really) to scrub the pub, to save paying Sunday cleaning rates.

Witness for the Prosecution

If one is a party to a civil case in Qld, you just turn up on the day & lurk anywhere in the environs of the courthouse, you will be called when the case is to be heard.

One of the quirks of the NSW court system is that all parties in any cases set down for that day, MUST wait inside the courtroom, all day, until called.

This is a royal pain.

One has nothing to do but witness proceedings in any cases heard before yours.

In this case, Mine Host had a grandstand view of the tail end of a criminal matter.

From what Mine Host could piece together (coming into the case part way through) The owner of a kebab shop was answering a charge of receiving stolen goods. Specifically, an (expensive) commerical espresso machine.

The police prosecutor took us through where the machine was found (in storage at the shop) & listed lots of other stuff which had been found at the home of the accused (hot DVD's & various other similar stuff, all inside cupboards & cabinets near the TV).

It didn't look good for the accused, it was the instinct of Mine Host that the kebab shop owner, a young fellow from Turkey, was guilty.

Thus far Mine Host & the police (and the magistrate, as could plainly be seen) were on the same page. All believed the Turk was guilty.

However this differed dramatically when the accused appeared as a witness and the police prosecutor began to examine him.

The Turk was operating a kebab shop in a shopping centre.
The Turk lived somewhere away from the shopping centre.
The Turk was the single parent of a 12-14yo lad.

The stolen goods were (a) a $10,000 or so espresso machine (requiring significant repair) useful in the shop, but not able to be used, and (b) a pile of consumer electronic leisure software (DVD's) the titles indicating they were unsuitable for young children. (note: not XXX stuff, just stuff unsuitable for children)

There was no indication that the espresso machine was stolen, except the police said it "must have been". There was no complainant, nobody identifying the machine as their stolen property, no match with a serial number of a stolen machine etc etc etc. Incredibly, the Police Prosecutor went on to list many other items of equipment found in the storage locker with the espresso machine, all of which "must" be stolen, but that no charges would be brought for these other items (hammers, saws, various small tools).

This standard of...er.. evidence.. must be allowed in NSW courts.

The DVD's were branded with the name of a local video rental shop, which had reported a break-in several months previosly, and the loss of an unspecified number of DVD's.

Under cross examination, the Turk's story was:
1/. The coffee machine was offered to him cheap by an unidentified stranger who came into his shop.
(Implausible, Mine Host does NOT believe, Magistrate & Police Prosecutor actually swallowed this part of the story whole)

2/. The coffee machine was deposited at the shopping centre loading dock by unknown persons and a shopping centre janitor alerted the Turk that a delivery had been made for him.
(Highly likely, stolen or not, Mine Host believes this part, Magistrate & Police Prosecutor clearly did NOT believe this. They seemed amazed that anybody would be asked to believe that ANYTHING is left anywhere, even at a business loading dock, to be collected later by the person whose name is attached to the parcel)
(- Until confronted with events like this, one forgets how clueless about real life experiences of the population are the police & magistrates. )

3/. He had not seen much of his house, or son, as he was working a zillion hours per week in the shop, and slept on the sofa in the first room. And for weeks on end not entering any part of the house except the sofa and the shower (outside).
(Having done the same himself, Mine Host believes this, it is consistent with about 120% of small food businesses operators, especially in the early stages.) (Cluelessly the Magistrate and Police Prosecutor clearly thought this was made up, that nobody would work so hard, or fall asleep for weeks on end just inside the door of their house)

4/. He knew that lots of DVD's were in his house, had no idea that any of them were "hot", or that any of them were inappropriate for children the age of his son.
(Mine Host, can imagine what he would have got up to at that age, if dad was at work 25 hours each day.)
The Magistrate was having none of this, declaring that all parents keep a watchful eye on the type of DVD's their kids are viewing, and found the Turk guilty.

Just like that.

Almost weak kneed at the total and complete cluelessness of the magistrate, Mine Host was about to say something, but was silenced by a glare from the bench.

For Mine Host had spoken out earlier in the cross-examination, when the Police Prosecutor and Magistrate had both latched cunningly onto what was (in their mind) a fatal flaw in the Turk's story: that no paperwork (invoice etc) had been given at the supposed time of sale of the espresso machine.

Compounding their (seemingly non-stop) public display of cluelessness, both Mag & PP patently disbelieved the accused when he stated that he did all his deals "in cash, without paperwork".
(Gee, how do these dickheads think half the NESB fast-food economy operates?)

So deep ingrained in Mag & PP was cowardice in the face of the citadel of bureaucracy, that they were unable to conceptualise middle class citizens having the drive and enterprise to ignore government bulldust.

Indeed, for the Turk, streamlining his business by ignoring as much paperwork as possible was likely the only reason his head had been above water.

Mine Host's outburst? He had stood up and wearily stated to the court, mainly at the Police Prosecutor "Crikey, don't you fellers have any idea what you are talking about?" At the time the questioning had been deep into the intricacies of machinery depreciation and the applicability of GST. The PP hadn't the fainest clue what he was talking about, and had taken to turning to the public gallery with a confused & desperate face, hoping someone would come to his rescue.

As had indeed happened, the party who had brought Mine Host to court, the financial controller in a big corporation, scurried forward to confer with the police prosecutor and help the prosecution rescue their case.

There was no evidence presented in court that the espresso machine was stolen, and a strong liklihood that the son or some inappropriate companions of his were responsible for the DVD's, the prosecution should NOT have had a case.

Mine Host bristled with sympathy for a fellow traveller (ie, small business operator being squashed by the system - in this case being found guilty of being being someone whose makeup sufficiently confused a Magistrate, such that the Magistrate was completely unable to identify with the Turk.)

Government Mandates Job Cuts

Unfair dismissal laws apply again to Mine Host as of next year.

Thus, between now and then ten staff will be sacked. The provision of cheap meals to the multitude shall cease.

Pensionsers, low paid workers, children and the frugal, will all have to go hungry or learn to eat dog food.

Thus Mine Host's exposure to these laws will be reduced. The corresponding slight reduction in profits more than compensated for by the removal of a major headache. (Running the cheap bistro)

Three Things you will NEVER see!

Because the answers won't be palatable to the political class, Australia will never have a referendum on the these questions:
1/. Capital Punishment
2/. Continued Muslim Migration (supplementary question on continued mosque construction)
3/. Mandatory Jail Terms (three strikes & you're in)

9/11

As the years advance, Mine Host become more feeble of mind.

For as he recalls it, nothing signifcant occurred on the

9th of November 2001

UPDATE:
There has been a significant event on the 9th of November (1989).
(Brought to the attention of Mine Host by Sackerson in comments)

9/11/89

I Hereby Resign

As anybody who has worked in a corporation will attest, employing executives is no (if any) guarantee of probity, a fair go, competence, decency nor with executives is there any likelihood of freedom from racism, laziness, bigotry, nor any more likelihood of culprits owning up to simple mistakes. This all in spite of executive level job perquisites and salaries.

This is something Mine Host keeps uppermost in his mind on those occassions when the armchair-bound (or computer desk-bound) advise him that if he "paid more" a satisfactory staff performance would be achieved.

Mine Host always notes very carefully that those expounding forth to him with their expertise on this topic actually don't have any, (expertise). That is: they are yet to use their own money and hire someone to help them provide a good or service to someone else, in return for payment.
But oh boy, they shore done got all the answers!

Mine Host has just had yet another reminder that executive level placements are as ordinary as anybody else.

A subordinate who was well paid (say $90,000 + fully found) and who at his best put in no more than a 40 hour week, was announcing to all & sundry that he would be moving on (to browner pastures), as he had resigned his position.

Not one to take notice of rumours, but hearing this from several sources Mine Host raised the topic with the purported departee.

.... who confirmed that he has indeed resigned, "three weeks ago".

Pausing to reflect, Mine Host, as yet uninformed of the resignation, pointed out that a resignation ain't a resignation unless the boss actually knows about it.

A shade assertively, the departee retorted that he "gave written notice three weeks ago".... (to one of the barmaids, would you believe?), and that "in accordance with the terms of his employment contract" he would be receiving a bonus, (meaningful glare directed at Mine Host)

It turned into rather an ugly scene, right there in the office, with all the office staff witnessing.
The ...er... scenario came to a conclusion when the resignee got so wound up he quit on the spot.

Cheap Foreign Labour

Mine Host calculates the minimum cost to the employer of hiring a 457 visa holder to be (roughly) $75,000 per annum.

If anybody thinks the cost is less, Mine Host defies them to prove it. (in practice, not in theory).

If anybody states the cost of a 457 visa holder is significantly less than $75,000 per annum, Mine Host has two very accurate things to say about such a person:
1/. The person saying this has never employed a 457 visa holder.
2/. The person saying this has never employed a 457 visa holder.