Category: Romance

Categories
Background Checks Court Updates Human Resources Miscellany Romance Staffing Uncategorized

Massachusetts Closure of State and Federal Buildings Due to Blizzard

EARLY CLOSINGS: Due to the onset of inclement weather, the following USCIS Offices and Service Centers will be closing early today.
The following offices will be closing at 11:30 am (Eastern Time):
Massachusetts
Boston, MA District Office & Field Office
JFK Federal Building
15 New Sudbury Street
Government Center, Room E-170
Boston, MA 02203-0701
Boston Application Support Center
170 Portland Street
Boston MA 02114
Lawrence, MA Field Office & Application Support Center
2 Mill Street
Lawrence, MA 01840
New Hampshire
Manchester, NH Field Office & Application Support Center
9 Ridgewood Road
Bedford, NH 03110
Rhode Island
Providence, RI Field Office & Application Support Center
1543 Atwood Avenue
Johnston, RI 02919
Providence Application Support Center
105 Sockanosset Cross Road, Suite 210
Cranston, RI 02910
Maine
Portland Field Office & Application Support Center
176 Gannett Drive
So. Portland ME 04106-6909
The following USCIS Offices and Service Centers in New York will be closing at 3:00 pm (Eastern Time):
New York Field Office
26 Federal Plaza
New York NY 10278-0127
Bronx Applications Support Center
1827 Westchester Ave
Bronx NY 10473
Brooklyn Application Support Center
1260-78 60th St
Brooklyn NY 11219
Hicksville Application Support Center
87 Bethpage Rd
Hicksville NY 11801
Manhattan Application Support Center
201 Varick St., 10th Floor, Room 103
New York NY 10014
Port Chester Application Support Center
40 South Main Street
Port Chester NY 10573
Queens/Jamaica Application Support Center
153-01 Jamaica Avenue
Jamaica NY 11432
Woodside Application Support Center
63-05 Roosevelt Avenue
Woodside NY 11377
Queens Field Office & ASC
2735 Jackson Avenue
Long Island City NY 11101-2917
Long Island Field Office
30 Barretts Avenue
Holtsville NY 11742

 

Categories
Background Checks Criminal Records Economy Human Resources Miscellany Personal Background Checks Recruiting Relationships Romance Uncategorized

Dating Site to Conduct Background Checks

Having been burned by an embarrassing and disturbing  sexual assault incident, Match.com has agreed to conduct background checks on its members.   According to the article in the Daily Pilot a woman was raped on her second date with a Match.com partner.  As it turns out, the assailant had six prior sexual assault convictions.   So much for meeting the man of your dreams.

Most online dating sites promise to some extent that you will meet your soul mate.  They boast of special filtering systems so that one prospect will be accurately matched with another, according to mutual tastes and behavior.  So with the promise of the perfect romance, even marriage, as the lure, it is difficult for a dating site to require background checks, just in case Mr. Perfect is an ax murder or, as in this case, a convicted sex offender.   How one filters out gold diggers may be another story.

In this economy, there are the usual gold digging predators, looking to con the unsuspecting, the overly romantic, the terminally naive and gullible out of their money.  And then there are the sexual predators.   They know how to work the Internet and the dating sites.  They are good at pushing buttons on the unsuspecting.   After all, people are on dating sites with high hopes and the desire to escape the lonely nights and find a decent relationship.  This is a natural impulse and it’s a shame that some, more than a few, want  to take advantage of the hopefuls that are out there.

But then life is what it is and in this poor economy and with the sensibility being what it is, the truly romantic are perceived as fair game by far too many.  At least Match.com is taking steps to help prevent such a terrible incident from happening again.

Categories
Background Checks Criminal Records Miscellany Romance Uncategorized

Minstrel’s Alley Publishes Gordon Basichis’ Latest Novel, The Blood Orange

Normally, I would be writing about background checks here.   But for those who don’t know me, I have had for years a literary life outside of employment screening.  And since my new novel, The Blood Orange, was just published, I figured i would post something about it here.

Minstrel’s Alley is the publishing group that published this novel.   The Blood Orange is a romantic mystery thriller set in California and is the tradition of Raymond chandler and other Los Angeles Noir msytery writers.  The novel is set in contemporary times but draws upon old Spanish California bandit legends.  Some years ago a local Los Angeles police officer whose family had settled in California many generations before, told me about the bandits that used to live way up in the Hollywood Hills and swoop down on the Pueblo, some miles away.  There was talk of buried gold and hidden treasure.   I thought it would  make for a great subject from which to draw a modern LA mystery thriller.  So here we are.

Gordon Basichis, or if you prefer, me,  is the author of several previous books, including the roman a clef, The Guys Who Spied for China, the non-fiction novel, Beautiful Bad Girl, the Vicki Morgan Story, and The Constant Travellers, a new age Western Fantasy novel

Here is  the link to the Press Release announcing Minstrel’s Alley Publication of The Blood Orange.

Categories
Background Checks Criminal Records Economy Human Resources Miscellany Romance Staffing Uncategorized

Washington D.C. and the Increased Workplace Violence

The increase of workplace violence is quite alarming.  Some try to explain it away and attribute some of the violent incidents in the workplace to domestic disputes that aren’t really work related but incidents of domestic origin  where the spouse or lover enters the office of his significant other and creates violence.    These particular incidents are often attributed to a bad economy and the financial frustration that burdens a good many families.  People let it build up, and then they explode.

But feeling frustrated about the economy, about job prospects and one’s love life in general is a notable distance to actually killing or hurting someone.  And then of course acting out over some real or perceived slight may be attributable to internal frustration or even mental imbalances, but doesn’t say much for common values or self-control.    People shouldn’t be hurting people on the job.  Office sniping is bad enough, but real sniping, which has occurred, is something else altogether.

Washington D.C. has experienced recently several instances of workplace violence.   Emily Babay in an article in the Washington Examiner writes about workplace violence in the D.C. area.   Workplace violence in D.C. has increased, while it has declined in various parts of the country.  Baby writes that most incidents of workplace violence are a result of robberies.  Usually, these murders are a result of one employee working alone, being robbed and then murdered.  But there are the other incidents, not just he murders but the beatings, and then the personal attacks on fellow employees that can cause lasting psychological damage.

No matter what variety, workplace violence has a lasting negative impact on both the working environment and the surrounding community.   Workplace violence causes a drop in office morale and leaves the surrounding community with that awful lump-ion-your throat feeling that his kind of thing can happen next door.  People in a community remember these violent episodes for a long time after.

The article is well worth reading.  I found the charts showing the year to year statistics on workplace violence in the general D.C. area to be of great interest.  As the job market remain tight and people fear for their livelihoods, frustration will remain high and workplace violence is more likely to occur.   One more reason for getting the economy back on solid footing.