Slave labor in my New York?

[Phelps]

Technically not my New York, nor do I even live there.

New York millionaire sentenced to 11 years prison

Honestly, if proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, this couple should be put to death. Hi, you're violation human rights?

Of course, the article does mention that the couple had a defense, in that they accuse the two servants of practicing witchcraft, and of falsifying the story.

What say you?

[kegkilla]

c'mon now... like anyone here doesn't have an oriental or two locked away in their basement? i mean really... who are we kidding?

[Jait]

Unfortunately. Every so often these stories pop up, and I'm sure there's plenty more of these atrocities that never get found out.

In a country with so many wonderful freedoms and opportunities there's going to be plenty of douchebags that prey on the innocent immigrants just looking for a better life. But it's not only restricted to them. Is it any different when Joe Drug dealer is using his kids to mule? Or the runaways forced into prostitution, like the big bust earlier this week?

It really sucks, it's the antithesis of what we should and usually are for as a Nation. We all need to keep a vigiliant eye. As for justice, I'm not really sure about capital punishment in these cases unless you've taken a life yourself (and not in a metaphoric sense).

[Eomer]

My money is on this couple originally being from India or Pakistan or wherever and being in the highest class and basically used to treating everyone else as less than human. It's a pretty ugly side of the culture in those and other countries, and as with most traditions/cultures, people have a hard time realizing that hey, that shit isn't kosher over here.

[SalaciousTunare]

Originally Posted by Eomer

My money is on this couple originally being from India or Pakistan or wherever and being in the highest class and basically used to treating everyone else as less than human. It's a pretty ugly side of the culture in those and other countries, and as with most traditions/cultures, people have a hard time realizing that hey, that shit isn't kosher over here.

That's the first thing I thought too heh.

[Ancalagon]

Originally Posted by Phelps

Honestly, if proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, this couple should be put to death. Hi, you're violation human rights?

Violations of human rights abound, not everyone should be put to death by the government. That sets a really bad precedent.

[Salshun]

$100/month, free room and board and all the puke you can eat? Seriously, what a bunch of whiny bitches. I'm not saying that management in the corporate workplace is perfect, but if I'm hooking you up that nice, I should be able to force feed you peppers, that's all I'm saying.

Better than I have it. If I get hungry I have to WALK to the kitchen at 2am. These people are already there! Bunch of ingrates, all of them.

/Bitch looks like the Pakinstanian Cruella De'Ville.

[Kaige]

Their lawyer is trying to push a chemical imbalance issue with the wife (main culprit), since she dropped from 325 pounds in weight down to 135.

[Kaio]

Not too surprising considering the caste system over there. I'm actually from a very close neighboring country but then and again I haven't spent much if any time there in the last decade or so... Also I haven't been to India specifically since I was eight but my sister is a fan of Indian media so I've been exposed to it.

There are some pretty cruel upper class people over there. America really is the first place to not have any nobility or sense of overpowering superiority of the upper class. I think many cultures have had (yes i'm using past tense on purpose)people with similar disposition to the classes below them. India and other parts of Asia are just behind on many things.

When people immigrate they don't immediately change their nature and it just shows. Too bad in this case it was absolutely appalling behaviour they were bringing. Also I wouldn't be surprised if the servants exaggerated their case.

Edit: Capital punishment for this is ridiculous. I'm mostly against capital punishment anyway but 11 years in prison is more then enough.

[The Ancient]

The victims testified they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas...

BALLSY.

[Eomer]

This is an inherently racist, prejudiced, and/or stereotyping thing to say, but I've done work for a lot of Indian businessmen in the past, and they are awful to work with for a bunch of reasons.

One time when I was about 18 I was working on a hotel for one of these guys, and I was working within a suite installing the plumbing fixtures. I can't even remember what I did to piss him off, but the owner grabbed on to my arm really hard as I was walking by and started giving me shit for it. For about 15 seconds I just stood there in shock, I'd never been talked to or treated that way in my life. After that I got pissed:

"Prem, get your fucking hand off my arm. Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that?"

"Who do you think you are? You can't talk to me like this!"

"I'm Norm's son, and I won't tolerate you treating me or any of our employees or subcontractors like this."

Bam, total change in demeanor. Suddenly he realized that I wasn't just some pissant worker, I was the son of one of the contractors on the job. Obviously that moved me up a few rungs in his mind, and suddenly he was my best buddy, always polite and accommodating.

This same guy was notorious for trying to renegotiate contracts when it comes time to pay. The way construction works, around here anyway, is that as you progress through the job every month you invoice out for the work done. The general contractor or owner pays you 90% of that, and keeps 10% as holdback until the end of the job. Once all deficiencies are taken care of, you apply for substantial completion and payment of holdback.

Well this asshole every fucking time you got to that point would start trying to screw you. You'd ask for your 10%, and his response would be "nonono, this is not what I had in my mind. Not what I had in my mind." He'd owe us 100k, and start listing off bullshit reasons why he should only pay you half of it.

This is also a cultural artifact. Russell Peters did a fantastic standup bit about why Indians and Chinese should never do business together, and I can't say it any better than he did. Basically they're used to bartering for everything, and the concept of a contract just doesn't mesh well with that.

That one guy was notorious, but there's lots of others that have been pretty bad as well. We honestly take it into consideration when deciding if we want to pursue a project or not, because that kind of attitude spills over into everything they do. Another guy wanted us to basically supply only the labor on a project, he wanted to supply all the equipment, fixtures, and material. Basically he wanted us to only supply by far the riskiest and least profitable aspect of construction, and was shocked that we laughed in his face and walked out the door. He was the only person allowed to make money on the project, as far as he was concerned.

It's most likely an unfair stereotype, but it's one that's held true more often than not. The flip side is, we're doing a couple holiday inns for a group of them right now, and those guys are fantastic when it comes to paying. Always on time, never question any extras we bill them for and so on. Their problem is that they're disorganized and out of their depth. We told them we wouldn't be willing to do the second hotel for them because the first was going so poorly, and they begged and pleaded with us because they knew damn well we were virtually the only subtrade that knew our asshole from a hole in the ground. We considered it for a week, sent them a new price for 15% more than the previous job, and had a contract within a week.

So yeah, you can't paint everyone with the same brush, but there's some serious artifacts of the caste system that some people from that area can't seem to shake when they come over here.

[Gigfc]

Who gives a shit, honestly.

[Manseed]

What's the big deal? It's not like they're real people.

[Chips]

Originally Posted by Eomer

This is an inherently racist, prejudiced, and/or stereotyping thing to say, but I've done work for a lot of Indian businessmen in the past, and they are awful to work with for a bunch of reasons.

One time when I was about 18 I was working on a hotel for one of these guys, and I was working within a suite installing the plumbing fixtures. I can't even remember what I did to piss him off, but the owner grabbed on to my arm really hard as I was walking by and started giving me shit for it. For about 15 seconds I just stood there in shock, I'd never been talked to or treated that way in my life. After that I got pissed:

"Prem, get your fucking hand off my arm. Who the fuck do you think you are talking to me like that?"

"Who do you think you are? You can't talk to me like this!"

"I'm Norm's son, and I won't tolerate you treating me or any of our employees or subcontractors like this."

Bam, total change in demeanor. Suddenly he realized that I wasn't just some pissant worker, I was the son of one of the contractors on the job. Obviously that moved me up a few rungs in his mind, and suddenly he was my best buddy, always polite and accommodating.

This same guy was notorious for trying to renegotiate contracts when it comes time to pay. The way construction works, around here anyway, is that as you progress through the job every month you invoice out for the work done. The general contractor or owner pays you 90% of that, and keeps 10% as holdback until the end of the job. Once all deficiencies are taken care of, you apply for substantial completion and payment of holdback.

Well this asshole every fucking time you got to that point would start trying to screw you. You'd ask for your 10%, and his response would be "nonono, this is not what I had in my mind. Not what I had in my mind." He'd owe us 100k, and start listing off bullshit reasons why he should only pay you half of it.

This is also a cultural artifact. Russell Peters did a fantastic standup bit about why Indians and Chinese should never do business together, and I can't say it any better than he did. Basically they're used to bartering for everything, and the concept of a contract just doesn't mesh well with that.

That one guy was notorious, but there's lots of others that have been pretty bad as well. We honestly take it into consideration when deciding if we want to pursue a project or not, because that kind of attitude spills over into everything they do. Another guy wanted us to basically supply only the labor on a project, he wanted to supply all the equipment, fixtures, and material. Basically he wanted us to only supply by far the riskiest and least profitable aspect of construction, and was shocked that we laughed in his face and walked out the door. He was the only person allowed to make money on the project, as far as he was concerned.

It's most likely an unfair stereotype, but it's one that's held true more often than not. The flip side is, we're doing a couple holiday inns for a group of them right now, and those guys are fantastic when it comes to paying. Always on time, never question any extras we bill them for and so on. Their problem is that they're disorganized and out of their depth. We told them we wouldn't be willing to do the second hotel for them because the first was going so poorly, and they begged and pleaded with us because they knew damn well we were virtually the only subtrade that knew our asshole from a hole in the ground. We considered it for a week, sent them a new price for 15% more than the previous job, and had a contract within a week.

So yeah, you can't paint everyone with the same brush, but there's some serious artifacts of the caste system that some people from that area can't seem to shake when they come over here.

I have a pretty strict rule to not do business with Indians and Nigerians. They pretty much try to re-negotiate the contract every week and get mad when you say no to them.

My parents and all my friends agree with this rule, they all have had bad experiences with these two groups of people.

[SalaciousTunare]

Eomer, Mexico is the same way, many places in the world haggling is considered expected behavior. I know in the Bahamas the locals love to haggle, they are offended if you try to just pay outright without a "fight" if you will.

The japanese make coo'ing noises when they eat, as a sign of enjoying a meal. In large parts of the world, picking your nose during a conversation is perfectly acceptable, while showing the bottom of your shoe is an insult... I hardly think of these as racist, more as just cultural differences.