Finally!

Two weeks ago, on Tuesday, Phil called me and told me that he had recommended me to the new owners of Vortex for a job. No, I didn't tell him to go jump in a lake. Wednesday, I finally went downtown to the Labor Commission and filed a wage claim against Travis Pera and his brother, Ryan Pera who is the one who signed the checks from Club Vortex that bounced.

On Thursday I met Phil and he told me that he was recommending me to be the manager for Voodoo, which is the 18+ part of the new club on the 1st floor. The 21+ part, on the 2nd , 3rd, and 4th floors, will be called Bliss. The owners have someone that they want to run Security for Bliss but Phil recommended me to run Security for Voodoo as well as managing the Door Girls, Energy Bar Girls, D.J.'s, and Go-Go Dancers. I still have to meet with the owners to talk to them about pay. I will be working there on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

On Saturday I was working at Teleperformance when A.J., the Head of Security at Harry O's, called me to ask if I could work the MySpace Party they were having. I told him I would ask my supervisor and call him back. I was on lunch so I asked my supervisor and he asked me if I could get him into the club. I told him that I didn't know but I would see what I could do. He let me go so I went home to shower and eat and headed up to Harry O's. When I got there A.J. had me work one of the VIP sections on the balcony on the stage left side of the club.

My area wasn't too busy because only the VIPs were up there. I always keep an eye on the Go-Go Dancers as much as possible without neglecting my area. Around midnight I saw one of the Go-Go Dancers who was dancing on the main bar below me talking to one of the barbacks. Then I saw the barback get up on the bar where she was dancing and talk to a customer directly in front of the Go-Go Dancer. I signalled A.J.'s brother, who was working one of the doors to the backstage area on the stage right side of the club, with my flashlight (Surefire's 6P with the P61 lamp assembly). He got someone to watch his post and then moved towards the Go-Go Dancer. A.J. must have seen the barback up on the bar, and I think they give radios to some of the barbacks, because he was on the pervert before his brother got there. I later found out that the pervert had been taking up-skirt pictures with his camera phone.

Later on I asked A.J. if I could get my supervisor in and he said yes and put his name on the list at the front door. When my supervisor called I told him that he was on the list. The next day (Sunday) I checked my mail from the past couple of days and my CCW was in there! Finally!

Last Tuesday Travis called me but I was working so I couldn't answer. I called him back and he threatened to sue me for check fraud if I didn't drop my wage claim. I told him to go ahead and try. Then he said that he was going to claim that I was an independent contractor, which he knows is a blatant lie, and get my case dropped. I told him that he was full of it and he knew I wasn't an independent contractor so go ahead and try to get the case dropped. He then told me that he would pay me $500 if I would drop the case. I told him that he owed me more than $1,000 so he would have to pay me more than $500. I suggested $800. He offered $600. I told him that I would think about it and call him back. I called a friend and asked him what he thought I should do. He suggested that I take what I could get, move on, and let go. I called Travis back and told him I would settle for $600. He told me he would pay me on Thursday. I told him that I wouldn't take a check because I didn't trust him.

Travis finally got around to paying me on Friday. He paid me $600 cash and had me sign one form that he was going to fax to the Labor Commission saying that I was dropping my case against him and another form saying that I wouldn't pursue any further payment from him. After getting paid I went to the pawn shop and got my XD 45 ACP handgun out. It had been in the pawn shop since last year. I had to pawn it to help pay rent because I went overboard in helping Chere and her kids. Then I went to my friend's house, who loaned me some money last year to help me since pawning my gun didn't get me enough money to cover rent, my car payment and food for a couple of weeks, and finished paying him and his wife the money I owed them. I spent Friday and Saturday with them. Friday night, on the way to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (A-), my car kept stalling due to some type of short in the electrical system. I got it back to my friend's house after the movie. Later that night when we went to Wendy's to get a shake it stalled some more. I called my car dealership, Menlove Dodge Toyota, and they got it towed up to the mechanic near the dealership in Bountiful. They finally got it fixed today and I'll be getting a ride up there to pick it up after I get off work.

I created a Myspace site for Voodoo last week. Today I started helping one of the owners of Bliss with Bliss's MySpace site. Bliss and Voodoo will be having a Job Fair tomorrow and Thursday from 12-4 PM. We will be hiring for all positions. On Sunday I created ads at www.craigslist.com/ and www.ksl.com/ for the Job Fair. Today I created an ad at www.saltlakehelpwanted.com/. I'll be going in at 11:30 AM tomorrow to meet the new owners. I hope the online ads are enough because the owners didn't want to run an ad in the Salt Lake Tribune or City Weekly. One of them decided to run an ad in the Salt Lake Tribune a few weeks ago so they didn't want to spend more money running another ad. I have no idea why you would run a Help Wanted ad six weeks before you're going to be opening but I've realized that some things just can't be understood.

Sunday night I ordered a SmartCarry concealed gun holster. I ordered the Security V model. I had done some research online comparing SmartCarry and Thunderwear. I found out that SmartCarry has a better perspiration barrier and they don't have any downward facing seams on the top front of the firearm or tactical reload pocket for your gun to snag on. They're also less expensive than Thunderwear.

I finished reading Requiem for an Assassin by Barry Eisler. It was very good. Barry Eisler, who used to work for the CIA, has some good articles about personal safety and martial arts. If you're a writer or if you're interested in becoming a writer check out his articles for writers. While you're on his website check out his Links page. I haven't finished reading Old School-New School: A Guide to Bouncers, Security and Registered Door Supervisors by Jamie O'Keefe because I've been spending a lot of time at Gamerzz playing games and working on the Voodoo MySpace site. I hope to finish reading it soon. I also want to read Verbal Judo: Words as a Force Option by George J. Thompson, Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating, and Patriot Acts by Greg Rucka.