What do you know about the illegal immigrant community in your area?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Where's MC, mingling with the underground community at the gym?

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Your wife is right thinking. Asking someone their resident status is not your responsibility, IMO, unless you are an actual employer.

My actual reason for wanting to know was curiosity. I'm informally interested in gauging whether prices for services correlate with (il)legal status. Of course, the variable that would hose the data is that Mrs. T-B. can charm the skin off a snake (which explains all of the nekkid serpents) and can almost always sweet-talk people into lower prices, si man.

Edited to add: Both of us are still trying to figure out how to give a snake a wedgie, si man.

Edited April 21, 2011 by TBoneTX

[Peikko 1,575]

Where's MC, mingling with the underground community at the gym?

Yes, well, I will be. Obviously they don't talk to me because I give off an aura of Ms goody two shoes, a la AJ. Mind you, they do ask me if I want to buy illicit goods in the changing rooms

[Peikko 1,575]

My actual reason for wanting to know was curiosity. I'm informally interested in gauging whether prices for services correlate with (il)legal status. Of course, the variable that would hose the data is that Mrs. T-B. can charm the skin off a snake (which explains all of the nekkid serpents) and can almost always sweet-talk people into lower prices, si man.

Edited to add: Both of us are still trying to figure out how to give a snake a wedgie, si man.

I would rather doubt it. Those who use illegal labour are seeking to maximise profits, not provide goods/services at cheap prices. If the labour procured is of an excellent standard (and that seems to be the concensus, however much people otherwise hate the messicans) then the going rate is going to be high not low.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Yes, well, I will be. Obviously they don't talk to me because I give off an aura of Ms goody two shoes, a la AJ. Mind you, they do ask me if I want to buy illicit goods in the changing rooms

Did you ask to see their papers?

[Sergi9 110]

You are an upstanding guy, looking for work, everywhere, but can't find any. Your wife is hungry, and so is your child who's looking at you with her blue eyes. You see a loaf of bread on the other side of the street, in a store that is loaded with everything anybody could even dream about in their wildest dreams. You run, grab the bread and feed your child, then your wife, and then you get caught!

You plead that you did what you did out of necessity, the pure will to survive and to feed your family, but the mob yells: cut off his arm, he broke our laws!

Off with their heads.... let them eat cake and show me the birth certificate...not that one.... THE REAL ONE !

[Peikko 1,575]

Did you ask to see their papers?

By what authority could I ask to see anyone's papers? Could I see your birth certificate Spooks?

[spookyturtle 9,465]

By what authority could I ask to see anyone's papers? Could I see your birth certificate Spooks?

I was born in Kenya.

[Peikko 1,575]

I was born in Kenya.

Fantastic, you'll be president next

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Fantastic, you'll be president next

I'll appoint you as Director of USCIS.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

I would rather doubt it. Those who use illegal labour are seeking to maximise profits, not provide goods/services at cheap prices. If the labour procured is of an excellent standard (and that seems to be the concensus, however much people otherwise hate the messicans) then the going rate is going to be high not low.

Oh, I was thinking on a much smaller scale -- individuals contracting directly with other individuals chiefly for blue-collar services, rather than customers contracting with American employers of illegal workers.

For example, I found a new 40-gallon gas water-heater wholesale for $269, and Mrs. T-B. found a certified plumber (of unknown immigration status, but I suspect legal) to pick it up across town, install it, and haul the old one away... for $275. The drive-out total was less than the purchase price alone for a similar or lesser product at a retail store, si man (delivery & labor & disposal not yet factored in, no man). The work was excellent.

This same plumber swapped dishwashers between two houses. The rate for uninstallation, transport, & reinstallation of the two machines was $230. Excellent work.

Mrs. T-B. found a housecleaner who did a thorough move-in cleaning of a semi-filthy 2-story house (all-day job) for $60, si man. Excellent work.

Mrs. T-B. found a handyman who agreed to paint some interior walls and repair a few picture-frame holes for $100, but on his own he went ahead and painted the whole interior of the house for that same price, si man. Excellent work.

Mrs. T-B. found a carpet man who, with helpers, thoroughly cleaned, stretched, and spot-repaired the wall-to-wall carpet in a 3-bedroom house for $210, si man. Excellent work.

These are just a few examples. I would not have been able to contract with these people due to the language barrier, no man. Had I been required to arrange for these services on my own, I would have ended up paying double, triple, or more for everything, uff man.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

I was born in Kenya.

Since the OP himself diverted this thread's path slightly, here goes:

0bama walks into a bar with a parrot on his shoulder. The bartender asks, "Where did you get THAT?"

"In Kenya!" the parrot says. "There are DOZENS of them running around over there!"

[Peikko 1,575]

Oh, I was thinking on a much smaller scale -- individuals contracting directly with other individuals chiefly for blue-collar services, rather than customers contracting with American employers of illegal workers.

For example, I found a new 40-gallon gas water-heater wholesale for $269, and Mrs. T-B. found a certified plumber (of unknown immigration status, but I suspect legal) to pick it up across town, install it, and haul the old one away... for $275. The drive-out total was less than the purchase price alone for a similar or lesser product at a retail store, si man (delivery & labor & disposal not yet factored in, no man). The work was excellent.

This same plumber swapped dishwashers between two houses. The rate for uninstallation, transport, & reinstallation of the two machines was $230. Excellent work.

Mrs. T-B. found a housecleaner who did a thorough move-in cleaning of a semi-filthy 2-story house (all-day job) for $60, si man. Excellent work.

Mrs. T-B. found a handyman who agreed to paint some interior walls and repair a few picture-frame holes for $100, but on his own he went ahead and painted the whole interior of the house for that same price, si man. Excellent work.

Mrs. T-B. found a carpet man who, with helpers, thoroughly cleaned, stretched, and spot-repaired the wall-to-wall carpet in a 3-bedroom house for $210, si man. Excellent work.

These are just a few examples. I would not have been able to contract with these people due to the language barrier, no man. Had I been required to arrange for these services on my own, I would have ended up paying double, triple, or more for everything, uff man.

Are you saying you knowingly employed undocumented workers? I'm not sure what you are trying to say really. Sure, if you are an individual you can exploit people who don't have the proper authorizations to work same as a large employer can. In the case of directly employing someone you are the one guilty of the exploitation, unless of course it's all legal and above board, in which case, you have no point, probably.

[TBoneTX 45,288]

Are you saying you knowingly employed undocumented workers? I'm not sure what you are trying to say really. Sure, if you are an individual you can exploit people who don't have the proper authorizations to work same as a large employer can. In the case of directly employing someone you are the one guilty of the exploitation, unless of course it's all legal and above board, in which case, you have no point, probably.

Nope; said nothing of the sort. In one of my earlier posts (q.v.), I said that I'd asked Mrs. T-B. whether SHE had asked the third parties' immigration status (q.v. her answer). In the end, these transactions were conducted willingly between service-buyers and service-sellers when neither had to buy or sell.

If we had found them on Craigslist or another site, or in an ad in a tabloid found in a newspaper rack near a supermarket entrance, we'd have done the same -- figured out whether the transaction of money-for-work would be mutually palatable. The only difference here was that Mrs. T-B. had to do the communicating due to language barriers, and we ended up with excellent independent contractors.