Had a kid working for us about 10 yrs ago, told him to do something, he said to me, "I don't take orders from nobody."

I said, "Take this one. Punch out. And don't come back."

He says, "I'm gonna go talk to my lawyer."

I looked at him, put a sort of surprised look on my face, said to him, "You got your own lawyer? Holy smoke! I'm twice as old as you; I don't have my own lawyer. Wow. Your own lawyer. That's really something."

The kid got a puzzled look on his face and left. I never heard from him (or "his lawyer") again.

Another guy, we interviewed him on a Friday, polite, good-looking, neatly groomed kid. I hired him to work in the warehouse, said, "Start Monday."

Kid shows up on Monday, punches in, I happen to see him an hour or two later, he looks like an asshole. Clothes all torn up, he's dirty, and he's got a "mohawk" haircut to go with his pierced everything. I hate getting scammed.

"Punch out. Don't come back," (You beginning to sense a pattern here?) I say to the kid. Sorta loud.

He says, "You firing me?"

I sez, "Yup. Screw. There's the door."

He says, "You're firing me because you don't like my haircut. That's against the law."

I'm getting closer and louder and say, "I'm firing you because you're an asshole. Get out." He gets out.

I call our lawyer. "I think I just screwed up." Told him what happened.

He laughed, said, "Actually, you did the right thing. You really can't fire him for his haircut, but in this state you CAN fire him for being an asshole."

Good thing.

Bob the Diplomat