Never, ever, have I ever heard of anything like this. Never. If you by any chance saw any part of it, please post what you know.
Fox has a program called “Kitchen Nightmares." Maybe you have seen it. For obvious reasons, I haven't.
According to Arizona Central, last Friday, program host, British chef Gordon Ramsay, and his crew were filming in Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, owned by Salomon and Amy Bouzaglo. During the usually hour long show, which was cut short, AZC says, the cameras caught "the Bouzaglos yelling expletives at customers, taking tips left for servers, and refusing to take any criticism from the host."
They add, "It was the first time Ramsay has quit a restaurant before implementing new business practices. He said that for the first time in nearly 100 episodes, he had finally met 'two owners who I could not help, and it wasn’t because I didn’t want to, it was because they are incapable of listening.'”
Then someone posted this on the restaurant's Facebook page. “We do not feel the need to make any excuses for our behavior on tonight’s show. However we would like to make the following statement: We do not, nor have we ever stolen or taken any of our servers, waitresses, or waiters tips at Amy’s Baking Company.”
AZC says, "The response was immediate. In seven minutes, there were 265 comments, mostly variations on calling the owners crazy. Twenty minutes later, there were 1,000 comments."
And things only got worse when "Reddit users uncovered Amy’s sordid past, which The Republic has verified."
"Her name is Amanda, not Amy, and she was convicted of a felony. In 2003, she pleaded guilty to the misuse of a Social Security number after she tried to apply for a $15,000 bank loan. Back then, her last name was Bossingham — she married Samy Bouzaglo in January 2004. Amy surrendered for her time in federal prison in late 2008 and was released in October 2009."
I won't go any farther into all this except to say that the couple claims their site was hacked, they said none of the things they are supposed to have said, and they are going to sue.
AZC asks, "What were the Bouzaglos expecting when they signed up for the show?"
They add, “'Chef Ramsay is coming to tell the people how the food is good here,'” Samy says in the beginning of the show, taped in December. (That statement was immediately followed by a clip of him throwing a customer out of the restaurant.)"
No city in Arizona has written a law stating that anyone should be paid more than the minimum wage, but current investigations into abuses of the minimum wage law by restaurants has sent restaurant industry lobbyists running to the legislature to prevent cities from in any way changing minimum wage laws.
The restaurant lobbyists have convinced the legislature to write, and the Governor to sign into law, a bill which says that issues of wages and fringe benefits are strictly matters of statewide concern. One thing that means is that local communities where the cost of living is high and wages low cannot adopt ordinances which require employers within their jurisdictions to pay more.
But why all the excitement if it has never happened?
It is so unlikely that any town or city in Arizona would pass an across-the-board ordinance regarding a minimum wage that we have to ask why such a law was passed? After all, no Arizona town or city has ever done if before. So why would one do it now?
Arguments raging around the state regarding the handling of tips may very well explain the real reason the law has been quietly passed.
One highly doubtful practice is pooling tips, used by some restaurants. Another practice used by some restaurants is to automatically add a tip to the bill. Employees have complained that both practices are used to cheat good workers of their due.
We all know that some waiters and waitresses are much better than others. And we tip that way. That is, after all, what a tip is--something extra for good service.
If you read the way the Arizona minimum law reads you will see what can happen when tips are pooled or an automatic tip is added to the bill. The Arizona minimum wage for tipped employees is $4.35 per hour. However the Arizona tipped wage ONLY applies to employees who earn MORE then $30 in tips a month. If an Arizona employee does not earn at least $7.80, including tips, in any given hour of work, his or her employer must make up the difference in cash--for THAT hour!
So what happens if you are a hard-working waitress who is well tipped, and your tips are pooled, or the tip is added to the bill? Your hard earned tips are used to increase the amount of tips made by people who are slow, lazy, or incompetent. The restaurant simply takes some of what is YOUR money, pays it to people who do not get more than $30 in tips, and saves itself money.
Under this new law, towns and cities are helpless to take action to correct such things.
The AZ Supreme Court was down at Apache Junction High last week, listening to case arguments as a fascinated audience made up both of students and the public watched.
The AZ Supreme Court differs from a trial court. It is not a fact-finding court, but one which considers several aspects of the law, including whether the laws were followed, whether the handling of a case was appropriate, or whether a charge or verdict is permissible under Arizona's Constitution.
Most of the time oral arguments take place in Phoenix, but sometimes they are held elsewhere so citizens can see justice in action. All justices of the court were present for this case, including Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch, Vice Chief Justice Scott Bales, Justice John Pelander, Justice Robert Brutinel and Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer.
The case, according to the proceedings, was about a “reverse sting” operation, where undercover officers, who posed as sellers, set up a marijuana transaction with two individuals in a secure warehouse.
The case is an interesting one. Suppose you wanted to buy some marijuana. You came in touch with undercover officers who showed you some and offered to sell it to you, but never actually sold you any. Instead they delayed the sale, arrested you, and charged you with possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
The people arrested said they could not be charged with possession since they never possessed any marijuana. The trial court agreed. The prosecution appealed and the appeals court reversed the trial court, saying, "even though officers never intended to let defendants take the marijuana it was not impossible for them to have committed the offense because during the meeting they had handled marijuana."
That's the case the AZ Supreme court heard.
How do you think they will decide?
(The AZ Supreme Court came to Payson once, by the way. Kids loved it.)
You're right, Fred. The thing is nothing more than a "water douser." You could get the same effect by using a wire coat hanger. There was absolutely no technology involved at all. How many people were killed by a bomb planted in a car that was passed by inspectors, in I do not know how many countries, I don't know, but there must have been many of them because that piece of junk was used for a long time in several places. How anyone could defraud governments on something that was so sure to cause death and injury to human brings I do not know.
Pam, The part I haven't heard is what they have done as far as his ill-gotten profits are concerned. I am very disturbed by laws that fine companies for what their employees do, but never fine or imprison the employees. This is a little different because he was the owner and he went to prison, but every nickel he earned with that piece of junk, every penny of interest he received by investing what he made, and the costs of clean up, repair, and medical care for those injured as a result ought to come out of his pocket. I'd be happy to hear that he was saddled with a $200 million dollar bill and required to pay every penny of it, working at hard labor until he was done.
Thursday, May 23rd: Payson Tea Party, 6:00-7:30 pm, Tiny’s Family Restaurant.
Speaker is Elizabeth Kelley of the Electromagnetic Safety Alliance and Arizonans for Safer Utility Infrastructure. Elizabeth has been the voice for EMF Safety in the US for many years and is co producer of an award winning documentary “Public Exposure, DNA, Democracy and the Wireless Revolution”. See attached bio. Elizabeth is coming all the way from Tucson, so lets give her a big audience. (We had 80 people turn out for the Town Council meeting where we shared our concerns on Smart meters last Thursday night)
Other events of interest:
Monday, May 20th: Rim Country Republican Club Lunch meeting. 11:30 am speaker Gary Morris will explain all the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) policies and their effects on patients, employers, and taxpayers.
Tuesday, May 21st: Payson General Plan Update Presentation. 6:00 pm, Payson Public Library meeting room. In view of all we have been learning, we should make a showing at this meeting.
If ever there is anything that Iraq needs it is a device that can sniff out a bomb no matter how well it is concealed. Throughout the American occupation, and since, bombings have taken dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of lives daily. Fortunately for the newly formed republic a British firm designed the ultimate in explosive detection devices--the Cumberland ADE651®.
Consider its capabilities, as taken from Cumberland Industries Literature:
"Ignores All Known Concealment Methods. By programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electro-static matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651® will “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been shown to penetrate Lead, other metals, concrete, and other matter (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction."
The answer to a prayer!
Iraq and a few other countries paid as much as £27,000 ($42,000) each for an easy to use, handheld device that could detect a car-bomb no matter how well hidden. In fact, once a driver had been corralled, had seen the ADE651 in the hands of a police operator, and been told that his sentence would not be as extreme if he pointed out the location of his bomb, some 20 to 30 percent of fanatic bombers simply gave it up.
Add to that the fact that the device operated on static electricity, required no batteries, could be maintained by its operator, and came with an ironclad three year warranty, and its rather hefty price seems cheap.
So simple to use! Walk in place for a few minutes to charge device. Turn antenna away from the object--car, box, house, anything, including human body--to be tested. Be sure device is on right side of your body as you move slowly and steadily. As antenna passes source, device will be irresistibly drawn to left with antenna pointing at explosives.
Wow! Sounds as easy as water dousing!
The only fly in the ointment was that nervousness of the operator could upset its sensitive mechanism, reducing positive hits to 20 to 30 percent.
Wait a minute! Where have I heard that number before?
Uh-oh!
And yes, you're right.
A $42,000 phony.
No moving parts. No genuine parts at all. Antenna not connected to anything.
It WAS water douser!
A bit miffed by the whole affair, a UK judge just put inventor and company founder James McCormick, who made $77.8 million on the device, in prison for ten years.
Those Brits! They never get it right. I'd have given him a pat on the back and no more than two or three weeks.
With the family of someone in Iraq that lost a loved one from a bomb his device failed to detect.
Tom Garrett 20 hours, 7 minutes ago on 252 Scottsdale restaurant owners go ballistic.
252 Scottsdale restaurant owners go ballistic.
Never, ever, have I ever heard of anything like this. Never. If you by any chance saw any part of it, please post what you know.
Fox has a program called “Kitchen Nightmares." Maybe you have seen it. For obvious reasons, I haven't.
According to Arizona Central, last Friday, program host, British chef Gordon Ramsay, and his crew were filming in Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, owned by Salomon and Amy Bouzaglo. During the usually hour long show, which was cut short, AZC says, the cameras caught "the Bouzaglos yelling expletives at customers, taking tips left for servers, and refusing to take any criticism from the host."
They add, "It was the first time Ramsay has quit a restaurant before implementing new business practices. He said that for the first time in nearly 100 episodes, he had finally met 'two owners who I could not help, and it wasn’t because I didn’t want to, it was because they are incapable of listening.'”
Then someone posted this on the restaurant's Facebook page. “We do not feel the need to make any excuses for our behavior on tonight’s show. However we would like to make the following statement: We do not, nor have we ever stolen or taken any of our servers, waitresses, or waiters tips at Amy’s Baking Company.”
AZC says, "The response was immediate. In seven minutes, there were 265 comments, mostly variations on calling the owners crazy. Twenty minutes later, there were 1,000 comments."
And things only got worse when "Reddit users uncovered Amy’s sordid past, which The Republic has verified."
"Her name is Amanda, not Amy, and she was convicted of a felony. In 2003, she pleaded guilty to the misuse of a Social Security number after she tried to apply for a $15,000 bank loan. Back then, her last name was Bossingham — she married Samy Bouzaglo in January 2004. Amy surrendered for her time in federal prison in late 2008 and was released in October 2009."
I won't go any farther into all this except to say that the couple claims their site was hacked, they said none of the things they are supposed to have said, and they are going to sue.
AZC asks, "What were the Bouzaglos expecting when they signed up for the show?"
They add, “'Chef Ramsay is coming to tell the people how the food is good here,'” Samy says in the beginning of the show, taped in December. (That statement was immediately followed by a clip of him throwing a customer out of the restaurant.)"
Never seen anything like it. Have you?
Tom Garrett 21 hours, 30 minutes ago on What can the public do to gain control of their ownership?
What can the public do to gain control of their ownership?
!
Tom Garrett 21 hours, 35 minutes ago on 225 Mother of all bomb detectors.
225 Mother of all bomb detectors.
Thanks, Pam.
Yay!
At last! One of the blood sucking leeches gets what he deserves.
Tom Garrett 1 day, 18 hours ago on 239 Cities forbidden to set minimum wage.
239 Cities forbidden to set minimum wage.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25.
The Arizona minimum wage is $7.80.
No city in Arizona has written a law stating that anyone should be paid more than the minimum wage, but current investigations into abuses of the minimum wage law by restaurants has sent restaurant industry lobbyists running to the legislature to prevent cities from in any way changing minimum wage laws.
The restaurant lobbyists have convinced the legislature to write, and the Governor to sign into law, a bill which says that issues of wages and fringe benefits are strictly matters of statewide concern. One thing that means is that local communities where the cost of living is high and wages low cannot adopt ordinances which require employers within their jurisdictions to pay more.
But why all the excitement if it has never happened?
It is so unlikely that any town or city in Arizona would pass an across-the-board ordinance regarding a minimum wage that we have to ask why such a law was passed? After all, no Arizona town or city has ever done if before. So why would one do it now?
Arguments raging around the state regarding the handling of tips may very well explain the real reason the law has been quietly passed.
One highly doubtful practice is pooling tips, used by some restaurants. Another practice used by some restaurants is to automatically add a tip to the bill. Employees have complained that both practices are used to cheat good workers of their due.
We all know that some waiters and waitresses are much better than others. And we tip that way. That is, after all, what a tip is--something extra for good service.
If you read the way the Arizona minimum law reads you will see what can happen when tips are pooled or an automatic tip is added to the bill. The Arizona minimum wage for tipped employees is $4.35 per hour. However the Arizona tipped wage ONLY applies to employees who earn MORE then $30 in tips a month. If an Arizona employee does not earn at least $7.80, including tips, in any given hour of work, his or her employer must make up the difference in cash--for THAT hour!
So what happens if you are a hard-working waitress who is well tipped, and your tips are pooled, or the tip is added to the bill? Your hard earned tips are used to increase the amount of tips made by people who are slow, lazy, or incompetent. The restaurant simply takes some of what is YOUR money, pays it to people who do not get more than $30 in tips, and saves itself money.
Under this new law, towns and cities are helpless to take action to correct such things.
Okay. Your turn to talk.
Tom Garrett 1 day, 18 hours ago on 232 AZ Supreme Court school visit is great learning tool.
232 AZ Supreme Court school visit is great learning tool.
The AZ Supreme Court was down at Apache Junction High last week, listening to case arguments as a fascinated audience made up both of students and the public watched.
The AZ Supreme Court differs from a trial court. It is not a fact-finding court, but one which considers several aspects of the law, including whether the laws were followed, whether the handling of a case was appropriate, or whether a charge or verdict is permissible under Arizona's Constitution.
Most of the time oral arguments take place in Phoenix, but sometimes they are held elsewhere so citizens can see justice in action. All justices of the court were present for this case, including Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch, Vice Chief Justice Scott Bales, Justice John Pelander, Justice Robert Brutinel and Justice Ann A. Scott Timmer.
The case, according to the proceedings, was about a “reverse sting” operation, where undercover officers, who posed as sellers, set up a marijuana transaction with two individuals in a secure warehouse.
The case is an interesting one. Suppose you wanted to buy some marijuana. You came in touch with undercover officers who showed you some and offered to sell it to you, but never actually sold you any. Instead they delayed the sale, arrested you, and charged you with possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
The people arrested said they could not be charged with possession since they never possessed any marijuana. The trial court agreed. The prosecution appealed and the appeals court reversed the trial court, saying, "even though officers never intended to let defendants take the marijuana it was not impossible for them to have committed the offense because during the meeting they had handled marijuana."
That's the case the AZ Supreme court heard.
How do you think they will decide?
(The AZ Supreme Court came to Payson once, by the way. Kids loved it.)
Tom Garrett 1 day, 19 hours ago on What can the public do to gain control of their ownership?
What can the public do to gain control of their ownership?
"Recall them before they get your taxes so high you all lose your homes because you can't pay them."
That would be my way of doing it.
I'm ready to sign.
Tom Garrett 1 day, 19 hours ago on 225 Mother of all bomb detectors.
225 Mother of all bomb detectors.
You're right, Fred. The thing is nothing more than a "water douser." You could get the same effect by using a wire coat hanger. There was absolutely no technology involved at all. How many people were killed by a bomb planted in a car that was passed by inspectors, in I do not know how many countries, I don't know, but there must have been many of them because that piece of junk was used for a long time in several places. How anyone could defraud governments on something that was so sure to cause death and injury to human brings I do not know.
Pam, The part I haven't heard is what they have done as far as his ill-gotten profits are concerned. I am very disturbed by laws that fine companies for what their employees do, but never fine or imprison the employees. This is a little different because he was the owner and he went to prison, but every nickel he earned with that piece of junk, every penny of interest he received by investing what he made, and the costs of clean up, repair, and medical care for those injured as a result ought to come out of his pocket. I'd be happy to hear that he was saddled with a $200 million dollar bill and required to pay every penny of it, working at hard labor until he was done.
Tom Garrett 1 day, 19 hours ago on The Roundup Web Site
The Roundup Web Site
Thanks, Fred. I'll pass that along.
I'm sure those the folks who keep this place running word very hard, and I'm willing to bet that they rarely hear anything but complaints.
Tom Garrett 2 days, 20 hours ago on Tea Party News 20 May 2013.
Tea Party News 20 May 2013.
Tea Party Meeting:
Thursday, May 23rd: Payson Tea Party, 6:00-7:30 pm, Tiny’s Family Restaurant.
Speaker is Elizabeth Kelley of the Electromagnetic Safety Alliance and Arizonans for Safer Utility Infrastructure. Elizabeth has been the voice for EMF Safety in the US for many years and is co producer of an award winning documentary “Public Exposure, DNA, Democracy and the Wireless Revolution”. See attached bio. Elizabeth is coming all the way from Tucson, so lets give her a big audience. (We had 80 people turn out for the Town Council meeting where we shared our concerns on Smart meters last Thursday night)
Other events of interest:
Monday, May 20th: Rim Country Republican Club Lunch meeting. 11:30 am speaker Gary Morris will explain all the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) policies and their effects on patients, employers, and taxpayers.
Tuesday, May 21st: Payson General Plan Update Presentation. 6:00 pm, Payson Public Library meeting room. In view of all we have been learning, we should make a showing at this meeting.
Tom Garrett 2 days, 20 hours ago on 225 Mother of all bomb detectors.
225 Mother of all bomb detectors.
If ever there is anything that Iraq needs it is a device that can sniff out a bomb no matter how well it is concealed. Throughout the American occupation, and since, bombings have taken dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of lives daily. Fortunately for the newly formed republic a British firm designed the ultimate in explosive detection devices--the Cumberland ADE651®.
Consider its capabilities, as taken from Cumberland Industries Literature:
"Ignores All Known Concealment Methods. By programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electro-static matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651® will “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been shown to penetrate Lead, other metals, concrete, and other matter (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction."
The answer to a prayer!
Iraq and a few other countries paid as much as £27,000 ($42,000) each for an easy to use, handheld device that could detect a car-bomb no matter how well hidden. In fact, once a driver had been corralled, had seen the ADE651 in the hands of a police operator, and been told that his sentence would not be as extreme if he pointed out the location of his bomb, some 20 to 30 percent of fanatic bombers simply gave it up.
Add to that the fact that the device operated on static electricity, required no batteries, could be maintained by its operator, and came with an ironclad three year warranty, and its rather hefty price seems cheap.
So simple to use! Walk in place for a few minutes to charge device. Turn antenna away from the object--car, box, house, anything, including human body--to be tested. Be sure device is on right side of your body as you move slowly and steadily. As antenna passes source, device will be irresistibly drawn to left with antenna pointing at explosives.
Wow! Sounds as easy as water dousing!
The only fly in the ointment was that nervousness of the operator could upset its sensitive mechanism, reducing positive hits to 20 to 30 percent.
Wait a minute! Where have I heard that number before?
Uh-oh!
And yes, you're right.
A $42,000 phony.
No moving parts. No genuine parts at all. Antenna not connected to anything.
It WAS water douser!
A bit miffed by the whole affair, a UK judge just put inventor and company founder James McCormick, who made $77.8 million on the device, in prison for ten years.
Those Brits! They never get it right. I'd have given him a pat on the back and no more than two or three weeks.
With the family of someone in Iraq that lost a loved one from a bomb his device failed to detect.
I guess I'm just easy.