Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[Jocelyn]

My BFs security clearance asks that and much more. All debts, all assets, assets sold, proof of insured values, addresses of all houses you have lived in, your overseas trips ), your parents and siblings overseas trips, social media and forum memberships, and so on. And they also interview your friends and family to see if the answers match. Plus they visit his house to do the interview so they can look around. Then they repeat it all every 3 years.

The amount of information they require and how deep they dig apparently depends on the clearance level.

That strikes me as very likely to get a lot of false information. I know my sisters have traveled overseas, but I couldn't tell you exactly where or exactly when. Or the addresses of houses where they've lived, particularly during college. What about people whose friends have faulty memories, so the answers don't match? It seems odd to judge the security-worthiness of someone based on their friends' memories.
I once got one of these calls about a friend. They told me they were checking references for a job, but the questions seemed unusual for a job candidate. Suddenly, the light came on and I exclaimed, 'OH! You're asking me if I know of anything she could be blackmailed over!' The person on the other end of the call paused a minute, then said, 'Well, do you?' I said, 'I know of things she's keeping secret from her mother, but nothing she'd be willing to sell out her country over.' She got clearance to work for the White House, so I guess my, and other peoples', answers were satisfactory.

[nutraxfornerves]

Did I already post this? The Search feature won't let me in, so I can't verify.

I met someone who deliberately committed PD. He worked for a private company that had Big Deal contracts with the US government for Sooper Skeerit Stuff. This was in the 1980s, when the Cold War was still on.

His company was bought out by another company Many employees were offered extremely generous retirement packages. He was not as he was "too valuable."

His extremely high security clearance mandated that he never travel to any county under the influence of the USSR. Heck, he couldn't even take a flight that passed over one of those countries, in case there was an emergency. He promptly booked a tour of Russia and Eastern Europe, which meant that on return, his security clearance was automatically revoked. He had a great vacation and his employer gave up & offer him the retirement bonus.

[PastryGoddess]

My BFs security clearance asks that and much more. All debts, all assets, assets sold, proof of insured values, addresses of all houses you have lived in, your overseas trips ), your parents and siblings overseas trips, social media and forum memberships, and so on. And they also interview your friends and family to see if the answers match. Plus they visit his house to do the interview so they can look around. Then they repeat it all every 3 years.

The amount of information they require and how deep they dig apparently depends on the clearance level.

That strikes me as very likely to get a lot of false information. I know my sisters have traveled overseas, but I couldn't tell you exactly where or exactly when. Or the addresses of houses where they've lived, particularly during college. What about people whose friends have faulty memories, so the answers don't match? It seems odd to judge the security-worthiness of someone based on their friends' memories.
I once got one of these calls about a friend. They told me they were checking references for a job, but the questions seemed unusual for a job candidate. Suddenly, the light came on and I exclaimed, 'OH! You're asking me if I know of anything she could be blackmailed over!' The person on the other end of the call paused a minute, then said, 'Well, do you?' I said, 'I know of things she's keeping secret from her mother, but nothing she'd be willing to sell out her country over.' She got clearance to work for the White House, so I guess my, and other peoples', answers were satisfactory.

No they are very very good at rooting out false information.  If you are found to have lied on your security clearance application, it's an immediate revocation of the clearance and possible fines and jail time. 

I was granted at Confidential security clearance in 2005 for a job and they went back 7 years, interviewed my neighbors and my former professors at my schools in Chicago and MD.  I also think they contacted my hosts in London and Paris from when I finished up culinary school as well.  Mine expires in 2020, but those who have higher clearance levels have to be re-certified at shorter intervals.  Heck my neighbor 2 doors down applied for a job with Homeland Security and an investigator was here for a week knocking on doors and asking questions.

[norrina]

For a while during law school, I was in a house share where the property owner chose the tenants. We were all strangers to each other when we moved in. A few months after I moved in one of the tenants applied for a job that required some level of security clearance, and I got a call from someone wanting my social security number, since I was considered part of his "household". I don't think it was a scam, I'm pretty sure the guy really was going through his security clearance and this question was legitimately part of that, but sorry, no, I'm not giving out my personal info so that some near stranger can get a job.

[Library Dragon]

They are pretty good about it analyzing the relevant and not relevant.  When I was getting my super sonic, cone of silence clearance I was worried about my extremely disfunctional family.  The background check indicated my level of involvement with the relative in prison. I wasn't lending money to relatives in major debt, etc. 

When DS1 was getting his one of the character references was a family friend who did security background checks, briefings, etc., also fir the US Army.  Friend said the phone call turned into "Hey do you know so-and-so?"

[Winterlight]

Unfortunately, they have to run these things and be so strict because some people are really, really stupid.

[camlan]

I just heard this one from the mother of a new middle-schooler.

When the middle-school students went to their first day of classes last Wednesday, none of them had gotten their schedules.  That's because there were no schedules.  As in, none of the teachers knew which classes they were teaching, what times the classes would be held, what room the classes would be in, and how many students were signed up for the class.

Somehow, the principal (who makes up these schedules) had managed to keep the board from finding out about this little problem until the first day of school.  By the second day of school, there was a new principal.

My brother used to do the scheduling at the high school where he was the assistant principal. One year, it took him 6 weeks to get everything sorted out correctly, the end of June and all of July.

He went in to work one day in August and the principal informed him, "I changed the schedule a bit because Mrs. Scott didn't want to teach an 8 o'clock class. So that's fixed. But I may have messed up one or two other classes."

What he'd done was mess up the entire schedule for the entire school. Six weeks worth of work down the drain. My brother had planned a nice vacation with his wife and children for mid-August, but he had to send them on their way without him--he had to work the entire month of August to fix things in time to send out the schedules before school started.

[veronaz]

Ours are published in a local newspaper once a year. The glories of being a public employee are many and varied.

All government and state-supported university salaries have been public information for a long time.  In my state the salaries, start date, and job classifications of specific people are easily accessed.

I have mixed feelings about it, but it is what it is.

[Slartibartfast]

Ours are published in a local newspaper once a year. The glories of being a public employee are many and varied.

All government and state-supported university salaries have been public information for a long time.  In my state the salaries, start date, and job classifications of specific people are easily accessed.

I have mixed feelings about it, but it is what it is.

It's not always easy to figure out what the difference between "Buzzword Coordinator I", "Buzzword Coordinator II," and "Senior Buzzword Coordinator" are, though, other than the salaries.

Thanks to this, though, I know that my college hires three salary levels of able-bodied seamen.  Whoda thunk?

[WolfWay]

It's curtains for him!!   

Lacy, gently wafting curtains?

I swear by my pretty floral bonnet... er.. curtains, I will end you. 

[Mediancat]

I just heard this one from the mother of a new middle-schooler.

When the middle-school students went to their first day of classes last Wednesday, none of them had gotten their schedules.  That's because there were no schedules.  As in, none of the teachers knew which classes they were teaching, what times the classes would be held, what room the classes would be in, and how many students were signed up for the class.

Somehow, the principal (who makes up these schedules) had managed to keep the board from finding out about this little problem until the first day of school.  By the second day of school, there was a new principal.

My brother used to do the scheduling at the high school where he was the assistant principal. One year, it took him 6 weeks to get everything sorted out correctly, the end of June and all of July.

He went in to work one day in August and the principal informed him, "I changed the schedule a bit because Mrs. Scott didn't want to teach an 8 o'clock class. So that's fixed. But I may have messed up one or two other classes."

What he'd done was mess up the entire schedule for the entire school. Six weeks worth of work down the drain. My brother had planned a nice vacation with his wife and children for mid-August, but he had to send them on their way without him--he had to work the entire month of August to fix things in time to send out the schedules before school started.

why wasn't the solution as simple as telling Mrs. Scott she had to work athe 8 o'clock class?

Rob

[Luci]

My brother used to do the scheduling at the high school where he was the assistant principal. One year, it took him 6 weeks to get everything sorted out correctly, the end of June and all of July.

He went in to work one day in August and the principal informed him, "I changed the schedule a bit because Mrs. Scott didn't want to teach an 8 o'clock class. So that's fixed. But I may have messed up one or two other classes."

What he'd done was mess up the entire schedule for the entire school. Six weeks worth of work down the drain. My brother had planned a nice vacation with his wife and children for mid-August, but he had to send them on their way without him--he had to work the entire month of August to fix things in time to send out the schedules before school started.

why wasn't the solution as simple as telling Mrs. Scott she had to work athe 8 o'clock class?

Rob

Both of my parents and my husband were high school teachers. I have never heard of anyone with this kind of influence, or even the nerve to ask, even with laboratory preps to do. I can not imagine an elementary school teacher trying to pull that! And even the bus driver says, "Don't schedule any kids on my route for first hour classes. I don't want to get up in time."

I'm creating lots of other scenarios, each more ludicrous than the previous.

[Twik]

why wasn't the solution as simple as telling Mrs. Scott she had to work athe 8 o'clock class?

Rob

Because Mrs. Scott plays scrabble with the principal?

Sorry, EvilTwik goes back into her box now....

[dawbs]

My brother used to do the scheduling at the high school where he was the assistant principal. One year, it took him 6 weeks to get everything sorted out correctly, the end of June and all of July.

He went in to work one day in August and the principal informed him, "I changed the schedule a bit because Mrs. Scott didn't want to teach an 8 o'clock class. So that's fixed. But I may have messed up one or two other classes."

What he'd done was mess up the entire schedule for the entire school. Six weeks worth of work down the drain. My brother had planned a nice vacation with his wife and children for mid-August, but he had to send them on their way without him--he had to work the entire month of August to fix things in time to send out the schedules before school started.

why wasn't the solution as simple as telling Mrs. Scott she had to work athe 8 o'clock class?

Rob

I'd imagine at that point, you're dealing with undoing more than just 1 or to changes.

I've had more than one schedule conversation that went:

"Hi Mr. Green, I know JimBob told you last week that you were switched to Tues-Thurs @ 2.  We need to switch you back to Mon-Wed@1. ....You've already re-arranged childcare and can't do the 1?  Crap"
or
"I know that doing Biology on Mon-Wed-Fri works better for the lab availability but the prep-person isn't available on Fridays, we need to do it on Tues-thurs"

[Snooks]

I've just remembered one which I so much wish had been PD but this person somehow had a cone of invincibility around her and never got in trouble for anything she did.  She sent out super confidential information via email which got forwarded on to someone edited it for their own means and forwarded it on again, the recipient contacted her boss to verify the information and the story unravelled.  When someone pointed out the error came from emailing confidential information in an editable format her response was "It's never been a problem before" and the same response was given when someone said something about not doing it again.  As far as I know she continued to email super confidential information in editable formats.