I know more than I think I do

I found this out today

Published on August 25, 2004 By Melinda Stanners In Misc

Today I was required to give a small talk, only about 30mins, to some guy on the defence graduates program, about my research.

So I got up there, armed with a poster and a copy of my paper, and manged to not just talk about how, why and with whom we experimented, but I even managed to cover methodological points, such as determining standard deviations! This statistical victory is significant for me, because statistics is the one thing that I forever have to ask for help with. To be able to teach someone else about it is a real step forward

The guy was actually interested in grammar and had done some linguistics, which I thought was really interesting, but we didn't really have the chance to talk about it - I had to hand him over to Shane in the next building over, and then we had afternoon tea with his superior and the event coordinator. Maybe next time he's in Adelaide.

I get funny looks over my grammar/punctuation soapbox shouting. It isn't taught in schools any more, so people are entering my mother's English class barely literate and are expected to write reports etc of acceptable quality (read: coherence) and NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO USE A COMMA!!! Or a semi-colon. Primary school teachers should be ashamed of themselves... but I guess you can't teach what you don't know.

I'm sick today, but I'm still going to Pilates tonight, I can't miss it because I've been so excited about it. However, I have accidentally gotten embroiled in a plot.

Does anyone know a good industrial relations lawyer?

One of my friends was dismissed from the pool that she teaches at, because of a misunderstanding with a pool person. She had made a contract with a separate body of the same company to teach for another week, and so her contract has been broken kind of by them. Because she was not dismissed according to their usual practices, she can claim for the lost wages.

However, she wants to make trouble. She has a case, there's no doubt about that, but she wants to get the pool manager in trouble for doing things the wrong way and lying about it. So tomorrow I'm going in there, in a suit and with her father (who has already made trouble there over the issue) as her associate - I will be representing her (if they think I'm legally representing her then that's their error, I'm only half a lawyer). They need to supply us with a copy of her contract and the three incident reports - she had had two filed previously, but one of which they had never even talked to her about. There's an awful lot of underhandedness going on at the Aquadome.

I have spent some time this afternoon researching industrial relations and unfair dismissal so I kind of know what I'm talking about - it's not likely the pool manager will, anyway. But cases are actually pretty interesting when you're not being forced to read them. I must get out my legal dictionary, just to brush up on those latin phrases.

It's too bad that most of my lawyer friends are in the family/criminal systems. I know a few solicitors, but barristers (being actors) are so much more impressive. Ooh, I have a family court magistrate, I should give him a ring. I boarded with him for a few months last year when I had to vacate my Christmas accommodation.

Anyway, despite the fact that i feel like a fink and a fraud I will don my lawyer cape and play the professional part for Pen's sake. That pool has been stuffing her around for the last year now, and they deserve a good scare in the small claims court. If it's not John deliberately leaving her off the roster just because he doesn't like her, it's center management Wayne changing and firing her within two weeks of their entry. Usually people wait until they are familiar with the atmosphere before they start getting cocky.

I know that they would get slammed in court because of a) the contract and

the duration of her emplyment (after one year of employment, apparently they have to give one week's notice of dismissal, they can't just cut her off). Not to mention the various ways in which they have not applied their own work practices to their dealings with her (ie the incident that she didn't even know about).

I mean, he took her into his little office, alone, no witnesses and not defence - she could make up anything about what he did in there! Pen's too good to make things up about sexual harrassment, but he doesn't know that, and that's not the point - he was a fool to open himself up to it. And it's not really appropriate to 'fire' a young girl, alone, in a small office with no personal space, and without witnesses. Probably knew that the rest of the pool staff would back her up.

What I'm doing isn't illegal - Pen doesn't want to go in there, so I am going for her, armed with a permission letter and everything. Friends do that.

And help plot legal revenge.

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