Sebago Brewing's on the perimeter, but pretty decent food/beer/price/value-wise

After switching to Fidium, I went to a Spectrum store to drop off my old equipment (already cancelled service via phone). Upon entering, you're greeted by a kiosk to put in your phone number to get in line (if you don't have a phone, you're SOL). I did some shopping (this was the mall location), got a text an hour later that my turn was coming up soon. I headed back to the store, but it took another HOUR until it was actually my turn. There was a monitor showing the current line of the enxt 15-20 people to be called, but there were some people coming in who would be bumped to the front. I had no idea why. Seemingly, it's because they called first to make an appointment. There were only two poor souls working and probably 20+ angry customers sitting in the store waiting for service, just commenting to each other about how ridiculous the situation is. When I was finally called, it took possibly two minutes tops for the lady to take the equipment off my account. In retrospect, I should've mailed the equipment back.

Thank you OP, I just wish I knew this sooner! I hope your wisdom helps someone who still uses Spectrum.

PPH News article said it was VOIP call. Where are you reading that the state police have pinged a suspect's cell phone?

The Sanford police scanner has confirmed no shooter for the past hour or so I've been tuned in. What are you listening to that makes you think this wasn't a hoax?

Eh, King and Collins endorsed the restaurant workers who wanted to keep the minimum wage for tipped workers last time this came around. I'd think Maine senator voices would carry more weight in Maine than Bernie's? But perhaps not.

I think you're going to have a very tough time buying right now. The seller of your potential new home may not even consider a contingency offer with how hot the market is. Anyone selling a decent home in Maine right now can find a buyer with either cash, or fully financed and not contingent on their home being sold.

When this came up in 2016 or 2017, there were only two examples of servers being paid less than min wage in Maine in the past decade. Do you know if this incident at Il Leone was reported? There are undoubtedly corrupt restaurant owners, who need to be called out if this happens. It is in fact illegal.

It was very difficult for the anti-tipped wage proponents to demonstrate tipped servers were earning less than minimum wage previously, wondering if that has changed with any actual concrete examples.

>So tip workers are supposed to claim their tips on taxes because they are a tip credit worker

Tip credit workers essentially claim all of their tips after every shift, but at least every pay period. The employer needs to know if they made above minimum wage. If I worked a 5 hour shift at $13/hr, when I clock out I'd tell them I made $10 or $100. Both would be on my paycheck, in different categories, and both would be included on my W-2 at the end of the year.

If they were "just an hourly employee", then they probably wouldn't make tips. If you mean what if they earned minimum wage hourly + tips, then they'd be expected to claim tips in the same way when they earned tipped wage + tips. Any worker in any field, like a hair stylist or taxi driver, who is in a habitually tipped position, is supposed to legally claim all of their tips as income.

[edit] this is assuming by "tip credit worker" you mean "minimum tipped wage worker"... which again, nuances, but those can be different things =)

I'm not sure I understand the question. The tipped employees don't file anything special regarding a tip credit - only their employer. Tipped employees only get a w-2 to file their taxes, like most employees.

>it be standard minimum wage not a Tip credit as now.

Correct. The tipped wage would go away, which is not... exactly the same thing as a the tip credit*.

I believe most servers (and restaurant owners for that matter) do not want the tipped wage to go away. I know when this issue came up in Augusta a few years ago state-wide, the turnout was hundreds if not thousands, and the hearing went well into the night, overwhelmingly in favor of the restaurant industry. The people speaking against it largely all had zero actual restaurant experience.

I simply don't see a problem with the way things are for servers/bartenders in Portland right now. They regularly earn much more than their back of house counterparts, who also are earning at least minimum wage.

*Sidenote:A lot of people confuse some of these terms, but the federal tip credit is actually something the employer files for with their taxes, as the employer pays their side of ss/other taxes on the employee's tips earned all year. This is different than the "minimum wage for tipped employees", which is set by state. This is also very different from the "subminimum wage", which is often used but very wrong. That's something an employer needs to specially apply for from the state for permission to pay, for certain categories of workers who may not have other opportunities to work. They can legally pay subminimum wage workers less than minimum wage. Tipped employees are not subminimum wage workers, but you will often see that term misused- sometimes even in published news.

I am aware of the rules, i''ve been a server for a good while. I've never known any to make less than minimum wage on their paycheck though- ever. Usually their hourly is 2-3x, but even on a bad shift, employers are legally required to make up the difference. Most employ expensive payroll companies to do this because there are large fines for wage theft even if you accidentally underpay your FoH staff.

Are employers in Portland, Maine stealing tips from their employees? If so, please support this with examples. I'm genuinely curious how often this happens

I don't like it because it encourages restaurants to become more counter or tablet service with just a runner. Restaurants should be able to operate their pay the way they want. Server make at least minimum wage, always. Raising the min wage raises it for them too... Even if it's a bad shift.

Is there actual evidence of wage theft upon servers at restaurants in Portland? I've never known any restaurant where front of house workers earned less than back of house.

Right, I agree they doubtfully did anything illegal. They're too professional for that. Most of the largest accounting firms in Maine took PPP loans, likely unnecessarily... I guess I'm more jabbing at the PPP program not having any significant means or needs test built in- just had to show the receipts, not that COVID actually damaged your bottom line.

BerryDunn is regularly in the top 3 biggest firms in Maine by revenue, and I'd be shocked if they lost -any- business at all during the COVID pandemic. A quick Google search shows they had a revenue growth of 18% in 2021 and may have break top 50 firms in the nation this year.

I reiterate- what they did likely wasn't illegal... but it is immoral IMHO. When you already have a hundred million in profit at the end of the year, it is greedy and wrong to take even more from taxpayers that they very clearly did not need. However, their primary interest is generating more revenue, not doing what's right for the American people/non-client taxpayers. Congress's incompetence in passing PPP gifted a lot of rich corporations with giant bonuses, and BerryDunn was one of them.

I get what BerryDunn did, it's shitty, but in their defense it's what almost everyone else did too.

I have the DJI mavic air 2 but haven't used in a long time. It looks like dji app is no longer supported? I'm curious what mavic drone you have and what app do you use to control it?

Thanks!

Big company, but possibly has leadership with questionable morals. It seems they took over $8mil in forgivable PPP loans they very likely didn't need. I severely doubt the accounting firm lost $8 mil worth of clients (if any). They did recently move into a big new office building though! I'm sure it's unrelated and I'm sure everything they did was totally legal and legit; it was the PPP system that was broken and susceptible to greedy corporations.

You can't blame accountants for swooping in on free taxpayer money though, right?

1000% police report... before the loose dog kills another, or a kid. Perhaps they've been called about the dog prior.

Sorry about your shitty neighbor.

“I’ve got a new art concept for pokemon #2,342… it kinda looks like a heron.”

“A heron? We already have 83 big bird pokemon, what’s this one do?”

“It pokes shit”

“Shidpoke it is, publish to the ‘dex”

The discovery of PFAS contamination in deer meat is another, newer reason dissuading some hunters the past couple seasons.

Best of luck. American healthcare and ancillary systems are absolutely atrocious.

I've had no problems getting my monthly refill at my local Hannaford, but my s/o has experienced issues with non-recurring prescriptions a few times.

Given how frequently people complain about pharmacies on Reddit, I'd say delays likely the norm now. You should expect any new prescription to take 24 hours to fill. If you find a super-efficient pharmacy that seems better, please let us know!

I couldn't believe LePage opened the debate saying the $850 surplus that went to Maine residents should've gone to oil companies lmfao

I wish they fact-checked this in real time though.. he looked at Mills directly and called her a liar for claiming he supported Trump's "Muslim ban"- but.... he did. He 100% did openly and often. It's documented. He tweeted about it. I understand the moderator isn't supposed to be partisan, but she needs to at minimum keep the debate based in reality.

He blatantly, openly, and repeatedly lies.. but his conservative supporters seem either too dim to remember or too gullible to think anything LePage says could possibly be false. I really hope Mainers know better and he doesn't get a third term.