Since moving to Southern California, and since I am nearly penniless, I have decided to take a temporary service-industry job at a small business in town. To pay for food while I look for some interesting programming work.
So after applying to several places and taking the first offer (Pier 1 Imports, $7.50/hour), I’ve been hassled for the last two days with the proving of my identity…
On the INS’s Form I-9, used to establish employment eligibility, Section 2 regarding the presentation of forms of identity reads:
Examine one document from List A OR examine one document from List B and from List C
For me, this translates to:
A || (B && C)
Since I had presented a valid U.S. passport (List A) and a Driver’s License (List B), I believed I was in the clear.
Today however, I learned that according to this manager’s interpretation, I am not. Instead I must present a form of identification from List C. Namely a Social Security Card I do not have.
You see, the manager who has been handling hirings for over 10 years, reads the above instructions (disregarding all the form’s other visual queues) as:
(A || B) && C
This misinterpretation means 10-12 days of waiting for the Social Security Department to create a card for me. Which means at least another month before my first paycheck.