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Comment by fc417fc802 | Hacker News Reader

How would being arrested for memeing be a black mark? It would be a hilarious talking point that I would be more than happy to chat with a landlord, employer, or literally anyone else about. Anyone who would hold that against you is pretty much a textbook example of a bad person (banal evil or some such).

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Some won't ask for details and just reject. Which of course sucks but they may view it as less risky than trying to evaluate the details and make a judgement call.

That said if you do go into circumstances - "I did it to get arrested and get a payout" could also be viewed as a red flag - says "may screw you/the company for money". Probably not the employee / tenant / etc you might want.

I think you are underestimating how anal the entire job and rental application process has become. You won't have the chance of talking to anyone. An automated system runs your name against a database before any human is involved in the process. And why would any human bother talking to someone with an arrest history when there are probably tens, if not hundreds, of applicants who are just as competent as you?

You don't even get a chance to explain it. Their background check software sees that you were arrested once, and discards your résumé.

I could see firms doing background checks not caring about those nuances or taking the time to consider why the individual was arrested.

Especially if it’s just an AI review

I could see less savoury companies(which is nearly all of them) to see potential whistle-blower like this as a risk in future. Most people are bad people after all. Especially those in hiring roles.

You’d be more than happy to chat. They often won’t give you that chance.

For low level jobs the biggest risk is being automatically filtered out early in the job application process then dying in a cardboard shelter on the sidewalk

In a perfect world, sure. But realistically, people don't dig into the context. They see an arrest on your record and move to the next guy. Either that or, some automated system sees you checked 'yes I was arrested before' and filters you out automatically.

I wouldn’t rent my house to someone who has been arrested for memeing. It’s an unnecessary risk with absolutely no upside for me. What happens when they decide to meme on their landlord?

>What happens when they decide to meme on their landlord

nothing? maybe a laugh? it’s a meme not a murder

Then you're part of the problem.

Convicted, sure. Merely arrested, with no conviction? Then you'd be an asshole

> Convicted, sure.

Convicted ... for memeing? I think that would still be absurd. I don't think landlords should be denying tenants for obviously unrelated matters.

When you’re basically trusting a multi hundred thousand dollar asset to someone basically on faith, you basically are looking for a zero drama situation, so I can see why a lot of “out of the ordinary” activities would raise a red flag for potential landlords. I would not have an appetite to even be a landlord because people suck and will destroy things just to spite you. And in the tenant situation, good luck suing the tenant for it, they don’t have any money to pay. You’re lucky in some states if you can evict them within a year for not paying rent. So yeah, it’s not a surprise that landlords are interested in choosing VERY boring tenants to rent to, not activists.

If your house became a meme house, you might actually make more money off renting it.

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