Just One Joey: I Hate Google

I hate Google.

I really do.

Google and I are not friends. No simpatico.

Google sucks.

A Google is forever.

“You shouldn’t live in the past.” That’s what everyone says. Not Google. They are all about the past. In fact, they like reliving the past too. That’s what happens when old news is new news. If you are just getting the information, it’s new news to you.

I try not to live in the past. I really do.

If I did, I don’t know how I would get out of bed in the morning.

I totally fucked up. I made a mistake. I would love to forget it, but thanks to Google, that won’t happen. That’s 90% of why I wrote my book: Prison Diary(a) – A San Quentin Comedy, Kinda. I HAD to. Google forced my hand. It would be much easier to leave my past in the past and move on. New day, new me, you know? But no. I had to write a book because no matter what I do (nearly 5 years later), if you search me, you see all the news coverage from my arrest, like it happened yesterday. Without a book I would just be waiting around for people to “find out.” I decided that the obstacle would be the way. If I attack it head on, I know that everyone I work with or deal with knows that there is an old Joey and a new Joey. There is a mistake and there is a person. Not a bad person. A good person that did a stupid thing. There are lessons learned, a life healed and a purpose driven individual that pushes himself every single day. There is no hiding here. I am all out in the open and ready for any and everything.

But I still hate Google.

I like to think of myself as the epitome of what the judicial system would want: highly educated, single arrest, smart, hard-working, learned from my mistakes, gritty, and a grinder. I am a rehabilitated, productive member of society. Yippee!

But then there is Google.

Just recently I was volunteering to help out the marketing for a non-profit in the SF Bay. I am VERY good at strategies and implementation of on-line marketing. VERY GOOD. The interviewer said he “googled” me and that was all he needed to say. He wished me luck. It looked like I was doing well, but he could not use me.

Fuck you Google.

I can’t volunteer? I am trying to work with a group designed to give people second chances yet I am not able to get a second chance? Seriously? I know I am completely biased here, but is that fair?

Don’t get me wrong, nothing is going to stop me. I will keep pushing and grinding along. I will find the right people with the right mindset. The ones that like me AND aren’t worried about what other people say. People that want a job done well by an intelligent, creative, hard-working, 30-something-year-old.

That’s me!

I have a past, but so do you. Luckily yours is not on Google. If those stories came down, I would still have the arrest record, still have the past, but the old news wouldn’t be the new news 5 years later, eventually 6 and 7 years later. If nothing changes, I will still be dealing with this shit 10 years later.

I hate you Google.

I think about my mistake enough, I don’t need your help.

With a record I already can’t get a license to practice anything. Not to be a therapist (I would be so good at that too). No lawyering (I’ve had enough BS courtrooms for a lifetime). Not even a real estate license. Seriously? Because I have a record I can’t sell a house? That doesn’t even make sense.

And I can’t go to Canada.

That one actually stings. I love Canada. I would love to take my family up there. But it’s not going to

happen, eh.

Damnit.

So on top of all the things I can’t do, there is a fat ass “Google” bow on top of it all.

In Europe they allow you to petition to have old stories removed. Stories that may make it hard for someone who has done their time, rehabilitated themselves, and ARE productive members of society to move on with their life. That sounds awesome. Do they do that here? Of course not. Why? Who knows, but they should.

I would love to have my mug shot taken off of Google. The “Hey, I’m a fat, piece of shit, idiot” photo removed. That would be nice. The local stories (from 2012) gone when you search my name. Hell, my book is already all over the place, it’s not like I am trying to hide anything. I would just love it if the positives were given a chance to take center stage. Obviously the news channels work the Google algorithms so their stuff is on top. There is all kinds of good stuff when you search my name: books, blogs, pictures, stories, etc. But you have to get passed the old stories first.

You need to get over the past to move on to the future.

That means you Google.

Written by Joey Reghitto, author of: Prison Diary(a) – A San Quentin Comedy, Kinda