public function roles()
{
    return $this->belongsToMany("Role");
}

// boolean function to test for roles a user belongs to
public function is($roles = array())
{
    if(!is_array($roles))
        $roles = array($roles);

    $user_permissions = array_pluck($this->roles()->get()->toArray(), "name");

    // make sure that the number of intersections is the same as the number of roles.
    // this returns the answer to "can user do all the above?"

    return ( count( array_intersect($roles, $user_permissions) ) === count($roles) );
}