They Call It Customer Service

So the wife and I went shopping at Hillside Shopping Center, here in the Garden City.  I needed some mouthwash and some new jeans. Given I shop at George Richards, there isn’t much of a choice of where to go shopping.

Thing is, Hillside Shopping Center is in the middle of some ‘mall improvements’ which means some stores have been kicked out, and moved to other locations within the mall.   Not really a big deal, you would think, right?

WRONG!

While they have gutted many stores, and made it a bit of a nightmare, it is temporary. Least so they maintain, but here is what I don’t get.  You would think, common sense would tell you, POST at all entrances, where all the MOVED STORES are now located.  Like that way you wouldn’t have to guess.

Doesn’t have to be some fancy plexi glass self lit sign, just a big sign, showing where you are, and then show all the new locations. Easy, right, so us shoppers can quickly find the places we need, get in, get our shopping done, and go about our business.

NOT HILLSIDE SHOPPING CENTER.

Seems they don’t give a damn about their own businesses that are paying for all this renovation work, let alone the poor shopper that lets those stores make money to pay the high rents.

Well, that pissed me off, I was in a hurry and stood around unable to figure out where George Richards was. Spotted ‘Mall Customer Service’ and decided to go vent my frustration, and find out where the blasted store was.

NOT WHAT ONE SHOULD DO AT HILLSIDE SHOPPINT CENTER

I readily admit I was upset, and did speak louder than normal. Not really shouting, least not at the beginning. I told the girl that they should have signs posted, for people to find where stores have moved. Immediately she began to be confrontational, and told me bluntly there were many such signs.

Uh huh, so naturally I asked here where? In which she replied ‘all over’ and what was I looking for.  I told her and in a snippy voice she told me it was to the left and half way down the corridor.

I left, and some buttinsky yelled I should say thank you. Well, I simply turned around and said ‘FOR WHAT?’ and went on my way.

You would think, that was it, right?  Boy are you ever wrong.

Found George Richards, and was asked how my day was. I immediately told them about the encounter with the idiot at Customer Service and they shook their heads. Proceeded to find some pants, and the salesman went into the back to see if they had another pair in my size.

That’s when it got interesting.

Mall Security, two of em, showed up and wanted to know about my threatening manner to the poor defenseless bitch at Customer Service. I mean honestly, they were dead serious, and not very willing to listen either. After all, they had a duty to protect the poor little wench at Mall Customer Service.

I wonder, if I had short hair, was dressed in casual slacks and upscale shirt, would she have still called Mall Security? Would they have even been a bit, shall we say, intimidating to begin with, if she had called them?

The manager at George Richards however wasn’t having any of that, and ordered them out of his store. Honestly, he did tell them to go wait outside, that I was a customer in the middle of a purchase, and their business could wait.

They didn’t like it, but will give them credit. They didn’t say anything, and waited.

Upshot of it all, the dumb ass bitch was so frightened by my perceived threatening manner, that she wanted me banned from the premises for ever.  Like that would fly in a courtroom. LOL

You know, here is the thing. Yes, I might indeed have been rude, loud even, but the issue was over with, as soon as I walked away to go do my shopping. And yet here this lady decided to make an issue of it, by calling Security after the fact.

Customer Service is NOT an easy task, and yet that is what she signed on for. Her duty wasn’t to harangue the customer who is frustrated to begin with, but to smooth it over, massage their bruised ego and keep them as a customer of the mall.  Yet instead of that, she opted to increase the level of frustration, and then, when the customer ( me ) refused to toe the line, she sicked Mall Security on me, to teach me a lesson.

Well I can honestly say, that she has succeeded in doing just that. I shall be writing a letter to Mall Management, and to the various stores that have moved location at Hillside. I will complain about such treatment, and suggest to the stores that have moved, that if their sales are down, they might wish to discuss a rent reduction from the Mall, due to their inability to adequately inform the public of where the stores are now located, as well as that Mall Customer Service is not equipped to aid in frustrated customers seeking their stores.

In other words, I will not walk away, but will raise some shit.  Why? Well hell, because I can, and because you know, it is just time that people stopped accepting the rude behavior of big corporations. The Mall SHOULD be concerned for their tenants, by insuring all customers to the mall can easily find them.

Mall management should INSURE that people they hire for Customer Service aren’t surly incompetent mindless boobs, who can deal with frustrated customers, not egg them on, then try to punish them.

Do I expect any positive outcome to my complaints? NO.

I expect nothing will come of it, simply because in todays world, it has been decreed that people do not matter. The only thing that counts is how much money one can make, at any cost. And yes, that cost includes treating paying customers like shit. Even to go so far as to punish them, for daring to be upset at their mindless stupidity.

Hillside Shopping Center is just one of many examples of how business simply no longer cares about the customer, but is only interested in how much money it can pocket.

One Billion in Military Cuts

Okay, so our Top General says he’s fine with the proposed cuts to the Military.   Like uh, it isn’t like he would dare contradict Herr Harper, now would he?

Where in hell has our leadership come from these days?

Remember the last election, when Herr Harper and his Goons were touting how the opposition parties were trying to undermine our Military by questioning his purchase of 62 F35 fighter jets?

Now here he comes, after winning his majority, and is planning to offer one billion dollars in military spending cuts.  So much for insuring our fighting forces have the best of everything.

Makes you wonder too.  Where did all this supposed fat in the Military come from? Not like our service personnel are being paid well, so that their families can exist on their pay, while they are off gallivanting in some foreign land, fighting. ( Does Libya ring a few bells? How about Afghanistan? )

Looks like what Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton said was spot on, that Herr Harper was nothing but lying through his teeth, when he said that he would stand up for our Military Men & Women.

I guess that changing the name back to Royal Canadian (insert branch here) is sufficient to insure they are safe, and have the right equipment to wage war.  Least according to Herr Harper and his puppy dog McKay.

Three Billion to Bring Back the PST?

Is the Province’s finance minister that stupid?  Sure, I can see $2 Billion, given $1.6 Billion has to repay the bribe from Herr Harper, but what is the other Billion for? Tipsy Gordon’s wine bill? Or is part of it for Brown Paper Bag Mulroney?

On that bribe money that has to be repaid. Has the great mental geniuses in the Finance department even considered asking for payments from Herr Harper and his gang of bullies?

I mean isn’t that what Real Business people do, when they have to pay back a huge sum of money? They either get a loan, which is repaid by regular monthly payments, or they arrange a repayment schedule with the one the owe the money to. 

So is there some reason that can’t be done with the $1.6 Billion?

It is strange, that something that took only a few weeks to negotiate, implement, while dismantling the PST, now will take well over a year to reinstate. The supposed target date for bringing back the PST is set for March 2013.  ( you do the math, this is August 2011. seems like 17 months to me )

Ya know, it is amazing at how Politicians think that the average voter is just a stupid mindless yob. I mean they postpone things like a referendum, to try and give themselves some breathing space. They negotiate deals that change our tax system, in backrooms, almost overnight, then tell us it’ll cost billions to bring back, and over a year and a half to boot.

Think about it.

Do you really negotiate something like a harmonizing a tax within weeks and more than that, just right after a Provincial election? Hell, even during that very election, Tipsy Gordon and his Finance Minister were asked about that, and said no, nothing was in the works or being discussed.

So, IF we assume they were telling the truth, then it happened in just weeks.

The problem with our elected leaders, of all parties, is they get hung up on ego. Once the get to power, they assume they can do whatever they want, mainly because us local yokels are just too dumb to figure things out. Like telling us suddenly that it will cost $3 Billion to revert back to the PST.  Funny, if they could know that in just a day after the vote, why didn’t they know it before? And if they did, why didn’t they use that number in their campaign to convince voters to support the Harper Stealing Tax?

Course, it would be interesting to find out, just what does that figure involve? Not like we will be told, mainly because well, we are just too dumb to understand all this high finance bullshit.

Then too, IF it really is going to take that long, perhaps our Premier might want to consider pushing the date further back? After all, doesn’t the agreement run out in 2014 or something? If it does, then hey, let’s not revert back till then, and hey, we wouldn’t have to pay back the bribe money, now would we?

Course it would require our Premier to actually know when the deal expires, and well, I guess she’s been too busy figuring out when to call the Provincial election, to bother with such details. Mind you, I’d have expected our finance Minister to know.

Be interesting to see Bill Vander Zalm become a leader of a some political party again. I mean, he actually did rally the people behind the get rid of the Harper Stealing Tax, and WON TOO!

Maybe he should be our next Premier again?

Let the Fear Mongers Loose, the HST is Defeated

It is an interesting note, at how so many Conservative Loyalists are so quick to decry the democratic action by their fellow citizens. I mean, while some people bitched about Harper winning a majority with only 40% of the popular vote, that was it.

Now his efforts to force BC to accept the HST ( more aptly referred to by many, as the Harper Stealing Tax ) have failed, one can rest assure, he is gong to be laying it on thick.  Like forcing the Province to repay the BRIBE money he gave Gordon Campbell. 

All venom aside, the issue is really rather simple. This vote wasn’t a vote against a Harmonized Tax, nor was it even a vote against business, or prosperity.  It was a vote against backroom deals, and shady politics.

And didn’t Stephen Harper first get elected on a promise of Open Government, that would be fully accountable? And didn’t our tipsy former Premier, make similar promises?

Fact is, the province was heading into an election, and somehow, the discussions ( or shall we say strong arm bullying ) to harmonize the provincial sales tax with the GST got forgotten about. Or at least wasn’t considered worthy enough, to be mentioned to the people of the Province.

And unlike the unleashed hordes of doom sayers hitting the boards, the simple truth was that the HST didn’t deliver the increased savings, it was touted as being the reason for bringing it into being. IT didn’t increase jobs, in any market, except perhaps the unemployment lines.

It certainly didn’t spur real estate sales, and even the low paying hospitality industry was hard hit by the tax. Instead of being a boon, it caused a real noticeable slump.

And yet the Hordes of HST supporters are saying we have now lost all that we gained under the HST.  Problem is, WE DIDN’T GAIN ANYTHING.

As to the alleged nonsense, that now the low income will suffer more, because the Province has to repay the bribe money, is false. The low income citizens are already paying for it, by having to pay an additional $700+ out in increased taxes, as a result of the HST.  Oh, but yeah, they do get back $125 (roughly) in 3 easy payments.  Like that helped offset the added cost to them?

Items that never had a provincial sales tax on it, suddenly did. How is that Revenue Neutral?  And who could least afford to pay for that, why hey, the Low Income folks.  So to all those who are bitching that this repeal of a tax grab will hurt the average Joe/Jane, needs to understand one simple thing.

THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN SCREWED BY THE HST.

Let Us Make Voting More Crooked

Elections Canada ( I am sure under some behind the scenes prodding from our Conservative Gang of Thieves ) is now pushing for ONLINE VOTING as a means to attract more voters.

Read into that : More ways to fuck the people

Even the so called voting machines they have, have been proven to be unreliable, not just in being secure, but in glitches that throw in wrong numbers.

Course, without a PAPER TRAIL, verification of votes becomes even cloudier, and we all know how that works out, don’t we? Like just look at the lovely way the Americans vote.

Had Electronic Voting Increased Voters?  NO!

Course our little band of Goniffs ( thieves ) think we should be using our home computers to log in, and VOTE for the candidate of our choice.  After all, we all KNOW HOW SAFE HOME COMPUTERS ARE, RIGHT?

There are a lot of people who think our One Person One Vote rule is outdated, and that we need Multiple Votes, in order to truly reflect the will of the People.  Some go so far as to say that it will help promote Democracy, because we will have influence in choosing elected officials, not just in our little riding, but in the region.

In short, we reward those who get off their fat asses and vote, or so the belief is. Course the reality is, that whichever party gets its faithful out in droves, will steal the election under such a system.

Electronic Voting, from computers, is a more devious method of conning us into assuming it will insure a more democratic approach, and garner more actual voters.  Truth is, it is one more way to SCREW WITH THE VOTE.

Truth is, that we are naturally lazy. For some reason, people don’t think voting is all that important. Course when they wind up needing something, that isn’t there any longer, well gee, suddenly they are pissed off at the Politicians.

Fact:  My mother is 94 years old, she can no longer leave the house. Yet she hasn’t missed a Federal or Provincial election yet. She insists on getting a ballot, and making her X and having it count.

IF an old person like her, with her infirmities, can VOTE, then really, is there any reason the rest of us can’t? ( I have not missed a federal election vote, since I was 18, and I am 56 now.  Can you match that? )

To begin with, IF you want more people to vote, then make it simple. Don’t make it a choice, make it a requirement, especially if you want Health Care or other services. IF you fail to vote, then you either pay a large fine, or you get little in the way of government benefits. Things like tax cuts, tax deductions, should be tied into whether or not you have Voted in the last election.

Don’t vote, don’t get the benefits.

Tell me that won’t get a huge voter turnout.

Secondly, get away from all this technological bullshit. Simple paper ballots are easy to use, easy to make a selection on, and more importantly, EASIER TO CONFIRM.

No, I am not talking about the crap the US used, like in Florida that saw George Bush become President, but the kind we use now. Simple, put an X next to the candidate, fold and toss in a box.

OH, and the bullshit argument that it is all decided by the East folks, is just utter nonsense. IF we in the West want more Elected Officials, then uh it is simple, GET MORE PEOPLE LIVING HERE.

Voting by computers is just stupid, and more than that, IT IS A DIRECT THREAT TO OUR DEMOCRACY.