An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

Toronto is a fascinating place .. and it’s HUGE! Well, it is the largest city in Canada. And for someone who had been to Toronto so many times both pleasure and work and yet still not familiar with alot of places, you can just imagine what I would have missed if not for the world wide web.

There are loads of fun things to do in Toronto besides the CN Tower and Canada’s Wonderland, check out some of Toronto Movies at some of their major movie theatres. And of course one must not miss the Imax while you are there. Plan your vacation ahead with the help of Terrific Toronto, for they just about covers everything from hotel accommodation, to restaurants and places to do fun stuff .. and shopping of course.

A customer was in today and we got into a conversation.. about work in this town. She had mentioned that the minimum wage is going up in May and by 2010 .. minimum wage would be by then $10 an hour.

8 yrs ago, when i first arrived in Canada.. the minimum wage was like $5.50 per hour and PB had paid one of his first employee $7.50/hr and when we had asked her to dress appropriately to work (she wears torn sweat shirt to work), she said.. she could and would if we paid her more. Yes.. that was the attitude we got.

Now this customer told me today.. that she was going to go on welfare.. if she cannot find any work that she liked and paid well.. .or she will only work in 2010. *slap forehead* Pray tell me I am not destroying my daughter’s life.. by bringing her up here.

The saga of the 17″ monitor continues. If you haven’t read about it yet.. check here. Well.. after several weeks.. and more excuses.. and $40 worth of rental for the monitor, read this. Today, he came in again.. to tell PB that he will be seeing his mother this weekend..???!!!??? didn’t he say this.. like a few weeks now..??? WTF..!!!! i swear i am gonna blow up really soon on this customer..!!! old son or not.. he ain’t getting away with it .. for much longer. Come Monday..or the next time i see him.. i’m gonna tell him off if he doesn’t either .. bring me back my monitor or buy the freaking monitor..!!

Owning your own business also means forming great relationships with not only your customers but your employees as well. Our relationship with those still working with us, doesn’t stop at the employees only… it extends to their family as well.  I am truly happy to find this Baby Mall because I have so many friends residing in the States.

Also, our babysitter’s brother just had a baby girl .. and we want to get her some newborn baby clothes.  Prices at Baby Mall is affordable and they have  a wide range of baby products to choose from. I am really impressed Baby Mall Online because most online baby store that I had browsed through before were usually very expensive but not at Baby Mall, everything is very reasonably priced… plus the site is easy to navigate and with a 30 days return policy, one can shop confidently online now.

It is awesome when it is not busy.. we get to do our personal stuff. Calling the doctor, calling the school for the brat..and keeping up to date with the store’s security system .. and ordering new inventory and stuff. This makes it worthwhile to be here.. and instead of just waiting for customers. I like knowing that i had accomplished something.. when i go home for the night.

In order to rent a movie or a game from our store, we asked the customer/s for their phone number. And each time some customer/s comes in.. they have a different phone # or a different address. We have been in business for 8 yrs now.. and we have had the same phone number.. and cell phone number.. for the last 8 yrs. For those that keeps changing their phone number .. only has one reason.. they have bad credits.. and they move from one place to another.. and get themselves new phones.. by using their new g/f’s account… or using a different name. So when we do have customers like these.. we know exactly what kinda paymaster he/she is. And I cannot comprehend .. why in the hell .. these ppl wanna ruin their credit.. ???!!!??

Woken up at home yesterday by someone from the HR Dept as they were doing some audit for payroll .. for our store. But he had gone to our old store.. and found us closed.. so they came by our house instead..!! HOLY MOLY..!!! can you imagine.. if we DID really closed down the store.. you mean.. they are gonna hunt us down still..??? GOSH..!! donch see the police being so persistent when ppl ripped us off.. or when we wanna collect restitution.

First the $16 million for the new justice center, then $6million – $12million (by the time they are done) for the new municipality building. And now .. $8 million for the new art complex… for a town, population of 8,000 or a little less.

Residents are urged to attend the meeting to set a course for the future of Th’Yarc but i am wondering where all these money is coming from..?? certainly not from the tax-payers money again..??? when we don’t get any help at all from the Town Councils or the Municipality. Look at all the businesses closing down.

This town is NOT awesome…!!! You are not only to have more than 1 flashing sign at your store’s display window because i think they feel that the drivers on the road may not be able to concentrate after seeing those flashing light and may caused accidents. So instead we resorted to outdoor lighting to keep the store brightly lit at night .. especially those long winter nights.

I swear this town never fails to amaze me..! A search warrant issued on a private residence in Yarmouth county resulted in the seizure of evidence to support an indoor hydroponic grow op. Meaning these ppl decided to have their own green house for drugs.. marijuana to be exact. Production of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking is what the charges are for a man and a woman who is currently facing charges for it. But you know what.. ???? i bet they are out on bail .. and walking the streets just about now. Yup.. ! good old justice system here..!

I told you this town never fails to amaze me. In 2003, a horse man from this county insisted that he wasn’t breaking the law by riding up the drive thru’ at Tim Hortons for his cup of coffee. Yes.. a real horse, saddles and all, he said he should be allowed to use his horse like an automobile. Well.. guess who spent the weekend in jail..?? Hhahaha!! This morning.. i heard again on the local news station about the horseman .. and i’m wondering what he is up to today, coz’ i did see the horseman on the streets last year during summer.

A customer was in the other day and asked what she should get for a co-worker who was injured at work. I suggested a shower stool since he hurt his legs .. and couldn’t even stand up properly. Rather then buy him a fruit basket or some chocolate.. i would appreciate it better if someone had bought me a useful gift .. if i was hurt. Well.. money is good too eh.

The business that were closed recently .. and we didn’t really know the real reason for it.. except for the obvious of course… that they were locked out by the landlord for non-payment of rent.. didn’t wanna say much to PB .. when PB saw the owner this afternoon. Plus PB was in a hurry to go back to the store.. so he didn’t ask no more. But the gist of it.. was he ran into some trouble with the landlord… and that his rent and loan for buying over the business some 6-8 months back.. is costing him a good $6K alone in repayment.

That’s a hefty sum of money every month.  He sure had to sell alot of pizzas for that kinda money.  In fact, when he had bought over the business from the other owner.. i didn’t think that it was such a good deal… because the building wasn’t included in the sale.  I had made a mental calculation .. and had thought the repayment was lesser . .but i guessed i was wrong.  I tell everyone .. that going into a business is darn easy.. but to keep the business running and lucrative.. well.. that’s the hard part.

Wait a min..!! let me die laughing first..!!! OMG ..!! this town is full of it lah..!!! It was announced this morning that the correctional facility (jail) in this town is gonna double its capacity from 38 inmates (jailbirds) to 76. Thus, they need to bring in portable beds to turn single cells into double cells.

Going to jail here is a luxury..! back home.. about 7 – 10 person sleeps in a cell together.. and on the floor. No toilet.. nor washing facilities.. nothing..! no wonder ppl back home donch wanna go to jail. But here .. !! they are making such a huge boo ha.. over nothing..!! no wonder .. ppl are not afraid of going to jail at all.

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Yes.. ! exactly my question..! how can one compete with Walmart..?? Scouting for a notebook, we checked with our regular supplier for prices.. and taking a walk to Walmart and Staples .. we found that they offer even better prices than my suppliers. So how can small businesses like ours.. not close down.. for good..?? how do you a single person . .compete with the big boys..?? No way man..!

A check with a customer that came in today.. that lived with the owners of the business that went outta business, he too said it happened so fast.. he really didn’t know the reason. Strange that he didn’t know. . coz’ you think he would .. since they lived together. We suspect that it is because he doesn’t wanna say a thing. Oh well.. we’ll find out soon.. i’m pretty sure. Such a small town no secrets eh.

Teenagers in the west are different from the kids in the east. Owning a car is not a issue anymore, the mature so quickly and believe very strongly in their independence. And because of it, driving at a young age of 17 is quite normal here.

One of our ex-employee who just turned 18 is eyeing on getting a used car austin and for college student like him, Quality Auto is the place for him to go to. Not only do they have a wide range of used cars, they also can help college students with little or no credit history finance their car loans. Getting a quick approval must be every kid’s dream, no hassle and definitely no gimmicks here.

Remember a few weeks ago, i had written that a customer had come in to loan a monitor.. to see it was his monitor was busted or his computer. Turned out it was for his mother.. and turned out.. we still haven’t gotten our monitor back. Customer keeps giving one excuse after another.. and finally today.. he came in to say. .he was gonna collect it from his mom AGAIN this Friday ( he had been saying that for a few weeks now) and gave PB another $20 for renting the monitor. And the way he put it across to PB was like .. he was doing us a favor.. *slap forehead* wonderful ppl.. wonderful town..!

Yes.. the first that we got outta the house so early.. we were able to get the new movies before going to work.. and opening shop on time… hahahah!! and donch get us wrong.. we are not lazy buggers.. we just have a kid who wouldn’t sleep till midnite.. and if we are unlucky .. 1 am. But last nite.. she slept the whole nite.. and we got up early.. so we were able to pack and leave immediately.