An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

So I guess the NDPs are jerks and trying to jerk around with this town?  that was the general consensus of the town people now.  I listened to how Percy Paris answered to Churchillès question about the $3million funding for the ferry – and Paris said he knows nothing of it – now how ridiculous is that!  It was all over the news here – and printed too I think at some point.   I hope it is not only now that people realized that the provincial government never had any intention to do anything for this town – due to political reasons.  Even the blind can see that!   they had been jerking us around for years now.   It is really sad that the NDP government insist that it has not affected this town – and any other – they know and I don’t know what their intentions are.

People who ripped us off – thinks that we had forgotten or something to the effect whenever – they come into our store years later.  I loathe people like that – they have no decency – at all.  Even years after you’ve ripped us off – we will still have your records on our computer – and even if our computer dies here – we still have a back up copy.  So if you think we are going to forget – years down the road – very unlikely.  When you ripped us off – you are just stealing from us – so how can we forget right?   When you ripped us off – you are robbing my child of a good education – because most likely it is money that we can put away for her college.

I received a call yesterday from a guy and he wanted help with his Window XP – he was very polite about it – but he wanted my tech support over the phone.  Firstly, we haven’t sold a WinXP for ages and secondly, I don’t even know who he was.  But to think that you would call a computer store – for tech support over the phone – is just too funny.  We are no call center here – and how am I to help over the phone – I mean it is one thing to pick my brain about a problem but it’s definitely another story to ask for tech support over the phone.

Some of the town councilors wants to see smokers stopped around the elementary school area in the central of town – but what about the south end of town – where my kid used to go?  Parents who are sending their kids to school or picking them up from school are smoking away happily – without a care for other parents or kids.  I think instead of shooing smokers off the high school grounds – they should just designate a place for them to smoke.  You can’t stop them – but at least you can have them all in one corner with a can – for them to stub their cigarette butts away.

No one should be smoking around any schools be it elementary or high school – in my humble opinion – but if the high school kids are smoking – then make them go somewhere – away from everyone – so they cannot be seen – and they don’t pollute the air for the others who are not smoking.  So inconsiderate right?

We just learned that there isn’t going to be any funds coming into town for the new RDA that the town wants to set up – headed and requested by our new MLA.   The Economic Development Minister was invited to town last month to chat about the progress and improvement to this town and he had said he will go back and consider the $100K that was requested – but the answer was no.  Another hit for this town that’s for sure but on the other hand – can you blame the government for not supporting an RDA – after what the last one did.  No ferry, no RDA – cut on the education funding – what else is next?   Is this town dying?  are we in deep trouble?

How many of you have the strangest employee?  I think we do – I had been meaning to pen this down for years and keep forgetting to do it.  Why do I have the strangest employee?  well – after you’ve read my story – you tell me if I do.  Many years ago – after my kid was just born – one of my employee asked me – what if the boss gets into an accident and die?  what is going to happen to the store *roll eyes* what kind of question was that?  but that didn’t stop there – in fact he went on to ask – what if both of you died in an accident?  what is going to happen to the store and us?  what kind of question was that? So I replied that the boss’s parents will probably take over the store but even then he wasn’t really happy with my answer – I figured he probably wanted me to say that he can have the store?  hahahaha!! tell me if that wasn’t the strangest employee?

Would you ask your employer such a question?  what made him think we were dying?  like 8 yrs ago?  because we traveled a lot then?  what made him think that he was capable of taking over the store or the BILLS!  he must have forgotten we have BILLS too ! not just the money he sees us collecting from the stuff we sold.  WHAT KIND OF QUESTIONS WAS THAT?  strange employee we have eh.

Charges was laid for several previous MLAs in Nova Scotia for expense scandal that was found out by the General Auditor last year.  But our Premier is now saying that the outcome will make it harder for ordinary people to want to enter into politics!  what that hell does he mean?  so MLAs shouldn’t be charged if they stole from the taxpayers?  An MLA is like a Minister of Parliament back home – and it was clearly cheating the tax payers’ money the things they did – not just one MLA but almost all – including our dear Premier – who had bought a camera to be used in the office for over $1000!  yes! ordinary people cannot afford that kind of money for a camera – ordinary people cannot afford $3K for a laptop.  We don’t get a pension – while crooks like Richard Hulburt gets one ?  what justice is that?

So the people from Scotia Prince came and did their presentation – they are looking for a loan first of $15million from the Province and more money from different municipality of this area to fork up a start up investment for them of up to more than half a million – to bring the ferry here and Maine.

Yes – they promised work for the people here but the ship hands will be foreign and yes – they will bring the tourist in but it sure doesn’t make sense to me that they are asking so much money upfront.  It’s not good business plan as far as I can see  and yes  – some might say – we have to see the big picture.  But the big picture in my humble opinion is they are just here for our money – and they just make the money and not foot out a cent.  That’s not good business sense in any way  – to me it’s not a win-win suitable at all.  To me – it’s like the people from the Ferry are trying to rob us – while we are already down there.  This Province has a deficit of $222milliion in April 2010 – so now – we are going into another debt of $15 million?  that doesn’t make any sense – that the Province will help us.    $3 million as compared to $15 million and more from the municipality?  how can we justify this?

I wanna write to the Premier – and even though I’m just a resident in Canada – I cannot help but feel that him and his cabinet was wrong not to give us a helping hand with the ferry – to bring back tourism to this town.   It was a very sad day for the town and the people of this town – and even though I don’t eat or stay at the Rodd Colony Harbor Inn that much – I know what this means – with it’s closing down its 65 rooms and the lounge.

How can the Premier think that this town do not need a ferry service – it’s beyond me and my capacity to understand.  It’s not a rationale decision in my humble opinion – many business were already affected by the decision last year – and with no tourist – a lot of businesses suffered here.  And even till now – the Premier is still jerking us around – as far as I can see.

With the Rodd Colony gone – completely – it will be a real disaster – so my question is – is the town going to let Percy Paris come on the 1st of February just for a discussion? or is this town – going to show Mr Percy and the Premier – how upset we really are?   No more discussing please!  I want some action and some help from the Premier – after all we are also paying our taxes right?

Hello, Mr Dexter!  We are still HERE!

I have to take my hats off to the spouse ! why?  every friday night – they have gaming sessions in our store – but as you can see – the store is really busy on a friday and each time a customer needs help – which is often – he had to stop – serve the customer first and then go back to gaming. He won’t let me stay back to help him out – now that the kid is back in school – and insist on doing it this way *slap forehead*  And yes! the store had been busy – we are getting a lot more popular these days – since we are the only movie store in town and also the most reasonable priced computer repair shop with the fastest service.  Sometimes, I’m tempted to hire someone to help – but I dare not – after all, we had been bitten so many times – it’s crazy to think that anyone would really work because they want your store to thrive except ourselves.

What’s with people these days?  breaking into people’s house on New Year’s eve and this morning !  Don’t they know how stressful it is for those people who got broken into?  it is definitely scary because it is the good part of town that they go breaking into!   And the first thing these people do – when they get broken into is – call us or the cops will – why?  because we are the only store that buys and sells 2nd hand gadgets/electronics.  So yes! it sucks – if we do get someone who sold us something that was stolen !  not only do we lose money – but the time and gain a reputation which is no fault of ours.  We try to be so careful when we buy stuff – but whoever comes in to sell them to us – ain’t going to tell us that he just stole it right?  We have their ID, addresses and phone number – but that won’t deter them – because some of the crooks are kids. And if they get caught – they would just get a slap on their hands and that’s it.  Damn kids!  but i also blame the damn parents!

Woohoo!! good news for us – looks like we may be the only video store in town soon – the competition down the road is closing its door in a week.   And to think that someone was thinking of making movies and video big at that store.  Poor Tim at E-One – burst your bubbles eh!   I feel bad for the people who worked there – but not for that Tim fella that’s for sure.  He must have thought that he screwed us up – when he pulled his movies and games out from us some 3 years ago – but see – we did even better.  Outlasted that big boys like Movie Gallery and now him as well !  Serves him and his ego right!

So the ferry looks really gloomy for next year – according to reliable sources that came into our store today.  With all the promises made by some people in this town – now I don’t hear a thing about the ferry at all coming for 2011.  So what does it mean for this town?  I still see the people in this town spending for Christmas like they usually do – I am guessing that those who are currently employed are not worried about losing their jobs since they can go on unemployment – but for how long?  a year?  then what?   And those that are not employed – well – it doesn’t really bother them does it?

But what about some business owners like us?  what about the gift stores?  the restaurants, the hotels?  I think the small business owners are the ones who are going to be hit hard first – and that includes the restaurants and the hotels – they just write it off – as a tax credit.  But eventually, the people will suffer and ultimately the tax payer? because the government gets their unemployment money from tax and they owe more money and no reserve?  well, well! JOY!

I just received a call from a customer and she told me that her son bought a N64 from us a month ago – but the next day it didn’t work anymore.  She also said she spoke to a “man” and he had told her she could come in an exchange it for another one.   So she asked if we had one – i replied that we do – in which she replied that she want us to make sure that it works and that she wants us to SHOW her it works – before she will bring it home.  I replied – “sure!”.

So she came in – about 30 mins later – brought her old one – that she brought a month ago – we had our new one set up and working ready for her to see.  We took hers – plugged it into our tv – and it booted right up – tested all her games which she said she brought from us – and it all worked – and tried her power cords and it still work.  *slap forehead*.  So what was wrong?  Hell if we knew – but all i can say is – before you get upset with a store – make sure you are sure it doesn’t work before sending it back to us.  We don’t know whether to laugh or to be irate ourselves.  Just because we sell used stuff doesn’t mean that we sold you something broken – I don’t understand why people don’t understand this.

Poor Zach Churchill – the new MLA for this town – after watching the video on Friday during the Question Period – where he tabled numerous facts how the leading party’s decision on not funding the boat from Maine to Yarmouth is affecting this province more than dear Mr Dexter is trying to tell everyone – may indeed need some  anti aging product for Christmas presents.  Why?  well dear Mr Dexter is not letting up on his story either – and kept saying that tourism is up – while we all know here – that tourism is not up – people are not out looking for jobs because they are hopeful nor are rooms occupied in the hotels here.

I certainly applaud Mr Churchill’s attempt to bring the truth in plain English and facts – and like i said – he is not having it easy either.  The NDP’s are bringing him and all of us on a merry-go-round – when will this end.  In fact, if we don’t see a boat coming in Yarmouth next summer – we all know that not only Mr Churchill will need anti-aging products – a lot of us here will be needing it as well.  Already lots of local business men are packing up and closing shop because of the lost of ferry/boat -  so how can the Premier said it isn’t affecting us?  We certainly didn’t elect the wrong MLA – Zach Churchill – keep up the good work!

A Supreme Court jury has found a Yarmouth man not guilty of first degree murder. 29 year old Ian Huskins was accused of killing 34 year old Neil Blades Jr. with an aluminum baseball bat outside a home in Deerfield on July 11, 2009. After two days of deliberations, the 11 person jury reached its verdict this morning. The defence tried to convince jurors that Jermaine Middleton killed Neil Blades Jr. Alicia Anderson had testified that Middelton said to her..it’s done are for me or against me. Anderson said she did not see who struck Blades with a baseball bat. Middelton and Alicia Anderson were previously convicted of accessory to murder after the fact.

I received a strange phone call this after – the caller was polite but was curious she said – and wanted to know if the rumors she heard that we were closing down were true – hahahahhaha!!!  and if we had lots of laptops that we are selling off – hahahahha!!!   Firstly, I wished I’ve heard the rumors too – that way – maybe we can get an extra day off.  And nope we don’t have laptops to sell – because they are gone within a short time – when we do get any.  Those that we buy for parts are just for repairs.  This town and its people sure got nothing better to do then to spread weird rumors.

A few months ago – an ex-employee was at our store – she tried to make conversation with us – and I tried to be polite too.  She mentioned that my kid was growing up – and I smiled and agreed with her.  The reason why the spouse and I didn’t wanna say too much was because 10 yrs ago – we strongly suspect that she and another ex-employee called immigration on us. Why?  saying that the spouse hired me the “illegal” immigrant.  Too funny right?

Yes!  and I am guessing she thinks that we don’t know about it? or forgotten about it?  It’s hard to forget someone whom we’ve treated so well and didn’t even fire them – but laid them off – when they didn’t do their job.  It’s shocking how wicked people can get – it’s shocking how vindictive people can be.  The main reason why we didn’t want to say so much was, we are too afraid of people like that.  When we didn’t want them to work anymore – it’s only because we feel that things just weren’t working out.  We felt that it was better – to let them go – then to agonize anyone further but instead – they wanted revenge and revenge in the worst way.  I feel very sad for them – because 11 yrs later – I’m still here in Canada.

As I sit and watch the Premier’s interview about the flooding just a few days ago – costing this town millions of dollars in the years to come – to repair the bridges and whatever road damage the rain caused – I cannot help but feel sad for the people of this town and the neighboring ones.  The Premier had said they would do everything they can to help – but isn’t this what he said about tourism for this region a year ago?  Till today – we still haven’t heard anything positive about the ferry nor the extra airplane that was planned and shelved.  How much more bad news can this town take?  It is going to be hard on some businesses next year.  I really hope that this town will get some support from the NDP.

The people back home said that there is no political freedom of speech at home – but let me tell you dear fellowmen from home – even though there is freedom of speech in Canada – the reports fall short here.  As I sit here after listening to 3 full days of question period in the House of Legislature for our town – I’ve yet to see a lot of report on it.  Back home – this would be covered – even though – the leading party would be getting all the excitement.  So if you think that the grass is greener at the other side – think again.   The big news on the local papers here is how a hockey team won – a hairdresser won big and about the local food economy.  What about  the serious business?  what about the livelihood of the Nova Scotians?  what would next year bring?  where is the media on that?  I’m disappointed – that is an understatement!