An Intriguing Tale Of Being An Owner

I’ve known Josh Purdy for a long, long time – not only is he a good customer – he is one of the most honest person i’ve met.  Josh is a straightforward and easy going person who works at the Youth Center – yes ! i’ve known this a long time ago.  So today – while i was reading up about wrinkleremovers i saw on local news online that Josh had applied for a Pepsi Grant of $100K – well – it’s really a contest – but the $100K isn’t going to himself.  So if you are from this town or even if you are not but a reader of this blog – please help Josh make a difference by going here to vote  http://www.refresheverything.ca/yarmouthyouthcentre – i hope Josh wins – why?  because this town deserves something good.

Purdy is the executive director of Split Rock Learning Centre, located in the DomTex building on Water Street. He says up to 300 youth drop in monthly with a wide variety of issues: homelessness, addiction, looking for work and more.

“We try to help them focus their energy, sit down and talk with them, try to get them help through our many partnerships with other organizations like the Tri-County Pregnancy Centre, Mental Health department and others,” said Purdy.

“We also try to get them engaged in the community. A lot of them have been in trouble with the law or are in danger of being in trouble. We get them involved in community cleanups, peer mentoring and other activities. – source – novanewsnow.com

Everyday I get calls for the boss – when he is not in the store – everyday I get asked the same questions.  When will he be back? where has he gone? Will he be back today?  How long will he be gone? Some even asked me for his cell phone number so that they can call him directly.  hahahaha!!  So like usual – i was in the store – the boss had to run some errands – do work for a customer – you know the paying type – that keeps the store going – hahah!!  and i was reading on  lipovox side effects and minding my own business and another call came in – looking for the boss!  what a surprise eh?  Sometimes, I really don’t know what to tell them – because honestly – even if you call me every half hour – i still won’t know when he is gonna be back – he will be back .. when he gets back – folks.  Don’t mean to be rude – but he doesn’t report to me.

Has it really been a year already – since we re-joined CFIB?   Yes – it sure has – said the boss – and the year had treated us good in our business and therefore – when Tom came by this morning – we re – signed again for another year for membership with CFIB.  Said to be powered by entrepreneurs – like the boss – how can we not support them right?  Plus Tom is a good fella and very on the ball – and response immediately – when we have any questions or needed any clarification.   So even if i had to give up a little on the Lipofuze we still will continue to support Tom – oops !  i meant CFIB -  why?  it’s the people skill  – the genuine concern of Tom that really caught our attention.

You see – we weren’t always doing so well – some 3 years ago – and we had to stop supporting CFIB for a year or two – i can’t remember now.  But Tom had always been steadfast – checking in all the time and giving a word of encouragement here and there – and never brushing us off – i appreciate that.  So yes! another year – another good year – we can all hope for eh.

While i was reading about a diet supplement a local resident pointed out on a local Facebook page about what Percy Paris – the Minister of Economic Development had said in his recent interview on one of our local papers.  Apparently, with or without the transport report that they were all supposedly to be waiting for – wouldn’t make a difference.  If that was the case, why did they waste the tax payer’s money by hiring a professional survey company to do the study?  It sure doesn’t make any sense how these people are trying to run this province.  So in other words – they are saying – if i wanna screw up the town – i can screw you up regardless?

The interview continued to say that it wasn’t an overnight decision and if that was the case – was the locals here being brought in at all – to review the decision or to be given a chance to make a presentation and state our case?  It is really sad – and i cannot imagine – staying here and being toy with -  your entire future!  your entire business !  these people donch care about us here in Y-Town do they?

Happy Canada’s Day, everyone!  And yes! we are open for business from 12pm – 6pm – yes yes! the boss is a slave driver.   It was kinda busy at the store – i didn’t even get to look up the 5th wheel insurance that i wanted to because when you have a kid with you – you have to think of her first.

Not many stores were opened on Main Street – even the Chinese restaurant was closed – darn!  no food!  but Tim Hortons was opened but i didn’t get to go out at all because it was busy at the store.  What was in store at the waterfront – free hotdogs and some face painting and lots of music – in the hot sun with no canopy or shelter if it rains – so kinda pointless.  But if we were in the city – they were having fireworks today.  Here in this small town – nope we don’t even have a parade – till Seafest which is much later in the month.   The weather is definitely good today and definitely good for some fireworks but usually this town chooses the foggiest night for that.

Anyhow, we are closed now – back home – woohoo!!  when the kid learned that her daddy didn’t need to go back to the store after he sent us home – she was all excited and said – YAYYYYYY!!  the JOYS of owning your own business.

So the landlord’s foreman was in to rent a movie tonight and the boss had asked about the next door neighbor who had vacated the place a few days ago.  The next door neighbor is a huge financial establishment both in United States and Canada.  But they are pulling out of Canada altogether.  The foreman said it wasn’t expected and that he forsee more closure in September.  Already there had been a few businesses that up and left and now he is speculating more closure???  Mannnn!! he was such a JOY!  although other businesses does not directly affect us – ultimately – all these empty store houses – can only mean that there are not enough ppl spending money to maintain the stores.  Therefore, meaning people don’t have jobs to help the economy.  *sigh*.

So i’ve been in Canada for 10 yrs now and with the by election a few days ago, I thought i would do my part as a Permanent Resident and go vote.  Now when i got my Permanent Residency many years ago, i was told i cannot vote for provincial only but i had a rude surprised.  I was told rudely by a big woman who was manning the poll that i am not a Canadian..!!!! mannnn!!  i mean it’s ok.. if i cannot vote but to tell me off so rudely – mannnn..!!  so i said that’s ok..  and took my  tiger direct coupons and went shopping instead.  What i found really strange was – i could vote for the town councils and for the Premier but i can’t vote for MLAs???  darn weird !!!

So my customers asked me if i was going to be a Canadian citizen anytime soon..??  Well, truth be told, i would rather keep my Singapore citizenship because it’s a lot safer to keep it this way – at the rate things are going – i better have a back up plan and that is to keep my citizenship.

So another eatery gone?  The Pita place wasn’t even opened for too long and it’s already gone – according to another customer who walked in today.  But why..?? oh why..?? where am i gonna get some good pita..???  I can’t believe it.. it’s like one business after another – what is Main Street becoming?  Are you worried yet..??  I am.. i don’t know what to think?  ppl just up and leave – their businesses just overnight.

So we have a new MLA as of today.  I tried to vote today – but was told i can’t vote – *shrug* oh well!  their lost – not mine!  good thing the person i wanna vote for – won! else i would prolly have put up a stink about it.   So lets us all look at the new MLA and see what we all can expect or not expect from him.

The new MLA for this town is a very young man.  Not inexperienced but i cannot say totally experienced -  originally from this town – moved to Ottawa because there was no job for him here.  But he wants to make this town a better place and for friends and family to come home.  I know he is a change and i’m hoping he is not some empty vessel – and now that he had won – will completely forget why he actually wanted to get elected.  I hope he will be for the people and not for the glamor and the title of this job.  I hope for the sake of this town, he will be a REAL voice in Ottawa and office.  This town certainly needs fresh blood and someone who is honest.  So in a year or so, we will revisit why we voted for the new MLA.

So we are in this business for repairing computers/laptops and notebooks for customer/s.  Once in a while, we will have people coming in and asking us to repair or upgrade their computer/s and/or notebook but when it is time to pick up the item, they either tell us that they don’t have the money and will pick it up later.  Or some would asked if they can take their computer/s first and pay us later.

Truth be told, we’ve been burned so many times, we rather not do it this way – but we still do – and usually when they say they would come back on a certain date – you can be sure they are never back.  Once in a while – you have the honest ones and they will come and replay you.  But there are a few – till today – we still haven’t seen them.  Some are even worst – we see them all the time on the streets but they pretend as if nothing was happening or they didn’t do nothing to us.  It makes me really mad that people does this to us all the time.   But eventually, they have to pay – somehow and you see we will only trust you this once and once you do us wrong, there won’t be a second time.  For those who are not aware of this – the boss kill lots of brain cells just to fix your computer/notebooks/laptops – and by not paying, only means that the next time, he will not do anything for you.

Register.com is currently the only place in town that pays a lot of money – well – more than most businesses in this town to the people who work for them. I don’t know which online printing services they used – but I had seen one of their brochures not too long ago advertising their services.

Register.com’s head office is in New York and had opened an call center in this town – for many years.  At first, the people that they had hired were really well qualified ones but these days – just about anyone can be hired on – some who even cannot get their spelling correct nor can write good english.  But looks like they are now bought out by Web.com and the Canadian operation will be maintained.  Is it really good news for the people of this town?  I don’t really know yet – i hope it is and i hope they stay – coz’ this town cannot take another blow.

I was checking out  eczematreatment.org when a customer walked in and told us that some business was going bankrupt and having a liquidation sale.  Yes ! another business in this small lil’ town is closing !  who?  a competition.  Many had come in and said – ohhh! it must be good for your business !  but what they don’t understand is – how it will impact the economy of this town.

I’m sure they don’t mean anything bad – but you can also see they don’t look at the big picture.  As a resident of this town and a small business owner – having competition/s is healthy – because it keeps the prices competitive for the consumers.   It is also important to have lot of various businesses in this town for this town to flourish – it’s not all about one or two business – it’s about everyone.  Now that one business is closed – that means more unemployed and more who needs to be careful with spending – so if they have no jobs – meaning they are going to spend less and the tax payer will be tax even more.  Vicious cycle eh.

As I sit and enjoy my patio furniture cushions that we had just bought – I took a look at some of the recent elected candidates for MLA for this town.  One was the ex-mayor of this town for the last 20 yrs  – someone whom I’ve walked by now and then on the streets but never once said hello to me – not that i’m a small woman either – that he could have missed me.  Most likely thinks i’m just poor immigrant from China – muahahhaa!

Then we have  few others that I have never met or seen in my entire 10 yrs here – and then we have the above  – the youngest – and most promising one – only 26 years old.   I saw a video clip on his nomination speech this afternoon – and yes – he was full of zest, aspiration, hope, promises – boldness and personally, i do want to believe him but his speech was so overwhelming for me – why?  In the last few years – I’ve heard a lot similar pitches and in the last few years – I’ve been truly disappointed by our “leaders”

We are not into politics, we are business people as I had sat down and written to one of the candidates on his website, I had asked him the reason/s why I and my household of 5 should vote for him?  I’ve yet to hear back from him and it had been more than 24 hrs and the general consensus after speaking with several customer was – does it matters?  Does it matter who gets voted in?  Does it?

Or is it a crook calling the other a crook?  10 yrs in business – one would think you would have seen it all – but nope – a crook will always be a crook no matter what good intentions they had in the beginning.  And in any business – you never truly see the true color of a person – till they decide to rip you off.

But one such crook – is even more crazier than the rest of the crooks – we’ve met by far.  Rented a game from us – didn’t come back for 4 weeks – the boss caught up with him on Facebook asking if we should send him to collections or was he returning our game anytime soon.  He wrote back to ask if he could buy the game straight out without paying his lates.  The boss offer him $10 in lates and to buy out the game.  He thank the boss for the game and that he was keeping the game and the money!  How stylo malo is that?

The next day – he tried to sell it on Facebook yardsale – the boss when online to tell everyone that the game belongs to the store.  The crook then told the boss he was calling the cops on us  *roll eyes* and yes called us crooks instead.  So we called the cops on him instead.  You see – we don’t threaten nor do we play games.   And yes – his name is on our rip off list – so if you are around town, you should come by and see our rip off list – it’s called “People who have ripped us off, recently!”   If we had enough wall space – I will bring back the “Wall Of Shame”.

There isn’t much happening downtown – not much irate customers – nor idiotic ones – so I’m currently concentrating on ways to reduce belly fat – yes – mine hahah! coz’ i sit too much.  Plus the spouse just told me the taxes had been filed – why he waits till the last minute – it beats me.  So when do you file your taxes?  when I was back home – i file it the minute i get all my stuff – yes ! it irks me that he would take his own sweet time – but we all know how men are.  Plus i was in the store yesterday – coz’ i wasn’t feeling the best.  But the store has been steady and we are happy – now if only we can get the new lease – so that we can make plans as to how much we need to put away every month.

Is this depressing or what?  this week – we’ve heard 3 small businesses closing its door – due to different reasons.  I  buy diet pills online and was minding my own business at the store when someone from the cafe came in and talked amongst themselves that they didn’t even know that they didn’t have a job anymore.  They went to work and the restaurant weren’t opened.  This is shocking to me – I remember this place so well because when i was pregnant with my only child – this restaurant and its quiche was the only thing that kept me and the kid alive.It is very sad – even though it doesn’t affect us directly but to see one after another leave or closed is just too much for the week for me.   Are there anymore depressing news next?  and what is the town doing for people like these restaurants?

So i was looking at my term life insurance when a customer/friend walked in to collect her notebook – she had left for the spouse to fix.   Then the big news came – that she and her entire family is moving out of Canada.  Of course, I’m happy for her – but that would mean that my hope of another expat in town sharing the same ideal of making it home here is just  not feasible to make good in this town.

So yes, yesterday was there last day of operation and they will be leaving town as soon as their kid is outta school.  I am very happy for them but it certainly left mixed feelings in me.  I want what is best for my kids too – but what has this town gotta offer?   What future has my kid got here in another 10 yrs?   Is she gonna be able to meet decent people and build a life here?   I have so many questions right now – running around my head.  I woke up feel rather depress to be honest – what has this town got for our future?

So a buddy sent a email informing me that a restaurant that we had been planning on going to has closed shop – due to political reasons.  I went like huh? what do you mean..??  Well, in fact the reason was because they were unable to obtain a liquor license and the taxes were too high for them to make it without one.  Now that made more sense to me now.

Now for the life of me – i cannot understand this town – why wouldn’t they give them a liqor license – this is like a family restaurant – owned by people who are trying to make a living.  Would this town rather they go on welfare – ???? mannnn!!!  i can’t get over how stupid this town can get at times – and i seriously think the owners should fight for it – it just makes me mad – that the town or whoever who holds the license – doesn’t have some common sense here.  I don’t know the full story – but i can see that the people enjoyed the food there – and i’m sure these good people must have put in lots of money and time to take over this business – it is just beyond me – why they cannot get a license for liquor – i was so infuriated i couldn’t sleep but to get  over the counter sleeping pill because this is not the first time – the town is making it hard for honest ppl to try and make it in life – they rather people be bums.

So we received an email from Telus regarding our credit card machine that we had to comply and pay $700 a year to ensure that our customer’s credit card transaction will be saved.  And if we refused to comply – we may get fined or even have our credit card services canceled.  So it’s like telling us that we need to buy diet pills for men even though our husbands don’t need it?

I can understand if we are like the big boys in town – like Walmart or Staples ringing in like millions of dollars every month – but ours is a small business – so if you want $700 on top of the transaction fees that you are already charging us – what else will you come up with next?  Taxes are going up – so are our rent – and water and sewage – what else is next?  no one can make a living here can we?   So was that email a scam or for real?  I will let you know once i find out.