My Ticket and Freeloaders

I always hated freeloaders at public places: Public transport, cafes with internet access, parking, you name it. It specifically pissed me off when I go to a cafe for a beverage and some reading and see an asshole, cheap steps in, sits her or his ass down and starts going through his phone like a pathetic loser he or she is! For some serious businesses, there're penalty. Some others such as fast foods and cafes, they don't care much.

With that in mind I was in a McDonald's a few weeks ago, studying for an upcoming examination and enjoying a cup of coffee. Stepped out after probably more than one and a half hour. When I approached the vehicle I saw something on the windshield: It was a parking violation ticket for $63! I had parked at the very same fast food parking lot more than 50 times and had never received any ticket! I looked around and so the sign! What could I do? I paid it before it goes up and now when I go there and aim to stay over an hour, I park on the street! 

I find it ridiculous though! Is that for every McDonald's? What if there's a Playplace? I know each location is managed individually and independently but I wonder if complaining to McDonald's Canada would do anything? I didn't, of course. However I decided to go and sit in a McDonald's, possibly the very same(!) without buying anything (I only drink coffee. I don't even touch any nasty, disgusting shit that they call food in there!) and enjoy the sitting and reading or Internet service. I think I would do that as many as, at least 36 times! I mean my next 36 visits to any McDonald's in Canada(!) would not consider purchasing anything, not even a small coffee! How did I come up with number 36? It's simple: I paid $63 for that ticket and each medium coffee (the size that I normally drink) is $1.77. If you divide 63 in 1.77 you'll get 35.59 ~ 36!  It's sound like a cheap gut but that's not how a business treat its customers.

(Photo: A McDonald's lobby during a weekday and before supper time. It's not very cold or half of the seats were occupied by homeless, drug-addicts, drunkards and such!)

How Pathetic is Canada?

If this above question ever came to your mind, I had the answer for you: Canada is the most pathetic country in the whole world! There's no doubt about that. There're so many issues with this country that I can write a book about it but if you asked me why I'm here despite these problems I would say I didn't know when I came first and it was not this bad. Can I still go back to the old country? Perhaps I could but not with this new sanction. I've thought about that, to be honest but couldn't make the decision. Besides the problems in the old country now has grown so big since I left that it might be very hard to fix them. Problems in Canada? Not that hard to fix as long as people just stop:

1- Boozing up themselves excessively!

2- Doing too much drugs (and that includes Marijuana!)

3- Being so obsessed with their dogs and cats!

4- Eating too much crap

5- Being selfish asses

... and finally:

Get their heads out of their asses! 

One of the recent troubles was with this Chinese woman, the CFO of a crap company whom the US ask Canada to arrest and they did. Why I say crap company because apparently the company that she works for is a cellphone company and there's no phony company like a cellphone company! Why the hell would you need a new cellphone every freaking year??!! Don't matter if that's the phone from that asshole's company, S. Jobs or a shit Chinese company with a woman as its CFO. You don't need a freaking cellphone every freaking year, asshole! 

Anyways they arrested the woman in Vancouver and was going to hand her to the American authorities and I guess she is on trail now. The Chinese immediately started their retaliatory actions after her arrest! First they put a ban on importation of a number of major Canadian products including Canola! Then arrested a number of Canadians and they are still kept there and the Government of Canada cant's do a damn thing! Who knows what the Chinese is capable of doing next?

Then there was the issue with the murderers of Saudi Arabia or this one happened first! A Canadian politician criticized the brutal murderers regime of Saudi Arabia and the reaction from them was quick: They called all of the medical student back to the country! Can you imagine what economical impact that could have had on Canada?! Rich Saudi students who probably spend thousands in this country every month left and once again the Government of Canada couldn't do a damn thing! 

Stories of such can be narrated for hours but I'm going end it here now.

(Photo: A daily advertisement in Calgary Sun about the two Canadians in Chinese custody. Funny that all the diplomatic actions haven't work and the guys are still there and some reporter thinks that by calling the Chinese embassy those two could be freed!)

Poor Hungry Europeans

For nearly 10 years I considered A. F. a friend of mine although during this long period I only visited him once at his place. He helped me quite a bit: When I was going to CFLRS, when there was a job available in his area, as a reference, and the time I went for career which I failed(!) as well. Why I visited him only once and he never did? Because he lives in British Columbia. We worked together briefly back there and then stayed in touch until just a month ago!

With that in mind, this is happened about a month ago: I normally don't expect much from my friends but I expected him to at least invite me for a lunch or dinner when I went to his hometown for a job interview that he introduced me to a few years ago. At the same time I know that he's a henpecked! He barely does anything without his wife's permission, I realized. He gets 12 days off and while his wife is on a work trip, he doesn't dare go further than 2 Km away from home, visiting his parents only! I still stayed friends with him. When I was in his hometown, he came to my hotel and took me to show me around which I appreciated but during a short walk I dropped my telephoto lens to a sort of ravine and instead of going with me to get it or waiting for me, he said that would take one hour to get it and drove away! I got the lens, which was broken and later I had it replaced by Canon (thanks to them!) in less than 15 minutes and called him to come back and get me! I don't know where the loser went but probably to do something with his home or an order from his wife! He didn't even offer me a beverage while I was at his place! I again considered that as him being immature and kind of cheap and kept my relationship alive.

I e-mailed him a little more than a month ago and I told him I was in a Holiday Inn in his hometown just to test him. Instead of saying how good to have you in the neighbourhood. Let's get together for a lunch or come over to my place, the asshole wrote: What are you doing in ____? Can you imagine someone so stupid and insensitive?! What kind of person are you that I didn't know throughout all these years?! I knew he grew up in a poor family and barely had anything to eat but he and his wife has been working for the Federal Government for years and have been making good money. They have 3 or 4 cars between the two of them with no kids (His wife never wanted any and since he's a henpecked, he agreed!), they own a nice house and possibly purchased the property next to it (That's what he said they wanted to do when I was there)

The funny thing is he told me on the phone just shortly after the e-mail exchange that they had a plan to come to Calgary and I showed that I was ready to host them! Don't you just learn from people?! I even had invited him a few years ago but he made an excuse and didn't come. After he asked me what I was doing in his hometown, I said I was there for something that I could not tell him and then asked him if I could stay with him for a couple of days? Again, just to test the idiot! He never wrote back to me again! I decided not to write back. A person who is so cheap that he does not even answer to your request, how can he be a good friend? He could have at least made an excuse or tell me the real reason behind not being able to host me. He could have at least told me that his wife didn't like persons like me to stay in their place! I know that was the reason but he's so pathetic that he can't even admit that he is not allowed to do anything without his wife's permission! I have been friends with The Mumbling Guy since 2012 and he's a real cheap guy but he's East Indian and that's what they all are because of their life style in decade but centuries. Besides he at least offered me his basement when I told him that I didn't have any place to stay! As The Chef said once: These people, Canadians, the majority of them, are nothing but poor hungry Europeans! There's nothing wrong with being poor, hungry and even European! What is wrong is being the decedents of those people and being asshole, cheap, idiots and that's what A. F. is! 

(Photo: Poor hungry European children circa the second European war time which is known as the Second World War!)

A Very Surprising Call

There's not much going on these days. Just working the damn low-paid job, coming home, have something, watch something and go to bed. The only change these days is the whether. The second snow of the season fell today on the ground and I just was having my supper that the telephone rang. This was the surprise of the life: The Mumbling Guy called! 

Some who are reading this might ask what the big deal is. It's a huge deal that the someone like him calls! In the past 4 years that we have not been working together anymore this is the first time that he calls me without me calling him or e-mailing first! I actually was thinking about him today and there he was. He, surprisingly, wanted to know how I was doing. For someone like him who doesn't care about anything but his family and his own personal life, which is very valid, don't get me wrong, it's quite surprising that calls to see how someone else is. 

Anyways we talked a bit and I gave him a twisted version of my situation which is a different story and then his wife jumped in and they talked in the native language for a bit and he got back to me after that. We decided to meet sometimes soon and that was it. It may sound a stupid post to many but what I'm wondering what makes him call me. I know some people seek pleasure in others difficulties. When we were working together he was my superior but was always nice and helpful. If there was somewhere that he has been invited to and there was no issue, he made sure he would take me. If I needed a reference, he helped but I don't think it was in his power or authority to keep me there. So I don't know. East Indians, particularly he, have all had disgusting horrible life. So one should appreciate their situation. He once told me that he had to stay away from home to get to school and had barely anything to eat and then added that his son doesn't know poverty means! That's my friend, The Mumbling Guy!

(Photo: Some facts about India. Don't get me wrong, I'm not being mean or anything. Just sharing some facts with any reader)

More Scavengers!

It's just a little over a month that I've been working in this little place but I've seen so many things that it worth writing know, not to forget that it was just mentioned that the company would merge with another one by early 2020. I have no intention to stay on this job for a long time but I need it until I find something better. One thing I realized in this few weeks that I've been with this company is the number of scavengers who live off this tiny entity!

As I mentioned in an earlier post it's a food company. Food is purchased and then distributed. A considerable amount of food is perished occasionally and that's when scavengers arrive! I have a few nice and at the same time surprising, at least to me, examples here:

1- There's this young asshole redneck who thinks he's such a hotshot! Making faces and giving orders to everyone around him! At the end of the shift his backpack gets full of all the expired food! I asked him once what he does with them. He said that he would give them to his roommates! I think he was telling the truth!

2- One day I found a warped food in a delivery truck door(!) and put it on the supervisor's desk. Later on I saw him eating it!

3- Once there was a big batch of returned food and they were all easy-to-eat food such as sandwiches or small salad. Everyone from the office to the delivery drives attacked the batch!. The food which could fill a big classroom, for example, was entirely gone by the end of the day!

4- Another day a similar batch arrived. This time the supervisor barely gave a chance to anyone else! He took 90% of the item! He loaded them to his truck at the end of the shift and gone!

The book that I have referred to

5- There's another strange guy who claims to be from one of the former USSR states. I don't exactly remember which one because it's one of the two which have quiet similar names! He is the biggest scavenger there is! He shows u in the morning with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Then he changes to work cloths and grabs an expired(!) snack and have his breakfast! He takes a number of smoking breaks during the shift and at noon grabs another expired snack and that's his lunch! He claims that he's been waiting for his bundle(!) to leave Canada for good and go to UAE. He claims he would be working as a realtor and would never come back to Canada! He says that coming to Canada was his biggest mistake and he claims he has come from England after finishing a degree. I can see people going down but to the level that their breakfast is coffee and cigarette and they lunch is expired pack snacks! George Orwell one of the greatest writers of all time, in my opinion, once brought himself down to the lowest level of society and wrote Down and Out in Paris and London based on his experiences in the two main European city when worked as dishwasher and did similar jobs. This guy is in no way comparable to Orwell and the only thing has kept is his politeness, at times. One other thing that Orwell has mentioned in his book and I thought I should rephrase here is that he says that the cook and other restaurant staff such as waiters and waitresses, chefs, dishwasher and others, if any are given free food by the restaurant owner because if they were not, then they would steal twice as much! Same story here. The staff and delivery drivers are allowed certain amount of food because if they are told they can't take what they want, the same thing that Orwell has said in his book will happen! 

(Photo, top: Scavengers sharing food! To me when the assholes run to the food in the company, and there's one disgusting Filipino ugly short girl, they even look uglier than these birds!) 

The Coward/Brave Chef

I visited The Chef after a long time this weekend. I had a few things that I had to get from him. We sat for a coffee and chatted a bit. He's looking forward to the next for his surgery but looked a bit, just a tiny bit calmer as he had received a cheque from the insurance company and had a few dollars in his pocket! We went to one of the East Indian or to be specific Punjabi stores in the neighbourhood for a little shopping and there I saw the other side of The Chef! 

After years of being friends with him I realized that one of the reasons that he drank a lot was to get courage because when he didn't drink he was like a rabbit! Scared of almost everything! He take a step towards it and it hopes and disappears! For example today I wanted to use the bathroom and his roommate was in there. I pushed the door open without knowing he was in there and The Chef said: Oh! He's now goin' to get mad and will slit my throat! He was pretty serious about what he said! He was scared! He really is scared of smallest things, most of the time. Something as small and unimportant of what I just explained. Today tough when we were in the store a mid-aged man stopped while we were talking asked us what language we were speaking? I told him that we spoke Persian. The Chef then asked him if he was from India. The guy said that he was the enemy of Indians! I immediately realized that he was from Pakistan particularly because he said that he was upset about what has been going on in Kashmir. Here to my surprise The Chef goes: Pakistan belongs to Saudi Arabia! Which is an absolute deniable truth but the guy surprisingly walked off and said: We belong to no one! I pulled The Chef aside, while I was in shock and asked him let the guy go! I'm sure if he was a younger fella a fight would break out but he also knew that he was in a Punjabi store which although is not exactly Indian but is not Pakistani either. Some say that Punjabi support Pakistan but I don't know but based on what the guy did that is not hundred per cent true. 

I praised what The Chef had said several times but we waited for the guy to leave because I didn't want any confrontation with police attending at the end and having a file! It was an absolutely awesome act by The Chef which made my day. 

(Photo: Two cute bunnies. I know rabbit as symbol of cowardly. This is from the old country. Not quite sure if that is how it works here in Canada or not)