Single vs. Married

This is absurd but this Feb. it's be 9 years that I'm single! I know what everyone says: What a loser! That's true! This is not for lack of trying but I think I also have lost my confidence and that's not in relationship. It's in everything but work. I'm fine at work. It's in everything else in the society: Seeking relationship, shopping(!), going to public places such as shopping malls, movie theaters, cafes, restaurants, supermarkets, you name it. I don't know if other single people feel the same or not but another reason for that is being a foreigner. The disgusting Government of Canada has let so many people in that you can see all sorts of losers scattered around the country but a foreigner still is a foreigner especially if they don't live in ghetto or don't go to the popular destinations of foreigners! 
I think I've mentioned this in another post that only 49% of people in Canada live in a family but that doesn't mean they're single all the time. Majority of the single people have someone who accompanies them or keep them company when they need. 
I have planned for this upcoming trip in May and now just 2 days to my flight, I'm in doubt! It was so bad that I wanted to cancel the trip but changed my mind this past Mon. I know the feeling I get when I go to the airport and everywhere else but I'm trying to overcome that and reach my goal.

(Photo: This will be me on the left soon but even when I was married, my wife didn't have much to say about the trip except the one that she insisted on going back to the old country with the goal of annulling our marriage which she perused it with annulling the Canadian marriage and then regretted it and told me that she wanted to come back but it was too late!) 

An Strange Request

There's this Canadian fella who was promoted to the head of a small group of people after the previous supervisor left the company, earlier this year. We didn't have a good start but then the things got smoother and we were working together, when there was a need, easily. This is something good that I like about some Canadians. You might have an argument or stand-off with them but it doesn't, always, lead to hostility. 

This fella is an old guy, older than me, I'd say at least 10 years older although it's difficult to say some people's age. He knew, somehow, that we were looking for people to hire and asked me if he could be part of my team! He didn't ask to join. He wondered if he could join. I, of course, gave him a positive answer. Why not? I want someone who attends the works regularly and does what I ask them to do. What do I care whether he is already an employee or not. The only problem would be telling what to do to someone who is older than me and has worked for the company longer than I have.

Now we have hired someone, I don't think there will be a talk about that but it was strange. This proves that I'm a good employee, at least in his eyes or he wouldn't consider joining in. 

(Photo: The company traditionally has hired from inside to fill this position but this time it was decided to hire someone with a little experience and training in the filed. We will see how this person turns out)

At the other side of the Table

I participated in an interview less than one year after I joined this team, last week. This time as an interviewer, although I didn't get much chance to ask questions. I had prepared myself a little bit though,  but it's okay. I let it go. This a**shole he think he knows it all. I don't want to fight him at this stage which I don't even know whether I will be there for long or not.

In my opinion some of cliche questions are really dumb. For example what do you know about our company? I can spend 15 minutes on a company's website and bullshit the interviewer! Would that prove something?! Some say it shows that the candidate's interest! The candidate is interested in getting out of the misery of being unemployed and especially in day and age which the competition is high, cost of living is high and good jobs are scarce! There were two guys: An (East) Indian whom I had difficulty understanding and a younger Canadian fella. I felt bad for the guy and despite the fact that most of employers don't care, how can you not have a clear communication with others after years and years of living in this country?! And then you sit there at the end and ask stupid questions?! No way you would be hired! 

The other guy was an overconfident, I-am-better-than-everyone type of macho guy! He was desperately trying to sell himself, despite the fact that he didn't have more than a year of off-and-on job, through connection(!) and at the last part played the card of I have another offers! My colleague, who handled most of the interview liked him, of course, and sent him a message saying that he had been considered. We still have to see when he comes and how he will start.

(Photo: As part of being inclusive, many websites, these days, post pictures of men with beard or women with headscarf. This doesn't have anything to do with this post but is that what Canada about? Would a Korean guy represent this country or a person from Western European country origins? That's probably another post but for this one this two-on one interview depicts what we had last week)

How Would You Know if you've Hurt Someone?

If you're in a Boxing bout or Judo match, you can easily say whether your opponent is hurt or not but in a mental fight, you shall be patient if you wanna do a real damage. This is what happened after three weeks of being patient: I gave Eclair's son ride a few times. I didn't mind. I know it would cost him a lot to go where he wanted to. Let alone the discomfort. But the fact that he is a spoiled, lazy and cheap kid, bothered me. Add to that now this boy has read a book or two and he think he knows it all! All this at one side, I realized that he is sick. I mean he is ill in a way that he needs daily medication. But is this my fault? Is he s sick that he cannot get a Driver's Licence and has to be dependent on other at the age of 22?! People manage a family at that age! 

So I started making up stories about how busy I was here and there! The first few times, it was not so hurtful, it seemed to me but this past week, go really bad. Eclair must beg(!) someone to give his retarded kid a ride to the bus depot, the kid has haul his stuff, suitcase, sacks, you name it, he has to wait there until he rots, pay the bus, get on it and go to his destination where his daddy is waiting for him to pick him up! 

The boy had an extra piece with him but because I said I would give him the usual ride, he had not put it in a bag or anything so I can imagine how silly he looked when he was going to that bus, although there're many nut-bags here who look sillier than him but I still like the discomfort that he felt. The usual bus charges between $40 and $50 depending on the service but because I have never had that ride, I don't know how they do that although it would not matter. Even $0.40 would be too much for a cheap guy! 

So I told him that I'd be busy and I could not give the sick and rude boy a ride. He apparently begged someone to drop him at the depot but then in the afternoon signs of disturbance started to appear: He started sending e-mail messages and called a few times to complain about the small mistake I had done in a document. The funny thing is that everyone else had either noticed the error and had ignored it or had not noticed it but he thought he was being a smart cookie! I tried to ignore him but he kept going and the last time I could easily detect the patterns of stress in his voice! He was really mad but I stayed calm and that made him even angrier! It means that I had really hurt him! And that is important: Being patient and then hitting at the right time. One blow would do really well!

(Photo: The boxing fight between Mike Tyson and Francis Botha was an unusual one. The commentators were talking how Tyson was not himself and how much better Botha was the entire time the both of them were in the ring. Nothing against Botha but he only received one real punch which threw him on the floor and he never recovered from that!)