Shocking Unemployment News

I received an e-mail response from Kevin today indicating he was unemployed! My first reaction was that it was a joke! That's what I wrote him back! But he's not kind of a guy who lies or jokes about these stuff. You never know, though. People change.

Kevin was amongst the top students in the school, always busy with his courses. He never was to any activity or program. His only hobby was masturbation!

He joined a well-known engineering company and worked there for almost 10 years. He came to Canada almost at the same time I did but left shortly after because he didn't want to do anything rather than his professional filed. Then he came back in 2005 and stayed; joined an engineering company and then moved to a very famous one who has offices almost everywhere and is involved in energy and infrastructure projects in Canada and abroad. He bought a small apartment and financed a nice car just a year after his employment. Then he got married last year. I have no idea if his spouse works or not but will find out and post. This is all good to know. We all will learn a lot from other's experiences.

Important Questions

Preface:

I would like to stress that the main goal of this weblog is to keep the things I like untouched for future reference. This is not being written to satisfy anybody but me. At the same time if there's anything that could be helpful to people or if there's any question that I'm able to answer, I''l be more than happy to do that. This little note is for the sole asshole who comes to this weblog at times and bullshits; also for such other guys.

Here, I'm bringing up part of the questions I had to answer in my last interview and I failed! I was so close but I missed. This is to remind me and help me as well for the next possible opportunity. You, as a reader, if there's any, focus as well and I hope it helps you too. Every one is aware of these questions, though. This is no secret. You can find them in any interview preparation book. Something that I didn't and led to my failure(!):

1- Give an example of how you create an encouraging environment at work.

2- Tell me about strength and weaknesses.

3- Give an example of a time that you were able to persuade someone at work.

4- Give an example of a time that it was necessary to change your action under circumstances.

5- Give an example of a time that you made a mistake. How did you handle that? What was the result?

6- How did you provide leadership in the past positions you held?

7- What are the ingredients for a successful business leadership?

8- How would you deal with an under-performing employee?

9- How would you deal with people from different backgrounds at work?

10- Provide an example of an evaluation technique you implemented.

11- Provide an example of a time that you motivated a colleague.

12- Describe a situation in which your manager/supervisor was not available and you had to deal with a problem. You were not sure what the best action was to take.

13- Describe a time that you were not satisfied with the job you had done or the service you had provided.

Now think of the answers!

Canada's Seven Wonders, Number 1: Health Care(!!)

This damn gout attack has been disturbing me for over 2 weeks now and finally today morning I said: enough is enough! I decided to see a physician. F. F. was insisting too. So I was searching and searching for the damn Health Card and eventually found it in the storage! Actually F. F. did! I've been living in B. C. for over 2 years and today was the first time I used that damn card! I really didn't want to go because I hate waiting in the lines. I rather die! We got on a bus and just 2 stops later we got off and walked to the clinic. Not to mention that I was walking like a snail, if you could call it walking!

We stepped in and gave the information to the receptionist. There was only one man in the waiting room. We sat and in less than 4 min. I was called to the doctor!

Unbelievable! That almost never happens!

Canada and the US, both, have a bad reputation for long waiting in the emergency rooms, clinics and for operations. I have no experience over the US and the only time I had an operation in Canada and that was in Calgary I had a very good service. Ellen once told me the time that she had to go to an emergency room for her arm or something like that and that was shortly before my nasal operation. She said that she was screaming and yelling from pain but had to wait. It scared me but I knew that I should not have believed the stupid ugly bitch!

This time I personally witnessed one of the Canada's seven wonders with my own feelings! Hope you witness that too in case you need medical attention. I hope you never need one, though!

The Hat Story

S. T. is one of my colleagues. He's originally from England, somewhere in northwest, with strong British accent, has been living in Canada since early 80s. He once told me a story of the hat he wore in the school when he was only a kid. I find it quite amusing although it's short. Here it is:

My father was serving the British Forces during the WWII. He was in the battlefields but he never shot a fire. He once brought an SS hat, like a tuque from German fields. He took the SS logo off and gave the hat to me and I wore it. I went to the school (I was in elementary at the time) and here it's me in the class wearing the hat. The teacher turns to me and goes: Where did you get this hat? I respond: My dad gave it to me. He asks: Do you know what kind of hat it is? I say: Yes! I do! Then he says: Why are you wearing that then? I reply: It's comfortable! That was the end of the conversation!

Do you think you could talk to your teacher like that in the old country, in that time which was late 40s, early 50s? I don't think so!

(Note: If you look at the British Forces website, you'll find it as Ministry of Defence but all I've read in the history, have been invasions not protection or guarding! Don't say that the best defence is an offence!)

(Photo: Nazi Germany SS Forces logo)

Opportunist Capitalists!

I was talking to Hodani last night on the phone and he told me about the company he works for, Lilydale. He said that about a month ago or a little before that the company announced a situation in which the employees had two choices:

1- Get laid off (Not down!)

2- Accept a 7% in salary reduction.

This is bullshit! Hodani said that they were nagging and crying ... Oh! Lots of orders have been canceled! There is not many customers! We have to shut the plants! Etc! Horseshit! This stupid recession which all was started by stupid Americans has nothing to do with food industry. Actually I believe orders should have been increased because people rather cook at home these days unless they are Canadian because many of these assholes don't know what and how to cook! Anyway UFCW called for a referendum and the employees voted for 7% wage decrease with the hope that the economic situation gets better in near future and everyone gets his/her original salary!

Who really believes a huge company which has plants all over Canada and most of the plants work 3 shifts a day gets into financial problem?! Even the troubled GM has new advertisement broadcasted every day saying GM is not going out of business. GM going down the business! It's said the company's new product, Camaro has been a help and it's trying to get back on his knees. Hodani added that he voted for the 7% decrease alternative because he was intimidated by the company indirectly and feared about his future. " That was against my belief " he said. I understand him I would probably would do the same, if I were him. It's not easy to fight Capitalism. It needs good leadership, a plan and educated team.

And at the end I should really get into these union thing, realize what they are doing in this world of Capitalism. T. S., my colleague, was saying the other day that UAW has bought a big share of GM, possibly as much as 40%! I was surprised. Here comes Socialism! I will read enough and post about it soon. That's remarkable!

(Photo: GM's Volt, the revolutionary vehicle is planned to be in the market as early as 2011 to be another help like Camaro to troubled automaker)

Salad

The art of salad by F. F. Isn't that a beauty?