Quiznos: What happened to you???

Quiznos (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Quiznos…

What happened to you? You used to be so cool, “Toast that tastes great!” was the tag line Don Cherry used to blast out in the commercials.

But now?!? Damn.

In December, in the office, we tried to order online for an office function, but after placing the order – so we thought – instead of showing us the shopping cart, the website instead prompted us to “place our order” and removed everything in our cart.  The 15 minutes we spent getting all the details together was wasted.

Also of concern at that time was the fact that the website doesn’t list the prices of the food.  To be sure I was not pointing out incorrect information, I went to http://www.quiznosdelivers.ca/ and low and behold, no prices.  I actually had a hard time finding the menu – I found the button to buy a franchise, however I was thinking of spending a little less than that.

So we tried again, held our breath and ordered.  No dice.

So we called the local Quiznos in Richmond Hill and were dumbfounded at what we were being told over the phone. 

The pizza we wanted to order was not available as there was no cheese and get this, the person taking the orders on the phone had such poor english that after ordering 4 of their specials, we ended up with 4 regular priced sandwiches.

No cheese???

So I went to their website to locate the feedback or contact us section so I could complain about the lack of prices on the website and why the online ordering was not working but there is nowhere on the site to send an email, or an address to tweet to.  Just a phone number?  REALLY?

Are we in 2012 (then late 2011).

And they don’t deliver, and their idea of ”bottled drinks”… Cans.

The soggiest toasted sandwich ever.

All-in-all, a very disappointing experience. Someone needs to pull the CEO aside and let them know that the quickest way to being out of business is to not keep up with technologies and providing less than exceptional customer service and getting the orders right.

Is this not common sense?

Anyone else experience this?

I think we need an Undercover Boss, Quiznos episode.  At the very least, with my MBA, I can come in and clean up the process… Forget that dude who lost weight eating your competitors products, bring back Don Cherry and with him and the Urban Daddy, you’ll be back on track in no time!

Related articles

• ♩♫ Where have all the Quiznos gone? ♬♪ (aixelsyd13.wordpress.com)
• Quiznos Turns to Former Friendly’s Exec (blogs.wsj.com)

You want feedback? Let me tell you what I think about you and your blogging…

I for one, like feedback.  I’m a big boy.  I’m tough.  I can take it. 

I can take ”feedback” or criticism, whatever you want to call it and not let it bother me… Too much.

In learning how to take feedback I have also learned how and when to give feedback.  It’s an art, I tell you and let me state the obvious when I tell you that there are not too many people who can take feedback, and even fewer who can deliver it without the intent on offending or making the receiver feel inferior.

I actually started this post quite a while ago as a personal reflection post but I didn’t like the feel of the post, so I shelved it in my draft folder and have re-visited it several times to re-write it and alter its focus dramatically.  It’s not a post about me so much as it is a reflection about my management style and they way I like to interact with others – staff and children. 

But let’s be clear here folks, this is in no way a “how to manage your spouse” post because we all know our wives are always right!  Happy wife = happy life.

So how does one learn to give effective and timely feedback?  By asking for and hearing lots of it over one’s life.  good and bad, true and untrue,,, I’ve heard it all.  In that time I learned the hard way that being a wise-ass or inappropriate in pretty much every situation makes it hard to make / keep friends and after a while people start talking about you in that light, they tend to start avoiding you.  That feedback is the untold kind, and you have to pick up on that too, or you’re in big trouble. (ahem, Linus!)

For me, the defining moment when I was in high-school, and I said something really stupid to my friends which resulted in them all looking at me like I just hurt a kitten.  It was at that moment when it became perfectly clear to me that I had to be accountable for what comes out of my mouth at all times and that I had offended or worse, hurt, the ones I care for and to that, my success would be in my ability to filter the crap that comes out of my mouth, and to learn to not take myself too seriously. 

I taught myself to cover up in situations where I was a complete ass by pretending I had said that comment on purpose, as a joke, when in fact I was learning boundaries, and in learning from my missteps, I made sure to never do it again.  Not repeating the same embarrassing situation to the same person was critical to me being taken seriously.  I wanted to be taken seriously and that motivated me to watch my mouth.

So back on to feedback.  I never wanted to hear feedback from anyone growing up because it was always bad.  I was immature, goofy, inappropriate, juvenile… I heard it all.  But as I figured out how to act around people, I wanted to know how I was doing.  Kind of like, “how is my driving”. 

The more I asked, the more I was able to improve and right now, I’m pretty damn strategic and I know what to say, when to say and how to address it.  It was hard but I’ve done it.  I should write a book, eh?  I have some great stories I cannot post online!

So now, I crave feedback.  All kinds of it.  I want the bad stuff more than I want the good stuff.  I want to be told I’m an asshole, or that I’ve pissed someone off because I’ve spent a lot of time being so good that every now and then my inner-bitch comes out and I let it all hang out.  I’m sorry.  I need to know.  If I’ve annoyed you, or pissed you off, it’s either a gigantic misunderstanding or it was done on purpose.  If you want to know, just ask me,  I’ll tell you.

When I started blogging, my wife had been doing it for a year and she is such a fantastic writer.  When I read her posts, I could replay the situation in my head as if it were happening then and there.  I’m not so blessed with that skill and when people found out we were married they were shocked at how well she wrote and how poorly I did.  I knew it.  It was true and quite funny actually.  So I started re-reading my posts, spell-checking it and taking general care for my posts.  All it took was some feedback. 

So when I get comments to my blog (or about my blog or blogging in general), like this one coming up, I tend to smile and want to keep it.  I’m proud of getting stuff like this.  Not only is it creative, but it’s downright funny.  True too…

Comment 1: “This is pointless, why am I even reading it and not enjoying ? I should learn to spend my time better.”

Comment 2:  “I realize you were young and inexperienced at the time, but in hindsight you should have chosen your parents more wisely.”

I also remember a “friend” of mine hoping to tell me what he truly thought about me by posting a comment in a much older post – figuring I would never see it – which went something like this;

“You are the most arrogant piece of shit that I have ever met.”

Yes.  Yes, I was… to you.  If you had only asked me, I would have told you myself.

Or the friend who told me he hates my blog – never reads it and things bloggers – and myself – are narcacisstic.  I thought about it, blogged about it and dismissed it.  Do we all not take pride in what we do?  .

If you want to post a comment about how you really feel, do it.  Please don’t make yourself anonymous, however, it’s better to identify yourself so I know what I’m facing.  You will feel better and I will know who I don’t have to worry about being nice to.  It’s okay.  I’m always civil. 

What is useless to be is the guy who comments on a pro-Rob Ford post with, “You’re a fucking idiot”.

Why thank you, was my thought.  Some left-wing primate made his way through my article and took the time to comment.  I replied back thanking him for the comment, that I was not an idiot – at least I didn’t think I was – and I merely presented the facts as they seemed to me and if he didn’t agree with my view he could have explained why and educated me instead of calling me names.  Good thing he didn’t know I was overweight like the Ford’s (although no where near the same size as them) because he would have said, “You’re a fucking idiot… and you’re fat”.

So if you take anything from this article it should be that when you’re giving feedback use some diplomacy.  give some positive feedback, and some negative.  If you blast the negative, you’re getting negative back right at you.  If you have something to say, just say it but keep in mind how it will be perceived by others, mainly the author of the post, but also take into consideration that it’s possible that many other have thought and felt the way you have about an article but by having the character to post that comment you may attract more readers, and you may be voicing the opinions of other as well. 

Good comments beget good comments.  When people take the time to comment on posts knowing their thoughts and opinions are going to stay in the comment section and not be deleted (except in cases of malicious attacks) then they will take the time to comment more and more.  If you delete them or jam garbage down their throats then you can rest assure they will not be coming back.

So please… comment what you feel.  Not only on my posts but on others   What is the worst things someone can do?  send you an email or post a reply to your comment calling you names?  Been there, done that.  It’s going to take a lot more than being called names to get me to back off my opinions.

Have any of you received really harsh comments or feedback?  Feel free to share here.

Related articles

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Calling President’s Choice… What Happened to the PC Organic Oatmeal??? Say it aint so!

The President's Choice logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I couldn’t take the uncertainty anymore.  Not knowing was killing me, so I reached out to the folks at Presidents Choice through this URL; http://www.presidentschoice.ca/LCLOnline/contactUs.jsp and I left them this message;

Hi there.

I love the PC organic oatmeal.  We buy 2 bags every week and every morning I made it for myself and my 3 kids, however, I cannot find it anywhere the past couple weeks and I’m very concerned.  Is everything okay?  I had to buy the Quaker oatmeal and my kids hate it.  This morning I made the blue menu steel-cut oats but it takes too long to make
(20 minutes).

Please reassure me and tell me it’s a supply problem and not that the product is being discontinued.  I’ve hit about 7 stores – Loblaws, No Frills, but no luck.

Help!

Oatless in Toronto.

Here was what got fired back;

We have received your email and will be responding to you as quickly as possible.
Your patience during periods of high volume is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

President’s Choice Customer Relations

I know when I get home there will be a clear explanation and hopefully a note that there was a supply issue, or packaging or something simple which will see me eating that again real soon.

Sadly, the response I received was even more disappointing than seeing the empty shelves.  Here was what was waiting for me in my inbox;

.”Dear Mr. Urban Daddy,

Thank you for taking the time to email us concerning our PC Organics Instant Oatmeal.

Unfortunately, this product has been discontinued; however we do keep track of all customer requests and review the possibilities of reintroducing these items based on our customer feedback.  We will be sure to pass on your inquiry to our product developers for future consideration.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and hope you will contact us in the future with any other questions or comments.”

GASP.

I’m so sad.  Forget subways… I need my oatmeal back!  I need to get Galen Weston on the phone ASAP!

Thursday Thirteen – 13 News Stories that matter to this urban daddy

This weeks edition of the Thursday Thirteen focuses on 13 new stories which matter to this urban daddy living in North America’s 7th largest city.

You may recognize some and others may be new to you.  Please take the time and see what matters.

Here we go!

13.  Anyone find the irony here?  TaxMasters, a firm that advertises it can help consumers facing problems with taxes, has filed for bankruptcy protection.

TaxMasters, earned revenue by getting their customers to pay advance fees of $2,000 to $8,000 allegedly by misstating the help they could provide people with unpaid IRS tax bills.  It has been reported that in some cases, TaxMasters claimed they would reduce people’s tax bills by up to 90% but when they were not able to, they kept the advanced fees and moved on.

The Better Business Bureau says it has received more than 1,000 complaints about TaxMasters over the course of the last three years.  In their bankruptcy filing, TaxMasters stated their liabilities – money owing to creditors - between $1 million and $10 million and their assets to be less than $50,000.  This is what happens when you have commissioned sales people pitching services which involve the government.  No one can truly appreciate the inner workings of a government agency or departments unless they have working in one, or worked with one over a period of time.

12.  Library workers in Toronto go on strike over job security for the full-time and part-time workforce.

For those of you not in Toronto, you should know that recently, the Toronto government has been looking at libraries – in addition to all other public bodies – as an area to save city taxpayer dollars.  As the 7th largest city in North America, Toronto has a conservative mayor who wants to tighten up spending, reduce waste and not have to keep increasing taxes in order to meet obligations and this is not being accepted by the strong left-wing contingent in the downtown core.

As a result of this mention of libraries, a rallying cry came out about how much libraries are used in this day and age even though people are using iPads, and Kobo readers and downloading reading materials.  Internet has reduced the reliance on libraries much in the same way that Wikipedia spelled the end for encyclopedia’s.

Unionized library staff, clearly concerned, started campaigning to keep libraries open and began to justify some of the very large – over $100K salaries – and reinforced the need for libraries in the City of Toronto.  The mayor clarified that there was no intention to close libraries, but are librarians really worth $100K/year.

The issue had since did down until they went on strike – closing the libraries as of Monday.

If there ever was a way to show the mayor and the local government that the City can do some cost cutting in the library system, it will become perfectly clear when the public show they can live without libraries.

Nice job union!

11.  Some wack-job, now identified as being Mohammed Merah, a  24-year-old member of al-Qaeda who had escaped from prison in Afghanistan is behind the killing of 3 French soldiers one who was Muslim, and a Rabbi and 3 children at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France.

Police found explosives his brother’s car, and have arrested his brother, mother and an acquaintance of the brother.  He said he wanted to kill the Jewish kids in revenge for Palestinian children being killed in Israel, and the soldiers for France’s participating in the war in Afghanistan.

This morning he jumped out of the apartment building he was in while shooting, only to become a pancake upon his bodies arrival to the ground.  Oh well.  I hope he suffered.

10.  Reports out of Israel indicate that several of the prisoners returned to the West Bank and Gaza strip in the Gilad Shalit swap have been re-arrested during failed attempts to kidnap Israeli citizens…  How does that expression go?  “Stupid is as stupid does”.

9.  Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning has signed a $96 million dollar, 5-year contract to play for the Denver Broncos, meaning current QB Tim “G-d Bless Me” Tebow has not been traded to the New York Jets.  It’s not that I’m against athletes getting that kind of money – I am – but that almost billion dollars would help build a lot of stuff in these tough times… Like maybe Toronto’s subways.

Huh?  What?!?  Peyton Manning, not Preston Manning… Oh.  Move on.  Nothing to see here.

8.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are falling.  The Toronto Raptors are falling.  The Toronto Rock… falling.  Go Jays Go, 16-4 in MLB spring training coming into Thursday which puts them second to the 14-3 Detroit Tigers for the best record in the entire league!

7.  Show of hands for who wants to bring back the death penalty for the killers of Tori Stafford.  I have both hands up…

6.  Quebec students are planning a “massive protest” against rising tuition hikes.  Really?  I’m sorry I must not be paying enough taxes so that I can provide you with subsidized tuition.  Poor baby.  When I went to university, I – gasp – got a job to pay for my tuition.  I even worked during the school year.  I think we’re really getting a glimpse into Generation “me”, with the G20 riots against capitalism, then the “Occupy” movement against greed, and the protests against rising tuition… This generation really does just want to get things for free and not have to work for it, or put in any time.  It’s not like the Internet kids, where you just go download stuff for free.  you’ll see once you grow up, when the next generation starts stealing your hard work that it really sucks.  Life’s not fair.  Deal with it!

5.  Some employers have been asking potential applicants for access to their Facebook accounts during the hiring process.  I suspect with all that has gone on in social media, people posting nude pictures, or inappropriate things about their jobs or drug pictures employers want to make sure they’re hiring solid candidates who can grown with the company and represent it well.  I 100% do not agree with this policy, however, as a huge user of social media, the candidate should be able to communicate the messages that I have always done, that my Facebook profile only has pictures of my family.  I do not identify my employer.  I never, ever blog or tweet about my employer and representing your employer your number one priority.

Let them look.  They probably already have, but don’t give them reasons to pass you over.  Keep your profile clean.  You want a friend to see you drinking, or in a bathing suit, send it to them.  Don’t post it online!

4.  Torontonians and suburban 905ers  will be seeing new area code overlays with 437 being added to 416/647 exchange and 365 being added to the area now served by the 905/289 codes.  Did you know that the 416  area code is one of 86 original area codes established in North America in 1947.  The western part of the original 416 code was split into the 519 area code in 1953 and the remaining portion outside of the city was split into 905 in 1993. This geographic split made it easy for people referring to the suburbs rather than the city because it could simply be called the 905.  647 and 289 came on board in 2001.

Area code 387 has also been reserved for future use in what will soon be the 416/647/437 area.

3.  An “abnormal” amount of a protein – called prostaglandin D2, found in the bald spots of the scalp of men who are losing their hair - causes male pattern baldness, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania discovered.

Knowing what causes male pattern baldness could lead to new treatments.

A different prostaglandin, F2alpha, is known to increase hair growth.

2.  Google announced today that through their Street View technology, we can now all explore portions of the Amazon Rain Forest.  The pictures were taken along the Rio Negro in Brazil last year using camera-mounted three-wheeled bicycles have been woven into Google Maps, allowing users to virtually venture on waterways and trails and in even villages.

Some key things to look out for; Take a virtual boat ride down the main section of the Rio Negro, float up into the smaller tributaries where the forest is flooded, enjoy a hike along an Amazon forest trail, see where Brazil nuts are harvested, and you might even see an animal or 2

1.  Air Canada.  Ahh, to be unionized.  Air Canada has been bailed out by the Canadian government and Canadian taxpayers so many times its ridiculous, but then out of nowhere on Thursday the ground workers staged a wildcat strike meaning they held up over 70 flight.  People were trapped in airplanes on Toronto’s Pearson International Airport runway and baggage was slow to move from plane to terminal.  As a result of this illegal strike, 37 workers were fired.

But wait.

As a payback to Canadians who has contributed hard-earned tax dollars into this carrier to allow they baggage handlers to keep their jobs, the union backed off the strike only if the workers were re-instated and the airline promised not to punish them now or in the future.

What a gig.

And union leaders wonder why the majority of citizens how come to be fed up with unions.  Take this as yet another example.

Toronto viewed south from Bloor (Photo credit: Small)

Related articles

• Thursday Thirteen – You know you have lost touch with the adult world when… (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• Thursday Thirteen – 13 Ways to tell you are behind a shitty driver. (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• Thursday Thirteen with a Twist (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• If being left-handed is now fully accepted by society, why is being right-wing politically still frowned up? (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)

Getting Started with the Canadian Live-In Caregiver Program

I receive quite a few emails and comments each week on the Canadian Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) and the majority of them surround how to participate in the program, from the perspective of a potential foreign worker and from potential employers.

I try to be very up front and honed when I discuss this topic – especially when I say that I do recommend the use of a nanny agency – as the rules and regulations have been getting more and more specific and with that more and more complicated over the years.  The Conservative government has put measures in place to make it less desirable for foreign workers to abuse the system and have absolutely clamped down on abusive employers.  The government has also tightened up requirements on nanny agencies making sure they have immigration consultants on their staff as well as an immigration lawyer.  If anyone is going to be able to get the caregivers over to Canada properly and navigate through the rules, it’s an agency.

With all this tightening, we are left with two very clear facts;

1.  You have to have money to hire a live in caregiver.  The government has been known to reject single parents with income of less than $70,000.00 per year and couples with a combined income of less than $100,000.00 per year, as reported on their personal taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).  They ask for a copy of your previous 2 years’ notices of assessment (NOA’s) to ensure you are telling the truth.

The main reason behind the minimum salary requirements is quite simple.  Too many nannies came forward complaining at having not been paid and / or were being paid much less than minimum wage.  The government is trying to change people’s perspectives through the LCP that these people (mainly women) are foreign workers, not nannies, and as such, the employers will be less likely to take advantage of then re: wages, working conditions, tasks, hours, vacation time, etc.  Companies who abuse their foreign workforce get sued.

The downfall of the high salary requirement for employers obviously is that a single mom, for example, who needs to get out into the workforce to provide for her family cannot afford to hire a nanny through the program and instead resorts to daycare or hiring a nanny under the table, which generally means being paid in cash.  Cash is great for not paying taxes and not having to perform the monthly remittance to the government however without an official record trail of being employed in Canada and paying into the system, when that caregiver finds themselves unemployed, they are not eligible to claim EI and are forced to take a low paying job somewhere else in order to keep the income flowing.  If they are in the LCP, they are not getting credit for time served.

2. The  second thing this tightening of screws does, is it pushes any potential employer towards a nanny agency in order to ensure they complete the paperwork and get through all the new requirements.  When we sponsored our first nanny – over 7 years ago - there were only two pages of paperwork required and through our agency, The Wee Care Placement Agency, http://www.weecareplacement.ca/, we jointly completed the paperwork and went through the next steps together.  I spoke to the government, they asked the questions I was now expecting and I gave them the answers they needed to hear to know we needed a nanny and would treat them with respect and in the same way we expect them to treat our kids.

It’s an intimidating process to say the least, at least it was back in 2004 when we started sponsoring nannies, and it’s been getting that much more complicated as we continued sponsoring nannies once our nannies completed the program and went off into the workforce.

Nowadays, the documentation needed is upwards of 18 pages long, and the requirement to advertise on the job bank is also quite specific, let alone figuring out the logistics around the paying for the ticket of this potential nanny to come to Canada – hoping they will stay with you, or that you mesh together…  It’s not so easy anymore to do on your own.  One mistake or omission could set back your nannies anticipated arrival by days, weeks, months or worse, permanently and land you on the banned employer list.

It’s also easier when going through an agency to find out why a nanny coming from the Philippines needs a year and proof of travel being paid for, while a nanny coming from Hong Kong can be here in half that time.  Most agencies also provide a guarantee so if you do sponsor through them and the nanny bails or you find they do not mesh with your family, you have 3 months to sort this out,

An additional bonus to having an agency on your side is as a resource to ask when you are unsure of overtime amounts to be paid or duties which can and cannot be performed, or about how to address performance issues, or vacation request, sick requests or open permits.  I called Wee Care to discuss the newest regulations and it helped me write this post.  It was money well spent back in 2004 and we continue to have a relationship to this day.

So if I was being asked again to provide my thoughts on how to move forward through the LCP, my advice would be to speak to an agency.  It’s worth every penny and you’ll keep going back over and over again.  As a matter of fact, in the 7 years which we have sponsored 4 nannies we have done them all through Wee Care and for us the program suited our needs it got to the point where they knew what kind of caregiver we needed and they brought us a couple to meet and interview along our guidelines and one remains with us.

But you do not hae to take my word for it.  Read up on the guidelines online at the CRA and Immigration Canada websites on what is required, then you too will probably come to the realization that you will need an agency to assist you though this process.

Good luck.

If you have any questions, feel free to post them here and if I cannot answer them, I will forward them along to the amazing folks at Wee Care for their expert opinions.

Related articles

• Oh boy, open permit season causes all kinds of headaches, eh? (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
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Order-in Nightmares: The Thai Grill (formerly Friendly Thai) on Eglinton Avenue

I enjoy posting food posts when I find a place that has great food, or great owners and are really deserving of more traffic but every now and then I need to post about places we have visited – or ordered from – which draws my ire and I feel I must address to prevent others from falling prey to the same mistakes we did and to allow the owners an opportunity to respond or at the very least clean things up.

Here is what happened to us Saturday night.  Please feel free to share your horror stories as well.

At 7pm we decided to order dinner online through JustEat, from a local Thai restaurant called the Thai Grill (formerly the Friendly Thai) a 5-10 minute walk from our house.  We had spent all of Friday night awake with a sick 2-year-old and she spend all of Saturday laying across one of us crying that her tummy hurt, throwing up periodically and not eating or drinking.  The thought her was that it should take us an hour to get the three of them into bed and the food was scheduled to arrive by 7:50.  Perfect.

We got the kids to bed, settled back in downstairs and noticed it was now 8:15 and there was no food.  My wife called the restaurant and was advised it was “going out in 5 minutes”.  We explained to the location that we were very close and that it shouldn’t be a long trip – they could just walk it over as other local places do.

By 8:30 we were back on the phone and this time the food had just left and we were promised that “something extra” had been included in our order as an offer of apology for the fact it took an hour and a half and no food.

At 9pm I called the restaurant and I explained to them it was getting late to eat and wondered where the food was – by this time I was sitting near the front door so they would not ring the bell and wake the kids (oh, the opportunity for irony there).  She said they were very busy and the driver had just left.  She told me we were further than 5 minutes away – like 10 minutes – so it would take 10 minutes before the food arrived.

At 9:15 I called – 15 minutes had passed – no food.  The restaurant sounded puzzled that no food had arrived yet.

By 9:30 I kept calling but this time no one answered and the voice mail box… You guessed it.  Full.

I wanted to tell them to keep their food but was worried that since we paid via credit card on Just Eat that it would be a hassle getting the money back – who would believe that no food came?

When I went online while waiting I saw a LOT of comments about the delivery being horrid but the food being good.  More on this later.

So around 9:45 the food showed up and guess what.  It was tepid in temperature and food was missing.  Of the 5 dishes we ordered – 2 soups, 2 spring rolls, pad Thai and basil chicken, the chicken was not there, nor were the spring rolls.  The delivery guy who leapt out of the car and ran across our neighbours lawn with our food while the driver did a u turn for their next delivery called the restaurant and promised to bring us the Basil Chicken in 20 minutes.  “Too late”, I said.  “10 minutes” he replied.  “I’ll bring you back the basil chicken, the spring rolls and the extra dish for the inconvenience in 10 minutes”,

Off he sped to apologize to the next delivery I suspect.

I waited up until 11pm for those dishes.  finally put up a note asking them not to ring the bell and I went to bed.  The next morning, I looked outside, but there was no food there.

So after an almost 3 hour wait for the food, we were completely disappointed.  It arrived lukewarm, and half of our order was missing.  It took 3 phone calls to track the order down, and the promised extra dishes for our inconvenience were conveniently absent.

The things that alarmed me the most was the actual food.  The soups were great, with my seafood soup leaving me wanting more – but these soups are made during the day and left to cook.  The quality of the rest of the food that had to have been prepared upon order was shocking.  The chicken spring rolls were soggy and oily and seemed to be missing the vital ingredient of chicken.  The Pad Thai tasted like it was made in a hurry with ketchup, not tamarind, and there were no peanuts, sprouts or lemon wedges as advertised on their menu and website.  Frankly, the only good thing to be said about this food was that the portions were large.  I felt like they forgot about the order – they got their money from Just Eat at 7pm, and threw together a joke of a meal for their “delivery” orders.

If these guys cannot get their act together to provide delivery then they should NOT be offering it.  We let Just Eat know this and we commented online and now you know.

I would try them again in their location but the games that came with the order – promises, not answering the phone, not doing whatever it took to satisfy us – not following through with food, means we will never order from this restaurant again.  As a matter of fact, I’m actually going to suggest you go somewhere else as well.  Somewhere that values your money.

The last time we had service this bad was the day ofter Passover about 25 years ago when Pizza Pizza brought our pizza 6 hours after we had ordered – they were busy too – and it was burnt.  They still wanted us to pay but instead he just gave us the food and we tipped the poor guy.

Talk about your experiences:

Update: Within a day of this being posted, I received a very kind note from www.just-eat.ca to see if they could assist in making things right, but the cool thing is that the day before my wife contact Just Eat and they made it right without any fuss.  They credited us back the items we never received and they gave us a $5.00 voucher towards any further order through their site which we will of course use since we have no issues with them – it’s not their fault – but they were super-professional and quick to put this issue behind us and for that they receive 2 thumbs up… WAY up.

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Beware the Ides of March! What the heck does that mean anyways? I’ll tell you!

So, today is March the 15^th.

Is there any way today could be as eventful as yesterday, March the 14^th, which was Pi Day (at 1:59am) and also one month after Valentine’s Day – which is known as Guy’s Wishful Thinking Day – or Steak and BJ Day.

But today… March 15^th…  something happened today which you may or may not know about depending on your age.  If you’re old enough you may know already that on this day in 44BC, Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic was stabbed 33 times to his death in the Roman senate, by several Roman senators, led by Marcus Junius Brutus (Caesar’s protege) and his brother-in-law, Gaius Cassius Longinus.  So if suggests that you “beware the Ides of March” it means be careful your followers do not surround you and stab you to death in the head, neck and – gulp – groin.

March 15^th, 2011 was also the beginning of the Syrian uprising – interesting considering there is a dictator there too….

However today, Facebook did NOT shut down permanently as was being spread across the Internet as some sort of dumb-ass, barely believable hoax, however if it did, I would not be missing playing Cityville since my wife deleted it from her Facebook, then from mine in effort to restore 2 hours of our free time each day.  I suffered one day of withdrawal, then felt relief at not having to go in and play and bug people for stuff.  I’m free!

But back to the Ides of March:

The word Ides comes from the Latin word “Idus” and means “half division” especially in relation to a month. It is a word that was used widely in the Roman calendar indicating the approximate day that was the middle of the month. The term ides was used in Roman times to identify the middle of the month.  The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held.

Apparently, a seer had foreseen that Caesar, the “Dictator for Life” of the Roman Empire would be harmed not later than the Ides of March and on his way to the Theatre of Pompey (where he would be assassinated), Caesar met that seer and joked, “The Ides of March are come”, meaning to say that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to which the seer replied “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.”

So while Caesar knew the senators hated him, he was still handed a warning note before entering but he did not read it, and he dismissed his security force not long before his assassination. After he entered the hall, he was surrounded by these senators who were holding daggers – never a good sign – with Servilius Casca striking the first blow, hitting Caesar in the neck. The other senators all joined in on the beat down, stabbing him repeatedly.

Marcus Brutus wounded Caesar in the groin and Caesar is said to have remarked in Greek, “You, too, my child?” which is where “es tu Brutus?” came from.

In an somewhat ironic turn of events the soap opera continued and Cassius and Brutus got what was coming to them when Caesar’s will left a guy named Octavian in charge of the Roman Empire as his adopted son. Cassius and Brutus tried to rally against the army and even had the foresight to issue coins celebrating the assassination of Julius Caesar, known as the Ides of March.  But adopted son and new leader Octavian’s forces defeated the Brutus and Cassius army 2 years later in the Battle of Philippa (in Greece) which resulted in the 2 committing suicide.

Who saw that coming, eh???

Octavian, later known as Augustus, ruled the Roman Empire for many more years.

If you want to know more, think back to high-school when you asked your English teacher when you were ever going to use Shakespear aghain in your whole life, since this meeting is famously dramatized in William Shakespeare‘s play Julius Caesar.

Happy Pi Day everyone!

Image via Wikipedia

Today is March 14th, so that makes it Pi Day!

For those of you who do not know what Pi is, an explanation follows.  If you do know, however, then you don’t have to read on, you can just go back to solving your quadratic equations with an abacus.

Pi or π – which looks a lot like a Hebrew letter, a table or Prince’s name when he wanted to be a symbol –  is actually the Latin name of this Greek letter and is pronounced “pie”.

Here is a little more information; some of it comes to me via Wikipedia – of course; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi

So how does that Greek letter become part of modern day mathematics (the keeners always ask me this question), well it might be because “π” is the first letter of the Greek word περίμετρος which translated to English means perimeter.  The ratio of the perimeter to the diameter, is constant for all circles, so if it never changes old world scholars thought it must have a Greek or Latin name, hence Pi.

Some fun facts about Pi:

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th at 1:59am if you are on a 24 hour clock, or 1:59pm if not.

π is an irrational number, its decimal representation does not repeat, and therefore does not terminate.  This has fascinated mathematicians and regular people like you and I for year, as we try to recite Pi to as many decimal places that we can remember.

The decimal representation of π = 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510…

The Guinness Book of World Records record for remembered digits of π is 67,890 digits, held by Lu Chao, a 24-year-old graduate student from China. It only took him 24 hours and 4 minutes to recite π to the 67,890th decimal place without an error.

Crazy, eh?

Kids these days have too much time on their hands.

Anyways.

Happy Pi Day!!!

For those of you not celebrating the math-kind of Pi day today, you might be looking to celebrate a different kind of pie day today since today is also one month after Valentine’s Day so today is also Steak and a BJ Day.

Unfortunately, I saw this too late to celebrate… We have no steak in the house.

It was a deja vu on Friday… First cat pee, then rotten fish and chicken. UGH.

I knew Friday night that it was deja vu all over again.

Déjà vu is the experience of feeling sure that one has already witnessed or experienced a current situation, even though the exact circumstances of the prior encounter are uncertain and were perhaps imagined

Here was how I arrived at that situation, beginning with my Friday evening, when I went to see the Toronto Rock lacrosse game at 7:30pm at the Air Canada Centre, arriving home by 10:30pm, or just in enough time to go to hockey.  The plan was for me to race home,grab my hockey bag, pick up my buddy and head over to play some ball-hockey.  I’ve been playing in ball-hockey leagues for over 20 years, so I have done this before, but this was the first game after a lacrosse game and I had the subway to keep in mind as I travelled from downtown to mid-town Toronto. 

 Planning in advance, I brought up my bag from the basement and placed it on the coffee table in the family room, but I already knew something was wrong when I started to look inside for my required equipment.  Something that happened to me before, a long time ago was happening again.

Some background to put this story into context:  

When my wife and I got engaged, I moved in to her condo with her and her 3 cats.  The oldest one of these cats, the queen, was not very fond of change, nor did she particularly like anyone who took away her sleeping spot on the bed – so me.  She wouldn’t hiss or growl, but instead let out a long “MEOWWWWWWW” and with that she thought she was speaking English and those words were not kind at all.  In hindsight, they were probably threats.

Anyways, this cat showed us her displeasure after my second day living there when she emptied her bladder on urban mummy’s shoes which were sitting at the front door.  This was no accident.  It was a targeted attack because from that day forward, whenever we left shoes out at night, they were attacked.  All the while I suspect she was planning the biggest attack for me.  

One day I grabbed my hockey bag from the laundry room – or the front hall – I do not recall, and there was a foul smell and my bag was dripping.  I suspected that my water bottle had tipped over and I had forgotten to close it, since this had happened before.

I loaded my stuff in the car and raced over to the arena.  I arrived in the change room and proceeded to unload my equipment when the guy sitting beside me started to sneeze like crazy. 

He spun to me and asked me if I had cats. 

“Yes”, I replied, my wife does, “why?”

“I’m deathly allergic”, he said, “and my eyes are red now so I have to move to the other side of the room… Sorry” and with that, up he got and away he walked.

I then proceeded to take out my equipment and it was all wet.  My jersey, wet.  My towel, soaked, my socks, wet, jock, wet, gloves, wet… It was going to be a rough game since all my stuff was wet but my team needed me to play.

It was only once I was completed dressed when I looked back into my bag and noticed that the “water” that had spilled from my bottle was in fact yellow in colour…

BING.

The coin dropped.

The light went on.

The elevator hit the top floor.

That #$&#%$&$%&% cat peed in my hockey bag and now I’m fully dressed and about to play in urine. 

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

But my team needed me and I had to go out so I sucked it up for the team and played.

Fast forward to Friday night.

All three of those cats have since passed on and we have a newish cat who is not a very nice cat but he has never peed on anyone’s clothes.  There was a different issue at play here.

On Wednesday, my wife noticed that our standing freezer in the basement had turned off and fully defrosted, thawing everything that was inside of it including 9 giant salmon heads which I picked up for our nanny to feed her Thursday play group.  The melted ice, and blood and goop from the fish, and chickens which thawed leaked all over the floor in the storage room, and sitting on the floor in that room was, you guessed it, my hockey bag.

Now I’m not sure if that crap got sucked into the back through the bottom or if someone dropped a towel inside but this bag smelled horrid and was not only wet, but it was sticky. 

I removed a lot of the stuff that I did not need to play and I left it in the laundry room, but this team also needed me Friday night and I thought how bad could it be compared to cat pee.

Let me tell you… It was worse.

I got to the arena, changed and very reluctantly put on some very wet, very smelly equipment.  As I slid my hands into the gloves, not only were they wet, but they were slimy and for a good 10 minutes while warming up, I could not hold my stick and my gloves were always sliding off.  I even tried rubbing my hands in the faces of my opponents to see if it would deter them from destroying us, but it didn’t.

I was the stinky guy, but very much unlike the stinky guy who never cleans his equipment or washes his clothes.  I was the stinky guy covered in rotting food who squished too.  It was so bad, I could not even place my head down on the bench for fear that I would catch a whiff of my own jersey.

On the bright side, we only lost 10-1.

I raced home, showered a VERY long and very hot shower and ran all my equipment and hockey bag through the wash twice with a lot of soap.

Tonight, I have another game and before that game I intend on washing my stick, mouth guard, helmet and water bottle.

UGH.

It was deja vu of the worst kind.

I told this story to my wife and she said in both instances she would NOT have played.  In both cases my team needed me.

Would you have played?  Would it change your decision if you knew your team needed you there and playing? 

Thursday Thirteen – Taxation Related

As a taxation professional, it was only a matter of time before I posted a Thursday Thirteen that was taxation related.  I have a timely post this week around tax season – Canadian style – however some of it crosses the globe.If you ever want to read more taxation information or read my thoughts on managing, you can do so at www.intaxicating.wordpress.com.

But in the meantime, with tax filing season fast approaching, here are the 13 things you need to know before you file your 2011 tax returns;

13.  Contrary to popular belief of those on the left and those silly ”Occupy” folks, in Canada (and the US), the top 10% of Canadian earners pay half of all personal income taxes, while the half of earners with the lowest income pay less than a tenth (1/10th) of the total. So those in the driver’s seat, the high and middle-income earners, they DO have some choice as to how much they want to spend and how much they plan to save, so by spending less, they pay less consumption taxes, less property tax, less gasoline tax, and other taxes and user fees – bank fees, late fees. interest on credit cards, etc., 

12.  Regardless of where you are and what you do, you really should file a tax return.  Canadian reporting is voluntary in certain conditions, but be sure before you pass on filing.  The CRA has a great list of when you need to file and why you should file right here;  http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/flng-blgtns/menu-eng.html

11. You have the option to defer the paying of taxes, in some cases, when you save for retirement inside a RRSP / IRA or any other form of registered retirement savings plan.  In these plans, you defer payment of income taxes until later in life.  There are taxes assessed, when you withdraw the money after you have reached a certain age, usually 65-years-old, but those tax rates are probably lower than you would be paying now, if you have above-average income.

If your income is below average, you may be better off to pay taxes now and save in a tax-free savings account (TFSA).

If you save for your family inside a registered education savings plan or a registered disability savings plan, there will be a deferral of taxes on interest earnings, other investment returns and government grants. Then the child or other relative will likely pay little or no taxes on those savings.

10. Before you file make sure you have all your slips.  Amending sucks and looking for them last-minute can cause a lot of stress.  Trust me on that one.

9.  Make sure the government has correct information for you – address, name, direct deposit because you want your refund and if they audit you, they might not be re-assessing you, but rather they may be looking for an additional copy of a receipt they lost in the processing of 20 million tax returns.  Get to it and get to it quickly.  Do not ignore government mail and not open it.  Open it and action it..

8.. File this one electronically – but keep your receipts handy for audit and verification purposes.  It’s quick, you may get your money earlier and you’re saving trees,  My kids say thank you..

7.  If you owe money, do not write a note and attach it to your return, but contact the government and make a payment arrangement and honor it.  When your paper return comes into the processing centres, the processors, who are usually temporary hires to help the CRA get through the tax season, rip of cheques and process them right away, then they tear off any unnecessary paperwork and send the returns to a data processing group.  So if you include a piece of paper or maybe gold glittery powder, it’s in the classified waste bin right away.,

6. Think before you bitch – A third of all income in Canada is paid in taxes. But before you consider moving out of the country, consider that the Canadian tax burden is less than that of 19 other developed nations.  We, as Canadians only pay more taxes than 10 developed nations.

5. Why all the taxes?  Where does this tax revenue go?  With the tax revenue, 62% of it goes to pay for health care, education and social assistance, including unemployment benefits.  The rest, a measley 38% goes for everything else we need, like infrastructure, social programs, etc.  Not such a bad deal afterall, eh?

4. Not everything is taxed, here are some examples - There is no tax on a winning Lottery tickets, on scholarships, inheritances, gifts, the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to the taxable Old Age Security (OAS) pension, Canada Child Tax Benefit cheques or child support payments after a divorce.  You pay no tax on at least the first $9,000 of waged earnings or $40,000 of income per year if you receive only eligible corporate dividends and $18,000 if you receive only capital gains.

3. On the flip side, some high-tax items - The income tax rate on income beyond $127,021 a year in 2010 was 46.4%. Taxes on cigarettes in Ontario was 63.5%; alcohol, 52.7%; and regular gasoline, around 36%.

2. The HST effect – The combined 13% federal and Ontario sales tax, the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) has boosted the incentive to conserve energy, because provincial sales tax did not apply to energy before July 1, 2011 – Thank you Dalton! – So you will save more if you choose a compact, well-insulated home close to your job and buy fuel-efficient vehicles – like my hybrid vehicle - appliances, lighting – get those halogen, CFC-free bulbs, and furnaces.

1. Tax relief opportunities – Numerous tax breaks and benefits aim to encourage you to better yourself or the economy, such as seek higher education, earn high grades, raise children, move closer to a job, belong to a professional group, take public transit, make charitable and political donations, invest in companies, start a small business, and save for retirement.  So get cracking. 

There are some easy wins here and some clear opportunities to save money and where we are all letting money slip through out fingers.

But whatever you do, get it there on time!  No point in paying the government a late filing penalty of $400.00 for your procrastination.

 

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