Call Centres

Do you know anyone that works in a call centre? I do. He says that it’s the “modern day factory.” There are so many rules and performance measurements that it’s like working on an assembly line. People cannot even go to the bathroom without it being tracked. One minute late is considered a big deal and the calls are so repetitive that people get bored very quickly. This is why I hear they have high turn- over. Also, as the first point of contact for anyone calling the company, you get yelled at a lot and it can be a very thankless job. Breaks and lunches are the highlight of the day – unless you get off a call late and have to shave a few minutes off your break or lunch. Seems cruel, doesn’t it? Getting penalized for staying back to help a customer. The sad thing is that call centers are becoming the job of the future for educated people. By educated, I mean having at least college or university. This is why this person tells me to specialize and get my Masters in something – anything. Otherwise, I’ll be stuck in a factory where my bathroom visits are monitored (timed). Where I can say “thank you for calling… how I can help you?” a hundred times a day. How is this any better than asking “do you want fries with that?” At least I won’t need a post secondary education to ask about fries, shakes or supersizing. But I don’t want to pay off a loan with the meager pay I’d get from answering the phone for a living. Is this where you’re headed? Are you having second thoughts after reading this? If not, blog back. Give me another chance to talk you out of it. Post your comments below.

Civil Servants – who’s serving who?

Public service is the backbone of this great nation and province. However, like most traditional institutions, the core values have gone the way of the black and white television set and wearing pearls to vacuum the living room. Public servants (or Civil Servants in today’s speak) seem more interested in raises, pensions, benefits and striking to really be considered “servants for the public.” Who works for whom? If they are the servants, then we, the people, would be the masters. Then why is it that the servants make more than their masters or have better pension plans and health benefits than their masters? And, since when, can the servants hold the masters hostage by staging walk outs and wildcat lock downs of services that are required for the master to function in this province? Isn’t it convenient that teacher’s contracts are always up for negotiation right before school starts in the fall? Yet, they say it’s about how much they care about the kids. If so, then why disrupt their school year? Why not go on strike during the breaks? It’s because they care about themselves. Public servants care about themselves and their unions care about making money. Taxpayers just fund this corruption of our government services. It’s time to change their name. We haven’t been masters since about the time they stopped being servants. I want to hear what you think – especially if you know someone in the government but even more so if you’ve have to deal with someone recently who works for the government. Please post your comments below.

TTC

Most suburban students are not commuters but if you live in Toronto, then this blog’s for you. Effective January 3, 2010, the fare to take the TTC is going up and so is the Metro Pass – by $17; Happy New Year! College and University students are being given a break but what about the parents who may be helping their college and/or university students pay tuition? This is criminal.
In no other city in North America are commuters expected to pay 70 per cent of the operating budget for public transit. The TTC knows that it has most commuters by the you-know-what. For many, there is no other way for them to maneuver themselves through the city. Yet, the TTC has yet to be classified an Essential Service. What’s even worse is that the TTC isn’t promising more reliable service for the additional increase. Only with government-funded programs are agencies permitted (or able) to demand more and provide less.
With the economy in the tank why isn’t the TTC taking the same measures as the private sector when it comes to filling the gap in budget shortfalls? Ie: layoffs. Instead, raises continue to be given out why the Toronto Transit Commission continues to cry poor. In the private sector when a company doesn’t have the money to pay for things they don’t gauge their customers – lest they lose them to the competition. If the TTC has a monopoly then it’s time for them to be declared an Essential Service. Otherwise, it’s time for them to find more creative ways to find money besides yearly fare increases. TTC = Take The Car. Do you know what I mean? Post your comments below, for or against fare increases.

Skipping Class

As a proud d’Youville student who loves school, learning and gaining knowledge, I never could put my finger on why other students would come to school to skip class and spend the day in the cafeteria or the Matrix. St. Marguerite d’Youville is a very well-run school with a great staff. This contributes to a safer and more academically-driven school. Of course, our school has its “skippers” but, when talking to my friends who attend different schools, who tell me that at least three to six students skip classes each day to stand outside or in the cafe, I am completely shocked; at our school you may have the odd one or two students who do this but, for the most part, this is very rare.
So when my friend told me about how chronic it was at his school, I asked him “why?” and he said that they skip for the sake of doing “nothing.” I thought to myself, ‘why would someone get up in the morning and put their uniform on to go to school and skip?’ If you’re going to skip, at least sleep in. Stay home or go to the mall. Go to work and make some money. But don’t go to school to sit in the boring cafeteria or Matrix all day. The way I see it, if I haven’t already made this point, is if you’re already there – go to class! Lunch at our school is an hour and twenty minutes and I get bored with that. I cannot fathom how these students get any pleasure by standing or sitting around all day.
Students are losing out on credits for dumb reasons especially when there are people in the world who would kill for an education. The law states that you have to be in school until you are at least 18. Do you want to be the only 18-year-old in Grade 9? You need your credits to graduate. At least you can say that you’re a high school graduate. You won’t get anywhere in life without it. So what are you doing about it? I need answers. If you’re a “skipper” please help me understand why you’re doing this. If you’re not a “skipper” join in the debate and tell me what you think? Post you’re comments below. If you’re skipping class right now, you have the time so why not respond?

Horror Movies

I love horror movies because I love the feeling of being frightened. However, there are very few horror movies that can scare me because they’re all so stupid. They don’t make horror movies like The Exorcist anymore. What makes me angry when watching them is how bad the acting usually is. What’s worse is how ridiculous people behave in these films. For example, if I’m staying in a cabin in the woods and I hear rustling in the forest in the middle of the night during a rain storm, I don’t go wandering looking for the cause of the noise nor would anyway with sense. Also, the friends in these movies are usually very immature and pretend to be axe murderers so that when the real axe murderer is in the house no one reacts. You have the typical shower scene, the barn scene, the car with no gas or engine trouble, etc. These movies are very predictable to the point of being disappointing.
The worst is when someone wielding a 12-inch butcher knife gets knocked over or has the knife knocked out of his hand, all the victim does is throw a chair or pillow and thinks, “Ok, I’m safe now.” If it were me, I would give this guy some blunt force trauma to the head or the face. There’s no way I would collapse on the couch beside the knife or gun and say “whew, I’m glad that’s over.” I would have to make sure this nutcase was dead. I also wouldn’t go after this lunatic without proper weaponry. These horror movie flicks always seem to think they can outrun or outwit the madman without a knife or a bat or something to protect them. I watch these movies to critique them. I should be watching for the fright of it all. Does anyone out there know what I’m talking about? Does anybody else watch these and wonder why these people are always so stupid and say to themselves, “that would never happen to me?” If so, post your comments below.

Horrible Mothers

Horrible mothers are appearing more and more in our society. Recently very disturbing stories of what these mothers do to their children have been appearing n the media. As I was watching CNN and Nancy Grace, about two days ago, they were discussing a very alarming story about a five year old girl who goes by the name Shaniya Davis. Shaniya was found dead in North Carolina due to the decisions of her mother. Her mother begged her father to allow Shaniya to live with her mom. The mother then sold Shaniya to other men for sex. This story disturbed me and my family, and I’m sure many others, so much that I had to make blog discussing bad mothers particularly this one. How could a mother, of all people, sell her own daughter for sex at such a young age? How horrible and heartless of a mother would you have to be to bear a child for nine months only to sell her for child prostitution? I never thought I would ever hear of a mother doing this, but it did. Sadly, this is not the only story of a mother mistreating their child, but it is the most disturbing case. Many stories are out there of mothers abandoning their children at early ages, as early as pre-birth abortion. A case like Shaniya’s has not occurred, and the worst is that it was planned. I think a mother is the most important person to someone, as mine is to me, and I believe a mother should be in their child’s life as that’s all they have in the world. I am glad I have a loving mother and we have such a great bond, I don’t know what I would do without her. Mothers need to be in their children’s life and I don’t understand why they wouldn’t want to be, do you?

Fighting at Partys

As a teen or young adult, attending parties is a regular event. Young men and women love to go out dance, listen to music and associate with others in an entertaining atmosphere. As a teen or young adult, we love to meet new people and get “wasted”; parties with friends are a great place for this, until someone ruins the fun. I never understood why every enjoyable is ruined by a hot head for ignorant reasons. Reasons such as stepping on shoes or brushing people have caused fights at a party that everyone is enjoying. Why do these people, boys and girls, engage in a fight with another person for these reasons? I always thought if you didn’t want someone to step on your shoe or brush you, why attend a place in your best shoes where there is a cluster of people constantly moving. Fighting at parties is ridiculous and it is occurring more often; I don’t understand why people do it. Why pay money to go into a party and have a good time if you’re going to fight for a little reason? I just attended an excellent house party on Saturday and it got “locked off” at 11:30, it only started at 9:30! It was “locked off” because a couple of teen boys decided to fight because some idiot tried to push everyone down the stairs. The fighting escalated and quickly turned into a brawl, which lead to a swat team evacuating the house. A party that hundreds of people paid for and had plenty of girls ended due to these fools. With co- ed parties, why even bother fighting? Why not just talk to someone of the opposite sex, dance and have fun, especially if you’re paying to get in. If you know other reasons why people fight at parties please inform me as I need to know. Too many good parties have been ruined for me, and I still have about 10 years more of partying.

Girl Friends

As I continue to search for new videos on the infamous site “YouTube” I repeatedly see videos on what men’s girlfriends do to them after they have cheated or betrayed them in some way. As a man, these videos are an eye opener to what a girlfriend can do if she feels betrayed. For example, in 1993 a woman named Lorena Bobbit t severed her husband’s penis off with a knife after he was caught being unfaithful. Another video captured on YouTube was a story about how jealousy over a woman whose boyfriend had a baby with another woman caused her to take the child’s life. While both these examples are extreme and exaggerated cases of “fatal attraction,” it is true that Hell hath no fury, greater than the wrath of woman’s scorned. My own girlfriend has fought three girls at once because she thought they all liked me. She has threatened other girls for me and there have been many other minor incidents.
This just goes to show that women can become crazy and even unreasonable when it comes to their men. A woman at my father’s workplace ended up with seven stitches to the forehead after being caught in the crossfire of a “cat fight” over a guy at a club. As someone who, admittedly, cheats, these stories have done more than just inform and (also admittedly) entertain me; it makes me think twice about being unfaithful. Penis’ being chopped off and ex-girlfriend’s killing babies are not everyday occurrences but they do happen. Those guys never saw it coming but it happened to them anyway. No one plans doing these terrible things when things are going well in a relationship. What about when things aren’t going so well and the unreasonable and irrational mindset takes over? Watching these videos made me change my mind about double-crossing someone – especially a woman in love. Do you know anyone that crazy? Have you been caught in your own tryst? Let’s hear how it was handled. I want to find out what the collateral damage was. Please post your comments below.

Athletes

Wouldn’t you love to be an athlete? I definitely would. Professional athletes make millions of dollars each year to do what they love. Teachers and doctors who help people and save lives get about one fifth to a tenth of what some professional athletes make for entertaining others. Someone who plays football or hockey gets paid about 5 million dollars to get the ball/puck from one end to another to score while teachers , doctors, policemen, firefighters and others help people every day by saving lives and risking their own – and they top out at about $200,000 a year. Ridiculous! Athletes are also role- models for many individuals. You would think this would be the reverse. Policemen, doctors and teachers should be our role models because they are doing something good for in our communities. Athletes are getting too much recognition for what they do and I believe media has completely corrupted society with this athlete mania. Please know that there are many of us who see you “regular” folk as heroes. If you do, too, send me your comments. If not, let’s know why.

Disappointment

Have you ever been disappointed? I am almost certain that everyone has been disappointed at least one time in their life -- even Jesus was. Disappointment can be very hurtful and negative. I personally have been disappointed many times throughout my life in my marks, efforts, friends sometimes my parents and teachers but I have overcome them and become a stronger individual. The worst type of disappointment occurs from the people who you love but these ones only build up your character and get you ready for the real world. Many others have been disappointment but react wrongly by allowing it to bring down their self esteem. This can even lead to suicide attempts. Disappointment is helpful in life because it teaches people life lessons that we wouldn’t learn without them. But being disappointed by a loved one can really hurt; for example, when your parents tell you they will do something for you and they don’t, or when your friends promise to have your back or not snitch, or when you hear things they have said about you, you feel heartbroken and wonder to yourself why you bother trying to care. Disappointment by loved ones forces you to seek someone who you can trust, breaks your trust towards others and leaves people feeling paranoid. Imagine not being able to trust your own mother or father. Even though disappointment teaches you these life lessons and can make you strong no one wants to be disappointed. It is not what God intended. Wouldn’t you like to live a life without disappointment? Do you know what I’m talking about? Let’s hear your stories. Post your comments below.

Focusing

Have you ever found it very hard to focus on something that you don’t want to do? Or something that you are forced to do? Well for me, I find it very hard to focus on things. Seeing that I am a teenager that was on the Honour Roll for the 2008-2009 school year, I find it extremely hard to focus on anything that I do now a days. For me to focus I need a motivation -- which I never used to need when I was younger, but this doesn’t just seem to be happening to me but a lot of other teens in my age group. We have all noticed that as we continue to get older we struggle to focus on things that used to be important and we seem to be more tired. I am normally more energetic then others but I am noticing that I am struggling to even focus on video games. This is something I used to play for up to six hours. Now I can barely play for two hours. Focusing is becoming a harder task for me and my peers and I am wondering if it has to do with the fact were getting older and going through our prime in puberty or if it’s just that we all have attention deficit disorder or if it’s technology overload (cell phones, Video game, tv). I also did not realize how important it is to focus until now. Now that I’m older, the ability to focus is primary to be successful as I am seeing that my marks and everything else in my life is slowly degrading all because I do not focus as much as I used to. The ability to focus is more significant as I get older and people who have this ability have a major advantage over others. Please let me know what you think by posting your comments below.

Halloween

Halloween, in this city, has changed quite drastically over the past couple of years. I think it has to do with either the demographics of Brampton or the media influence. Halloween is now seen, by many, as a day to rob and fight in the eyes of teenagers. The kids who go out early to get candy are parading around in costumes that are physically inappropriate. Little girls, as young as five or six, look more like little strippers and young boys are seen wearing ‘Jason’ masks (Friday the 13th) when its an “R” rated movie that they’ve probably never seen.

When I was younger, which wasn’t that long ago, I do not remember Halloween being dangerous to the point where police had to patrol each street in every neighbourhood to check on the children. Nor do I remember wearing, or seeing, kids that were my age, wearing such mature costumes. The media has been a major influence and no one is realizing what life has become because of the desensitization. Personally, I’ve never even seen the point to Halloween and could never understand why people wanted to give out candy for free. Maybe it’s because I was never told the reason behind the so-called celebration or tradition. I just went along with it like all the other kids. Now, as a teenager, I have to admit that I’m frightened to step outside on this day, terrified at the thought of getting robbed and/or beat up for FREE candy and anything else that I might possess on me at that time. Halloween seems pointless and again think it’s just another money scam so stores can sell costumes, over-priced candy, pumpkins and every other thing else that is associated with this event.

This tradition, as far as I’m concerned, is only wide-spread in North America. We’ve allowed ourselves to become swept away by lies that retailers tell us so they can make more money. We need to know that. What do you know about this tradition? What say you? Please post your comments below.