False Remembrance

This is of course the time of year for remembrance.
With the end of WWII now 65 years past, and Korea 57 years gone, our aging Veterans are becoming ghosts.

Since Korea, over 200 Canadian Servicemen and Women have lost their lives in Peacekeeping roles and Afghanistan.

Since 1922, The Royal Canadian Legion's annual Poppy Campaign has raised funds to support disabled, and now aged, Veterans. That loose change that you contribute to buy a poppy (or if you're like most of us, several because you lose them) every year goes directly to Veterans in your community.

And we all know what the Poppy looks like. The familiar image at the right is what we are all used to.

I'm a frequent flier at Canada's most popular coffee and pastry chain, and I've noticed this week, that staff at many of the stores are wearing a stylized poppy on their tops and visors similar to the one below...

A closer look reveals its a sticker!

I was served by a Manager today and asked him what was up with the poppy stickers. He said that the poppy pin falls off a lot and gets lost, so Corporate set them up with sheets of these stickers for staff to wear.

They aren't even buying them from the Legion!

Cheaters.

And further, every one of the outlets I've been in this week has a box of poppies on the counter!

I put a quarter in the box and gave the Manager a poppy.

DJW

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember Them.

Dang, Another Delay

It seems the end is not so near after all.

Yahoo News reports that there may have been a mistake in the Mayan Calendar, and the world may not end on December 21st, 2012. (Interestingly, my 21st Wedding Anniversary.)

It says that there may be an error of between 50 to 100 years.

So either the end has been delayed, or it's already happened.

I guess I'll have to keep up with my taxes after all.

DJW

Sign seen on a coin operated air pump, Air $1.00, HST included.
Yes, they have found a way to tax air.

It Happens

Construction.

The saying goes, "We have two seasons here, winter, and construction."

Well, I'm here to tell you folks, that ain't so anymore.

Surveying is, I lost count, my 4th or 5th career, and is the one I should have started with. I've been at it now more than a decade, and have never been laid off in the winter. For the last 10 years, I've worked for a municipality, and I've worked winters.

My colleagues have witnessed me with icicles hanging from my eyelashes, and my coffee has frozen in the cup before I could finish it.

The point is construction is year round now, just more difficult in the colder months.

More to the point is, people complain.

They complain about how rough the road is, then they complain when we tear it up to fix it.

They complain about watermain breaks then complain when we make a mess to replace it.

They complain when the road isn't wide enough then complain we we close lanes while we make it wider.

I was working today (Saturday), preparing for watermain construction, when a lady pulled up and asked what we were up to. When I told her, she swore at me and drove off.

Construction needs to happen folks. Aging infrastructure needs replacing and upgrading, (Walkerton, anyone?)

We do our best to limit the impact of construction on the local residents and businesses. We send out notices, hold meetings, and post signs. When the work is happening, we do our best to accommodate those directly involved, the residents and businesses where we are working.

Those just passing through just have to put up with it.

We've worked Saturday's and Sunday's.

We've worked nights on long weekends to keep roads open in the daytime.

We go out of our way to keep people happy while we disrupt the general routine.

I once went and bought bottled water to supply a daycare while we repaired their water service.

We hear a lot of complaints, and few compliments...

...and the end result is usually an improvement on the quality of life.

DJW

This was an actual Public Service Message from an actual Public Servant.

How to Regruntle a Disgruntled Customer

Only I would go out to buy a washing machine and come home with a fridge.

O.K. We.

M.D.B. was involved with this.

Anyhow, the washer was dead, and laundromats are mostly for losers and apartment dwellers, (we were there for a few months to assess ) so we went in search of a new unit.

M.D.B. did what she does well, investigated what was the best value, and off we went on a an appliance safari.

One of the major players had a, "Don't pay a cent event" on, but we don't have a credit history with them, so they didn't want to play.

Another chain didn't have the brands we wanted.

A third chain had what we wanted, in stock, and ready to go. I had been dealing with them since 1989. So lets write it up. While M.D.B sat with the 'Sales Associate', I wandered. In the scratch and dent section was a small fridge for $140. With our current domestic lineup we are going through a lot of fresh veggies and fluids every day, requiring thrice weekly shopping trips. A second fridge (our main is 17 cubes of all fridge) would be useful. We could use this one for fluids, (including beer) and save the main fridge for food stuffs.

Then the "Sales Associate' came back to us. Because we don't have a major credit card, he couldn't help us. Never mind the 20+ year history I have with the chain.

Fine.

Let's take the fridge for cash and go.

We take the fridge home, let it sit, plug it in, and let it work overnight.

Still warm in the a.m.

Still warm in the p.m.

We bought it 'as is.'

This isn't going to be easy.

So I load it back into the van, and all the way to the store I am going over my script.

"I know I bought it as-is. But I bought a refrigerator. This is a storage cabinet."

...or...

"I bought it yesterday. If I don't get a refund, I will stand in the middle of your store and tell everyone in a very loud voice... and I can be very loud... how they will be on their own as soon as you have their money"

When I get to the store, I loaded the unit onto my own dolly, and wheeled it through the front door. Right to the customer service desk. (By the way, this is a bar/hotel sized fridge. I am not Lou Ferrigno.)

The cheerful lass behind the desk chirps the obligatory, "Can I help you?"

Me: "I bought this fridge yesterday, and it doesn't work" and I produce the receipt.

Cheerful Lass: "Would you like a refund?"

Me: "Um, ya."

C.L.: "O.K." and proceeds to punch a bunch of info into a a computer.

C.L.: "Can you wait her a sec, while I go talk to my manager?"

Me: "O.K."... Here it comes.

A few minutes later, Cheerful Lass emerges, and utters the following statement... "Sir, I see you've been a customer here a long time. So we will give you a new fridge, at the scratch and dent price.

Me: "Ah, O.K."

C.L. " And I see you live in another city, would you like us to ship it to our store there? It would be there the day after tomorrow."

Me: "Ah, ah O.K."

C.L. "O.K. You can pick it up after 4p.m., the day after tomorrow."

Me: "Ah, ah, ah, thanks."

And sure enough, the day after tomorrow, there was a brand new fridge in a box waiting for me at my local The Brick store.

So kudos to The Brick Burlington. Good customer service gets you repeat customers.

For the record, one week later, we bought our new washer/dryer at The Brick, paid cash, and deliberately snubbed the first 'Sales Associate.'

DJW

Service is half the sale!

Grief is a Journey

A year ago today my life and lives of my family changed forever.

Ma, Nan, Great-Nan, Sister, Auntie M.

Gone.

A constant in all our lives was no more.

Replaced by a new constant.

We have all heard of the seven stages of grief, and we all know we will go through them. Usually in some degree by the time we are 10. A pet, a grandparent, a friend of the family. An unfortunate part of growing up and learning about life is learning about about death.

The Seven Stages are:

1. Shock & Denial
2. Pain & Guilt
3. Anger & Bargaining
4. Depression, Reflection & Loneliness
   
5. The Upward Turn
6. Reconstruction & Working Through
7. Acceptance & Hope (source recover-from-grief.com but they are all pretty much the same)
   

There. Just like that. In that order. Like assembly instructions for a bar-b-cue.

Well, either I'm doing it wrong or the instructions are wrong.

I've already completed up to Steps 4a, 6a & b, and Step 7a. My Step 5 is missing and Step 7b doesn't apply.

I'm still working on Step 4b & c.

Today normally I would be visiting Pa and giving him a funny card, some scratch lottery tickets (Cash for Life to spite Ma) and crosswords. Ma would be fussing over us and getting us drinks and cookies and trying to slip cash in our pockets when we weren't looking. I would be telling him about all the features of my first ever brand new lawnmower, a gift from M.D.B. and all The Thing's. Later Ma would call at suppertime (whenever that was, I never knew how she did that) to tell us how much they enjoyed the visit.

My point? (omg he has a point!)

There is no instruction manual for life. Or death. Or grieving.

Tab A doesn't always fit in Slot B. Sometimes there isn't even a Slot to fill.

Like parenting, it's all on the job training.

Other duties as assigned.

DJW

Happy Fathers Day, Pa. We miss you and Ma.

Everyday.

...Little Pink Houses, For You And Me...

When last we left David and Anna, they were sitting there with a handful of past due and disconnect notices, worried about how they were going to pay the mortgage. They had a plan, but the banks and mortgage companies shrugged them off as too small time. (click the link above to read their story)

The wolf wasn't at the door; it had puppies on the porch.

It turns out more people read my blog than I figured.

I was contacted by a Mortgage Broker (whose name was also David) who thought he might be able to help. I told him they had been that route, but he insisted he wanted to give it a shot.

So introductions were made, and my work here was done. Other than pay their bills myself, I did all I could do.

Last week I received this e-mail from Anna,

Dear DJ,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for getting us in touch with David at OMAC Mortgages. Not only did he find us a lender that would take us on with all our difficulties, they also absorbed our consumer proposal! And he got us a better rate than we could have hoped for! I couldn't believe all the calls and arrangements he made. He really jumped through all the hoops for us! Our bills are all paid, the mortgage is easy to manage, and Dave feels so much better! Its like we have a new life! Last week we had our last meeting with the Credit Counseling people and we will soon be fully discharged.

Thanks again!

Anna

Well who knew that my little blog could actually make a difference.

So I must give credit where credit is due (no pun intended). The Mortgage Broker with the Superhero Cape is David at OMAC Brantford (click for link)

What lessons can we take away here?

There is always a solution, it may not be very palatable or easy.

If you can't make someone see your vision, find someone who can.

Pride is good, but can't pay the bills.

DJW

For more info on consumer proposals and credit counseling, drop me a line.

Doing the Breakdown Breakdance

One more icon of the past has fallen in Our Humble Castle.

Frigidaire.

Many of us in our middle age can remember our mother cooking on the same stove, washing our clothes with the same washer and the same shiny toaster sat on the counter for our entire lives it seemed.

The names were pre-war and they were built like the war machines that came from those same factories during the war.

Kelvinator, Admiral, Viking, General Electric and Frigidaire. All names synonymous with heavy duty reliability.

Not any more.

Like the fall of the Big Three auto manufacturers to Japanese quality, appliances I feel have gone the same way.

I've already told the tale of woe around our Frigidaire Range. The stove saga left a bad taste in my mouth for that brand.

Several months ago the bearing in our 7 year old Frigidaire Gallery front loading washer started to make noise. Being the handy guy I am, I squeezed into the closet it was in and removed the back to get at the complainer.

I couldn't believe what I found.

Sure enough, there was the bearing, and yup, it was stiff. But there was no way to remove it. It was moulded into the one piece drum assembly. A search of appliance repair sites on the net confirmed this reality. It also told me the replacement part was in the $200 range. Plus tax. And shipping.

A bearing of that size and type would have set me back $15 or so at my local T.S.C. Store.

So Frigidaire's little design feature led to 3 options:

1. costly replacement part
2. costly repair bill
3. costly replacement of the entire unit.

I chose option 3.

But not Frigidaire. Never again.

I don't think my Parents would ever have considered buying a Samsung appliance.

Times change.

Brands change.

Frigidaire did.

For the worse.

DJW

Have you been disappointed by a major appliance purchase?
Share with the class here.

Do Not Adjust Your Set...

I've been on a hiatus of sorts.

More of a mental vacation.

It has been said that life is what happens to you while you are making other plans. I guess I've been making a lot of plans.

Some items for you to look forward to (or shy away from) :

• Another episode of "Appliances Behaving Badly"
• Grieving is a journey, not a process
• More news on David and Anna (this time good things!)
• How to disarm a disgruntled customer
• A pet cleaning idea I wish I had

In the mean time, you can review some old favorites like Boil Water! I have to shave my legs! ;
Things that keep me awake, part one and part two and the popular When I am King.

To check on what I read, check out Lorraine Sommerfeld or Tanis, The Redneck Mommy.

And now, a breaking story...

...Micheal Jackson is still dead!

...please stay tuned.

DJW

DJ's horizontal hold needs a little tweak I think.

Most tasteless dead celebrity joke: Gary Coleman died of a different stroke!

Sometimes Bad Credit Happens To Good People

Jack and Dianne.

Tommy and Gina.

David and Anna.

Small town couples with bigger dreams. Little houses and picket fences just like you and me.

The only difference is David and Anna* are real. *not their real names

This is their story.

They had decent jobs when they got married around twenty years ago. Lived in rented spaces with happy faces. Along came the kids and they wanted a house. More space for the happy little faces.

The little house they found was perfect for them.

With a lot of sweat equity they managed to double the value of the little house over the course of time. Mortgage free by 45 was the plan.

A bigger house would be nice, but this was theirs. Their little house.

David and Anna went back to school so they could get better jobs.

Anna quickly found full time work as an Administrator. David found part time casual work in Construction. Frequently he would be on longer projects. When they were both working, the money flowed and bills were paid and life was good.

The door was always open on their little house and everyone was always welcome.

The kids were growing and the little house was always alive with activity.

They even found time to volunteer in the community to give back.

Life tottled along quite well.

Then David got hurt.

Not at work.

Anna's benefits covered his meds, but he had no sick pay. David worked when he could, and Anna tried working a second job for a while, but her health began to suffer too.

They paid the bills with credit. And when the credit ran out they consolidated.

But, they never missed a payment on their little house.

David still worked as much as he could, but that depended on how well he was feeling, and on the phone ringing.

Again the bills piled up. This time, they took out a second mortgage on their little house. All the work they had done earlier paid off now. They had less than 5 years left on their first mortgage. All they had to do was make it another 5 years.

Then David got sicker, but still worked when he could. He never gave up. Anna did what she could. Worked overtime when she could, and cut corners where they could be cut. They would get by.

The money may have slowed, but the bills didn't. The phone did ring, but it was bill collectors. They didn't answer the phone if they didn't know who it was. The stress made David sicker. Anna became depressed.

Soon, everything they made went to paying the debt. Nothing left over for food and utilities. Vacations and cars were a dream. It seemed bankruptcy was inevitable.

They would lose their little house.

But even with two mortgages, they still never missed a payment on their little house.

The bankruptcy laws would allow them to keep X number of dollars based on how many people were in the little house. But it wasn't enough to pay the bills and and keep the little house. Also wasn't enough for rent and utilities on someone else's little house.

That's right, they couldn't afford to go bankrupt!

The next solution was called a consumer proposal. This is where you just go bankrupt on unsecured debt. Credit cards, consolidation loans, personal loans and the like. This seemed like the only way they could keep their little house.

Dave and Anna could breathe again. The bills were paid, the harassing phone calls stopped, and in less than three years the first mortgage would be paid!

Dave was feeling somewhat better and could work more, and did when he could. He was still dependent on the phone ringing, but at least he was in better shape, and less worried about the bills.

Then the roof caved in. Literally.

A series of crisis piled up.

A winter storm felled a branch on their little house, and the insurance didn't cover it all.

Catastrophic illness and death of family members coincided with a slip in David's health.

Another family member became homeless and David and Anna took him in.

The car and the truck both broke down. The car couldn't be repaired.

They got through.

There's a roof on their little house and food on the table.

They still never missed a payment on their little house. They now had less than a year to go on the 1st mortgage.

David was well enough to work more and was ready for the phone calls.

Except the only calls were from the bill collectors.

Now a new plan. The first mortgage on their little house is so small, that if they could refinance and roll the two together, they could live on Anna's income alone.

They talked to the bank. Bad credit, no dice.

They talked to a mortgage broker, same story.

They talked to the existing mortgagors. Nope. Because if Dave and Anna default, they'll get their money back easily. There is 10 months left on the first mortgage!

So there they sit, in their little house.

The mortgage vultures circling overhead...

...and they never missed a payment.

DJW

Life

Sorry I haven't been out to play for a while.

I've been up to my neck in life, and I'm not that good a swimmer.

I will be back.

Just when you think your life is a trial by fire, you hear of someone who is worse off than you are.

Tanis Miller is the author of one of my favorite blogs, Attack of the Redneck Mommy.

She writes about her life a the mother of two teenagers and a severely challenged son, as a grieving parent, and as a forty-something wife in B.F. Alberta. She writes with humour, insight, tongue in cheek and a brassiness that only reveals that she is real.

She shares all in the stories of her dead son, life in rural Canada, tribulations of adoption, and sometimes a little cheekiness. Some postings require proof of age.

She is enduring yet another unfathomable crisis, something I've never been through, and hope I never will.

Give her a read, and if you can, some compassion and support.

And remember,

...There but for grace..

DJW

Caveat Emptor

Buyer beware...

Curbsiders are unlicensed dealers in the business of selling cars, but who pose as private sellers. The vehicles they sell are often misrepresented, accident-damaged, odometer-tampered, stolen, or have liens against them.

Source: http://www.omvic.on.ca/

A few years back, when we had to replace our beloved Red Dwarf (1996 Windstar), we turned to internet classifieds to find a new ride. My Darling Bride spotted what appeared to be a good deal on Kijiji, an internet classified site with local pages. We met with a Lady selling a 2000 Grand Caravan for her in-laws at a local garage. It showed well, was certified and emissions tested and was a good price.

When we saw the ownership our hearts skipped a beat.

We knew the person selling it.

We went to High School with him.

We worked with him when we drove taxi's.

We knew him when he was a shady used car salesman working for fly by night dealers.

We knew he was a Curbsider.

We also knew where we could find him. And he knew it too.

When the 'new' power steering pump blew up 20 minutes after picking the van up we should have walked away then. But we gave him a chance to make it right and he did.

Within a year after we bought it the rust started to pop out like pimples before the prom.

Anyhow, I digress.

Last week, after a few years of minor wear and tear problems with that van, the death knell sounded when the timing belt let go.

So M.D.B set out on another Kijiji quest while I searched dealer sites. I wasn't doing well with the cash we had to work with, but she had a find. Newer, well optioned, safety checked and e-tested. I called the number, and was called back by a woman who said we could come look at it after her husband got home. She gave me her name, and then her husbands name and somewhere in my head there was a 'DING!' I asked for a last name and wasn't given the same one as the Curbsider of a few years ago. M.D.B. heard my ding and when a few checks on Canada 411 didn't set off any further alarms, so we decided to do a drive by in the daylight and headed for the address given.

When we pulled in the driveway, I was looking at the van, and M.D.B. spotted the name on the mailbox.

It was him.

We never even put the car in park.

How bad is it when you feel the need to give a false name over the phone when selling a car?

Later that same day...

...When the woman called us back (number blocked) to say her husband was home and we could come by, I told her they had burned us before, but not again.

I have heard other stories of a similar nature on Kijiji, but, I imagine it's much the same on most Classified web sites. Ads are usually free and you can hide behind some anonymity.

According to The Ontario's Motor Vehicle Industry Council's website, "Curbsiders account for approximately 25 per cent of used - vehicle classified ads..." They frequently have you meet them in a public place, use cell phones, don't have the required used car sellers package, and sell as-is.

Of course you get no guarantees.

If it smells bad, it probably is.

In the end, we bought from reputable dealer in business for more than 15 years, and got a warranty.

And we reported the curbsider.

Caveat Emptor....buyer beware

Operor non adepto dementis adepto vel...

...Don't get mad, get even.

DJW

So long, Bulwinkle.
Stand by for the naming of the new van.