you have the right...
Jun. 12th, 2004 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brightbluegirlWell, I'm at work, the server is down, surprise, surprise.
Lately, I've felt like I really don't have the time or the headspace to write about a lot of the introspective and thoughtful things I've been thinking. I feel too busy, too scattered, too stressed to get anything down cohesively.
Like the fact that when I went to the dentist, my dental hygenist was a woman my age, who just struck me as this sort of ditzy, sweet, not much there kind of girl, who talked about songs and madonna and guys who tailgate her on the highway, and then all of a sudden was talking about rallying the people to protest madonna concerts so she'd charge less, because madonna really doesn't need the money, and I thought...
wow, from the mouths of ditzes.
It just seems like everyone in BC has this sense of entitlement... but not in a "what's mine is mine" capitalist sort of way, but in a "personal rights" sort of way, and if a 30 year old dental hygenist who seems to be quite carefree about world issues has this sense, and talks about protesting as if it's a way of life, well then... it feels like everyone does.
Another example of this... feeling I get here is Andrew's work. Andrew has the best job ever - he's working for the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for those in the US) thrift store - proceeds from the thrift store go to the SPCA. Anyway, his boss treats with him VERY fairly. Next wednesday he gets an unplanned day off - apparently there's a movie shooting next door, so the movie people paid his boss since she's going to shut down for the day.
But here's the thing.
SHE'S PAYING HIM FOR THAT DAY ANYWAY.
And that is EXACTLY what should happen! I mean, DAYUM. If you make an employee take a day off that they didn't plan on, you pay them for it, you know? It's what I would do. But I've never found ANYONE in Ontario who's done that, or had that done for them.
Now if I could just get my team leads at work to understand why it bothers me so much that I get trounced on for a statement written to a developer that was meant to be kind, and yet they do nothing to defend me from developers who make very mean statements (no reading into it necessary, I mean, plain for all to see). If I could just get them to understand that if I have to hear "but they're the client, and we're the contractors" one more time, when I'm talking about relationship ETHICS and VALUES, well... damn.
Anyway.
So I thought about that. It's almost as if it's easier to be politically active here.
In Ontario, it's not like that. Sure, lots of people are into being treated well by customer service, or about having lots of "things", but they don't seem to bat an eye about personal rights - well, except the few. One of my friends, Susan, has been politically active in Toronto for as long as I've known her, and definitely for even longer than that. When I joined her for things, it always felt like we were going so deeply against the grain, and fighting so much harder for the things we believed in. Even our parties felt like work, sort of.
Here, though... well, I'm not exactly making friends quick as a bunny or anything, but still... the political part of it seems easier.
Or am I just making this up in my head? I really don't know.
Lately, I've felt like I really don't have the time or the headspace to write about a lot of the introspective and thoughtful things I've been thinking. I feel too busy, too scattered, too stressed to get anything down cohesively.
Like the fact that when I went to the dentist, my dental hygenist was a woman my age, who just struck me as this sort of ditzy, sweet, not much there kind of girl, who talked about songs and madonna and guys who tailgate her on the highway, and then all of a sudden was talking about rallying the people to protest madonna concerts so she'd charge less, because madonna really doesn't need the money, and I thought...
wow, from the mouths of ditzes.
It just seems like everyone in BC has this sense of entitlement... but not in a "what's mine is mine" capitalist sort of way, but in a "personal rights" sort of way, and if a 30 year old dental hygenist who seems to be quite carefree about world issues has this sense, and talks about protesting as if it's a way of life, well then... it feels like everyone does.
Another example of this... feeling I get here is Andrew's work. Andrew has the best job ever - he's working for the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for those in the US) thrift store - proceeds from the thrift store go to the SPCA. Anyway, his boss treats with him VERY fairly. Next wednesday he gets an unplanned day off - apparently there's a movie shooting next door, so the movie people paid his boss since she's going to shut down for the day.
But here's the thing.
SHE'S PAYING HIM FOR THAT DAY ANYWAY.
And that is EXACTLY what should happen! I mean, DAYUM. If you make an employee take a day off that they didn't plan on, you pay them for it, you know? It's what I would do. But I've never found ANYONE in Ontario who's done that, or had that done for them.
Now if I could just get my team leads at work to understand why it bothers me so much that I get trounced on for a statement written to a developer that was meant to be kind, and yet they do nothing to defend me from developers who make very mean statements (no reading into it necessary, I mean, plain for all to see). If I could just get them to understand that if I have to hear "but they're the client, and we're the contractors" one more time, when I'm talking about relationship ETHICS and VALUES, well... damn.
Anyway.
So I thought about that. It's almost as if it's easier to be politically active here.
In Ontario, it's not like that. Sure, lots of people are into being treated well by customer service, or about having lots of "things", but they don't seem to bat an eye about personal rights - well, except the few. One of my friends, Susan, has been politically active in Toronto for as long as I've known her, and definitely for even longer than that. When I joined her for things, it always felt like we were going so deeply against the grain, and fighting so much harder for the things we believed in. Even our parties felt like work, sort of.
Here, though... well, I'm not exactly making friends quick as a bunny or anything, but still... the political part of it seems easier.
Or am I just making this up in my head? I really don't know.
