Hi all.
Not a hugely interesting week, so not much to report.
I managed to convince the scheduling department at work to give me Good Friday off. I am hoping that since I have now been with that company for over six months, I can get all holidays off.
One thing, I don't like working on holidays. Especially with the Mississauga buses which are non-existent during holidays. Okay, well, more non-existent than usual.
With not much happening in boxing this week, I would like to take another look into the Stupidity Files. I hope to be able to make this a regular feature of this blog.
Here is the thing with public transit.
The Toronto Transit Commission alone is satisfactory. I give it a C+.
MiWay Mississauga Transit alone is mediocre. I give it a D+.
However, try to put the two together, and you get a volatile cocktail guaranteed to cause instant headache, stress, and high blood pressure.
A failing grade.
A TRIP TO FORGET
On Monday going to work, as usual the Mississauga Number 11 was late.
It is bad enough they don't have enough buses on, they are rarely freaking on time.
Rather than wait two hours or so for the bus to show up, I decided to take the Number 3 to Square One, and then the 53 up to Derry Road.
Yeah, sure.
The 3 gets to Square One at about one minute before the 53 leaves, which is barely enough time to cross the platform.
Then the stupid 53 decided to detour through the Hershey Centre!
It does not do that at any other time.
Okay, so when I want a bus to the Hershey Centre, there isn't one, and when I am in a hurry to get to work, every damn bus goes there.
Who goes to the Hershey Centre at 10:30 on a Monday night? They need service there on weekends. That is when people go there.
Then after farting around at the Hershey Centre, I discover thet the 53 does not go all the way to Derry Road outside peak hours. It only goes as far as Courtneypark Drive.
Then it is a 10-minute walk to work, and I was already running late.
That is not all, It was a living hell to come home Tuesday morning.
Guess what? Here is something very unusual. I get to the Westwood terminal from the 42, which was on time, only to discover - big surprise- the 11 was very late.
Rather that wait who knows how long for the 11, I decided to take the 22.
The 22 to Humber College, then take the TTC 191 "Express" to Kipling station, then the subway home.
Sounds easy, doesn't it?
You forget, we are dealing with the two least reliable public transit services in Ontario, and that volatile mixture I spoke of earlier.
Taking the 22 to Humber College was not that bad. However, finding where the 191 stops was rather a challenge.
I found a stop that looked like the right one, but the sign on the pole had a map for the 96 Wilson, there was no indication that the 191 stopped there.
I saw a 191 stop where the 22 let me out, so I took that one. Great. I was on the 191, except...
It was going in the opposite direction. It was northbound.
I knew that eventually, it would turn back to Kipling, so I stayed on only to find that the turn-around was at Martin Grove and Steeles, a 20-minute trip!
Then, on the way back, the driver stopped somewhere on Martin Grove, and...just waited.
Seriously. He stopped the bus, and just sat there daydreaming for almost 10 minutes. He did not even say why he was stopped.
Idiot.
The next bus came, and we boarded that.
After a few minutes, we arrived at the "96 Wilson" stop. Yeah. It turns out that I was right the first time, but could not confirm, because the TTC does not have proper signage at their stops.
You would think that with the constant fare increases, they could afford better signage. They certainly are not putting any money into service improvements.
Anyway, this so-called "Express" bus apparently stops at every stop between Steeles Avenue and the Woodbine Centre. It also stops at every stop along Dundas Street until Kipling station.
The TTC calls this "Express" service. The only thing "express" about it is that it does not stop anywhere along Highway 27.
It can't stop along Highway 27, as there is no place to stop. So, this is not an Express. It is simply a local service route that just happens to travel on a freeway.
Big deal.
Three hours to get home. Great job.
Of course, both of these public transit systems are too busy raising fares to worry about what is important to the passengers.
BLACKOUT SMACKOUT
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| Dundas Street West at Bloor Street West on Tuesday April 15. |
On Tuesday, as I was getting ready for work, our building went dark.
At first I thought it was just our building, but when I looked out, all I could see lit up was downtown.
This lasted for about an hour, and of course there was no subway service. Also, the TTC did not put on any extra buses. Their reason: 'The blackout is preventing us from providing more buses'.
Huh? How the hell are buses affected by a blackout?
This is how I had to go to work: Take the 40 to Runnymede Loop, transfer onto a 77 back to Bloor Street, walk from Runnymede to Jane...Wow, there was subway service at Jane...
I took the subway to Islington, but by this time all the buses I need to take to work had stopped for the day (Mississauga Transhit), so I took a 3 to Square One, then a 19 to Hurontario Street and Derry Road, then had to walk to Kennedy Road, which took fifteen minutes.
I was one hour late.
Here we are in the 21st Century, two of the largest cities in Canada, and I am walking to work. Welcome back to 1763.
Of course you already probably know who I blame for this.
Hydro One. Which is, as you all know, a public service. Who's only priority is to raise rates, give their executives raises, and do absolutely nothing to improve the aging infrastructure.
Seriously. Our electrical infrastructure in Ontario is so old, that if you fart too close to a high voltage line, it will cause a blackout.
FIXING ROGERS, SORT OF
Remember the last entry about Rogers?
I received that stupid email from them?
At first, I wanted to ignore it, but the more I tried to ignore it, the more it bothered me. I mean, the nerve of them to send something like that to a customer.
An important rule in business is that you never "correct" a customer.
Why?
Because customers don't need to be corrected, as they are never wrong.
Remember this simple customer service formula:
- Rule 1: The Customer Is Never Wrong
- Rule 2: When The Customer Is Wrong, See Rule 1.
If someone is doing something illegal with the said service, it is up to the court to decide. It is not the business or the job of the service provider.
...and a business should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever assume or accuse a client of doing something illegal. That is the absolute worst possible thing you can do. Besides a possible lawsuit, you risk losing a customer.
I was going to write a letter to Rogers CEO, Guy Laurence.
The problem is that Rogers, being such a large company, and having no transparency within, they are stupid.
They will always be stupid, and have no concept of good customer service, because they don't care.
Here is what you do to avoid getting these stupid emails from Rogers.
If you have Outlook, do this:
Go to "TOOLS" and then select "RULES AND ALERTS"...
Then select the tab "NEW RULE"...
Then highlight "MOVE MESSAGES FROM SOMEONE TO A FOLDER"...
Press "NEXT"...
Check on "FROM PEOPLE OR A DISTRIBUTION LIST"...
Select from the bottom box, the link "PEOPLE OR DISTRIBUTION LIST"...
Another form will appear, in the FROM entry form at the bottom type, 'abuse@rogers.com' ...
Then click "NEXT"...
Check on "MOVE TO A SPECIFIED FOLDER"...
From the bottom, select the link "SPECIFIED"...
Select "DELETED ITEMS"...
Click "NEXT" twice...
Make sure "TURN ON THIS RULE" is selected...
Click "FINISH"...
That's it. Now, you will never see another "abuse" email from Rogers.
STUPIDITY 3D: NOW IN THEATRES
This next one did not happen to me, and occurred a while ago, but is so funny, I felt I needed to share it with you.
This happened in 2010, at a movie theatre is Mass. I found this while looking for some material for one of my radio programs. I don't know if you have heard of this one before now, but I certainly didn't.
Do you sometimes wonder why today's teens are so screwed-up? It is because of poor parenting. Here is the perfect example:
Since the creation of the marvelous multiplex cinemas, the chances of the wrong film being shown in the wrong auditorium has greatly increased, and actually happens more often than you may think.
This theatre in Mass. was running a weekend matinee for families. They were supposed to run a cartoon, but instead ran the film "Saw 3D", which was Restricted, and certainly not a film children should be watching.
Here is this theatre showing a Restricted film to children, and what did the adults do?
Nothing.
They sat through the whole film with their kids. Then some of them tried to sue the theatre chain later.
Really?
The very first scene in that film, is of a woman hanging from the ceiling, getting her intestines cut out by a table saw.
At what point do you look at that as a parent, and say, "Hmmm....I don't think this is suitable for my children....Maybe I should say something ?
I don't know about you, but if i was in a theatre, and they started to show a film I did not pay to see, I would let someone know. Especially, when they are showing a "R" film to children !
Stupidity. It is all around us.
Good luck with that, my friends.
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"The Brick", member of the Stockyards Boxing Team
Stockyards Boxing and Fitness, 215 Ryding Ave., Toronto
STATS
Record: 0 / 0 / 1
Weigh-in on April 11 /2014 @ 85 kg / 188 lbs. {no change}
Last bout: September 21 2013 [Exhibition]
Next scheduled bout: Summer 2014 @ George Bell Arena
Training schedule: Monday to Sunday, with sparring twice weekly
Coaches: R. Soucé, J, Emon
Resting HR: 66 - 70
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Cheers.
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