Impatient, Intolerant, and Opinionated

I've decided that's what I am. But underneath all that is a person with strong beliefs and loyalties. I just get tired of the bullshit sometimes. Warning!! Rant ahead!!

Lately the bullshit is the stuff that happens in my small town. It's messed up for sure but I don't think it's just this town, I think it's society in general. A lot of it is Facebook too I think. I belong to a couple of groups in my town. I think what I need to realize though, is that the people who have the time to post are the ones with nothing else to do in life. It doesn't necessarily represent the entire town.

Here's what bugs me lately:

One young lady (23) has 2 children and no high school diploma. I guess she was too busy screwing around to go to school. She's looking for a place to rent, and she's complaining people charge too much to rent out houses. I tried to explain to her that there are costs a home owner (landlord) needs to cover. Things like the mortgage payment, property taxes, insurance, etc. Plus if she wants a place that's inclusive, there's utilities that have to be paid as well. Then there has to be a contingency for repairs, etc. All that is BEFORE any profit to the landlord (home owner). The problem is this person is on Ontario Works (welfare), so she's having a hard time finding a place within her means. She feels landlords should prefer renting to her because she has a "guaranteed" income. Huh? Since when is welfare "guaranteed"? She says she can only get minimum wage jobs so it's not worth working because she would have to pay daycare. No family in the area to help her either. Oh, and she has a deadbeat boyfriend (unemployed) that she's living with, and supporting I guess. With our tax dollars.

I suggested she try and get her high school equivalency. Response? No point since she can't afford a college education. Huh? A friend of mine tried to hire her as a part time receptionist and had to let her go because she can't even spell.

If she manages to get a good job, she'll get her driver's license and car, because that will make it easier for her. I guess she's not thinking about gas, insurance, repairs, etc. Huh?

Now, I know she went to high school here, so if she has no family nearby, did they move away from her? That's a strange thing for parents to do, isn't it?

Why does all this bother me?

Because I was a single parent once upon a time. I was once homeless too. So, I don't buy excuses.

I can understand one mistake (one child), but two? When you can't support them? When I had my daughter I had a decent job. Things were tough, but I could afford to support her. I worked hard, took at least one college course at a time and remained employable. Of course things are easier now - you can do a lot of courses online.

There's more.

Another single mother on Ontario Works. Again without a high school diploma. Tattoos and piercings all over her face. And guess what? She's pregnant. But this time, she wants to pay a Douala to help her through her pregnancy and labour. Obviously our welfare system is way too generous if she can afford that. Even when I was working I couldn't afford that when I was expecting my daughter. Or maybe I could but I wasn't stupid enough to spend money on stuff like that when I was going to have to support a child.

I like helping people out. I volunteer at a few places in town. I believe in having a social safety net - that's part of being Canadian I guess. But for the love of God, would someone please show me where in our Canadian Bill of Freedoms and Rights it says that single mothers are entitled to 18 years of support? Get a grip, please!!

How about we provide subsidized daycare while they go to school and make school mandatory? How about we subsidize daycare while they work at whatever job they can find, and top up their income if it's that much below the poverty line? How about we have a contract when they go on welfare, stating the amount of support they will get and an action plan to become self-sufficient? And not give them more money if they decide to have another child. We need to be careful not to create a welfare state here.

Let's all remember it's charity, and my tax dollars go to fund it. I am glad to be able to help when needed but there has to be some restrictions or conditions. Privacy and entitlement be damned.
I'm getting tired of the bullshit. There's already too much bullshit in my life.

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

A Question of Ethics

I’d like to start by admitting that I’m “old school”. I believe that when a person posts an article that they did not write, that they should give credit to the original author. Just because something is posted online does not mean it is free; it’s just another method of publishing and the author retains all rights.

Occasionally I’ll see articles on LinkedIn or various business blogs, that I have reason to believe are not written by the person who posted it. Sometimes these articles will say “Posted by”, and that lets me know that the person posted it is not the original author. I’d still like to know who the original author is though, so I often turn to my friend Google. I’ll search for the first two sentences of the article, with varying degrees of success.

Other times, the person posting the article lists themselves as the Author. Being old school, I believe that’s called plagiarism. I also believe it speaks to the character of the person who does this. It’s dishonest, misleading, deceptive, and leads to me question how much I can trust any other assertion they make about their skills and abilities.

There’s a plethora of examples currently on Linked In, which makes me wonder if there is a subscription service somewhere that provides these articles on a regular basis for a fee. I wonder this because it’s the same group of individuals posting the exact same articles. I’ve commented on a couple, asking if such a subscription service exists, but nobody is answering me.  Despite my best efforts, I’ve been unable to locate the original authors.

So I’m throwing it out to the community at large (meaning my contacts on Linked In). Is there such a service?

Here are a few examples - try searching these phrases and you’ll see what I mean:

“Where Hackers Go to Shop for Malware

You might recall how the Silk Road, an illegal online drug market, was recently shut down. Similar to the Silk Road, there’s another distributor of sensitive information out there; this one dealing with zero-day vulnerabilities. These types of cyber threats sell for top-dollar, and hackers are willing to pay in order to access your network.”

“How to Monitor Employee Communications Without Taking What’s Said Personally

There seems to be some confusion in the workplace regarding the privacy of digital communications made over a company network. Can an employer read an employee email or record a phone call without employee consent?”

“Do You Trust Your Employees Enough to Offer Unlimited Vacation Time?

As a business owner, you know how difficult establishing a paid time off policy is. Providing too little can make your business seem unfair, but giving away too much might make you feel like you’re losing money.”

This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.

Just Another Sunday

After dinner, I sat to watch CBC's the Fifth Estate; it always makes me think about societal issues. Tonight they're talking about the garment factories in India and other places, all so that Joe Fresh and Walmart can import cheap clothes for us.

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/2013-2014/made-in-bangladesh

That got me thinking - would I be willing to pay more for "ethical" clothes? Yes. I would pay more if I could be convinced that they truly were "ethically" made. I've experienced clothing stores where designer labels were placed over the regular labels and tags, to misrepresent the garment.

It's like fish in Canada. Nobody wants to eat fish from China, so they stopped buying all fish where the packaging said "Imported from China" or "Processed in China". Now all they'll say is Imported for ABC Foods, Burlington, ON (for example). It's impossible to see the country of origin anymore - and that is SOOO wrong. I'm not being racist (I don't think) if I vehemently state that I don't want to eat food that's been produced or processed in what is pretty much the dirtiest country in the world. These are the people who put Lead Paint into infant formula and milk, to make them more white. That proved to me that China has very little control over the food industry there. Oh sure, once found guilty, I believe they're put to death, but that's little consolation after you find out that you've been drinking lead for 2 years. Really.

I've been looking at an online clothing store - Holy Clothing Company. Theoretically, their clothes are handmade in India and the workers are ethically paid. The clothing is beautiful, and very reasonably priced. Maybe too reasonably priced. I'd love to buy a few items, but I need to do more research first.

I might write another post later and tell you what I found out.

Or I might not.




This work by Suzette Leeming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Canada License.