Polite to a fault?

I travel to the United States a lot and Americans are always picking on me for my 'Canadian accent' (and I don’t even say ‘eh’ or ‘aboot’) Fine, make fun of me for not drawling my way through the Queen’s language, but could you please, please stop answering with “uh huh” when I say thank you? I guess it’s obvious that I am from North of the border as I actually utter the phrases ‘please’ and ‘thank you’….god forbid we have manners, basic manners at that but answering with 'uh huh' sounds both uninterested and uneducated.

Elevator common sense

It's annoying enough when people run onto the elevator almost knocking me over when I am trying to get off the elevator, but how about when people get on the elevator and bark out orders telling me which floor to push for them even though their hands aren’t full…what am I, your personal slave? Push it yourself, lazy ass.

That’s right, it’s all about you

I was standing next to you at the at the American Airlines international check-in counter at O’Hare when the agent told you that you needed to check in that huge ass Mary Poppins bag of yours yet you refused and proceeded to throw a massive hissy fit in front of the entire concourse. Great, not only did I have to witness that most classic of melt downs, but now it turns out that of all the planes leaving Chicago this morning, you are on my flight, in my row. You are swearing and cursing while you sweat and show everyone your disgusting cellulite-riddled Burger King gut while shoving my unobnoxious bag mercilessly into the corner of the overhead bin telling everyone that it normally fits just fine. Well, guess what asshole, how about you check in your GD bag next time like you were told to do and sit the fuck down already seeing as there’s 150 people behind you, ready to board with the proper sized luggage.  You’re the same douchebag who stands right in front of the luggage carousel with a luggage cart for one single bag not willing to move for anyone until your tacky looking luggage comes around, stupid ass.

Things that annoy me

- UGG boots; they look retarded, especially with a skirt

- Raisins in baked goods; way to ruin a good oatmeal cookie or a cinnamon bun

- Gladiator sandals; ladies, we’re not in Sparta

- Folding sheets or tablecloths with right handed people and being told that I’m “doing it wrong”. No, YOU are

- Nail biting; this is why you always have a cold and on top of that, it’s seriously gross, stop it

- Escalators; stand to the right, walk to the left…it’s really not all that difficult

- People who jump on team bandwagons only after they have made the playoffs; you know who you are

- Sales people at the Bay who won't take no for an answer and look all offended when I tell them that I don't want an HBC Rewards card

- People who 'hate' Toronto but have never even been out of Pearson Airport

- If you have an aisle seat on the plane and the middle and window seat are still open, don't look all pissed off that you have already buckled yourself up once the rest of us show up

Go ahead, make my day

This is a special shout-out to one of my best buddies in the whole wide world, SiSi. Simon and I used to work together for several years and we not only shared a similar sense of humour but we also lunched together, shared too many inside jokes to count and were annoyed by many of the same things (too many to list!) Despite not having worked together for over 4 years now, we still talk all the time and keep one another company, just like in old times. It's a stressful time for me right now at work as it's quarter end and Simon sent me a song that he promised would make my day more awesome and what do you know, it worked. I have been rocking out to Boney M's 'Gotta Go Home' all day with a stupid grin on my face all day. Thanks SiSi, you da best *hug*

HST whining

Pretty sure that this post will piss off as many people as my anti-union rant but oh well, here goes:

I am sick of seeing some of my friends on Facebook and elsewhere jumping on the ‘Down with the HST’ bandwagon. You say that it’s not fair to pay more taxes yet you have no problem soaking up everything that comes from the collection of taxpayer money: parks, trails, education, health care, etc. I hate to shove academics down ones throat but if you would open up a book once in a while and take an unbiased basic look at some basic lessons in economics, perhaps you would understand why a consumer tax such as HST is actually not all bad. However, I'll give you a quick primer anyhow seeing as I am a huge econ nerd.

When consumers have money, they buy things. This creates demand. Demand requires increased production, which requires more workers to build the products and provide the services. More workers means more hiring. More hiring means less unemployed, which means less people to choose from and thus higher wages must be offered. Higher wages means more money in consumer pockets to spend on goods and services. See the cycle here?

By replacing the PST with HST and removing an entire provincial tax collecting department, we are receiving nearly $2 billion from the federal government to make this transition. Also, they aren’t touching my income, just my spending. So I can save or invest more with the actual cash in my pocket instead of a ‘tax credit’ like in the old system. British Columbia (and Ontario as they too have HST) will now be more competitive and attract foreign businesses looking to set up shop over here which means, yep, more local jobs for all. Attracting foreign investment to BC not only brings high-quality, well-paying jobs to the province, but for our provincial government, it generates major tax revenues that help to pay for education and health care and all the things everyone expects a Canadian government to provide.

I get it, you hate Gordon Campbell and you are mad at the way that he brought in the HST, I agree, it was definitely sneaky and I don’t like it either but I do feel for the guy. He is dealing with a province full of left leaning people who don’t want to pay for leftist programs, not to mention the uneducated hordes who do not ‘get’ what supply and demand entails. And what the hell is wrong with you people? Do you not remember Vander Zalm and the chaos that he brought to this province not all that long ago? You anti-HST people are all a bit strange; I am all for argument but when you have nothing to say besides “It’s not fair, taxes suck” then please come back to me when you’ve read the Coles notes on economics 101 and actually understand the role of taxation. I would rather be taxed on what I buy/consume than on my income any day, period.