Speaking of Missing Money

While on the same topic.... I received my termination pay last week. I must say the letter made me feel all warm and fuzzy. And then I promptly went out and bought a Playstation 3. But any ways.... On the cheque there was a deduction for RRSPs. Now RRSPs are a good thing. However, I no longer have an account with Standard Life. I closed it back in July and transferred the money to the bank. And right now I would rather just have the $280. So I call Standard Life and they have no record of it. Hmm... so where's the money? On an off chance I call my former company.... but not the local office. I call corporate. First I get told that the money would not have even been sent to Standard Life yet. It would be next month. So since it hasn't been sent yet I ask if it can not be sent ever.... and just be sent to me. Now the person I was speaking with couldn't do that but was trying to find the contact info for the person that could. She wasn't able to locate it but took my name and number and is going to get them to call me. So we'll see what happens there. I don't want to be fighting to get the money back. And if it is sent to Standard Life I will only receive 50% back. The other 50% will have to go into a locked-in RRSP. So now I am crossing my fingers and hoping.

More Woes from AppleCare

Don't worry there is nothing wrong with my computer at the moment. Last week I got an invoice in the mail from Apple. It appeared to be a credit for my AppleCare. Guess my letter to CR and to Apple Canada worked. They were refunding what was left of the AppleCare. Since the invoice was dated on November 12, 2007 I checked all of my credit cards to see if there was any new funds on it. There wasn't. So then I had Steve check his credit card since that was the one I used to purchase the computer. Nada. The next day I called and spoke to CR. They told me that it was being refunded through PayPal and weren't sure how long it would take. Was told to contact PayPal about it. Nothing like passing the buck. But since I hadn't checked my PayPal account I was fine with that. So I check. Nothing there either. So I wait.... and today I call Apple again. It's like pulling teeth. First of all the person I spoke with was incredibly rude. She cut me off and placed me on hold without even getting my permission to do so. Not that I would've said no but "please hold" and then click is not very nice and I am pretty sure that their policy (unless it's different then tech support) does not allow that. So once again she tells me that the money is being sent to PayPal. Won't even confirm that they even used the right email address. Starts comparing it to sending out a cheque or a credit card payment. Anyone that has used PayPal before knows that as soon as money is sent to your email address you receive a notice and can log into PayPal to claim the amount. It's pretty much instantaneous. Considering the invoice date is from over 2 weeks ago I can guarentee that I am never going to see this money unless Apple does something about it. So now I have $140 floating somewhere.... It would be nice to actually receive that money. Bring the whole painful Apple experience to a conclusion. And just in case you're wondering you can still see the burn mark on my leg.... so I doubt it's ever going to completely heal.

The Job Front

This has been a stellar week so far. I found out about the labour board dispute yesterday. While it's not entirely the resolution I had been hoping for it was about the best I could hope for. And it does mean that I will be getting about $2000 at some point. Definitely looking forward to that. Then today there was a hiring fair going on at Teleperformance for their technical support position. So I went down for that.

First I got lost. The building is really confusing. I had to ask someone how to get to the main office. Then I went in to drop off my resume and the receptionist was really friendly. That was a change. Wasn't expecting that. Spent about 30 minutes or so filling in the application, agreeing to the police check, and filling out several tests. Then I had to do a typing test. Got 53 wpm with an accuracy of 99%. Pretty excited about that actually. Since it was the job fair I even had the interview today. Susan really didn't ask me any questions. I guess that's a good sign. *lol* I am supposed to go back tomorrow for a tour and more paperwork. So I'm going to go with the fact I am employed again.... unless I find out differently tomorrow.

The job starts on Monday which is really short notice. I was hoping for another week so that I would get the EI in time to pay rent. Doesn't look like that will be the case. But it's not like I am turning down a job so I can pay rent on time. I'll just have to talk to the landlord and let them know that it will be late and explain why that is the case. It will cost more in the end. But hey it looks like I have a job again.

Welcome to the Real World

As many of you are aware back in March I lost my job. Well technically I didn't really lose it. I know exactly where it went and why it disappeared. What you may not know, since I really didn't want it to be public knowledge, is that I was fighting back. I felt that it was unfair and that I was being targeted. Ideally I wanted my job back... but failing that I at least wanted the termination pay.

Now I did get an apology from the parent company over my treatment there but nothing else ever came of that. Then I had someone from corporate looking into it. They dealt the final death knell for any thought of getting my job back. They also refused to admit any wrong doing. But offered me the 4 weeks salary. After careful consideration I turned it down choosing instead to let the labour board make the final decision. If they decided that it was justified then I would accept that answer. But if not then it would go on record that it was a case of wrongful dismissal and the company would be held accountable.

Such noble sentiments. I have since discovered that the labour board is on the side of the employers and will look for any loophole to screw over the employee. Okay so the wrongful dismissal is not the reason for that thought. They didn't give me my raise back in February and then fired me at the end of March. I was told I couldn't claim for any additional wages. So as long as they fire you before implementing the new wages it's okay. For the longest time I had a catch-22 at work. If I took my lunch then we wouldn't meet the mandate and it would lead to disciplinary action. So I didn't take my lunch but they didn't pay me for it either. They deducted the time. And I was told that I voluntarily chose not to take my lunch. Hmm... damned if you do and not paid if you don't.

As for the whole wrongful dismissal claim.... since they had already offered me the 4 weeks pay and to change my termination to without cause that is exactly what I'll be getting. But basically they are calling it a settlement. The company will not have to admit to any wrong doing and can even try and take the righteous high ground of "Look at us. We offered to do this and didn't have to. We wanted to bring closure to the situation." But really.... if they thought they could win and not have to pay anything they would've fought me.

Life in the real world isn't quite as black and white. There are a lot of shades of grey. But the good news is that the whole saga has now come to an end... or will once I get the cheque (which could be 6 months from now). I saw it through.... no matter how many people told me that I couldn't win and that I should just stop fighting. In the end I won.

Yet Another Toy Recall

Normally I wouldn't even comment on a toy recall or even pay any attention to it. After all I don't have any children and don't watch the news very often. But this one I feel the need to comment on.

The company Spin Master created a toy called Aqua Dots (Bindeez in Australia). I must say that I had seen the commercials prior to the recall and thought it was an interesting idea. You create various designs with the beads and then when water is added the beads fuse together.

The problem is that kids do what kids do best... they swallow the beads. According to Health Canada's web site, "Information from Australia and the United States indicates that the tiny coloured beads may be coated with a substance that can become toxic when it is ingested. Children who swallow the beads may become comatose, develop respiratory depression, or have seizures."

What they don't tell you is that the chemical coating metabolizes into gamma hydroxy butyrate or GHB. In case you're not familiar with it GHB is a common date rape drug. I am still trying to wrap my head around how it is that a children's toy... turns into a date rape drug. How is that even possible?

I am reminded of all those times on shows like CSI (or the movie Traffic) where they come up with new ways to ship drugs where it's undetectable. Was this not supposed to hit the store shelves and accidentally wound up in the hands of children? Did the scientists involved not realize what would happen? How does this happen?

As it turns out it is just another incident on account of using Chinese plants to manufacture the product. The toys were supposed to use 1,5-pentanediol, a nontoxic compound found in glue, but instead contained the harmful 1,4-butanediol, which is widely used in cleaners and plastics. Why the switch? Probably because the second one costs 1/3 of the price.

Two weeks ago the government placed an export ban on 700 toy factories in the southern Guangdong province in China because of shoddy products. Perhaps companies should be looking at the true costs of doing business and clearly changes need to be made somewhere... In this case it's especially serious since the outcome could have been fatal.

And since the toys are currently being tested in Hong Kong what happens to the supplier if the chemical is found? They face up to 1 year in prison and a fine of $12,877. Something tells me that isn't enough of a deterrent. he Chinese online trading platform ChemNet China lists the price of 1,4 butanediol at between about $1,350-$2,800 per metric ton, while the price for 1,5-pentanediol is about $9,700 per metric ton... so 2 metric tons of switching the chemicals and the fine is already paid for. Not to mention the fact it could potentially be lethal... so ~$13000 just doesn't seem enough. Shut the factory down, implement mandatory inspections, and use stiff penalties to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Chocolate Christmas Calendars

I suddenly feel like going out and picking up one of those Advent calendars not so I can count down the days to Christmas but so I can get that piece of chocolate that is behind each door. Mmm.... chocolate. Not sure why I am craving it at the moment. I don't really eat a lot of chocolate.

Now what prompted me to think about advent calendars and the chocolate contained within it? Back to the world of Yahoo news. Seems the city of Hanover in Germany created an advent calendar. No big deal right? Except that their advent calendar includes a serial killer on it. I think I'll take the coal in my stocking from Santa Claus over the serial killer. The picture is a cartoon representation of Haarmann lurking under a tree and there is a hatchet next to the door on the calendar. The calendar is full of famous people from Hanover. But a serial killer?

Kind of makes me wonder what you get when you open that door. Do you get a chocolate? Do you get some other reminder of Christmas? Do you get fake teeth since he killed his victims by biting their necks?

Last time I checked advent calendars were usually for children. So if you survive the serial killer on December 1 you might then move on to a philosopher or musician. I think I'd be traumatized by the experience. And in case you're wondering about how the calendar is doing. Since it went public the city's tourism board has been receiving orders from all over Europe and they expect to sell out soon.

Fastest Vista Notebook

PC World recently compared notebook computers to see which one was fastest. And the winner is? The fastest Vista computer is the MacBook Pro. Say what? Yep you heard me right. The 17" MacBook Pro turned out to be the fastest computer running Windows Vista. And to think Apple doesn't care if you can run Windows on the computer. Yet it outperformed those manufacturers who rely on the Windows OS for well.... everything. Kind of makes you wonder doesn't it? For the full article you can check it out here. And now... back to my MacBook Pro. Only I'm not running any version of Windows on it.