An article in the Sunday New York Times by Emma Goldberg titled The Magic of Your First Work Friends struck a chord with me as I was reading about how intense and long-lasting these friendships may become. What starts out as sharing a workplace can evolve into a friendship more enduring and fulfilling than we ever envisioned. There is a reason I have strong opinions on…
Browsing Category Business
Will the cosmetics marketers succeed in sucking me in again?
This time for sure I’m going to resist the sirens’ call of cosmetics industry marketers. A couple of years ago I posted a piece about how many unused and unsuitable makeup and skincare products I had stashed in my bathroom cupboards that I finally purged to make room for more. It is soooo hard to not get sucked into “new and improved” or the marketers’…
I went to Paris and all I bought was . . . almost nothing!
I tried. I really tried to spend money in Paris while attending a week-long women’s writing retreat this month. After all, at my age, there aren’t many years left to treat ourselves to something we’ve always wanted. This summer is a big deal in our house. I turn seventy-five; my husband turns eighty, and we celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary so I thought a splurge…
Political correctness has made me afraid to ask a simple question
In Serra Hamilton’s First Person essay in The Globe and Mail, Working With The Public Is No Picnic, Hamilton claims to love her job as a Guest Experience Leader at McDonald’s but she balks at people assuming her Asian features put into question whether she belongs in this country. I now question one of my favourite activities. Is it now politically incorrect to ask someone…
Where is Bill Davis when we really need him?
Remember the good old days when a few of our politicians actually elicited a modicum of respect from their constituents? I suspect even the Liberals admired the fairness, integrity, and honest sense of public service demonstrated by such politicians as former Premier of Ontario, Bill Davis back in the sixties. As Minister of Education under Premier John Robarts, Davis created Ontario’s community college system and TV…
Automated call centres will be the death of me!
This is not the first time I have bitched about customer service on an automated telephone system or a call centre. It seems the waits are getting longer; the runaround more complicated, and the service (is it even possible?) more horrendous. Like hell, they value our business! Not a week goes by that this old boomer isn’t forced to call a bank, a telecommunications company,…