Eve Laurier/ Murad Al-Katib

Oct. 9, 2017 The Ladder: Eve Laurier: Today I found this article in the Globe and Mail:

Eve Laurier is general manager at Edelman Montréal, a communications marketing agency.

I've always been a performer and quite comfortable in the spotlight. When I was younger, I took five years of conservatory music lessons on the guitar; I still play today. As a toddler, I sang and danced for people when my family went out to restaurants – that's what my mom tells me.

People started telling me that I was a leader before I really knew what a leader was. In my first year of summer camp, at 11 or 12 years old, they asked a bunch of us who wanted to steer the canoe, and I said, "I'll do it!" I didn't really speak English at the time, but I was just throwing myself in there. I wasn't trying to be a leader, it was just my personality. I'd let people raise their hand, but if nobody raised their hand, I can't stand it – I'll do it, come on, let's move on.

My dad was a managing partner, and he definitely influenced my career. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I'm the youngest of three kids in the family. My dad was working really hard and, for me, the best way to connect with him was to watch him get interested and show him what I can do. I don't hide from the fact that I went into marketing and managing, and did an executive MBA, because I wanted to show my dad. My parents are both incredibly important to me today. I still validate things with them a lot.

During my MBA, we did a lot of reflections. One of my reflections was that my next career move has to be from being an independent consultant to managing a firm. When Edelman called to say, "We have 35 people in Montreal, we need somebody to manage the growth," it was exactly what I wanted to do, and it was in communications, which was my passion and educational background. It was a perfect match.

I get up at 6 a.m. My son gets up at 6:30. I have half an hour to write my e-mails, think about the day and prepare, which is enough because I've organized it before I went to bed the night before so there is not much change. I also read my newspaper and do everything. I get to work around 8:30.

The most important thing I have learned throughout my career is how to take my energy and put it under people to give them power and confidence to take over. That is how I've taken my extroversion and tried to put it under people so that it becomes their fuel.

I'm a walker. I ask people to come and walk with me. I take people for a 15-minute walk, I listen, I provide some feedback and try to look at the positive side of things. So they are not a one-hour meeting, they are 15 minutes. They are not in a boardroom where it feels like boss-employee.

Managing millennials is different. They want to get purpose, they want to understand why I want them to do this or that. They have their own engine running. They want mentorship and you have to be there for them. I find them a joy to manage, but you need people that can thrive in an environment like that; young people have to be confident, curious and motivated. You have to show your leadership as soon as you come in.

I don't think that I've had a major failure. I've had little mistakes. I don't see things as failures, I see things as, "this is happening, how do we move on from here to make it a better opportunity?" That is literally the way that I view life. I've made mistakes, but those mistakes seemed to have paid off because I'm really happy about my life.

One of the best things I did in my career is build a network. I've reached out to people who didn't know me, but I saw them as inspiring people. I convinced them to meet with me and built a quick relationship with them, so I had this constellation of people that always say yes when I need to speak with them about something. I've nourished those relationships.

As told to Karl Moore and Aya Schechner. This interview has been edited and condensed.

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/eve-laurier-ive-made-mistakes-but-those-mistakes-seemed-to-have-paid-off/article36518844/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

The Ladder: Murad Al-Katib: Today I found this article in the Globe and Mail:

Murad Al-Katib, 45, is the president and CEO of Regina-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc., one of the world's largest suppliers of pulses such as lentils and chickpeas and staple foods like flour and pasta. It has 48 manufacturing facilities in five continents and more than 2,000 employees. He has an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan. In 2001, he founded Saskcan Pulse Trading, which became AGT.

I was born in a small farming community in Davidson, Sask. My father was a doctor. My mother was a municipal councillor for 27 years in different roles. The dinner-table conversation at our house was talking about the health of the farming community and jobs on Main Street. My love for community economic development, for the rural economy and for agriculture came from that upbringing.

My parents also taught us that there was a world outside of Canada that we had to not only be aware of but also understand how we would fit into it. I got my MBA in the U.S. and expected I would end up on Wall Street or Bay Street. Yet, that pull to Saskatchewan kept coming back into my head.

When I was 23 years old, I wrote a letter to then-premier Roy Romanow talking about how the emerging markets would be the driver of the economy and that Saskatchewan, with its resource-rich economy, had what the world wanted. I pitched an emerging markets trade-development initiative.

I thought there was a link to the Saskatchewan economy into the world. One day my phone rang and it was the deputy minister. He said, "Young man, come see me when you're in Saskatchewan next." I was working at the Canadian embassy in Washington at the time. I got a six-month contract with the Saskatchewan government and worked there for five-and-a-half years in international trade promotion.

It was a great gig, but there was this entrepreneurial spirit boiling inside me. When I was 28 years old, and my wife was six months pregnant with our twins, I quit my assistant deputy minister level job in the government and started working out of the basement of our house with a vision to build a lentil processing company and an industry in Canada that would reach the world market.

I am an atypical entrepreneur. I come from five generations of doctors. The expectation, of course, was that I would end up going into a professional career in medicine. Looking back, it was that passion for the rural community that my parents had, and this passion for international connectivity, that drove me in the direction of wanting a career in international business. I credit my parents for my success.

We've done 17 acquisitions to date and one thing I'm very proud of is that, with 15 of those, the management teams are still with us. A lot of those were successful family companies. They sold me 100 per cent and are still working with us. That's highly unusual.

We run the business like a family company. Our philosophy is to take what they do best and allow them to concentrate on that, yet provide them with a solid corporate infrastructure. We have a philosophy of empowering people to do what they do best.

People confuse corporate culture with a need for uniformity. We have the opposite view. The world is diverse. As Canadians, our knowledge of diversity and ability to have a harmonious multicultural society gives us an advantage in international business. We just have to get the instinct to bring it home once we get into those markets.

I studied finance in my undergraduate, but also with a concentration in human resources management and industrial relations, which was an odd thing for a finance guy. It has been useful and beneficial to me. It makes me understand that HR is our biggest challenge.

Managing people and their expectations is the toughest part of the job. Being responsible for 2,000 families, that's the toughest job I have on a daily basis.

The philosophy we have today with our staff is, "Don't ever be ashamed about the mistake you made, be ashamed about the same mistake you made again." It has been very effective for us.

We don't have a culture of fear here around making a mistake. Instead, it's, 'Okay, how do you fix it? How do we make sure that the rest of our family knows the mistake you made so that they don't make the same mistake."

People say, do you ever sleep? To me, sleep is an important element of success in business. If you can't figure out a way to deal with the responsibility and also turn off and rest, you aren't going to be productive.

As told to Brenda Bouw.

This article has been edited and condensed.

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/murad-al-katib-as-canadiansour-knowledge-of-diversity-gives-us-an-advantage-in-international-business/article36587317/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

noncompete clause/ part-time work

Sept. 25, 2017 "I signed a non-compete clause. Can I take a job at a like firm?": Today I found this article in the Globe and Mail: 

THE QUESTION

I signed a non-compete clause limiting me from accepting a job at a like or similar company for a period of one year after my employment. Though a year has not passed, I have conditionally accepted an offer from a company that is in the same industry. The new company provides one business line only, one that my former company does not provide. Would this violate my non-compete clause?

THE FIRST ANSWER

Shane King

Partner, litigation practice group leader, McLeod Law LLP, Calgary

To provide a more specific answer, we would need to review the non-competition clause itself. However, the court would generally look to the intent of the clause, and what is actually sought to be protected.

It sounds like the intent is to restrain you from competing against your former employer, and it would be very hard for them to argue that you are competing against them, when the area you are working in is not one that your former employer is engaged in at all.

If the areas are in fact overlapping, the court would also look to ensure the non-competition clause is properly and validly entered into, which generally means it must either be entered into before you start work, or you were provided with some form of consideration, such as a bonus, in order to enter into the clause.

If the employer merely foisted this upon you, in exchange for you keeping your job, it is likely it will not hold up.

THE SECOND ANSWER

Doug Ewen

Certified Human Resources Executive , Midland, Ont.

Generally speaking, non-compete clauses cannot stop a person from working for a competitor. However, I will leave the specifics of non-compete issues to legal advisers.

What will be important is to ensure that you communicate openly and honestly, primarily with your new employer, but possibly even with your previous employer.

My suggestion is that you disclose to your new employer, in writing, that you are subject to a non-compete clause. Go on to explain that the new company does not compete with your previous company's product lines and, as a result, should not violate the agreement. Provide them with a copy of your agreement.

In your letter, be careful not to disclose any aspects of your previous employer's business lines, customers, technology, pricing models or other proprietary information, as this would likely be in violation of your agreement. Your previous company may notify your new company of the agreement, creating a potentially awkward and uncomfortable situation if you have not disclosed it.

Depending on your agreement, you may not have a duty to notify your previous employer of your new job. However, if your agreement specifically calls for notification, follow through. As with your new company, do this in writing, assuring them that their confidential information will be protected per your agreement.

Finally, once you join your new company, follow through with your commitments and do not share proprietary information as the non-compete will still be in effect. Handling the situation in this manner allows you to maintain a high ethical standard. Also, your new company will likely appreciate your honesty, as you will now be entrusted with their proprietary information.

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/i-signed-a-non-compete-clause-can-i-take-job-at-a-similar-firm/article36367576/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

Oct. 2, 2017 "I'm part-time working 40 hrs.  Should I get benefits?": Today I found this article in the Globe and Mail: 

THE QUESTION

I was hired part-time in November, 2016. Since then, I have never worked fewer than 40 hours a week. Am I supposed to be designated as a full-time employee and be given benefits as such?

THE FIRST ANSWER

Natalie MacDonald

Founder, MacDonald & Associates, Toronto

First, there is no legal requirement to hire a person on as a full-time employee.

Second, provincial employment standards legislation allows employees to work up to a maximum of 44 hours a week, regardless of whether the employee is full-time, part-time, a student or casual employee.

If, however, you find yourself working more than 44 hours a week, you are entitled to receive overtime pay in the amount of one and a half times your regular rate of pay for each hour of work over 44 hours a week, regardless of your part-time status.

Third, provincial employment-standards legislation provides most employees the basic minimum rights at work, and treats full-time and part-time employees equally. All employees are entitled to receive a regular pay period, wages, regular half-hour breaks after five hours of continuous work, vacation time and pay and all other benefits conferred upon them by statute.

If your employer has placed you on a part-time contract as an independent contractor of some sort, but treats you as though you are an employee, then it might be that you are being denied significant entitlements. In that case, you need to address this with your employer to rectify your situation, or alternatively consult with your Ministry of Labour or seek employment legal counsel.

THE SECOND ANSWER

Bruce Sandy

Principal, Pathfinder Coaching & Consulting, Vancouver

I hear that you are frustrated that you have not been made a full-time employee after working for your current company for about 10 months. It sounds like you were hired on a part-time basis likely through an employment agreement.

Many private small and medium-sized companies hire staff on contractual agreements or on a casual basis so that they do not have to incur the additional cost of paying full-time wages as well as for other benefits for a number of months. Full benefit packages can add as much as 30 per cent to labour costs for companies.

You will want to get the advice of an employment lawyer about your rights under the Canada Labour Code and appropriate provincial employment legislation. Under the Canada Labour Code, you should be entitled to all the rights of a full-time worker if you have completed 12 uninterrupted months of work. This includes vacation pay, severance, and protection from unjust firing.

Have a discussion with your boss or the HR official for your company and indicate how many months and hours that you have worked so far and indicate how much you like the job and that you would like to be made a full-time employee. Ask if and when they are willing to do this. If they say "No," then you should seek the advice of an employment lawyer, update your resumé and start to look for a new full-time position.

Recognize that this may compromise the relationship with your current employer and they may want you gone sooner rather than later – i.e. before the 12-month period when they will be required under law to change your employments status to full time.

Alceste

2 days ago

The best way to deal with your employer on getting 'benefits' for part-time or full-time employees is collective bargaining. Talk to your fellow employees and contact a union.

David Eddie- mama's boy/ "Dating rut?"

Sept. 11, 2017 "First comes love- then comes getting them to fly the coop": Today I found this advice column in the Globe and Mail:

The question

My fiancé and I have known each other since 2006 and were engaged in 2012. But after 10 years dating, he is still living with his mother and not willing to move out to live with me. He bought a house in 2010 as I pushed him to find his own house, hoping he would move out of his parents' and start his own independent life, but he didn't.

His mother has an opinion on everything in his life and his house's renovation, painting, landscaping etc. I never got to move in nor even get a key. We are both middle-aged, professional and educated. He is 53 and I am 48. I want to settle down and build a life with him, but he's still dragging his feet and living at home. He asked me to wait until his job was less stressful and until he can find another, better house for us to move in to. He has many excuses. He told me he loved me and would marry me soon. But 10 years passed and nothing's changed: He's still single and irresponsible. Please advise if I am right to break up with him.

The answer

The word "duh" comes to mind.

Also: "Listen to yourself. Can you – can you just listen to yourself?"

You know, generally speaking, I try to make Damage Control a "safe space" for people to unburden themselves, vent spleen as may be and admit to making mistakes.

Then, I'll say something along the lines of: "Hey, don't worry about it, we all make mistakes, me at least as much as anyone. Here's what you do."

But every once in a while, a question comes across the transom where the person is so egregiously unaware of the elephant-in-the-room obviousness of the problem my pen is obliged to flash from its scabbard and I have to administer some "tough love."

This, madam, I'm afraid, is one of those, so gird yourself.

But first, let's take a look at this so-called man, your so-called fiancé.

Man, I hate time wasters. And this guy is clearly wasting your time.

It is a terrible, grievous sin to waste another person's time. Time is the most precious commodity we have on this planet. But to waste a decade of another person's life? I'm no priest, but I'd say that's a cardinal, a.k.a. "mortal," sin.

The worst, IMHO, is when a man – dithering, heel-dragging, prevaricating, if not downright filling the air with lies – wastes a woman's prime child-bearing years, so she has to give up her cherished dream of being a mother.

Then dumps her. I've seen this happen. There is a special place in hell for such characters, full of demons with pliers, blowtorches, iron maidens and other instruments of torture.

But it must be said it requires some collusion, willful blindness and/or naïveté on the part of the victim (you).

Certainly the case here. This cad/mama's boy hasn't stolen the past decade of your life – you've given it to him! Is he so dazzling, dashing and debonair that he has a Svengali-like hold over you? Is he like some combination of George Clooney and the reincarnation of Cary Grant and Fred Astaire? (Although it's hard to imagine such a being living with his mommy.)

Not sure I fully understand his living arrangements. Does he live in this house or with his mother? It's unclear. Doesn't matter. Bottom line: You need to dump this chump, prontissimo and post-haste, before he wastes another decade of your life.

Life's too short to flick decades out the window like so many spent cigarettes. If it helps, read the book He's Just Not That Into You, by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.

Or just read the title: The contents of the book don't elucidate or elaborate much.

(Yes, columnist admits, blushing: I read it.)

A book that electrified a generation of women and freed many of them, it seemed, from the type of wafflers and heel-draggers such as the one currently bleeding you white.

Put this mama's boy in the rear-view, watch him get smaller and smaller. Then, find someone who really is into you. Who appreciates you, who "gets" you, who wants to spend your lives together, so you can have some fun in the time that remains and stop living a life of anxiety and doubt.

There are 17 comments right now:

daysofcoleco

5 days ago

$100 says the guy is from the Mediterranean. Those guys put the mama in mamasboy.

9 Reactions

DeeDun

4 days ago

Could be Chinese or Italian guy?

The guy's mother cooks for him, he lives in the house for free, he doesn't have to pay for wife. The mother controls the son.

4 Reactions

Barbiedoll

2 days ago

In reply to:

$100 says the guy is from the Mediterranean. Those guys put the mama in mamasboy.

— daysofcoleco

As one of them told me, in all seriousness, "A man's wife is only his wife, but his mother is family."

shoshanab

5 days ago

Wow, I am going to be more blunt.

He is either gay and hiding it from his mother with you as his beard, or that is NOT his mother and he already has a wife that he lives with.

She didn't go into details of how often they date, if he sleeps over, if she has met and interacted with the mother, or if he has a close male friend who lives in the house he bought perhaps.

Yep there are women who can delude themselves into a decade long relationship with an unavailable man of all kinds, married, gay, or just plain uninterested. Uninterested is the most benign of those choices which is the one Dave Eddie chose; but it usually something else, why uninterested?

I place bets on his mother is actually his wife; he never sleeps over; she has never met the mother; she can only call him at work, so as not to disturb his mother of course, and the entire engagement is something she just wants to believe. Seen it!

He could be in the closet, but that's a smaller percentage of the population.

9 Reactions

DeeDun

4 days ago

It's true that he could be a repressed homosexual or not interested in sex.

1 Reactions

Donalda Duck

4 days ago

He's already told you in so many words (try years) which woman comes first in his life, so why are you not listening? It's NOT you, and it will NEVER be you. If you need permission to move on - you now have it. Find yourself a partner who is worthy of you.

15 Reactions

Maya87

3 days ago

Either this is a joke, or..........Who would waste years of their life on someone like this guy?? I think the writer should forget about her "fiancé" and start tending to her own issues - he's not the one with the problem, she is.

5 Reactions

MaryJay1

3 days ago

Until you meet some of these "willfully blind" people, you have a hard time believing they exist. Years ago I had a room mate whose boyfriend was such a pig that none of her friends, male or female, could stand to be in the room with him--you see everyone slowly migrate from kitchen to living room. 

He had no job and would use her car while she was at work to go have affairs with other willfully blind women. Then he fixated on a friend of one of her friends and started sending her stalker, creepy, explicit e-mails to which she would reply F-off. 

She finally printed them out and showed up at the door and tried to hand them to my room mate saying she needed to see what her so-called boyfriend was up to. She just looked at the sheaf of paper and walked away. After he totally spent all her money, he left her for another sucker. I also met a male version of this type who lost everything. Intensive counseling only works when the person admits something is wrong.

7 Reactions

Lamont Cranston

2 days ago

hmmm.

Don't know about all that....when I was growing up, both my parents had stories of oddballs that dated for 45 years, and both waited for all four parents to die before they wed.

A high-school buddy still lives in the house he was raised in. He and his wife go to sleep every night in the same room he was a 5 year old in...(that would creep me out)

Another friend was raised in a house his mother was born and raised in. When she got married, they moved in "to save up for a house"...three kids, and decades later, they are still there...

The circumstances don't tell you everything, and you DO need a compliant partner, but it can work (I do not recommend, but am just relating situations that have actually worked)

1 Reactions

RubytheRedhead

4 days ago

I think telling LW to just move on is not quite enough. She has spent ten years of her life betting on a three-legged horse and now she needs to find out why. It's true that she needs to get away from Mommy's precious little boy, but she also needs some counselling before she even attempts to find a partner so she doesn't fall into the same or relatively similar situation.

As always, Donalda Duck has summed up the situation perfectly, but I think LW will need some assistance before she begins to look for a partner that is worthy of her.

8 Reactions

Andrew from Toronto

1 day ago

Either leave, or put out a contract on the mother.

1 Reactions

willow_breeze

4 days ago

If you truly believe that it takes all kinds then you have to consider that this man may just be sufficiently spineless or devoted to his mother that he has chosen to not grow up (that is, I don't buy the cheating or gay explanations of another commentator).

  Letter writer may believe that she's doing the man some good but she's probably just enabling his behaviour. Dave is certainly right--moving on is the only sane course of action. Dave's bluntness is really kindness. There's no other sane choice.

8 Reactions

JPP221

2 days ago

Engaged for FIVE YEARS? Forgetting the rest of the letter (which only piles on further annoyances that make it all even worse), isn’t that reason enough to call it quits? How long can a plane maintain a holding pattern without landing?

7 Reactions

DeeDun

4 days ago

Woman wasted years of her life for ghost fiancé/ ghost boyfriend. She willingly did it. She has no one to blame but herself. Did she want kids? If she didn't want kids, it's okay that she wasted her child bearing years on him.

2 Reactions

LloydJohn

4 days ago

< this comment did not meet civility standards >

Lebail

4 days ago

Oh my, are you OK?

LloydJohn

4 days ago

Lol.
Yes, the problems always must be someone else's huh...

I am great thanks, married 36 years to a great woman from Finland. But I am from a different generation where is was good to be married.

Two adult sons have a different world.

Very soon one will have his phd and the other msc comp sci, and like most men have zero interest in western women today...

A world in which truth about the gender BS and divorce rape is posted, and then responded to by BS like yours.

Watch what happens over the next generation, very few women will get married or have a man, and many will never have kids...

Thanks feminists.
But of course that will be the man's fault and then you can ask all those people what afflicts them too, lol

13 Reactions

DeeDun

2 days ago

You can see on Facebook, Instagram & reality tv shows that "western" couples, women, men are getting married & having kids.

There have been tv news shows & news articles about North American men who married non-western women (example: Brazilian, Japanese, etc).

The couples divorced. The foreign women didn't like living in North America so they went back to Brazil, Japan. They brought the kids with them to Brazil, Japan.

The North American fathers went to Brazil & Japan to get their kids back. The fathers couldn't speak the foreign language & the authorities in Brazil, Japan didn't care & didn't help the fathers.

There is an American actress who married a French guy. They divorced & the father brought the kids to France. American actress went to court to get her kids back from France but it didn't help. Her kids are still living in France with their father.

North Americans are better off marrying North Americans.
And think about how your kids will look like when choosing a mate.

3 Reactions

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/life/my-fiance-wont-move-out-of-his-mothers-house-is-it-time-to-break-up/article36199751/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&


Jan. 22, 2018 "Dating rut? Time to ditch bad habits":  I found this article by Amber Madison in the Metro on Jan. 21, 2014: 

Are you taking your relationship for granted? 

Old habits die hard. But if your love life isn’t quite what you want it to be, you’ve gotta switch it up. Get out of your dating rut, get a new strategy, and ditch these habits once and for all!

1. Making excuses. Are you always making up reasons to not try your hardest when it comes to dating? Maybe some of these sound familiar: "I’m not going to find someone online, anyway." "I’m not going to date until I lose weight." "I’m doing pretty well on my own right now." Stop talking yourself out of taking the necessary steps to find someone. Admit to yourself you want a relationship if that's what you want, make the commitment to try to find one, and be proactive about meeting people.

2. Being too judgmental. Of course when you’re meeting people you have to be a little picky. But whether you’re deciding who to talk to at a bar or whose messages to respond to online, don’t pick people apart and discount them based on one feature you’re not that into —physical or otherwise. You have to give people a chance to win you over with the full package.

3. Staying in a relationship that’s going nowhere. Break ups are no fun. But you can’t stay in a relationship that isn’t right just because you don’t want to deal with a break up, are scared of being alone, or things feel comfortable. You deserve to be with someone who really makes you happy, and more than that your partner deserves to be with someone who actually adores them. If you haven’t caught the right one, you have to get back out there and try again.

4. Taking your relationship for granted. Relationships have to be nourished and protected no matter how long you’ve been in one. Regularly schedule a date night where you get out of the house and do something different with each other. Even when you’re busy and exhausted, make time to talk to one another about your days, what’s going on in your personal lives, and anything else that’s been on your mind. Yes it’s easier to get home from work and just plop yourself on the couch in front of your favorite TV shows. But just like you have to put effort into working out regularly if you want to stay in shape, you have to put effort into your relationship even when things are going well.

— Amber Madison is a nationally noted relationship expert and practicing therapist who lives in Manhattan. She is also the author of"Are All Guys Assholes?"for which she interviewed over 1,000 guys and found the answer to this question is "no." Follow her on Twitter@ambermadito get her latest advice.

https://www.metro.us/lifestyle/dating-habits-you-need-to-break/tmWnao---05likoBrzTGY

My week:

Jan. 22, 2018 Denik: I was shopping before I had to go to a job interview and I found this journal from this company.  A portion of the money goes to the artist or building schools:

http://denik.com/

Jan. 12, 2018 Joshua Boyle: He spends hours writing for Wikipedia before he went to Afghanistan and was captured.

I'm not going to talk about if he is a terrorist.

I have other things to say.

My opinion: Does he have a job?

Is it part-time?

He needs to get a full-time job and work more.

Or the very least, get his own website and write all and whatever he wants.

This reminds me of 2006 The Year of Anger Management.  I was laid off from my Call Centre #1 job and I was angry about it.  I spend a lot of time on Television without Pity.com where I read and write comments about TV shows.

I then worked at the Office Supply store for 1 month.  Then I quit when I got a job at Call Centre #2 that paid more.  However, I was still angry and depressed that I got laid off from Call Centre. #1.

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/former-afghan-captive-revealed-odd-array-of-interests-through-his-obsessive-wikipedia-editing

Jan. 23, 2018: Now I will write about if he is a terrorist.  When I first read the story that he and his heavily pregnant wife were captured in Afghanistan, I was like: "Why were they there in the first place?"

If you are going to go to a war zone, it would be for your job:

-soldiers

-a charity like Doctors without Borders

-journalists

It's kind of grey if he and his wife really was captured by terrorists.

I only read the National Post in the Edmonton Journal about this case.  If you want to tell me more about why they were in war zone, you can email me.

Jan. 24, 2018 "Social media content lands CP conductor": Today I found this article in the Edmonton Journal:

A Canadian Pacific Railway conductor who was fired following a 2014 derailment in Banff and later reinstated has been dismissed again -- this time over social media posts that included several sexy modelling photos.

Stephanie Katelnikoff says she received a letter from her employer last fall attached to a package of screen grabs from her social media accounts and was told to report to the railway's Calgary office for a formal investigation.

"This investigation is in connection with conduct and actions on Instagram and Facebook and other social media accounts, and the content of and compliance of those postings with company policies," read the letter.

Some of the photos in the package, which Katelnikoff provided to The Canadian Press, show her in cutoff jean shorts and a midriff-bearing top posing on railway tracks. Others are nudes of her shot from behind or the side, or of her in lingerie.

The investigation package also had online comments that included a 2016 Facebook post under the name Steph Kat that calls the railway's code of ethics a "short fictional comedy."

Another profile under the name Stevie Rae says: "Resume: Google Banff train crash," followed by a laughing emoji.

"I was shocked at the length they went to in investigating my personal social media accounts and my off-duty activity," Katelnikoff told The Canadian Press.

"I can't imagine how long somebody spent combing through absolutely every little bit and piece of my social media."

Katelnikoff, 28, said most of her Facebook feed actually pertains to her charity work. She said modelling is a fun hobby that has allowed her to channel her creativity and boost her self-esteem.

"I just can't see how that affects my employability," she said.

Katelnikoff said the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference is grieving her most recent dismissal. The union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Katelnikoff said her flippant online comments were a healthy way to process what she went through.

"It was a traumatic event and I used humour as a coping mechanism. I don't think you can fault a girl for doing that," she said.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/rail-conductor-involved-in-banff-crash-fired-again-for-sexy-social-media-posts-1.3772286

My opinion: Where do I start?  Let's list the ways of all the bad things that you are not supposed to do:

1. Don't put sexual pictures of yourself on the internet.  Or at least make sure your head and face is not in the photo so they can't ID you.  I know she's doing this for modeling and it's fun for her, but it does affect your employability.  People don't take you seriously.

2. Don't diss your employer on the internet.  Or if you do diss your employer on the internet, you can do it anonymously on other websites.

Though I'm sure some of you guys are probably going to say you shouldn't do that either.

3. You can use humor as a coping mechanism, but if you have PTSD, you should get counseling or start journaling.

Call for help: I have to write about it so I can deal with it and move on.  

I was working on the weekend morning, and I see this couple arguing and yelling.  He grabbed her by the arm.  I then got to a phone as soon as I could and called security to report it.  I described it as a "domestic disturbance."

The dispatcher asked me to describe the couple.  I did my best there.  I was more on telling them the exact location.

That's my MO, I never personally intervene, I just call security or 911.  I'll add this to the other cases.

1. In 2013, on a afternoon, 2 guys were fighting outside my restaurant.  I called for help.

2. In 2015, a couple were physically fighting outside Stanley A. Milner library in the afternoon.  I got a security guard.

3. In 2016, 2 men were fighting on the street in the afternoon, so I called 911.  One of them could be pushed in front of a moving car.

I don't know the couple, but I will get someone else to deal with it.

School cafeteria job interview: Now onto lighter material.  I did a job interview here yesterday.

Pros:

1. It was close by, and it was 1 bus.

2. The hours are good and full-time.

3. I can work on the weekends at my 1st restaurant job.

4. The pay is average.

5. I get a free burger if I want to when I work there.

Cons: 

1. This a mild con.  It's a school so there are winter break and spring break, PD days.  The days off I don't work so I don't get paid.  I can work at my 1st restaurant job on the winter and spring break.  

However, I don't know about PD days.

My opinion: I would work there if I got hired.

Jan. 25, 2018 True North Aid: Today I found this article by Gordon Kent in the Edmonton Journal about: 

True North Aid exists to give hope to people in Northern Canada by providing support and practical humanitarian aid to communities who need it most.True North Aid is supported by a Board of Directors who come from respected charity organizations, public service, industry, as well as partners with over 35 years of experience providing aid to isolated communities.
​
With your help and support, we are seeing lives changed and our True North once again being made strong and free…

True North Aid is a registered Canadian charity providing support and humanitarian aid to underprivileged Northern communities.

https://www.truenorthaid.ca/

Bentley's at Bonnie Doon is closing down: My mom was there and told me about it.