I’m extremely angry at the moment, so I will cut this short: I just had a ‘spat’ with the manager at Subway. The following email I sent to Subway describes what happened:

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Hello…

Just about twenty minutes before this email I’ve had a ‘run-in’ with a Subway Manager.

I come in Subway on average twice a day. I like to think, or at least liked to think I was on colloquial terms with one of the staff – not friends, but friendly acquaintances… as we’d see each other at different places outside of Subway around town.

Each morning when I went into Subway, I’d try to create a friendly atmosphere with the staff by telling jokes, and creating conversation.

When no other customers were around, on about two or three occasions I’d tell rude jokes. Bearing in mind it never happened around other customers… I was not once told to please stop and that they’re offensive, and because the staff seemed to like the jokes, I thought it were alright.

Just today I told another rude rhyme – again, no other customers were in the restaurant. The manager came out of the back room, with an attitude and said it was offensive and was going to ask me only once to stop. That was fine with me… but she then harped on about how I always give this particular employee a hard time and that his mood is always different after I leave the restaurant and that I test a lot of her staff’s patience.

Because of her attitude I said to her then that’s fine, after today I will take my business elsewhere, to which she replied that’s fine.

She went into the backroom immediately before I could finish speaking, so I POLITELY asked the employee who served me to ask her to come back out. I wanted to ask if the way I were conducting myself in the restaurant were offensive, and I were trying her staff’s patience, why was I not told 9 months ago when I started going to Subway twice, and sometimes three times a day.

She did not have the decency to come out of the backroom to even tell me she had nothing more to say. She sent the employee back out to relay the message, at which point I asked him again, would she please come out of the backroom so I could talk to her. She still rudely refused to talk to me.

I got rather angry and opened the employee area door and took two steps inside and called to her, at which point she STILL rudely would not even show her face to ask me to leave the employee area.. instead she shouted from around the corner she wanted me to leave. I called and said I wanted to talk to her, would she please come out of the back area so that I could talk to her.

She STILL refused at which point I snapped and called her a very rude name and I stormed out of the restaurant.

I am truly sorry for verbally abusing her, as that isn’t the way I usually treat people – not excusing it – I was offended at the way I was being treated.

I would like to take it further and make an official complaint. Who may I speak to, to lodge a complaint?

Regards,
Ryan Paul

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I’m a bit calmer now… so I can comment without getting abusive. The thing that made me even more angry was that guy who served me, who the manager was talking about just kept his mouth shut. When I was trying to point out to the manager that I don’t give him a hard time, I just joke with him, Lance kept his mouth shut.

Even if he did feel I was giving him a hard time whenever it may have been, would it not have been the mature and decent thing for him to do and voice those concerns when they happened?

A while back when I was talking to him about his father, after I had left he went bitching to my woman’s sister who’s also a regular customer in there, instead of coming to me to deal with the issue. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

As for the manager? I am sorry I called her a name, but I’m not sorry for stepping into the employee area or getting mad. Because of her inability to be polite and talk to me, she’s going to have deal with a whole other pile of drama.

It’s all alright though because now I don’t have to see either of them, or the whiny little woman who started crying because I politely asked her to wash her hands.

It won’t be only my business that Subway will lose.

From now on Quizno’s will get my business, as will other businesses around town whose managers have some sense of human friendliness. Competence isn’t all it takes.

This blog was inspired by a debate with my buddy Michael N, (who is real shallow minded and thinks ALL of my opinions are full of crap) – and the whole point of this blog is summed up in the following line:

“When it comes to nutcases and the rest of us, there isn’t really much difference between a fool who goes on a killing spree, and anyone else.”

There are tens of millions of people who hate feminists, or who hate Jehovah’s Witness pestering on a Sunday morning, or who hate drug addicts or whatever. There are millions who would definitely like to shoot them all and rid the rest of us of whatever problem they don’t like.

The human race is not designed to all have one way of thinking, and one way of acting – that’s what makes each of us unique, and the human race unique. It will NEVER change. People will always think things like this and the sooner people come to terms with the fact that the whole psychos vs. normal people debate is just another way for people to look down upon others, the better.

That’s what seperates normal people from psychos – the ability to keep our impulses and urges in check, and NOT to act upon them. It’s perfectly normal to have urges of whatever kind, whether it’s desecrating graves of war criminals or shooting dead people at random because you think you’re on a mission from the Almighty.

The sooner people realise it IS normal to have these kind of thoughts, then the sooner the world can begin to educate itself to find a way out of mass killings in schools at places like Dunblane, Scotland, or Columbine, Colorado.

People are only too quick to dismiss this line of thought, but maybe that’s part of the problem too?

It’s quite obvious that only the colonised would understand the full effects of colonisation on indigenous people.  It’s also quite obvious that colonisation was and is a very bad thing.

It’s also become quite obvious to me that there are always going to be dumbass shitbags like Gary who love to stir up shit when a group of oppressed people are rightfully protesting the governments theft of land.  I hope someone takes a bat to his head when there’s no OPP around.
Race relations are never going to be healed in this country, because the federal government and non-native people have too much to lose.  If natives had what they were entitled to, they’d own half of the economy.

Across the world, Canada has a reputation for being one of the most religiously, culturally and racially accepting country in the world.  But when you get on the inside, you see things in history like the Chinese head tax, the internments, the genocide of about 75million natives over 400 years, and murder in places like Nanaimo Indian School and realise that Canada’s never going to become the melting pot it proclaims to be.

What about the war criminals that this country let in after WW2?  Or after the Serbian rampage throughout the Balkans?  Or what about the murderers coming in from Rwanda?

It’s shameful, and every non-aboriginal Canadian should be ashamed to be a part of a country that has committed some of these heinous crimes against humanity.

Only by fixing race relations with the first people of this land, and then apologising and paying adequate compensation for the past will Canada start to become the place I want it to be.

Today’s word of the day is hopeless.

Somebody from the reserve posted some comments on my previous blog.  Of course I didn’t like them, but I’m sure as hell not going to erase them.  That wouldn’t be right.  Censoring blogs discourages people from commenting… and any comments at all prove that a blog is popular for whatever reason.  So as long as people are reading, I’m all good with that.

I at least have to respect the person who made the comment for putting their name – most people are cowardly and don’t.  The sad thing was that I didn’t have any problem with the person who posted it at all – I still don’t, rather I’m more aware of who to be polite to and who to ignore now.  The vibes and feelings on this reserve are contagious I guess.

A comment was posted that made it seem like I talk about all Band Members which just isn’t true.  I have a problem with people who don’t do the right thing, or people who do things that are unethical. 99% of people on this reserve I really do like.  There’s just a few people who do not have the community and the welfare of the Band at heart – those are the ones I don’t like.

I was talking to Albert Jameson the other day when he was cutting trees (he’s a real decent bloke) and we got to talking about the effects of European colonisation on native people.  Told him my theory that the situations of hatred and animosity on reserves between Band members throughout Canada is a direct and purpose result of the Federal Government.  Their policy is “Let’s keep the indians fighting each other, so they won’t rise up and fight us instead”.  Albert agreed. It’s sickeningly efficient too.

It’s good that Albert is doing his thing traditionally.  His live bear trapping, fishing, hunting, the healing lodge thing…  I remember when I went back to England he asked me to get some soil from England so I did.  I got to bullshitting with him about cutting trees and bush… told him he should use a saw instead of an axe, but right away he pointed out I want to use a gas powered bush cutter hahahahaha!

Gotta respect a guy like that who’s now trying to do the right thing, traditionally and otherwise.

I guess this is as good a time as any to announce the announcement…

My woman’s going to have another child – she’s 9 weeks and 6 days along.  Estimated date of delivery is March 12 2007.

This one’s going to be done right this time.  Insulin taken frequently, with a low sugar and low fat diet.  More water and less carbonated drinks.

If the domestic situation doesn’t calm down immediately, I’m going to do something I’ve never wanted to do – move out.  If it secures the health and life of my child, I’ll be gone from this house.

But this is definitely a HAPPY THING

We went to an ultrasound last week.  The foetus actually moved – it doubled up, rather it bent at the waist.  I was amazed that at that early stage a foetus can move that much.

I’m spending far too much time at Frontline games.  Networking Call of Duty 2 and Battlefield 2 is highly addictive and I almost can’t get enough of it.  One negative thing that really bothered me is that one of Lorraine’s friends from Rat Portage asked her if I’m a pervert because I spend so much time in there. How ignorant can you get?  Because I love computer games I diddle children?  I thought she was a nice person, but obviously I was wrong.  Can’t be that great a person to make an ignorant judgement about someone based upon the fact that I unknowingly happened to be sitting next to her daughter in Frontline.