Survivor: Minimum Wage

So for those of you that don't know, I got fired from Canadian Tire (boycott Canadian Tire!) two weeks ago. What happened was that they said I was "too slow", which was a complete lie, because I was performing at the speed of the other regular cashiers. I was very competent and never had a customer complain or become dissatisfied with my service made the sudden termination by that bastard manager with a shit-eating grin all the more surprising. The more likely reason was that I recognized this almost axiomatic fact: Canadian Tire is a horrible place to work for. The managers and department heads (except my Head Cashier, she was really nice) treat their subordinates with absolute contempt, and what little authority they receive in their retail job world they use it to abuse their underlings. The fact that this didn't rub well on me, the fact that I forgot to bring my pen with me (a required item) a few times, and working in a place where my legs buckled faster than Space Shuttle Challenger were the real reasons that I was fired. Retail is horrible, and good riddance to them. Some people enjoy retail work, lording over their underlings because that's the only place in their life where they have a little bit of authority, just like some people are Nazis (or both). I believe afterwards some of the other new hires found new jobs, so good for them. I'll miss some of the guys I worked with.

For the past two weeks, I've been seriously thinking about how else I should make due with my year in suspension. My original plan was to work from September to March/April and then go on a vacation. But, if I don't find a job soon, I need to have a second plan that would interesting and/or educational. A co-worker from Canadian Tire, Mimi, suggested a brilliant idea. She, like I, was very disgruntled, and told me about the Quebec government's subsidy of French language classes in their province. Basically, there are many French language schools in Quebec that the Province would like Anglophone Canadians to go to. They subsidize, and according to intetwebs rumors, even let Canadians go for free. Now, I am an adventurous guy, and while Quebec is no Europe or Middle East or whatever, it's still very different than English North America. I wanted to improve my French anyways, and I would like to explore a new culture, so my plan was that if I don't find a job soon, I think I will take what I saved and enroll into a French language school in Quebec. I like learning languages, and French is a very important language in this country, because all the decent paying jobs for those with a high school degree need bilingual abilities. Also, rumor from knowledgeable sources has it that French chicks (that aren't from Quebec) dig the Quebec French accent. So learning French in Quebec is a very attractive option.

Thankfully I found a new job today at Harvey's. And having learned my lesson, having had three jobs in the last month, I think I definitely need to change my mindset, which is to "get through" six months somehow, hopefully with as little effort as possible, and then go vacationing. The problem with this mindset is that I tend to get discouraged by how hard work is (having been spoiled at Chipworks by work that were enjoyable, and thus easy). Henceforth, I will have to adopt a new mindset.

I call it "Survivor: Minimum Wage". The idea is that what I am going through is a challenge. I gotta treat this situation like a gameshow. The challenge is to get through six months of minimum wage action, and all the delinquency and abuse that comes with it, and if I succeed, I win a free vacation. If I lose (i.e. get fired), I am banished to Quebec to learn French. Honestly, it's a win-win situation, because while one alternative is slightly more attractive to the other, the banishment to Quebec thing isn't that bad; it's just a toned down version of vacationing, really.

Anyways, hopefully I will succeed in "Survivor: Minimum Wage". Outwit, Outplay, Outlast!