I signed up for a French class (Beginner's 1) at Algonquin College a week ago, and today was my first class. And with the way it went, today is also my last class.
It was an unmitigated disaster. The teacher is completely inept. She did not have the syllabus ready, she did not a coherent lesson plan, she did not even know all the verbs in VANDERTRAMP (which a french educator should know), she did not even have the list of students (we had to write it down on a piece of paper). Basically, she did not have her shit together at all. Her teaching strategy is extremely curious: she literally opened the class by writing down the conjugation to etre and avoir, which any retard can just Google if he/she (oh sorry, en francais, il/elle) forgets. Then, she does the same thing except in Future simple and Past perfect form. Hello? This is Beginner 1. What the hell are you doing with future simple and past perfect in the first class of Beginner 1? I felt really bad for the poor Chinese girl in front that didn't even know what "je", "vous", "il/elle" means, she was clearly ready to die. This woman does not know how to teach.
The teacher was so god damn incompetent. Her piss poor teaching method actually sparked an argument between her and 3 or 4 classmates. Things were getting angry and people were getting pissed, snide remarks were openly and freely made by some of the more vocal classmates.
The problem with the grammar lesson (which is not what I was looking for) was that she does not actually explain the grammar coherently, because she is a poor English speaker, and apparently a poor grasp of the linguistic and grammatical principles of French as well. She just explains things in a way that only people that already know (and thus don't need to have things explained) would understand, so it was futile. It was obvious she had no plan, and she stated that she "just teaches whatever she wants", so she intend to not ever having a plan.
For the last third of the class, she FINALLY started to write down some damn dialogues, in forms of personal questions (where do you live, what's your name, etc). Things got considerably better, people got less pissed, but the teaching experience is still crippled by her absolute ineptitude, so most people weren't that eager and people were still pretty pissed. At that point, I knew I was not going to learn any French from her, and judging from the reactions of other classmates, I think a lot of people will ask for a refund.
What pisses me off is that this class is ridiculously expensive, like, 1.3 times more expensive than the Alliance Francais course. I thought that a college class is a safe bet because institutions like this would have a fucking clue, but then I learned that college administration, like the people that attend there, have mostly no fucking clue. Tabarnak!
Anyways, I'm going to get a refund on Wednesday. I still want to take a French class before I go to France, so I'm thinking of going to Alliance Francais in Ottawa. It's about 100 dollars cheaper, and rumor has it that it has a high satisfaction rate (although the Ottawa website does look sketchy, and did not have any evidence to back up the high satisfaction rate they claimed). We'll see. Apparently Alliance Francais is like McDonald's, the product quality is about the same, and they are interchangeable; you complete one, you can continue on at another place.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day 98 - An idiot and people that think we're all idiots
The good news is that the next day is my 99th day at Harvey's. The better news is that, after some adjustments on my itinerary (subtracting 5 days from Germany and France and adding 5 more days in Poland), I have saved $200. Which means, at this moment, I need approximately $850. That is almost exactly 2 paychecks away. In other words, in four weeks, I will officially be the winner of Survivor: Minimum Wage, and win my round the world trip. Needless to say, I am excited.
Another thing that is making me relieved is that I am officially past the 3 month probation period. This means I cannot be fired on the spot anymore, and instead the employer need to give a termination notice 1 week in advance or termination payment. Which means I only need to care about not getting fired (eliminated form Survivor) for 3 more weeks (well, 2 and a half weeks now). Needless to say, being able to not get fired on the spot is a great feeling. Thanks, government of Ontario!
So last week we have a new addition at Harvey's, and this guy is extremely annoying.
The guy looks like he is aways stoned, and this guy is unreservedly completely retarded, because he wouldn't shut the fuck up about his $7000 one month animal rescue eco-volunteer trip to Ecuador, or how he spent the weekend picketing Urbandale Real Estate for building houses on some pond in Kanata. What is even more incredible is that he has less social tact than even the fucking Troll. While we're at work, this guy keeps talking to me about some shit about environmentalism that nobody cares about, or about how disgusting fast food is, or how much he hates working here, WHILE HE IS GARNISHING A CUSTOMER'S FUCKING FOOD, AND THE GUY CAN HEAR HIM. Sorry, but I don't care, and the customer doesn't deserve this (well, neither do I come to think of it). One customer had some sweater that said "Trees causes pollution. Cut them Down!", clearly a joke shirt. This hippyguy actually got offended by that shirt and said to customer "You don't actually believe that do you?" in an righteous, indignant tone. The guy just answered defensively "it's just a shirt man." What the hell kind of socially untact retard would actually say that to a customer? Afterwards, when that customer was done, he turned to me and said "I bet those guys live in Urbandale houses." I wasn't sure why everyone seems to be avoiding him, maybe it was cause he's the new guy. Now I know, it's because he has a big mouth and he won't shut the hell up.
I made the unfortunate mistake of befriending this annoying whiny ecoterrorist wannabe, and this guy keeps clinging on to me like bad breath. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets me fired. Like, holy fuck, this guy just KEEPS TALKING TO ME. I JUST WANT TO WORK AND NOT GET INTO SHIT OR GET YELLED AT BY THE FAT TROLL. STOP TALKING TO ME YOU STONED HIPPY FUCK. YOU'RE GOING TO GET ME FIRED. YOU MIGHT NOT CARE, BUT I STILL DO. This is why I have to be a dick sometimes. I'm getting soft these days. I gotta be a huge dickhead like I used to, if only to keep some of the fucking idiots away.
Speaking of fucking idiots, that's what the management of Harvey's think of their employees, apparently, because they screwed me (and everyone working at Harvey's except possibly the manipulative and egomaniacal managers) over my premium pay that I am entitled to under the Employee Standard Act of Ontario. Under that law, if I am working on a stat holiday (which I was on Boxing Day and New Year's), I am entitled to receive premium pay, which means my hourly wage for the day is multiplied by 1.5, or in other words, $15.37. But I did not get my premium pay; my wage for the stat holidays were not multiplied by 1.5. I asked the Hobgoblin (which is also the payroll officer) about this, and her reaction is interesting. Firstly, I explained clearly that I did not receive my premium pay. She tried to divert this into an explanation on how my payroll hours were correct, and a lecture about holiday statutory pay, which were not what I was asking her about; I clearly told her that I did not get my premium pay. When I finally got through to her thick skull, she finally said that, regarding premium pay, "we don't do that here". What the fuck? You don't do that here? You're exempt from Ontario Labour Law? The law says that you are to pay 1.5 times for each hour worked on stat holiday. I tried again with the Boss, and he tried to give me the same runaround. This attracted the attention of Convict, who got curious about the fact that he got screwed over on pay. Hobgoblin comes around, and this time her explanation is that "the public holiday pay and the regular pay comes together comes to approximately 1.5 times the normal pay, that's where the 1.5 number comes from". Uh, no bitch, there's no "approximate", the law says exactly 1.5 times the hourly wage for the day should be paid. I know that they're fucking with me, and after showing it to my parents, who agreed with my assessment, we came up with the next step. Basically, I'll let this go... for now, until the day I quit, which I will hit them with this issue again, and will call the Employee Standards Board to look into this if it doesn't get resolved. Basically, I got screwed over for $57, which isn't that much, but much more important were the time I could've spent with my family on Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, not to mention the sleep I could've gotten if I didn't have to wake up at fucking 7:30 in the morning to go to work.
I'm more pissed over the fact that they're fucking with me and the people that work in the lowest income bracket and could very well have gotten away with it. I can't wait for Quit Day, which not only will I not have to put up with that stupid Fat Round Cunt called Troll, but get some government heat on them as well for unpaid wages. Fortunately, that day is coming soon... very soon.
Survivor: Minimum Wage continues!
Another thing that is making me relieved is that I am officially past the 3 month probation period. This means I cannot be fired on the spot anymore, and instead the employer need to give a termination notice 1 week in advance or termination payment. Which means I only need to care about not getting fired (eliminated form Survivor) for 3 more weeks (well, 2 and a half weeks now). Needless to say, being able to not get fired on the spot is a great feeling. Thanks, government of Ontario!
So last week we have a new addition at Harvey's, and this guy is extremely annoying.
The guy looks like he is aways stoned, and this guy is unreservedly completely retarded, because he wouldn't shut the fuck up about his $7000 one month animal rescue eco-volunteer trip to Ecuador, or how he spent the weekend picketing Urbandale Real Estate for building houses on some pond in Kanata. What is even more incredible is that he has less social tact than even the fucking Troll. While we're at work, this guy keeps talking to me about some shit about environmentalism that nobody cares about, or about how disgusting fast food is, or how much he hates working here, WHILE HE IS GARNISHING A CUSTOMER'S FUCKING FOOD, AND THE GUY CAN HEAR HIM. Sorry, but I don't care, and the customer doesn't deserve this (well, neither do I come to think of it). One customer had some sweater that said "Trees causes pollution. Cut them Down!", clearly a joke shirt. This hippyguy actually got offended by that shirt and said to customer "You don't actually believe that do you?" in an righteous, indignant tone. The guy just answered defensively "it's just a shirt man." What the hell kind of socially untact retard would actually say that to a customer? Afterwards, when that customer was done, he turned to me and said "I bet those guys live in Urbandale houses." I wasn't sure why everyone seems to be avoiding him, maybe it was cause he's the new guy. Now I know, it's because he has a big mouth and he won't shut the hell up.
I made the unfortunate mistake of befriending this annoying whiny ecoterrorist wannabe, and this guy keeps clinging on to me like bad breath. I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets me fired. Like, holy fuck, this guy just KEEPS TALKING TO ME. I JUST WANT TO WORK AND NOT GET INTO SHIT OR GET YELLED AT BY THE FAT TROLL. STOP TALKING TO ME YOU STONED HIPPY FUCK. YOU'RE GOING TO GET ME FIRED. YOU MIGHT NOT CARE, BUT I STILL DO. This is why I have to be a dick sometimes. I'm getting soft these days. I gotta be a huge dickhead like I used to, if only to keep some of the fucking idiots away.
Speaking of fucking idiots, that's what the management of Harvey's think of their employees, apparently, because they screwed me (and everyone working at Harvey's except possibly the manipulative and egomaniacal managers) over my premium pay that I am entitled to under the Employee Standard Act of Ontario. Under that law, if I am working on a stat holiday (which I was on Boxing Day and New Year's), I am entitled to receive premium pay, which means my hourly wage for the day is multiplied by 1.5, or in other words, $15.37. But I did not get my premium pay; my wage for the stat holidays were not multiplied by 1.5. I asked the Hobgoblin (which is also the payroll officer) about this, and her reaction is interesting. Firstly, I explained clearly that I did not receive my premium pay. She tried to divert this into an explanation on how my payroll hours were correct, and a lecture about holiday statutory pay, which were not what I was asking her about; I clearly told her that I did not get my premium pay. When I finally got through to her thick skull, she finally said that, regarding premium pay, "we don't do that here". What the fuck? You don't do that here? You're exempt from Ontario Labour Law? The law says that you are to pay 1.5 times for each hour worked on stat holiday. I tried again with the Boss, and he tried to give me the same runaround. This attracted the attention of Convict, who got curious about the fact that he got screwed over on pay. Hobgoblin comes around, and this time her explanation is that "the public holiday pay and the regular pay comes together comes to approximately 1.5 times the normal pay, that's where the 1.5 number comes from". Uh, no bitch, there's no "approximate", the law says exactly 1.5 times the hourly wage for the day should be paid. I know that they're fucking with me, and after showing it to my parents, who agreed with my assessment, we came up with the next step. Basically, I'll let this go... for now, until the day I quit, which I will hit them with this issue again, and will call the Employee Standards Board to look into this if it doesn't get resolved. Basically, I got screwed over for $57, which isn't that much, but much more important were the time I could've spent with my family on Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, not to mention the sleep I could've gotten if I didn't have to wake up at fucking 7:30 in the morning to go to work.
I'm more pissed over the fact that they're fucking with me and the people that work in the lowest income bracket and could very well have gotten away with it. I can't wait for Quit Day, which not only will I not have to put up with that stupid Fat Round Cunt called Troll, but get some government heat on them as well for unpaid wages. Fortunately, that day is coming soon... very soon.
Survivor: Minimum Wage continues!
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