Buses, Phones, and Clothes

So recently my phone broke. I discovered this when I got an unexpected paycheque, and to celebrate, I  decided to order pizza. It was past 12:00 midnight and so there were only a few franchises open, but since I've ordered past this time before, I knew what was available. First location answers, I state my order but they continue to repeat their greeting as though they hadn't heard me, and eventually I hang up. I try again, same result. I try another place, same franchise, different location, but the same thing happens.

It just so happens that at midnight, things crossed over to April Fools Day, so I wonder if management told their employees to pretend they can't hear customers that call in, as a festive prank (terrible for business). Plus the unexpected paycheque only would have added to this festive theme.

Unfortunately, April Fools passed and I still couldn't use my phone. I could text and go online with it, I just couldn't use its function as an actual telephone.

Around this time, the buses decided to go on strike a week after they had stated that they would not, saying they rejected the prospective terms they had come to with the City. This time they're saying it's non-negotiable, and the strike will happen. Lots of people don't know if they should buy a bus pass or not, since it's near the beginning of the month and they don't know how long the strike will be, or if they will be reimbursed.

Around this time, our laundromat was busted into, which is something that routinely happens nowadays. People break in to smash open the machines and harvest their coins. The most recent bout left two washers and two driers operational, but only if you know a trick to make them work by poking around the exposed area left when the robbers smashed open the coin slots. This makes the complex real excited, because it means we can do our laundry for free, but since we only have two of each and everyone's jumping to do free loads of laundry, it means they're constantly busy. Especially since the new Super has put a new time restriction, so the laundromat is open from 8 AM to 8PM, which is really incompatible with my overnight schedule.

So I finally have a bit of money, but I can't bus, or use my phone, or wash my clothes. Things can't just go my way.

But the buses backed out of their bus strike again, which again happened the day before it was going to happen. They said it was a sure thing this time, but they did some behind-the-scenes negotiating and they wound up getting what they want.

I'm of two minds on that. I've always said that being a city bus driver has to be one of the most difficult jobs, because people expect you to be on-the-minute exact with your timing, when there are so many different factors that could slow you down or speed you up, such as the number of riders getting on and off, the whether, detours etc. And people only come to you with their negativity, blaming your for ruining their day by being early or late, or missing a stop request or forgetting to open the side door. You don't often see people compliment a driver for successfully completing an expected route.

But all their complaints about health and safety concerns, about how they're getting disrespected and have to worry about being assaulted... That's my regular job, and they get paid twice what I do. But I don't threaten to close an essential service like they did. Lost a little respect for them for pulling the strike threat twice, especially after they'd agreed to terms after their first threat and later thought they could get better based on how everyone reacted.

I brought my phone in to see if it could get replaced, since it came free with my plan and had a year-long warranty, and it broke down in under a year. But there's a smudge in the centre of the screen that apparently indicates that it has been water damaged, and even if your phone is damaged in an unrelated way, if it's ever been water damaged, they won't repair it. It's not like I ever dropped it in the toilet or a sink or anything, it must have gotten that way from me walking through the rain or something.

But you can buy a headset with a mic to replace the one broken on your phone, which I have. So now I can use my phone again, I just have to be wearing head phones.

And I learned the trick on the broken washing machines and managed to get a couple loads done. So I can bus, phone, and wash my clothes again.

I got accepted to Brantford Laurier for Bachelor of Social Work, so that's another option if I decide to go that route.

Friend Passed

So my friend passed away. Within an hour or so of when I visited her, she got transferred to a more comfortable location, where people go basically to die in peace.

She didn't really wake up after I'd visited her. I said that when I saw her she was asleep, and the most I'd dared to do was theatrically whisper at her, but I don't think there was much I could have done to wake her even if I'd taken the extra effort. She was essentially in a coma at that point.

I was with the family when they received the news. Tough stuff.

I don't really want to post about anything that might distract from this topic, but just so you know I'll probably be posting about my phone breaking, the laundromat getting busted up by robbers, getting accepted to another University, and being four weeks into my new job and having done case notes, Serious Incident Reports, and a containment (with no identifying information, of course)

People Leaving

My mentor is moving away! The woman who looked over me for my two years of student placement. She laid the foundation of who I would be professionally, and now she's moving to a faraway land!

I actually knew this would be happening for a while now. She occupies a couple of positions I was hoping to muscle in on after she left. But apparently she decided to firm up a leaving date right after I became employed full time *eyetwitch*

It actually stings a bit more than I thought it would. It's too bad we won't have any professional overlap anymore.

I've got a neighbour who is terminally ill with cancer. She's this elderly woman who has been my next door neighbour since I moved into where I am. She's had cancer for as long as I've known her, but she's got the tough kind of personality that always made you think she was unbreakable and going to live forever. Did I mention on my blog that when I didn't have Internet when I first moved in, and was camping at the nearest Tim Horton's for their free WiFi, a neighbour gave me her WiFi address? Yeah, that was her. I also may have mentioned that I preferred this neighbourhood over my old even though my old one was more high-end, because in this one, people took an interest in you, even for completely mundane things. You could buy a jar of peanutbutter and someone would ask you what you had, and later that day, someone different would mention they heard you had peanutbutter. Likewhys, if you stepped out on your porch you could be sure to be roped into a conversation detailing the happenings of every household in the complex. My ailing friend had a lot to do with that.

I went to visit her in the hospital. I've never visited anyone in the hospital before. I thought there would be a bunch of rules and regulations, especially because she's being kept in isolation. I thought someone would have to confirm my association with her, or at least someone would ask if I had any infectious conditions, but they just told me to pop a gown over my clothing when I walked in.

I saw her but she didn't see me. She was asleep and I don't know what the etiquette is surrounding waking someone while they are in the hospital. I tried whispering her name, then I tried theatrically whispering her name, but it didn't work.

When I came back, I ran into her family. I told them I'd visited her, and they told me that she had been moved to a new location within an hour of when I left. Just kind of weird, I'd dropped by after working sixteen hours in a 24 hour timespan,  then had to drop off some forms at a location that put me in her neighbourhood. I was tired but told myself I wasn't too busy to visit her. If I'd put it off, I might never have seen her again, but if I'd planned better, she might have seen me.

Piano Keys and Cream

Sometimes, due to the nature of my work, I get to go to an arcade. I don't play too many of the games myself, because nowadays, the rare arcade is mad expensive and I can't afford to play out of courtesy. But I accompany and play whichever two player games whoever I'm supporting requests of me.

There was a two player version of Piano Keys, which I think I mentioned I had as my first game app when I first got my smart phone. Pretty basic, you get four rectangles side-by-side, one is black, three are white. You have to tap the black tile as fast as you can and every time you do, the set of tiles is replaced with the black tile randomly repositioned.

This arcade version had four mammoth white panels acting as buttons in front of you and you pressed them as you watched a computer screen. The computer screen showed which tile was black and you pressed the key in front of you that corresponded with the black tile's position on the screen.

There were sixteen high scores recorded. By the time I was done, each of those high scores had been taken by me. Take that small children! Give the kids something to aspire to.

I was walking in the mall the other day and went by one of those stands with all the beauty products and the girls trying to hand out samples of skin cream. They usually don't pitch to guys, especially guys with no visible indication that they would use a product like that. One of them tried to hand me a sample and I gave her a playfully questioning smirk, half-shook my head, disengaged eye contact and continued my stride. But a second one pounced on me, somehow got me seated, and next thing I knew I was getting rubbed all over with a variety of creams and products. Girl was asking me if I was single, telling me I was beautiful but that I was ruining myself, telling me how she cares about me, offering me her contact information and wanting to stay in touch.

Almost worked. Had my debit card out and was about to drop $200,when I was suddenly washed over with a moment of clarity and said "Wait a second... No." Then she started haggling, offering more products for the same price with the "I'd only give this to you" angle. But I'd refocused, and she didn't really have a shot at that point.

I need a girlfriend.

Seems to be a new policy they've taken on. Every time I walk by one of those stands, regardless the sale girl, they've got some Joe blow type bloke up in their chair. I get approached by almost every one of them now, too, but now I'm just like "SCRAM!" and it's fine.

We almost had a bus strike recently. This would have been a lot more suspenseful if I had updated this blog when the date of the strike was still looming, but I didn't. It was going to be last Monday, and since I go to work Sunday night and get off Monday morning, I could get to work but not from it. Since I'm the only staff on site for my shifts and I work in a residential area at unlikely hours, carpooling wasn't really an option. I finally downloaded the Uber app, but even if they're cheaper than cabs, they are definitely pricier than the bus, and since I'm running so low on funds due to my first paycheque being pushed back, and all the work cancellations and additional fees for the prep documents and training for my new position, this was just really inopportune timing for me. They were supposed to know by midnight whether or not the strike would happen, but at midnight they announced that negotiations would continue throughout the night.

Since I'm awake for work, I can't just sleep through and check in the morning, so I got to be held in suspense until 3:00 AM when they decided not to strike.

Remember how my recent dilemma was on whether or not to go to University if I was accepted, since I finally received a position with a sustainable income after making my application? Well, it's not a hypothetical anymore, my preferred university just offered me a spot.

(Note: This is my 700th blog post)

First Shift

Finished my first shift with Hatts Off. It's an overnight position, so it started Sunday night and ended Monday morning. Last time I did an overnight was at Dare, the cookie factory where they had me counting wafer cookie sheets on my first shift, which is worse than counting sheep for making you drowsy, and then they had me acting as an Oven Room worker, but I spent all my time in Packaging, because at Dare, for whatever reason, they only have male Oven Room workers and only female Packagers, but there was a heavy lifting position in Packaging.

That was the gap summer between year 1 and year 2 of Social Work, and Liberty Staffing was giving me regular short-term assignments at Well.ca, Bird Packaging, Dare, and some plastic company, which were all on the same street. Liberty owns that street.

 I also did overnights before college, as an assembly worker for LPP, as a machine operator at Linnex, and I did rotating shifts at the Linimar Centre. Never done it for a social work field, though. I don't hate nights, but rotating is brutal, since you can't get your internal clock used to anything.

Before my first shift, I worker with two Extend-a-Family contracts, which means that I managed to work seventeen and a half hours in under twenty four hours, not including travel time.

Whooooo! Those are HOURS baby! For someone who hasn't been getting enough of them, that's satisfying.

My first shift was night of the full moon. This sketched me out because at both UMAB and Safe Management training, they really played up the ominous nature of the full moon, saying it's the worst day of every month.

Was fine though. I may finally have developed a sustainable way of living. Only took me until I was twenty-freakin'-seven. The question now is what do I do if I get accepted into university. I'm an ambitious person, but after dealing with so many unwanted challenges for as long as I have, there's a real temptation to just set up camp, make money, pay off my credit card, put money back into my savings, take driving lessons, and know that, if I keep doing tomorrow what I did today, I will survive.

It was a weird day in general, though. Daylight Savings time, my brother's birthday, full moon and start of my first shift.

My brother's 25 by the way. Quarter century, it's kind of a weird one. 26 and 27 have been more comfortable because they aren't round numbers like that. He seemed to take it alright.

Hatts Off

In posts previous, I've mentioned that there were things happening, but I couldn't comment on them at the moment, and this was contributing to my post frequency slowing down. I also said that you would hear about all the behind-the-scenes details when they came about.

So here it is. I've been accepted as a Child and Youth Worker for Hatts Off. It's a full-time gig. I'm holding onto three of my Extend-a-Family contracts and my Safe Management Instructor position, as they don't interfere with my new hours and I need to maintain my position as a Direct Support Person to stay a Safe Management Instructor. But I just had the difficult conversations with four support contracts recently that I wouldn't be able to continue supporting them.

The first half of my week-and-a-half of training, the part that took place in Hamilton, was for UMAB (Understanding and Managing Aggressive Behaviour), specific to Hatts Off.

I've had to get a Criminal Record Check, Medical Note, Immunization Record, Child Welfare check, copy of my First Aid and CPR certificate, UMAB certificate, reference sheet, void check, and have had to attend Policies and Procedures training since being offered a position.

They called me after Extend-a-Family offered the increase in hours and pay. They were one of the group homes I'd applied to before I became desperate enough to try industrial work. After EaF offered me enough to deter me from working factories, I continued for a time before getting the call from Hatts Off.

I figured I was interviewing them as much as they were interviewing me, and I hadn't guaranteed interest so there was no dishonesty in my part. But by the end of the meeting, they said "Welcome to the team" and offered their hand. I wasn't about to call their bluff, so I shook it.

Gave me an extensive list of documents needed to start things off. My Child Welfare Check was $20, my Criminal Record Check was $25, and my medical note was a whopping $100. Leaves me at a $145 loss, not including cancellation fees that I had to make to collect these documents.

It's a group home position. It's for youth, not developmentally disabled individuals, which branches away from my efforts a bit.  After my station as an Independent Facilitator and being trained to see group home positions as belonging to the "Old Story", this feels like I'm falling from grace.

But whatever. If there wasn't enough room in the New Story, I'll just have to join the old one.

Train the Trainer Completion

Well, I am now certified to teach Safe Management. This was probably the most highly intensive training I've ever done. In First Aid training, NVCI, and the standard Safe Management, we had open book tests, and in New Story training, and Path and Map training, there really wasn't a test at all. You couldn't really fail. In Train the Trainer, there's a closed book written test, you have to do a presentation, and you need to instruct physical interventions. You need 80% or higher in all three categories. I had so many things I wanted to do when I had "free time" during this training, but I wound up spending most of it studying. After the written test, I found everyone in the hallway trading views on how they felt they did and sharing their answers. It was like being in college again. All five days are half physical interventions, so it's kind of physically taxing as well.

But I made the grade!

I basically only ate shawarma that week. I was being reimbursed for food, couldn't find a grocery, we were in Western University's Community Conference Centre where they had a cafeteria shawarma joint where I ate lunch, and then there was a place called the Barakat just off campus which was shawarma and that's where I had most dinners. Even in Oakville, the only place I could find in the neighbourhood that was open on a Sunday night was a shawarma place called Chef's Door.

I should have bled them harder for food. I had $50 per day, and I think I averaged like... $20.

It's pathetic how quickly I get attached to people. Even just after the five days, I was like "Oh no, the team is being broken up!" At least I wasn't alone in my sentimentality, as some of us traded emails and told each other we'd be in touch. I... kind of think our life paths are different enough, both in terms of career and geography, that it's not realistic to expect a follow up from either myself or the others.