Life in the northern hemisphere

It has only been a week and a day since I have made my finally acclaimed move to Canada and things have been a little shaky. For starters, applying for jobs here is completely different than what I'm used to. I mean, I have never been prompted to hand my resume "just in case" they are looking for participants to hire. Usually a job application would set me in that category, but not here I guess. Aside from even looking for work, I've been looking for a place to live! I've been lucky enough to have my friends brother house me, and my girlfriend sneak me into her residence, for a place for me to sleep. But I have to find a place for myself. I suppose you can take this as me "declaring my independence" but just my attempt to get away from that wretched state, Florida. And now, I'm out! So for the most part, I got what I wanted. Now the hard part is surviving on my own.

Looking for jobs around here has been such a hassle. Whether it's been looking on craigslist, or taking a walk down Bloor street, it seems like every employer I encounter just seems to turn the other cheek and ignore my presence. And this whole "do you want to drop off your resume" business just seems like an easy way for those part time cashiers to brush you off their shoulders. They probably don't even deliver the resume to the manager, and who says the manager ever bothers reading them most of the time. Besides, why would the employee want another person to be hired? that just means their hours have to be lowered in accordance to the new employees hours, so that all employees have their schedules accommodated to the changes. All thanks to the new employee. So, Yeah. I can see why they wouldn't been too thrilled to know I'm looking for a job. Let alone handing out resumes. I know I wouldn't exactly be happy knowing that. *sigh* I suppose what I REALLY need is some networking around this city. Friends that can help me get into those high places. Hookups. But as for now, that doesn't seem like its possible...

Also, theres this "license" or "certificate" that ALL waiters in Ontario MUST have, called the SmartServe License. Basically it allows the waiter/server to serve alcohol. As far as the rules state, the legal drinking age in Ontario is 19 (which means I can drink :D hehehehehe), but the legal serving of alcohol age in Ontario is 18 (which.... is odd in comparison to the drinking age). But seems like every waiter job I have applied at thus far has seemed to require the possession of this SmartServe license which I don't have, nor do I know how to obtain.

Aside from the job search, I have also gone about doing other things, such as getting a bank account. Apparently, in Canada, seems like just about everything has some sort of fee or tax on it. For example, my bank account is an "Unlimited Chequing Account" (Yeah, still have to get used to the usage of q's instead of ck's or just k's) which basically is a minimum charge of $12.75 Canadian per month. I checked all the plans and they all have monthly fees. It's pretty outrageous but I guess this is how people live here. Also, everything is crazy taxed here! but on the brighter side, Minimum wage is higher.... So I suppose It's a benefit? not too sure yet. As for my future endeavours, I must wait and see where this path takes me. I'll do my best to "stay the course" and not let myself give up.

And if I fail, I guess there's always Boston....

Post 18: The Start of Something Bad.

So as of today, my life has turned a new shit point, and has now slid further down the stream of piled crap. Listen, all I want is for me to get my damn paycheck, then buy her the ticket so she can come here. Not that complicated. But no. Life, being a bigger asshole than me, threw a slimy shit ball right at me about 2 days ago, and what happened was the manager screwed up my paycheck.

"But Leo! how did he mess up your paycheck?? He's the manager; shouldn't he know what he's doing?"

Yes, audience, he SHOULD know what he's doing, and I strongly weigh emphasis on the word "Should". See, what he did was he pretty much did not include a good chunk of my hours worked. Thus in result, my check added up to be a total of $143.55. Now, that's not all. Not only did he miss a huge portion of my hours, but he also didn't pay the agreed upon rate for my position. It was indeed a huge mess, and the fact that I didn't even know the first thing about fixing it, worried me that I wouldn't be able to. Eventually, the assistant manager told me that they fixed my paycheck, and that it should amount in the next paycheck. Now although I did complain to him that the paycheck was short of hours, I did however fail to mention the fact that the agreed pay rate was also no included in the paycheck. At this point I don't know what further action to take upon having that fixed. Hopefully I can work something out while it's not too late.

Once I can straighten my check out, and all is good on that end of the issue, then I will immediately proceed to the near Starbucks coffee shop. From there, I will negotiate for an interview and see if I can score a position within the facility. If I triumph, then the result will go as follows: I give Taco Bell my oe week notice prior to resignation, inform Starbucks of my transfer within the following days, and if I'm lucky, I should start there as soon as I quit my job at Taco Bell. Now, if none of that occurs at all (if not by order), then I suppose the next taken step is to search for a job (using the same methods as for the Starbucks) until I find one with a higher paying wage than My current job. Of course, I wont quit until I have another job I can hop to.

And for the record, I am doing this job for the paycheck, but above that, I was also rather curious of what occurs within the confines of that fast food restaurant. In addition to my curiosity, I also learned quite a bit as to how most fast food facilities should behave and should manage. Although I was the one on the outside, sort of just watching everything occur, I got a pretty good idea as to what should and should not be done. Therefore, with the benefit of getting paid, I also learned quite a lot about a field/area in which I was positioned in.

Aside from all the work shenanigans, my family is also in quite a bit of turmoil. Heh, I can't even call it that anymore. Honestly, I don't know what it is. My dad, above all, is being stupid. I don't know when he would realize that his reasoning is irrational, and that out of all the possible answers to a question, his is always the wrong one. He has to learn that just because you give an answer that has relatively more words than it should, and includes some sort of philosophical sounding saying within the response, does not make it any more right than someone answering each question with a question. There's things in life which you do, and things which you don't. The ones which come in between, relatively are the ones based within our own psyche.

All this and more, honestly, I don't even know if this is only the beginning, or the progression of misery, furthermore leading to a horrific outcome. I just want this all to be good again; to maintain an acceptable equilibrium is simply fine by me. Like I mentioned earlier, all I want to do is work to fly her over here, and so I can eventually go over there for school. That's my plan. That's what I want to do. Ironic you may say, for a kid who dropped out of school, I still want to go to it. My reason for dropping out wasn't to just rid myself of high school. I just hated the school I was attending and they left me no other choice but to drop out and get my GED. So far, most businesses and "professional" establishments I've witnessed withing the Florida confines is anything but professional.

Tomorrow I work until 10pm. Someone please kill me. Or at least offer me a better job. I can't stand this fast food restaurant that I work at. Starbucks will do. Much appreciated.