Golden Arches

There was a huge accident on the Expressway leaving Toronto yesterday, and I was forced to leave the highway, as was everyone else, and hit the surface streets. After taking my mother in law to the airport in 45 minutes, it took 2 ½ hours to return.

About 12:30 p.m., I was looking for a place to get a lunch to go. While not my first choice, there was a McDonalds that showed up on the right hand side of the street, the way I was going. This was no time to stand on ceremony, so Mickey D’s it was.

After I got my lunch I returned to my car to set out the frugal repast in driving and eating order. A nice looking young couple exited the McDonalds just after me, and since they were “dressed up”, a rare thing for me to see in today’s world, I noticed them. The young man had on a suit and tie and the young lady was wearing a dress and coat. I admired them for a moment, as they got into their provincial car, a new white sedan that said Ontario on the doors. It made me take notice as I wondered who got official cars, and it quickly left my mind.

I started the car, and while leaving I looked to my left into the window of the white sedan. They were “going at it” in the front seat! While clothes were still on, they were rolling over each other much to my surprise. I shouted at them (although our windows were all closed and mine was just an automatic reaction) “You can’t do that in a Provincial car!”

I laughed and drove off realizing once again that clothes do not make the man, although an absence of clothes must make something. I couldn’t sit around and wait to see what carryout looked in their car.

Way Too Big!

I have always said, “Never eat anything bigger than your head”. On Sunday, with good intentions, I almost did.

We had gone to Toronto to the Island Airport to pick up my mother in law coming in from Newark. On the return trip we always try and stop in West Bloor Village to do some grocery shopping for fresh fruits and vegetables from several small Asian markets.

After shopping, we usually stop for coffee and some baked goods from a small European bakery to eat in the car on the way home. I always stay in the car and allow my wife to make the selections, as she will anyway, and it’s easiest just to let her choose. It will never be too bad; at least it wasn’t up until yesterday.

She chooses things she will like, and never looks for chocolate which I of course would want but is not in her circle of acceptable for bad items anyway. It always turns out to be a fruit based item and she will determine they are too large, so the two will become one and split for the ride home. I know what to expect so I am not disappointed.

For some unknown reason yesterday she chose a cheese Danish for herself and a raspberry tart or turnover looking item for me. It was turnover in looks but not with puff pastry, but more of a cake or doughnut dough. These are not my favourite, however, I should not complain. It was covered with sugar and was the size of a small sub! It had little raspberry filling, as usual, but was just a big, huge thing, deep fried and gigantic! Thank God for the coffee as it was dry and more sugar ended up on me than in me. It was too much but I refused to suggest that, given my luck on achieving what I had achieved! I will assume she wanted the whole Danish so I got the sub!

It was bigger than my head and way too much fat was involved in the production of this thing. The part that amazed me was they were able to retail such a thing for $1! That was just too much! There was at least a dollar’s worth of sugar involved!

There is a look.....

There is a look, I just discovered, that one has when you assume the person you are speaking to perhaps has dementia.  I didn’t know this but yesterday I received it, and recognized it right away. Perhaps if I had dementia, I would not recognize the look, but being free of the decrease, I got it quick enough.

I had stopped at the supermarket at lunch time to pick up some missing ingredients I needed to make sticky buns, a new diversion in my life. I thought I’d try baking, as my daughters had gone and they were the family bakers.

As I was leaving, I went over to the prepared foods counter to see if I could get something for lunch. As I looked into the case of hot foods, a great place for pizza, chicken etc., I spied a new item. It was a pin wheeled shaped goody, about 5”-6” wide, made with puff pastry and some kind of filling. There seemed to be two kinds, and I thought I’d check into those. They had no sign for them so I had no idea what they were called or how much they cost. They may have been a desert, I just had no idea but it looked good!

The clerk came over, and offered to help me, as she has done before. I looked into the case full of food, made a circular motion with my forefinger and asked, “What do you call the round things?” She looked quizzically at me and said, “Pardon?” I restated my question, with appropriate finger and hand motion, “What do you call the round things?”

"The look" came over her face, and she tried to be pleasant. She smiled and said, “They’re called potatoes, would you like to try one?”

She moved toward a container of roasted new potatoes with a spoon, and I realized what had happened! “No, I yelled, I know they’re potatoes, what do you call the pin wheel things?”

She laughed along with me now, and she had no idea what they were called either but she knew they were filled with cheese and spinach and they were good, which they were. They were also $2.99, and a great bargain.

I left with my pin wheel lunch, knowing I did not have dementia and feeling a bit foolish but delighted with my very cheap and very fattening lunch!

 

Complaints

A student writes:

“We have now had I believe 5 weeks of course with tonight being the sixth…

We ask questions and he answers some but mostly rambles and tells us to “trust him”, and it will make sense later…

I’d expected a student-based learning model, quite active and personalized …not lectures…

I am not going to waste anymore of my Tuesdays with this course as I am not getting what was promised from the teacher’s outline.

It is a judgment on my part, but I do believe that almost nobody in the class is there to become a professional… but merely to enjoy …as the course outline stated…”

This is a pretty good account to start with, as I have had student complaints for most of my 49 years in teaching, and have to deal with them, as I have in this case.

As always, the writer is pretty sure that everyone feels the same way about the class or the teacher. Often, they have others who have assured them they are correct. Most of us will not contradict another “crazy” student, and will simply agree, or nod agreement rather than stand and argue with a “crazy person”.

Usually, as in this case, the course or the teacher has been teaching for years, and as in this case no one has ever made this complaint. The biggest problem is the student “knows” what they want and therefore unless they get it, there is little to say. There is a prefixed idea about expectations that will not be discouraged.

I have found it is ridiculous to argue, or even explain to the student that it seems that five weeks is excessive before you figured out this class is not for you.

This is not, thank God, a required course, so the simple answer was to drop the course the first time you recognized it wouldn’t work, not wait a month to try.

I once had students tell me the teacher was difficult and horrible, and the complaint came from several students in the class. I did contact the teacher and had a meeting set up when the teacher was hospitalized and passed away. The difficulty she was having with her students was therefore obvious, and the solution was simple, as another teacher had to complete the class.

Another teacher told his class that he had bee teaching so long that he expected to “die with his boots on”, and they should not be  surprised if he died in class. He passed out in class from the flu unfortunately, and the class assumed he had passed away. They sent a representative student to the office to announce their teacher was dead. I guess that was a complaint.

I often hear about how everyone agrees with me and usually find out, if I investigate, that it isn’t true. Also, I have often heard that “at these prices I should expect…” and have offered all their tuition refunded, but they have to go away, and not get their tuition back and return to classes. No one has ever taken me up on that offer.

This is not to say that there aren’t bad teachers, but usually if someone is bad I have heard about it often, and never just a lone voice.

Yes. A student can have a problem with a teacher, and of course we try and resolve it, the concern I have is students trying to involve everyone else in it just to make their point.

A teacher may not be right for you, nor meet your expectations, but it may just be you and that’s fine…

 

My friend Joanne had a few pairs of socks on hold at Mark’s...

My friend Joanne had a few pairs of socks on hold at Mark’s last Christmas, and when she went in to purchase them on the 20% off sale, she purchased a few other things and left with the socks and the other stuff, failing to pay for the socks when she left the store.

When she got home she realized her error, and she couldn’t sleep. She was a thief! Nothing anyone could do would make her feel better until she returned to Marks, apologised to everyone present and paid for the socks.

I laughed, because as anyone can see if you read the previous post, I would have posted about the great sock robbery I had pulled off, not lost sleep over some socks.

We are all a funny bunch!

I would never go out to steal goods from anyone, but if the occasion arises, and it’s a non-threatening mistake, I will be happy with my petty larceny. If I feel the salesperson will be held responsible for the loss, I will immediately announce the mistake, and I have. However, if it’s a legitimate error, non-traceable, I’m there.

Years ago when my son, a bank executive, walked out of the bank and realized ( near my house in Calgary) that the teller had made a large error and given him hundreds of dollars too much, he went right back to the bank and returned the funds, knowing too well the consequences for the teller.

I am a nice guy who would not cheat anyone on purpose (OK, maybe the customs guys), but I will admit to a bit of the thrill of it all.