so I go in on my own into work again yesterday. I felt really happy going into the job. I got into the office about 4:45pm and got my dialer in a good mood. Again PSA, or what was left of it. The last hour we did "Magic" cold, uggh. I even managed 3 sales. What was the big hold up over our pay cheques? Wil said he was going to shut our dialers off at 8:45pm and form a line in his office after totals were called. Ok. He didn’t have a pen for me to sign the sheet as I hurried to his office as soon as my dialer went off. I didn’t have a problem with that. I got my cheque and my mouth dropped to the floor. All I got was $10 in bonuses. I was expecting at least $30. Now $20 might not seem like a lot but I worked damn hard that night when I had $1,000 in 2 hours and $1,450 by the end of the night. I got 6 credit cards over $50 and for those you put your name up in the white board for $5 bonus adding up to $30. I even got a $200 credit card that night. I keep records. So now I’ve got to go into Robs office and ask what happened to the other $20 in credit card bonuses I got that night? I gave Greg my total and called Anne. We both had a feeling Rob was going to short change me. If he did. It just might not be his fault and maybe, just maybe whoever did the totals that night had it in for me and only put down $10 instead of $30. Ok, I’m still going to go ahead and get credit cards just for this year only. After this year, no more credit cards. I mean why bother if I’m not getting a bonus on them?

This afternoon I’m going in and I’m going to try and get an explanation what happened. If he gives me some excuse “Oh you weren’t at line hour every night the whole week,” or some such nonsense I’m taking Monday off. If Wil asks what happened, I’ll just say: “I didn’t get my credit card bonuses from last week so I took the night off instead.” He won’t argue the point at all. And for every time they don’t pay me a credit card bonus, I’ll be taking the day off. Also, here’s the other thing, beginning next week, I’m going to put two extra days/week in. More later in the new year. If he gives me some excuse about the bonus money I was supposed to get, no worries, I’m taking Monday off, which for most people is a long weekend anyway. I’ll work, Wed, Thursday and Friday afternoons and then 2 weeks from today I’m off because I want to go to Strathcona Lodge and participate in their Master Mason ritual but I’m putting in an extra 2 nights/week there that week. This is all leading up to this: Extra hours, 2 days/week and in January, I’m going to ask for $15/hour. “I’m putting in more hours and I want my Saturdays off. I’ll work, 1-9pm except lodge nights and Saturdays off.” If he says, “how about $12?” I’ll take it. I’ll be fair and for all I know, the bonus money shortfall might be a mistake; “Oh, sorry about that. It’ll be on your next cheque.” If that’s the case then fine. I’ll still ask for more money in January.

Here’s something else I want to talk about. Street drugs. It’s become a huge problem in any city especially here in Edmonton where we have a booming economy. On the news the other night and in the paper City police were expressing their frustration over how they are catching about 1% of the criminal drug trade activity here. They were saying how without little effort $30,000 can be turned over to $120,000 in one weekend. The big problem are these dial-a-dopers, most likely young adults and teens with cell phones. The Police over the weekend were able to break into this one crack house and it was a nice looking house too. They seized about 4 bags of cocaine and hoards of cash and some weapons and arrested several people. What made me pause was that the drug dealers cell phones according to Police would never stop. They’d get call after call non stop from customers wanting crack, you name it. What ever they had on hand. That must mean there are a lot of drugs in cars on the streets. There’s been several times this year where people have been found dead in their cars. Gunshot wounds. No doubt rival gangs. Drugs have even penetrated into the work place. Especially where we work. Occasionally I see “secret hand shakes” and deals being made. Once I even say a bag of green stuff exchange hands. It’s crazy here and out of control. A couple of weeks ago, Surrey police in the Lower Mainland BC came across a murder scene. They found in an apartment the bodies of 6 men all shot. Police believe it was gang drug related and because of our hot economy here our local police believe we could experience residual crime like that here in Edmonton over the lucrative drug trade. It’s bad enough as it is.

Alright that said Anne got up at about 11am this morning and went out shopping. I hope she’s saving some of that for our big rent hike next week.

Getting back to the bonus money I didn't get, if this is some kind of ploy by Rob then I’ll proceed to get out of there in due course no doubt by the end of the year. I was talking with an ex Xl employee and she was discussing the positive aspects of working at Pizza. They start at 11:30am and work until 2am and until 4am on the weekends. They direct bank deposit into your bank account every other Friday. I can work from 11:30am. It’s 50 cents less then what I’m getting/hour now. The other thing is they are probably more strict then Xl. At Xl I can call Anne on my cell phone, read a book in between calls and even pause my dialer when ever I want to. Xl has some advantages. The other thing I like about Pizza is that I can work from 11:30am until 5pm. That would give me 6 hours/day and I can just work from Mon-Friday. That’s 30 hours/week x60 or $500/2 weeks. And it’s in bound call center work as well. I don’t have to call. The best part about Pizza is I won’t have to work evenings anymore and it’s an in for Anne in case she wants to quit her job. Thing is she’s getting almost $12/hour now but that’s like after 6 years. I’m only at $10 after almost 8 years. So, that’s what I’m going to do this up coming year. I’d like the security guard job and that may still be in the cards for me for yet.

This afternoon, I’m going into work and after that maybe over to Chapters. I haven’t been there in awhile. See what they have for me. So when I see Rob this afternoon, I’m going into this “where’s my bonus money?” thing with the idea that “Will not getting the bonuses affect my chance for the trip to Vegas. I couldn’t care less about going to Vegas. I’m sure it’s all nice there and everything but it’s just an angle in to find out about why I didn’t get paid the extra $20.

So, Anne’s going in this afternoon on her own and I get to go in on my own, which I like. Then after work go to Chapters, come home watch the news and ECW then get ready for my early Saturday morning shift. If Rob’s going to be good about the $20 then fine, no problem but if he’s going to give me a ploy then I’m taking Monday off. Pizza looks pretty good after the new year. Finally, I get decent money and an inbound call center and me evenings and weekends off.

Anyway, that’s all for now

e. Jim