02:53 - 26.09.07
Stress
It's almost 3 in the am and I have to be back out of bed shortly to travel back to my son's home. As you might have guessed, today was eventful. That means that I've spent the hours since arrving home around 8 in the pm tonight trying to get all the hydra heads back under control. The one positive development was the request from the placement agency for more information and feedback - yes!
A call from one of my staff from the last federal election about problems with the Elections Canada finance department over her wages -the wages she drew two years ago. As you recall dear diary, it was difficult enough to get some of my staff treated properly when I still had that designated authority. I doubt I would even get a response now that I am not working for them. I gave her the details that I could recall and the email address of the Member of Parliament for this area. It was sometimes the only thing that worked on behalf of my other staff during my tenure as a Returning Officer. I can't think of anything else that will help right now.
My son was really stressed tonight too. He does graphic arts jobs for a living. Last week he did a rush job for a high visibility event - the type that was specified as cash on delivery because of the nature of the industry involved. As you might have guessed his company is now being stonewalled with respect to payment. He turned around that job they desperately wanted, by working 16 hours outside in a cold drizzling rain to get the project done for them on time. Part of the problem is that that industry operates in very large dollar amounts, where their source of income flows through, sometimes without end. Like many of the other big financial players they forget that the small businesses like his - a three man operation - can't afford to wait months on end for cash flow. There are a lot of stories I can tell about the industry I worked in downtown bankrupting small service providers by withholding significant amounts of cash for months on technicalities that their own billing departments or field managers had failed to deal with properly. Those people rsponsible for the hold ups (pun intended)never paid a penalty - some even got huge bonuses for "cutting costs" - at the expense of those small businesses. Hopefully this company will have a little more respect for the workers/artists who work so hard to make them look good. We'll see.
I had a great day with my granddaughter. She waited patiently too, when I called to wish one of my sisters a happy birthday. Didn't sound as though my sister was having a good day, so the call took a bit longer than it should. I have new art material to give to my grand-daughter tomorrow, so maybe that will be her reward for being such a considerate young lady.
There is a lot more I wanted to discuss about world events, but I think I need some sleep in order to bring any clarity to those topics. Good night dear diary.
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