Friday 14 November 2008

Things That Suck

Alberta-philes, close your eyes.

We have only lived in this godforsaken province for 11 months (minus 3 days), but we have agreed that it sucks. When we decided to make this move, a big selling point was that an awful lot of people seem to move here, and end up staying forever. How bad could it be?

Well.

The cost of living is ridiculously high. Come on, we're in MEDICINE HAT, not some thriving metropolis, or even some small-but-cool area that people would go to visit. We make oil and gas, but it's more expensive here than in Ontario. It has a pathetic assortment of restaurants, at which you get lousy, lousy service, and the food is always hit or miss. People are uneducated. They're rich, because you don't need to finish high school to start working in gas and oil and pulling in $100K plus a year...at 18. They're ignorant. They're rude.

Mostly, though, they just don't care.

This is true of our visits to Calgary and Edmonton, too. Too many idiots with too much money, with stupid, giant, gas-guzzling trucks that drive too fast, tailgate you, cut you off, talk too loud, and generally think that they're better than you.

Today's rant is sparked by an ongoing struggle to get laminate flooring installed. We need the flooring installed before we paint. We need to paint before we set up the baby's room. What should have been done well over a month ago -- simply enough, one would think -- has taken way too long to even get an installation date (it took 14 days to estimate the cost, after they measured, and then another 14 days to order in the supplies). But, they even called on Wednesday to CONFIRM they were coming out to install it today! Somehow, though, they didn't think to call to CANCEL it when they decided NOT to come out to install it.

Which means: all of the furniture that was on the carpet in our living room, hallway, landing, and master bedroom (quite a bit, all together) is piled up in the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and upstairs bedrooms. We moved it ourselves, and I don't know if we should move it back while we wait for them to return any of the 75 cranky phone messages we left to reschedule, or leave it, since I'm not getting any less pregnant. We slept in the guest room last night, and had to rummage around in various piles to find our clothes, since we took the drawers out to make the dressers lighter. It also means that Chris took the day off work to be there, since they required someone to be home for the whole time. To sum up: not only is there a tv stand in the bathroom (the tv is still on the wall, alas), but there is a Very Cranky Man in my house, and I expect he will stay there until we get flooring, whenever that is.

We've called the Head Office of ISO Installations (oh yes, I'm naming names!!!). We've called their customer service line. We've called their Calgary office, which was in charge of the installation. We've called Home Depot. And nobody has called us back. The best we got was at Home Depot, where a real person, at least, said that she'd pass the message on.

Hisssss.

I think I know why people stay here. They stop caring, too. They start to think that this is normal, that this is what it's like everywhere, or maybe that they don't deserve any better, and hey, there's no PST.

It's not enough.

But nobody's there to listen, and if they don't listen, nothing can change.

/end rant

(for now)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, that is a sad story .... I remember feeling the same about the lack of services provided when we moved back to an eastern province that will remain nameless.... they didn't have the 'too much money to care' problem, they just figured they'd get there when they got there. Or not. But hey, what are you doing moving furniture in your condition???? Call in some friends!
Mommmmmm

Garrett Family said...

I agree with your mom, STOP MOVING FURNITURE!!! You will force an early labor with all your ranting and moving!!

I am sorry about your floors. There's nothing more frustrating than living in a place where people think they are entitled to just about everything and anything. I know. I live in California.

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