July 29, 2012
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Report # 905
Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having an awesome weekend. After work on Friday I walked up to Tim Hortons before taking my two buses to see Carlos for my Spanish class. I actually left 15 minutes early as I didn’t want to wait around for the bus and start my class later. Giving four weeks notice when leaving a job is a great thing for someone to do if they can, but it just seems like it takes forever to finish up and move on. I start my last full week tomorrow so I’m looking forward to that.
My class went well with Carlos as we just talked a lot and he finished going over my reference letters. I hope to have one more from my manager of my current job, and I’ll need to get that one translated as well. I will miss my classes with Carlos, though I won’t miss the long 14 hour days every Friday so it will be nice to finish up with that this coming week. Yesterday morning my grandmother called and said that we should check out Zellers for a suitcase as all of the Zellers stores will be closing by the end of September and becoming Target.
So after running to Tim Hortons and coming home for a while my grandmother arrived and picked me up. Zellers had a huge selection of suitcases and all of them were on sale. I got a suitcase that was originally $ 220 with taxes, for $ 90, as it was 60 % off. My grandmother actually bought it for me as a Christmas present so that was a great surprise. Afterwards we went to Boston Pizza and I had some shrimp tacos with a cesar salad, and it was an amazing meal.
In the afternoon I went for another walk and afterwards I swam in the pool and soaked up some sun. In the evening I watched a movie called Te presento a Laura (I present you Laura). I remember when I was in Monterrey in December 2010 I was with Pili and we were looking for movies to watch in the theatre. I saw that they were playing that movie but Pili was saying I wouldn’t understand it. I tried to read the synopsis and I could only read the first line well and afterwards I didn’t really understand it.
This year though I am able to read much better and watch movies and shows in Spanish and I never use any subtitles, so I have come a long way in the last year and a half. I’m sure after going to Mexico this time and being there for a long period of time I’ll be even better so I am very excited about the future and continuing to improve. Of course it will take me like 10 years to really perfect the language, but I am getting there !
It was actually a very good movie about a depressed young woman who had a list of things she wanted to do before she died. (Some of them serious and others just very silly) One of them was to save a life and care for it. She saved a suicidal actor from jumping off a building and they started working together and really having a fun relationship completing the rest of the items on the list. He would save her life at the end of the movie as well. So it was a fun movie to watch.
I talked to Dora for a few hours in the evening and that was pretty much it for my Saturday. Today I walked up to Tim Hortons and I bought a few things from the grocery store. I will run this afternoon as it’s a super sunny and warm day and I love running in the hotter weather. Maybe I’m kind of odd, but I love running when it’s super hot outside and I love running when it’s really cold. I also got my travel insurance purchased for Mexico. It cost me $ 200, but at least I won’t have anything to worry about now.
I talked about how I went to Zellers yesterday and bought a suitcase with my grandmother. My grandmother’s friend had the idea to check out Zellers because she knew everything in the store was on sale and we could find a great deal. Zellers is basically Canada’s version of Target. Zellers is a department store that was part of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was one of Canada’s oldest companies. The Hudson’s Bay Company was bought out by an American investor a number of years ago, though I think he has since passed away.
Basically in a couple of months a number of the Zeller’s department stores here will be changed into Targets while a number of other stores which weren’t so profitable will be permanently closed. Obviously a number of employees will lose their jobs. The people who currently work at Zellers are guaranteed an interview with Target, but they won’t be guaranteed jobs with them. Now I can understand this in some ways, Target is a new company and they have every right to hire who they want, and there will be some people who have worked for Zellers that they don’t think are worthy candidates to retain.
All this is fair enough, but I have heard that someone who has worked for Zellers for 20 years will lose all of their seniority with that company and basically will have to start from scratch at very low wages. Target is Target and it’s not Zellers, but I find this to be a little unfair. Target is a billion dollar corporation and they most certainly can afford to retain the benefits and levels of seniority on the staff they decide to keep. They just are choosing not too because at the end of the day the most important thing for them is being able to offer customers the lowest prices.
So yes people will be able to buy things at prices they weren’t able to before at stores other than Wal-Mart, but they have to be feeling a little bit guilty knowing they are saving those dollars in place of people’s jobs with their seniority thrown out to window, not to mention having a lot of the products being sold made by someone getting paid next to nothing in a number of foreign countries. Now this isn’t only a Target thing so they shouldn’t be singled out, but Target had a real chance to come here and create a positive name for themselves, but I just don’t think they are doing that.
Of course all of their stores will sell amazingly well and they will rake in tons of money because let’s face it…. people are cheap and they don’t really care about the reasons behind why they are paying the prices they are paying. This isn’t to say that nobody in the world cares, but honestly the vast majority of the people in the world really don’t. And when it comes down to saving a few bucks every time someone goes to a department store, or ensuring that people who have worked for a company for more than two decades continue with the same salary and benefits they had before their previous employer was taken over, people will choose the cheap prices.
I am sure Target will come and give a lot of people jobs, and surely they’ll do lots of charity work as well, but it’s important that they are criticized for what they are not doing right as well. Companies should always be held to the highest standards, especially billion dollar corporations and when they are not meeting those standards someone has to make some noise and speak out against these injustices.
In the end though people will speak with their wallets and Target will get just what they want and than some because finding the best products at the lowest prices is what society in general wants, no matter the reason behind that. And this is something we all need to stop and think about a little longer. For the next question:
Do you feel that Target should be honouring the years of seniority, wages, and benefits of many of the Zeller’s employees they keep on, why or why not ? Do you care about the reasons behind the prices of items, or do you just buy what you want at the cheapest price you can ?
Today I’ll leave you all with some pictures of in and around John Hendry Park in Vancouver. I wish everyone all of the best. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.
Comments (4)
I think they should them the benefits. I bet these people paid into a retirement plan. I wonder if they r still going to honor that! It isn’t that big of a deal if they are a new employee as much as it does they are going to get the money that they have put into a retirement plan.
Good luck with getting everything together for the move.
You’ve been with carlos for a long time. Working with him and spending some time in Mexico already must have improved your spanish a lot.
I think it’s amazing how a person can learn a second language. My parents migrated from Vietnam in the 80′s. They weren’t able to speak or understand much english. They did take classes in Vietnam, but it amazes me that they can understand and speak so well. My dad went to school after coming here and got a job where he is still at today.
My dad pretty much speaks to me only in english. When he yells at me for something, I’d imagine he’d yell in vietnamese, but he does it in english. His english is a little broken, so I have to keep from giggling lol
I think Target should definitely consider the work record of the Zellers people. I do care about where my stuff comes from. When I have a choice in products, I always go with the one made by the more conscientious company. I do pay more for it- like buying cosmetics and bath stuff from The Body Shop instead of Bath & Body Works. I can’t afford to do that with some household items, but if I have a choice, I do.
i have a 50-50 opinion on target. from a point of view as an outsider, it is never a fair dealing when a company is bought by another and the existing employees have to suffer. however, i think that those who are NOT in the management position have to accept the fact that they may have to start from 0. those who already ARE in the management position, i think it is only fair that they are given the same chance of keeping their position while learning to adapt to the new management system and regulations. they should at least be given the 6-month trial period before the new company decides to replace them. they are the ones who already know their customer base for the area and so their knowledge and experience still crucial to the success of the new company.