magister dixit

Another small improvement today- pain is down a bit, as is the nausea. I'm pleased. I'm working on my appetite, but baby steps!  Jerry was hyperactive today. My nurse made an early visit - 9am - so Jerry was immediately suspicious that someone was going somewhere and he was determined they wouldn't leave without him! We finally got him settled and he curled up as usual. But not before he shredded an old cushion.

I spent several hours on the phone with Bell technical support to try to resolve the issue I'm having with calling Trinidad. I started by asking for an update on the ticket that was opened yesterday. Apparently, those numbers are MBUI. (Meaningless But Unique Identifiers) Nobody could read it! I repeated the story at least 6 times. I was disconnected twice. I spoke to every department except TV. I was told that my long distance plan had expired. Then I was told that I'd need a tech to come to check my line... My frustration was skyrocketing. Finally I was transferred to the internal resolution team, where the agent said that they had received many complaints from customers who were unable to call Trinidad. It appears that the Telecomm company did something with their settings, making it impossible to contact them. The only option is to try reporting in Trinidad to see what can be done. So annoying!

I received a very disgusting email from someone who is apparently anti-immigrant. Ironic, since they are an immigrant themselves. The email contains some of the usual nonsense, and if people paused for a minute before spewing garbage, they'd realize it!  Quick lesson-immigrants are, by definition, people who live and work in a country in which they were not born. That's the super simple definition. There are several nuances, most of which don't apply to this discussion. Many immigrants move for economic reasons - seeking better employment and an economically more advantageous life for themselves and their families. These people are not destitute, and look for employment almost immediately on arrival. I'm going to focus mainly on this group.

So they go out and look for a place to live and a job. Neither of these is easy, and they are much more challenging for a new arrival. For a natural-born resident, can you explain how an immigrant can steal “your" job? Last I checked, jobs aren't lined up on the sidewalk to be picked up by the first comer. There are long processes to be followed, with all sorts of barriers to filter out many applicants. But you-born and raised here- have all the social nets and supports to be able to get the pick of jobs. You speak the language, have the education from the country, have connections to help you get info on jobs. An immigrant has none of these, and has to prove that they should get a chance. The jobs are in the control of the employer, who in most cases wants it to go to someone like them. Or, failing that, to someone who will work for the lowest possible wage. So just on the face of it, the immigrant doesn't - cannot - "steal" a job! It's disgusting to keep repeating that, which flies in the face of logic.

People who are insecure will seek out any excuse to justify their failings. Rather than admit that they lack the qualifications for the job, they lash out at others. It's pathetic. Please just stop it. You'd be better off improving yourself than trying to pull down hard-working people. I've got one friend who has been working hard to learn 2 languages to improve her employability; and another who works 2 jobs, while I know some who sit around and whine that they aren't getting promoted while they do nothing to improve themselves.

Let's do and be better. Help each other to improve and rejoice in each other's successes. That's my rant du jour; it's done now. Good night!