RENFREW STAFF PROVIDE POLICY FOR “CUSTOMER SERVICE”

Kelly Latendresse has tendered a document as part of Tuesday night’s meeting agenda, one where she shares with us her exhaustive review of the town’s customer service policy, a rather generous term to apply to the rather arbitrary nature by which town employees and many elected officials give the public the municipal stiff arm when anyone has the temerity to ask a question.

Finally, at least, thanks to Latendresse, we have a desk identified as the one where the buck stops, and that would be the one occupied by CAO Gloria Raybone. Before this, everyone just sort of looked at everyone else when asked who it was that made the final call on these things. At least now, we have an identifiable in-office postal code.

For a while there, it was tough to figure who exactly Ms. Latendresse was in terms of title and responsibility. I know that she’s a member of Renfrew’s senior administrative staff, that much is clear. But every time I see her, she’s wearing a different hat. And sitting in a different chair.

If this was baseball, and these were the Blue Jays, she’d be the ultimate utility infielder and positional generalist. Can’t hit worth a lick, but a great glove.

A betting line could be opened up for tonight’s meeting to see which of the many possible hats she’ll be wearing this evening.

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January 28, 2025

SEEMING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ANOTHER’S WEAKNESS

What do you call it when one party of a deal profits from the misfortune or disadvantage of the other party? When one party enters into the agreement with eyes wide-open, with intent, and full knowledge that the other party is in a vulnerable situation, or the other party is misrepresenting their authority, or not having the full approval of a superior person or body to exercise that authority with respect to the deal in question? When one party knows, or ought to know, that they are perhaps fleecing the other party, or the third party that person ostensibly represents?

What do you call behaviour like this?

Exploitation comes to mind as a start. Taking advantage of someone else’s stupidity or possible malfeasance or misrepresentation, recognizing the advantage you possess, and seizing the opportunity to do just that.

Maybe opportunism is the correct word instead, just for the fact that you saw the opportunity, recognized it for what it was, and looked like you jumped on it to your advantage, possibly to the disadvantage of others.

What about predatory? Where you may have recognized the situation, inserted yourself into it knowing that an unfair advantage could be obtained, and pursued that unfair advantage for your own benefit. Where maybe you actively worked in concert with the weaker party all along, creating the situation where your advantage and their disadvantage would be cemented by contract, knowing that once signed, that contract would be considered valid except for very rare circumstances.

In business, they might call this business savvy, good business acumen. They might say a deal is a deal and the other party should have known better. They might say it’s not their fault the other party was stupid, or didn’t follow the proper rules, or that the people above that person didn’t exercise their proper due diligence. They might say it’s not their fault everyone on the other side of the contract appeared to be asleep or intimidated. Business is business. If you can’t play with the big boys, get the hell out of the ring.

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December 23, 2024

SMALL TOWN ELITES

Honestly, they’re just people, no different from you and I.

If all goes right, they wake up in the morning blessed with a new day. Some get the kids ready before hustling them off to wherever it is the kids go for the day. Some take out the trash before heading to work, because it’s, well, Tuesday. Some get up earlier because that new hair straightener from Amazon was on the step yesterday when they got home. A few wake up crusty, regretting those last few drinks that had them crawling into bed mere hours before and now crawling out of bed looking for the Tylenol.

It’s all pretty normal stuff, the kind of life tapestry that’s unfolding all around as others do the same things more or less, except for the night shift folks, who I won’t talk about because they wreck my narrative.

People, getting a start to their day, one foot after the next, inexorably leading to wherever it is they themselves go for the day. Almost an old-school Norman Rockwell feel to it.

Some work for others, some work for themselves. Some are part of the workforce, some provide jobs for that workforce. Some have their own businesses, some own their own businesses with storefronts along the downtown corridor. Some work for the public sector, most for the private. And every single one of them, a lot of them anyway, are salt of the earth types, the people you see at Walmart or No Frills or Timmies, or the rink on a Saturday morning. Their kids mix with yours, they mix with you, and it’s all a beautiful tableau of everyday life here in The Valley.

What could possibly upset all this, and transform these very same people into something less than a beautiful slice of everyday life?

Giving them a faint sniff of something they mistake for power. That’ll do it almost every time.

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December 20, 2024

LOSING ANOTHER FAVOURITE SINGER

I first came across James Morrison as I ambled through a Winners store on Merivale Road, awaiting my appointment to get my eyes lasered. I had things on my mind, so wasn’t really paying attention to much, actually finding myself in the house and home section of the store, a section I don’t really ever find myself gracing. In effect, I was just killing time before the main event arrived later that afternoon.

Over the store’s music system a song was playing that managed to cut through my pre-op fog. It caught my attention enough that I whipped out my phone and engaged the app that identifies songs playing from other sources. The app came back with James Morrison, and the song was Fix the World Up For You. Nothing earth-shattering there, I just filed that info away and went off to my appointment, which for the record was successful and eye-opening.

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November 25, 2024