HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1976-12-09, Page 27,
Sugarion- 1,d Spice
by Bill
It's time we spoke up
Most Canadians are pretty long-suffer-
ing. We seldom take to the barricades, set
fire to the flat, or hurl bricks at the police.
Canadian men put up with nagging
wives for years, and accept it, on the whole
with meekness. Nowadays wives not only
nag, but they are, many of them, the
crudest of materialists and the most
militant of women's libbers. The husbands
still go along without much more than an
occasional snarled, "All right, then. You
can put the bloody garbage out."
Canadian women put up with undemon-
strative, insensitive, louts of husbands for
years, chaps who were knowledgeable
about beer and hockey and poker, but wary
of emotion and callous about the finer
things in life. Nowadays, most husbands
are still louts, but quite a few have escaped
into the esoteric world of macrame,
needlepoint, going to the ballet, and
having their hair "done" every two weeks.
And the wives haven't complained much,
'"except for the occasional venoumous, "I
rememb er when you were always trying to
drag me into the bedroom."
In fact, we are such non-complainers
that everybody walks all over us. We
shudder and whimper under a punitive tax
system, but there's nary a bomb for the tax
collector.
We get royally and regularly screwed by
everybody from mechanics to merchants,
from supermarkets to surgeons, from
restaurants to repairmen, and we grumble
a bit, but almost enjoy it, as Confucius
advised about rape, when it seems
inevitable.
We put up with dumb insolence from
postal clerks, and stupidity from sales
clerks, and bad manners from beer
sli ngers and lip from hotel flunkies. And
we pay. up, mutter a bit, and fade into the
woodwork.
We accept shoddy workmanship from
Canadian manufacturers, and go back for
more. We eat fifth-rate meals in highway
restaurants, vow we'll n ever go back, and
stop at the same place next time, hoping
for a miracle, only to be served the greasy,
badly-cooked food and watery coffee we
got last time.
We are humble and contrite when some
jumped-up pipsqueak 'of a civil servant, or
some ulcerous creature in an employment
office, tells us we haven't filled out the
form properly.
Maybe we deserve it. Maybe it's time we
reared up on our hind legs and started
bitching about all the second-rate goods
and third-rate service that are shOved at
us.-.,
aybe it's time we started yelling, and
'causing publiccM, scenes, and demanding
proper service, and shouting for the
general manager or the head waiter, and
complaining bitterly and heatedly when we
encounter stupidity and insolence and
slipshoddiness. _ •
We weren't always like this, you -know.
A couple of' generations ago, Canadians
weren't such patsies for the greedy. My
mother was on good terms with the local
merchants. But they had to produce, and
they had to compete, and if they; didn't,
they were in trouble.
She trusted people about as far as she
could throw them up in the air, and she
was five feet two. She had a se t of scales
in the house, and she weighed every sack
of flour or sugar that 'came in. If it was
underweight, she'd skin the supplier alive,
with her tongue.
And. I wasn't always such a dumb,
complaisant member of the flock myself, I
remember one incident. It w as about two
years after the war. I had spent a year in a
sanatorium, and was on pension, but I was
going to school, and working a t hard labor
during vacations, to support a wife and kid.
I had quite a lot of visits to the
Department of Veterans' Affairs. -There I
was treated, by one guy, a civil servant,
like Something that had crawled out from
under a stone. Th is guy would say, "Take
a seat," and ignore you for one, two , three
hours. He had lost an arm in the war, and
flaunted it, with his sleeve neatly pinned
• up. To him , I guess, secure with his
pension, and his forever job doing nothing,
we were scum, whose only purpose was to
irritate him, and force him to do a little
paperwork.
One day., my flashpoint, occurred. I'd
taken an afternoon off work, lost half a
day's precious' pay, to see a senior official
at DVA concerning grants for advanced
studies. One-Arm waved me to a seat, and
stood around shooting the b reeze and
drinking coffee for an hour - and hour and a
half. I blew.
Listen, you one-armed bastard! I've got
ofie lung, and I think I've seep as much -
service as you have. If I don't get to see
Mr. X in five minutes, I'm coming over the
counter!"
He could have cleaned me, even with his
one arm, but he turned pale, bustled
about, and in' three minutes I was talking to
the boss. It was that old civil servant's
panic about getting a bad report.
It was cruel, but I've never regretted it.
That_ jerk needed straightening out.
Isn't it time we started straightening out,
all the jerks? If aaybody,,tteats me-civilly,
I'll respond in kind. But from now on, if he
doesn't P11 holler. Who's with me?
Check your snowmobiles
According to Lee Boyd, 4wrict
employee relations officer fox the
Ontario Nurses Association, there
is no progress in sight in stalled
negotiations between the Huron
Health Unit and its nursing
emplOyees or between Health
McGREGOR
Top- Quality
BEEF .
GOVERNMENT
INSPECTED
Whole Beef .90
Half Beef .91
Price subject to change
INCLUDES: CUTTING
WRAPPING and QUICK
FREEZING
Free Delivery
- Within 10 „Mile -
GRANT McGREGOR
Ph. 262-5839
SYLVIA MERLE SMITH R.N.
Mr. and Mrs. William Smith of
R.R.#5, Seaforth, Ontario, are
proud to announce the graduation
of their daughter,' Sylvia.
Sylvia is a registered nurse
from Fanshaw College School of
Nursing, St. Joseph's Campus,
London, Ontario. She is presently
employed at Bay Osteopathic •
Hospital, Bay City, Michigan.
K
BOOK
Is Available
1 • • • 414 •
DIAMONDS VS, Al CHI-
,WW/41.1 HY. FINE CHINA
.GIFTS FOR FVLRV O( ( ASTON
All I \ Repair.
Phone 527-0270
SEAFORTH
JEWELLERS
ARNOLD J.STINNISSEN
LIFE — and Mortgage Insurance Plans
Income Tax Deductable Registered
Retirement Savings Plans and Ainuities.
Income Averaging Annuities
Ask for our new Flexible
Premium R.R.S.P.
— REPRESENTING —
Tel, 527-0410 Sun Life Assurance 117
GODERICH ST. EAST Company Of Canada
SEAFORTH ,for 17.years.
Lower Interest Rates
NOW AVAILABLE ON
1sf and 2nd Mortgages
anywhere in Ontario on
RESIDENTIAL — INDUSTRIAL •
COMMERCIAL and FARM PROPERTIES
Interim financing on new construction
or land development
REPRESENTATIVES IN YOUR AREA
PHONE
SAFEWAY INVESTMENTS
& CONSULTANTS LTD.
Head bake: 56 Weber Street, latehener, 15191 744,6535
Branch Office i 504 Tenth Streit Hanover 1519] 364.3121
WE Hint EXISTING MORTGAGES FOR INSTANT CASH
HOW TO SAVE ENERGY AND .„
; MONEY BY THROWING OUT LESS
,
fiat
44
. PROVINCE ... VSTAL CODE
Mail coupon to:
---,1, The Garbage Book
L
Box 3516, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario K1.1.42.1 J
Energy conservation: be part of the solution.
410 Energy, Mines and
Resources Canada
Office of energy Consort/Minh
Hon, Alastair Gillespie
Minister
Energie, Mines et
Ressources Canada
Oureau dela 'conservation de l'energlit
L'Hon. Alastair Gillespie .
Ministre
11,
rn
Copies $2.75
Please add 25c for Mailing
Charges
contracts, most of which. expired
at the 04 of 19,75,
The nurses are also demanding
wage parity with DNA 111P.00.q.er4
working In ,publie hospital.
Public Health Nurses earn
starting rotes of between $9,009
and WA() annually under that
contract while 'ONA: nurses in
hospitals begin in the rouse of
413,380to, 414A.*
.• •
xpositer
Betvieen:..POW::aP4C4tistm
ngQ
VERY :SPECIAL
00.1he.f006Wing Pioneer
'Amplifiers Mid TOnerS;...
Snowmobilers are jubilant over
the early season provided by
heavy snowfalls in many regions
of the province. Several of them,
who normally have their
machines in top operating
condition, were caught
unprepared.
Now is the time for all
operators to take an extra hour to
thoroughly check their machines
for carefree performance, says
the Ontario Safety League. Some
machines may have been put into
storage late last season with worn
wear rods, frayed drive' belts• or
bad cuts in the tracks. Shu-g up
the loose nuts and bolts; replace
burned out light bulbs and worn
plugs; realign the skis and track;
drain the crank case and fuel
lines. A little extra time spent in
performing maintenance routines
now will prevent a feeling of
frustration caused by a downed Safety League suggests you join a
machine on your next ride. snowmobile club.
All of the lakes, rivers and
streams throughout the province
have not built up a sufficient
thickness of ice for safe travel and
the League cautions snowmo-
bilers not to be deceived by the
thickness of snow on some bodies
of water. For safe travel, ice
should be at least 71/2" thick to
bear the weight of a machine,
operator and equipment.
Temperatures have not been low
enough and' in many areas,
several inches of snow may be
resting on a very thin ice base. To
be entirely sure, dig down
through the snow, chop a hole 'in
the ice and measure its thickness.
For safe, scenic snowmobiling,
that offers a wealth of variety in
beautiful landscapes, the Ontario
'41, it Duran
How to cut
e high cost
of garbage
141
Units in Middlesex-,lenrion, St.
Thomas,Eigin and tambton and
their nursing employees,
The Heatlh Units and their,
nurses hate yet to come, an
agreemenfin a dispute which has
been going on for more than a
year.
According to Ms. Boyd the
main difficulty in the negotiations
is a refusal on the part of the
Health Boards' in question to
allow the nurses compulsory
arbitration in all contract
disputes.
Nurses at the five area units
joined about 1,100 fellow ONA
members in a one week, province
wide, strike in June to back their,
demand for compulsory
arbitration, Across Ontario there •'
are 29 areas where contracts have
n of been settled.
The nurses are continuing to
work under the terms of previous
•
Ni
rse
to
A gift
suggestion
Seaforth
Women's Institute
SA-8500 AMPLIFIER
60 Watts + 60 Watts
SALE PRICE
RETAIL 199.95
TX-7500 TUNER
FM Sensitivity 1.9
Va.:7e Ysilla,
711 .
Stocks Limited
Layaways Accepted
16 Ontario Street,
Stratford 271.29601
Dairy 10 to 6 — Saturday 10 to 5
Each one of us discards an average of 4
pounds of garbage a day — 1,500 pounds a
year. That's energy we're throwing away!
By avoiding unnecessary products, and
reusing and recycling the rest of them, we
can save a tremendous amount of energy
Canada. And money for ourselves.
The Garbage Book shows you how t
reduce your garbage. It's new and free.
Separate chapters deal with packaging, con-
sumer products, food waste, yard waste,
composting and setting up a recycling pro-
gram in your community.
Mail the coupon today for your free
copy of The Garbage Book.
All you've got to lose is your garbage!
rPlease send me a free copy,„
of The Garbage Book.
NAME
ADDRESS