OBSERVATIONS FROM TORONTO - SOME NEW STUFF

Here are some new things that I've discovered. Some are good, some new to me and some that really piss me off - but, after all, I am a curmudgeon.

Lawyers When I studied Law in the early '70's the country was moving from a Tort based system of claim for damages to the revolutionary Accident Compensation Commission funded from employer and employee contributions. This was ground-breaking at the time and was very good for stable growth. I know that recently the Commission has been under fire due to poor decision-making, inequities and accusations of unfairness but, on balance, it is a good scheme. Certainly the alternative is not palatable for a small country like New Zealand. In Canada, like USA there is no ACC system. It is all done by law suits when something happens. the 'something' might be a car accident or a building collapse but can also be something simple like slipping on a washed floor or eating a cashew nut that was in a bag of peanuts. Mad. In Canada (like USA) some of the biggest advertisers on TV, radio, printed media and billboards are lawyers. They tout for business unashamedly, promising to turn a mishap into money. I noticed here that days after the deaths of toddlers in child-care centres the parents were suing for millions. The lawyers would have been on to them, in their moments of grief inducing them to take action. The lawyer of course gets 40 or 50% of the settlement. Greedy bastards.

Tipping

OK, I've complained about this before but as a Kiwi it pisses me off that there is an expectation of a tip at certain service places (restaurants, taxis etc). If you buy groceries you don't tip so why the hell should you just because someone takes your order and brings a (probably crappy and overpriced) meal to you? We went to an Italian place the other day. The meet and greet guy passed us to the head waiter (pompous ass) who grandiosely talked about the food and tried to bullshit us about the wine (the wine Guy was with us so he had no chance of palming off any crap on us). He then passed us to a waiter who took our order. A different person brought the meal to the table and lastly yet another one took the plates away afterwards. I detected a pecking order and felt like asking if we could be introduced to the guy who empties the bins out back.
Tipping used to be 10% but then went uo to 12.5% because of higher standards of living etc. Well hello, the cost of the meal or services went up too so a 10% percentage of a higher amount is ..... a higher tip! The 12.5% soon became 15% and nowadays 15% is viewed as "mean". 18.5% has become the new recommended tip. Fuck! This is ridiculous. In a country that adds taxes after the price of things (see previous Post) this tip on top of services and tax mdeans that the $100 meal you thought you were getting is now $136.28!

Television

Recently I've complained about the declining standards of New Zealand television programming. They have declined with overuse of cheap reality programmes, formulaic 'news' and far too many repeats.
Well. Compared to Canadian and USA tv the New Zealand offerings are generous and inspired.
Here there are 133 channels of basically crap. Nearly all are re-runs or cheap, pathetic rubbish.

Politics.

Second Fiddle asked about the politics of Toronto. To start with the mayor was caught on video smoking crack (P) and last weekend at a street festival got pissed with the locals. The senate is under investigation as senators are caught rorting expenses and there have been several police shootings with one officer charged with murder. He shot  a young guy (armed with a knife) 9 times before tasering him.

Accent

Remember Flight of the Conchords? Brett and Jermaine (in New York) always had trouble being understood. Well, now I know what it's like for some Glaswegian friends of ours in New Zealand. Everyone asks you to repeat what you say at least twice. Very frustrating.

Weird headlines I have seen

"Thieves steal guns and ammo from Boy Scouts"

"Man tweets to dealers asking for marijuana to be delivered to his work place. Police are waiting and he loses his job"