Think Outside The Piggy Bank

lost one of my jobs yesterday!

Which is why I'm such a firm believer in having more than one of them. Multiple income streams, eggs are not meant for baskets, and all of that. Yes, I was taken aback at the news (the job I lost is the one where I provided before-school care as the custody arrangements in that family have changed), but I certainly didn't panic, as it wasn't my primary or largest source of income. I also kind of sensed that this position might not last that long so squirreled away some of the money for later. And the beauty of multiple income streams is that when one dries up, you focus on another one while working on adding more. In this case that means getting back into selling on eBay while I figure out my next move. There really is no job security these days (although my weekend job in the rest home is about as secure as they get), and in a sense everyone has to think of him or herself as self-employed. As they say, the only constant is change.

missing in action?

I'm not sure either! I'll let you know when I know, snort. For now though let me leave you with this:

I feel very rich when I have time to write and very poor when I get a regular paycheck and no time to work at my real work. --NATALIE GOLDBERG

(I completely get what Natalie is saying, even though blogging is my only form of writing these days.)

And this:

What you do instead of your real work is your real work. --ROGER EBERT

What about you? What is your real work?

stre$$

It's been an odd week for me so far, and kind of a stressful one at that, although luckily it's had nothing to do with money or family as such. But is Maxine right? Certainly these days all you seem to hear about are the economic woes that are plaguing more than one country, and yet I'm starting to wonder if there isn't a bit of economic fear-mongering going on, especially here in Canada where things are set up differently than in the States. Also curious I thought was the sudden focus on the economy in the last part of the recent federal election, which seemed to me to coincide with the massive amount of media attention paid to the financial troubles next door. Okay, maybe I just wasn't paying attention before and I realize that most things have global implications these days, but I don't think an economic meltdown is here quite yet. Like I said, systems in this country are not the same as in the States. And, if your own personal finances are in order (as they should be), then there's no need to go into panic mode. Right?

gratitude continued

Who is rich? He who rejoices in what he has. --the TALMUD

Monday was Thanksgiving

Yes, Thanksgiving Day is held a month earlier in Canada than in the United States, and personally I prefer Thanksgiving in October because who wants a holiday so close to Christmas? I also suspect that some of the meaning and enjoyment of the occasion is more likely to be lost when it takes place later in the year, especially since the Christmas media machine seems to strike up the very second Halloween is over. But I digress. I wanted to talk about gratitude because giving thanks and being grateful is what Thanksgiving is all about.

So was I grateful when I learned earlier last week that I would be in charge of making Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday in the rest home where I work? Nope. Annoyed and ticked off would better describe my reaction. Having never cooked a turkey before I also immediately went into panic mode, but having survived the shift (I'll spare you the gory details) I can now say that I was grateful for:

• the compliments from the residents who truly enjoyed the meal
• being able to sleep in the next day and resting my weary bones
• learning something new (I now know how to cook and carve a 25-pound turkey!)
• taking the wishbone home as a souvenir of this forced-upon-me culinary adventure
• the knowledge that all future shifts will seem easy by comparison

Today it's two days after Thanksgiving and for some reason I was feeling a bit grumpy, which is silly really because in actuality I don't have a lot to be grumpy about. My biggest complaint these days seems to be that I continually feel behind when it comes to my creative pursuits and am not able to put in as much time as I would like into my blogs and photography site. Um, hello? Since apparently I'm not worried about health, money or relationships, perhaps I just need to feel a bit more grateful!

mistakes that pay

My local grocery store has a policy that if something rings up incorrectly at the cash register, you get it for free. Up to $10 that is. The key though is that you have to remind them and use magic words like, "So I get this for free?" otherwise they'll just check and ring up the right price. As you can imagine I love this policy, and am surprised that not more customers take advantage of it. It's true that it takes a bit more time, and that customers behind you (especially in the express lane) may not be pleased, but hey, if I can legitimately get a free item, why not? And I once had it that they kept forgetting to put the correct price on the shelf sticker, so I kept getting the item (lozenges I think) free for at least three weeks.

So the other day I was at a pharmacy store because the item I wanted (again, lozenges) were 20% off. When I went to pay for them though the original price rung up. I left the lozenges, and returned later with the flyer in which they were advertised, and it occurred to me to ask if I got a discount or something because they had made a mistake. The clerk had to get the supervisor (luckily no people were behind me as they do tend to get irate), and lo and behold, I got it free too. Yes!

I don't know if this policy or something similar is in effect where you live, but it's definitely worth checking out.  

did I win?

Nope! :)

bought a Lotto 649 ticket today

Buying lottery tickets is something I rarely do as in general I consider it a waste of money, although harmless enough fun if it's something you can afford. But because tonight's draw was for $35 million, and I already had the change in my pocket, I figured why not. Then again maybe I shouldn't have as I have major misgivings about this whole lottery enterprise. [Yes, do relax and get yourself a cup of tea or something, as I'll probably outline them all, snort.]

First, I wish they would change the amount of money awarded in order to spread the wealth. I mean, what individual really needs $35 million? It's an obscene amount of money if you ask me. Wouldn't it be much nicer if they capped the award at $1 million (and no, please don't give me the "$1 million just doesn't go a long way anymore" routine), but had 35 draws so that more people or groups had a chance for this unexpected financial influx?

Secondly, I love how they include the warning "Know your limit, play within it!" on the ticket along with a telephone number to the Ontario Problem Gambling Helpline. At first glance this may seem like a decent thing to do, but somehow it just reminds me of the warnings and notices posted by various alcohol and tobacco companies. As they both have a vested interest in getting consumers to buy more of their product (i.e. drink and smoke more), it kinda strikes me as a conflict of interest. And the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of people who don't know their limit when it comes to gambling, which is why there's been a huge increase in people addicted to this activity, and a corresponding increase in the number of gambling-related suicides. Unfortunately I don't know the exact statistics and wish I had kept the newspaper article from a few years ago on this very topic, but I remember being disgusted at the time that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation admitted that it could afford to pour millions into programs addressing addiction and suicide because it was a drop in the bucket in comparison to what they made!

That in turn made me look differently at their slick TV commercials with the catchy slogan "Imagine the Freedom", because certainly anyone addicted to gambling is not free by any means. And they make it look so easy too; buy a ticket and you won't have to work anymore. You can tell your boss to shove it, retire, and buy that big house. Or two or three. What they don't advertise of course is the staggering number of bankruptcies filed by lottery winners within a couple of years of winning. Again I don't know the exact statistic (will look it up and report back in an update), but I think it's close to 50 percent. Hmmm, I don't think bankruptcy offers much freedom either. On the other side of the coin it always surprises me when lottery winners announce they'll keep working at whatever job they have and while that certainly seems like the more responsible thing to do, a part of me feels that if they can afford to not work, then perhaps they should make room for someone else who really needs a job. And what galls me the most are people who win more than one large lottery! Um, in my opinion, if you've won a million or more once, then you should automatically be disqualified from all future lotteries. Like I said, we need to share the wealth.

Speaking of wealth, many people who play the lottery regularly (I'm not talking about the occasional ticket here or there) are the ones who can't always afford it. When you're making minimum wage, several different type of tickets at $2, $3 and $4 a pop really add up. I also saw this when I still worked for non-profit social service agencies, as a number of them would raise funds by selling Nevada tickets and profiting from Bingo hall games. Well, most of the people buying the tickets and playing in the halls are decidedly not rich, and it seemed questionable to me to take from them when in all probability a number of them were the very clients needing the programs offered by the agencies!

Getting back to those commercials I don't like, they also seem to me to encourage viewing the lottery as a viable way of making income (and I've known people who will spend hundreds of dollars convinced that they'll win as opposed to my philosophy that if I'm meant to win, then one ticket should do the trick) rather than as a fun game which in all likelihood will get you nothing. Except for maybe a free ticket to entice you to do it all over again. I also noticed that when I did occasionally play in the past the clerk redeeming my winning ticket always assumed I'd exchange what I'd won for another ticket or two. No thanks; I'll take the cash!

Thirdly (or is that sixthly by now?) and lastly, I have to share a lottery anecdote that always struck me as both funny and sad at the same time. Years ago when I was helping an elderly lady in her mid-eighties who was dying from COPD (a nasty lung disorder), I used to tease her about the scratch tickets she'd buy every week. What were they? Cash for Life! I mean, she knew she was dying so wouldn't have too much time to profit from this particular game, yet I could never get her to at least buy another type of ticket.

Well, wish me luck for tonight, but I guess that even if I don't win, this ticket certainly gave me a lot of material for a post.

At least two dollars worth I'd say, LOL.

update III

In one of the comments to my 'money on the floor' post, a reader asked me if I had checked the sofa for change as well, and because I always like to make a short story long, snort, here is my answer. I have found lots of change in sofas (although never any bills), along with the usual pens, Kleenex, candy bar wrappers and remnants of almost every kind of snack food imaginable. Rolled up socks also camped out in sofas on a regular basis, but the one item that gave me greatest pause in my cleaning career was bras. Yep, brassieres. All squished and tangled up and lonely for their owner no doubt. So I asked the offending client why I kept finding bras in her couch (imagining almost enviously a love life much more active and fun than mine, LOL), but apparently she only flung them off because of the heat! Now this I could understand because who wants breasts trapped and swimming in sweat, but down the sofa?! And, I wasn't even able to tell her to go get a hamper (even though that sounds way more lame than telling someone to go get a room) because she had at least three. So yes, I have checked for change, and so much more. ;)

update II

I liked how the article I mentioned in update I's post also emphasized the importance of being a good customer, because really, manners is a two-way street and as much as I might get annoyed with rude cashiers, theirs is a job I wouldn't want for myself on any terms. Being on my feet as well for most of my shifts I can tell you how tiring it is, and the term "retail feet" certainly got coined for good reason. I'm lucky too in that I still get to walk around a fair bit in my job, and am fairly sure that if I were stuck behind some cash machine with rude or condescending customers who don't care if they're loading 25 items onto an express lane or not, then I might not be all that polite either. So I make it a point of trying to be fairly pleasant if I can.

And to be honest I think that is something that the residents of the group home where I work on weekends reinforced for me as well. I was serving a meal one day when one of them asked me if anyone had ever told me how friendly I was, and I replied (indignantly almost because I DO have a reputation as an introverted curmudgeon to protect after all, snort) "No!" (which actually was the truth no matter how fairly nice a person I may consider myself to be), but it made me realize more fully how my interaction style can have a direct impact. From that day on I made a point to try to be cheerful and polite (without being friendly in that forced false kind of way) even when I have to reprimand them for something. And I think it's made a difference. Although even if it hadn't, everyone still deserves respect regardless of the situation.

But what I really meant to tell you before I started rambling on is that being friendly and polite can also pay off. A few weeks ago I was surprised to see that my Internet bill had gone up by two dollars. I couldn't really figure out why as I was on a contract that hadn't yet expired so I decided to find out what had happened. I called the company (who is also my telephone service provider) and politely explained why I was calling. It was a late Friday afternoon and at one point I said to the service rep that she must be looking forward to the weekend coming up and that somehow got us talking about our shifts and jobs in general. In the meantime she had spotted the problem and rectified the situation saying I'd get a credit for the difference and that my monthly Internet bill would continue at the same rate. I thanked her, wished her a good weekend, and went back to what I was doing. Well guess what? I got my MasterCard bill the other day and it looks like I got credit for the whole month instead of just the difference! All for doing what we should do anyway -- be polite and courteous to each other. So there you go. Being nice even pays cash sometimes. ;)