Metro News

For the past three weeks Metro and 24h newspapers have hired people to stand at the corner of Yonge and Bloor and hand out papers. Giving free hand-outs is a great promotional tool and really does encourage people to try new things and buy your product. At Yonge and Bloor we get all sorts of cool hand-outs; shampoo, cooking sauces, water, juices…for two months last summer I didn’t have to buy laundry detergent once because I got so many free samples! Giving away samples of products is a great way for people to try new things and a get way to get new customers. Which is why it totally perplexes me that Metro and 24h newspapers are giving away copies.

Metro and 24h are FREE papers. You can pick them up at any street corner in the city and if you ride the subway (as a good 85% of people that are walking into office towers at Yonge and Bloor do) there are copies in every station along the way. Chances are most people that walk by the corner have already read the paper on their commute and/or have a copy shoved in their m/p-urse. So what does handing out these free copies accomplish?

Further, doesn’t it cost these companies money to give do this? They must be paying people to stand there and give out papers (mind you, they’re probably not paying them well as the people are the most unenergetic, unenthusiastic people I’ve ever seen giving away shit in my life). I’m guessing they’re spending about $8,000 a week to pay people to stand around and try to give away something they can get for free (I'm pretty sure they're doing it at multiple stations around the city, not just big intersections downtown). How does Metro have this in their budget? I know that they make money off selling ad space and stuff like that, but is it really necessary to have this “promotion”?

Maybe a better idea would be to give away something else and try to bump up traffic on their website. Like a granola bar with a “Check out metronews.ca for all your awesome news!” sticker? Or one of those accordion Chinese fans with “metronews.ca” printed on them? I know it would end up costing more money than just giving away free papers that they already print, but I think it would actually accomplish something and provide results you could see. COME ON GUYS. Put this kid out of a job. He's obviously miserable.

A man was mugged and no one helped. I'm not surprised.

I was watching Breakfast Television this morning (because I feel that since I’m an adult and work 9-5 it should be part of my life…but also because I don’t have a kitchen table and have to eat in the living room. Paradox!) and there was a story of a 79 year old man who was mugged on the subway this past weekend. While he got his wallet back (less $40) what most upset him was that no one helped him when it was happening. While this is sad and a bit disgusting, it is definitely not unexpected. Scenarios like this are becoming the norm.

When was the last time you entered a subway or streetcar and didn’t hear phat beats blaring out of someone’s headphones? For that matter, when was the last time you were on a subway and didn’t have your own phat beats blasting into your ears? We have become so engrossed in our music and mp3 players that we rarely have a chance to listen to the world around us. Combine this with the whole “I live in Toronto so I won’t look at anyone or respond to anything” cold shoulder that we’ve all grown over the years and it’s really not unexpected that no one helped this guy when he was getting mugged. Chances are they had no idea it was happening!

Just last weekend I got off a streetcar and happened to look up as it was passing me. I saw that my good friend Leigh was sitting in the seat RIGHT in front of me…and I had no idea! I was listening to my iPod (a science podcast, most likely) and looking out the window and didn’t even realize that a friend of six years had gotten on the car and sat directly in front of me.

A more somber example comes from a few years ago; I was on a GoTrain en route to Toronto with a few friends and saw in the next car over (you can see through little windows into the next car) that it looked like a girl was getting beat up by a large man. When the train stopped we went over and saw a tiny blonde woman, covered in blood and crying, who was just beat up by her boyfriend. People on the upper level of the train couldn’t hear her screaming because they had music in their ears. If we didn’t happen to be sitting in the right place at the right time, who knows what could have happened?

More and more we surround ourselves with little bubbles and miss what’s happening in the world around us – both bad AND good. And as someone who has been in Toronto for four years, I can attest that you just learn to ignore the shouting, screaming and talking around you; crazy homeless people yell at you every day on the street, teenage girls scream at nothing on the subway…I’ve had people stop and ask me the time and I simply say “sorry no” before realizing that they’re not asking me for money. You just learn to do your own thing and not pay close attention to what’s going on around you.

So it really wasn’t a surprise to me when the man stated that no one helped him on the subway. In all likelihood no one looked up from their mp3 players, books, Gameboys (do they call them Gameboys still?) or fingernails, and anyone that did hear a bit of shouting just chalked it up to teenagers being loud and annoying on the subway, as they usually are.

What happened to this man is terrible and, while I fully admit to adoring my iPhone and listening to podcasts whenever I use the TTC, maybe we should all try to unplug once in a while and listen to what’s going on around us. Brids signing, buskers busking, teenagers screaming and all.

Dijongate

STOP THE PRESSES! OBAMA EATS THINGS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES! HE IS UN-AMERICAN! HE IS EATING ELITIST CONDIMENTS!


Really? Really Fox News?

I used to work at a coffee shop and we had CNN on tv all day, every day. I found out a few things about news stations like that, namely that they talk about one of these three things:
1- War
2- Terrorism
3 - Betsy Sue winning the blue ribbon at the county fair

Remember a while back when all those monks were murdered while protesting peacefully? Think that CNN/Fox News showed it? Nope. Instead one of the headline stories they showed was about a man who owned a large rabbit. No joke.

It's not a surprise, though, that the president ordering Dijon mustard made the news. I guess I can't criticize too much...after all, the only thing they talked about when he came to visit Canada was the fact that he ate a Beaver Tail.

Pennies: For or Against

This article from Torontoist talks about one of those kitschy tourist machines that, for the price of $2, will squish a penny and engrave something on it for you; in this case, something specially designed by an artist. Technically it’s against the law to deface money, so I’m hoping goons from the Royal Canadian Mint don’t come knocking with mean faces and lead pipes.

The article also talks about a 2007 study which debates whether or not Canada should stop using pennies. Turns out 63% of businesses are for it, as are 42% of consumers (33% against, 25% neutral).

When pennies were in the news a couple years ago, I was originally neutral (maybe leaning a bit more towards “against”) as to whether or not we should get rid of them; what the hell would everyone do with all those old pennies, would retailers have to change their systems or price points, etc. Though after visiting Australia (where they do not use pennies) my opinion is leaning slightly more towards “for”.

Australia and New Zealand got rid of pennies in the early 1990’s and either round up or down to the nearest $0.05 (so if your total is $9.02, you only pay $9). Though it may seem foreign and weird to us, I think it’s a pretty good option. The 2007 study, conducted by Desjardins, says it takes the government about $130 million a year to keep pennies around (production, storage, shipping, etc) and estimates that about 20 million pennies each year don’t go straight back into circulation, instead ending up in dust-covered jars and piggy banks. If we eliminate pennies, that’s a pretty big saving that could be used elsewhere (I’d like to think it would go into helping children, the needy or community programs, but in reality it would probably go towards putting up new plaques around cities or refreshing the paint in Parliament Hill parking lot). By getting rid of pennies we have one less coin to carry around and one less thing being produced (which could maybe lead to less pollution?). And you wouldn’t have to worry about getting $0.98 back if you didn’t have those extra two cents.

On the flip side (and after an unusually candid conversation with the president of my company) if we stop using pennies, retailers may start charging more for their goods and, even though it seems like it would all even out, we would probably end up loosing a few bucks because of it each year. “It’s my money, I want to keep it” is one point of view.

So lets say that they do end up getting rid of pennies – what do we do with them? Give them to Africa? Use them for pipes or cooking pots? Do a big tradsies with the US? Lots of statues? As always there are pros and cons to the “pennies” argument – what are your thoughts?

Note to self: Never take Halifax transit

So this bus driver in Halifax has been suspended from his job (with pay) for clubbing a fake baby seal.

What?! First off, this guy is a total douche. Not only is it ridiculous and stupid to club a fake seal in front of protesters and the general public, but to do it during the middle of your work shift? With passengers waiting on the bus? And the guy had to cross the damn street to reach the protest. And NOW he’s getting paid to sit on his ass while Halifax Transit decides what to do with him. What!? Why does this man exist?

This reminds me of those dumb guys we all knew in high school. The guys who would fart and laugh about it and tell you about their fart. The guys who punched in lockers because it was cool and manly and impressive. The guys spray-painted dumb tags onto the portables after school, even though they grow up in rich, white suburbia and drive their parents’ BMWs. The guys who do stupid shit to impress people, but really just look…well, stupid.

This man was apparently trying to get in touch with his inner 17 year old by beating up a toy for shock value. To prove how much cooler he was and how manly he was. And he did it in the middle of his work shift.

Now they’re deciding what to do with him. What to do with him?! Write this guy up! How many of you could just leave your job for five minutes, run across the street, make an ass of yourself and go back to your jobs? If you did that, what would the consequences be? At least a write-up, a warning and a few days without pay. This guy should loose his friggin job – he’s showing the rest of Canada/the world that (apparently) Halifax Transit drivers are unstable. Bad PR, Halifax Transit.

What a dick.