The 75th Congress, part 4

Day 6, Friday May 26

Sorry to you all for missing a few days of recounting all of York's bullshit and stupidity but nothing too exciting has been happening here.

Can we go home yet? That's pretty much what the whole Federation staff is saying here. Everyone one of us have had it up to here with dealing with the fucking morons here at York. It seems to me that there are two different congresses going on here: the Federation's Congress and York's Congress. They are operating on their own little fucking schedule and the Federation can pretty much go to hell!

An example: on Wednesday, my colleagues at the Registration desk needed the computer system up and running by 9:30 am because they were going to train the students that will be working at Registration during Congress at noon on that day. They called the tech guys, who took their sweet ass time getting there and my colleagues informed them that not only was the system not working, but they didn't have enough fucking monitors for all the stations! The guys asked them when the Congress started and we said Saturday. "Oh well," they said, as in "Oh well, there's no rush (the facial expressions and tone of voice said alot). So after explaining about the training at noon, the tech guys said alright we'll come set it up. It was by now 8:30 am. At 11:15 am, they arrive with the extra monitors and the tools to set up the system, which they had up and operational ... at 3:30 pm! A whole fucking day wasted! You may say, maybe they ran into some problems. That's true, but the whole thing should've been done on Tuesday anyway, like we had originally requested.

Now, on to my domain: the Book Fair. today was move-in day for the publishers, so that they could set up their booths. This was chaos, but a kind of controlled chaos. All went relatively well. I spent most of the day running all over the place back and forth. On the plus side, I'm going to lose some weight while I'm here. The down side: my feet are killing me.

Also, my dear, dear friend the fire marshall finally decided to show his fucking face and do his job and come look at the set-up to see if it can be approved. When I met him in person, I immediatly hated him. He was tall, skinny, blond hair, glasses and on a power trip. He was fucking Steve Watson, my old manager from my Loeb days. Now it wasn't really Watson but he looked exactly like him. He looked around and was taking notes. We came to a booth where a publisher was setting up and FM (fire marshall) tells the publisher "You have to move your counter back." in a rude tone. The publisher asked why and FM replied that there needs to be a clearance of 1,29 m between the counter and the wall. The publisher said okay, and asked if FM could measure the distance so that she knew how far she could go. He said "move the counter". They kept this up for about 5 minutes and then FM took out his measuring tape (cause he had on in his pocket, and measured the current distance from counter to wall ... 1,29 m! Five fucking minutes of arguing for nothing. He is the perfect example of the Toronto mentality: we are better than you so fuck off!

I also spent most of my time setting up a make shift curtain idea to cover the front of the booths after hours, to discourage people from taking any of the books. I figure "Out of sight, out of mind". On top of the security personnel York put in the mall and the lockdown time of 10 pm during the Congress, I figured it will be good enough. Can you all tell where this is going?

Tonight, I was told that someone crawled under the curtains of one booth and took a whole box of books. York security saw this happening on camera and sent people to the scene. The people got into a car and York security pursued to the limit of the campus. But they said they got a license plate. What the hell is that going to do?!

"Hello, Toronto police."

"Hello, a box of books was just stolen."

"Alright, we'll get right on that. Who cares about all the other problems, gangs, drugs, weapons going on in this fucking shithole of a city."

I'm sorry, I'm just fucking pissed off. I'm pleased that security was right on top of this and did all they could do. But in the mean time, I will have to deal with a publisher who has just lost hundreds of dollars worth of books before the book fair even officially fucking opens! This is my first year as book fair coordinator, and while I know I shouldn't, I feel like I failed. I take great pride in the work that I do and put alot of effort in it and this is a blow that I take personally. But I have to remember that it is York's fault. Their stupid insistance that the mall remain open after the book fair closes, so that the stores don't lose any money. Well maybe they can explain their retarded logic to this publisher now.

I can't wait to go home and forget about this nightmare.

Stay tuned...

The 75th Congress, part 3

Day 3: Tuesday, May 23

My God! Is it only Tuesday? I can't beleive I have to stay here for another 13 days! I'm really looking forward to going home. And the actual Congress hasn't even started yet!

I was wondering when the bullshit was going to start, cause since we started dealing with York last year, it's been nothing but fucking retardedness after fucking retardedness. But since I arrived, it's been going pretty well, so I've been waiting for the crap. I'm happy to say that I don't have to wait anymore.

The foolishness is once again centered around the fire marshall, who has to give his approval for the location of the book fair. That's right kids, he could still come up and say "no, this location is no good". And that would fuck the whole thing up. We would be up shit creek without a fucking paddle. We have to jump through so many damn hoops with this issue, it's not even funny anymore. I'm just waiting for them to tell me that to get approval, I have to take this ring deep into the land of Mordor and toss it in the fires of Mount Doom before the Dark Lord Sauron gets a hold of it and destroys all of Middle-Earth (thank you to Jon Stewart for this anecdote). I understand that the book fair is in a retail area and that space is limited, but I really beleive that York and the fire marshall expects all the books to burst into flames or that the Federation and the publishers are a bunch of fucking pyromaniacs! This is getting beyond ridiculous. Another issue we are having is that the university won't give us the keys to our offices. They say "the offices are to be used during the Congress" which doesn't start until Saturday. Well we have to get in there to get things set up before the start of Congress, you dumb fuck!

On the plus side, they gave me a blackberry today for the duration of the Congress. While I feel special about that, the feeling is easily overshadowed and annihilated by the stupidity of York U. How I wish I was back home.

Stay tuned...

The 75th Congress, part 2

Day 2, Monday, May 22

Happy Victoria Day! I hope everybody was able to enjoy the first long weekend of the summer.

In Toronto today, it was fucking cold. At least it didn't rain, but it was overcast, windy and cold. This evening though, the sun is out but is too low to provide any heat. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a little warmer.

This morning, Global Convention Services arrived and started setting up the booths for the book fair. They had four of their guys and had hired six students to help. So they didn't really need my help. They have a system down for the set-up and didn't have any questions for me. So I hovered aroudn for a few hours, then I went over to the Hospitality York offices to check my emails, incase there were some last minute questions from exhibitors. No rest for the wicked, I guess. Then, I had nothing else to do. I ended up picking up some Subway for lunch, went back to my room, read and actually fell asleep for about two and a half hours. When I woke up, I went over to check on the booths' progress. They ended up doing alot of work and they figure they'll be completely done by midday tomorrow.

At 6 o'clock, I went to dinner with my colleagues Irene, Danielle and Irene's husband Ralph. A number of our colleagues arrive tomorrow. We went to Kelsey's, cause there isn't much else open tonight. That is probably one of the major downsides about being at York U for the Congress, other than the fact that we are at fucking York University! The fact that the university is in the middle of fucking nowhere, and that we are very far from downtown Toronto, our dining and entertainment options are extremely limited and even non-existant. So I may end up spending lots of time in my room. Good thing I brought a few books with me.

The shitty thing about today was finding out that I actually didn't really have to come down to Toronto as early as I did. I probably could've left today, even tomorrow and it wouldn't have made a difference. But the way I look at it, this is my first year as book fair coordinator so I'm learning. I'll know for next year not to arrive on site so early, it's not really necessary.

Stay tuned...

The 75th Congress

Day 1: Sunday, May 21

Today, I was travelling from Ottawa to Toronto for the Congress. The Congress doesn't start until next Saturday, May 27, but as the Book Fair coordinator, I apparently have to be here when the company we use to supply all the booths sets up. And since the Book Fair is taking place in the York Lanes mall, and all the stores will be closed tomorrow, I get to work on Victoria Day. I hope all you people will enjoy the long weekend while I work, you bastards. :-P Although it's not that bad since I will be claiming today and tomorrow as overtime.

The trip itself was very nice. I took the train, because I figured it's a nice way to travel. The only minor irritant on the trip was a little boy who was not happy being on the train. But I figure he was about 2 years old, and at that age, kids like to test limits, to see exactly how far they can go. Too bad his parents were letting him get away with everything, but that's a whole different story. So I threw on the iPod and listening to music while looking at the scenery.

Once I got to Toronto, and over the feeling of vomiting that comes over everyone that comes to this city (I'm kidding!), I hopped into a cab and headed to York University, the site of this year's Congress. Now, after looking at a map of Toronto a while back, I noticed that York U was a long way away from the train station, and I told myself "Fuck! this could be a $100 cab ride, cause it looks like you have to go through downtown! Just fucking wonderful!" Well, I don't know if it was the driver or the fact that I can't read a map, but the cab ride cost me $50 including tip. That's a nice way of getting things started. Hopefully, things will stay on the positive side.

That was indeed wishful thinking and it didn't last. Once I got to the Hospitality York offices, or should I say the old offices, there was a sign on the door saying that the offices had moved to the Ross building. First of all, it would've been nice of them to let us know that they were moving to new offices. I doubt this was a last second decision. And second of all, where the fuck is the Ross building? I spent about 20 minutes in the fucking rain, dragging my suitcase and bags looking for a damn map of the campus. Finally found one and located the Ross building, which, of course, was now all the way across the fucking campus from where I now was. Once I got to the Hospitality York offices, the door was locked! I was about to leave and go to the airport and fly back home (kidding) when our HR person, who has been at York since last Thursday, walked by, saw me and let me in. So I was able to get the key to my room and go settle in. And I must say, the room is very nice. It has a full kitchen and living room, and 2 levels with the bedroom upstairs in a loft area. Very nice, I am really impressed.

So, so far, so good. Hopefully, tomorrow will be more of the same. But this being York U, I won't hold my breath. But I have to stay positive, and maybe, just maybe, York will surprise me.

Stay tuned for more updates.