Things Are Turning Around
Don't get me wrong — the last couple of months have been some of the most fun I've ever had in my life. But let's recap briefly all the craziness I've been through lately:
1. Immigration misspelled my first name on my visa. I didn't notice until I left the airport. I couldn't get by Social Insurance Number until it was fixed. I went back to the airport. All they could do was add an addendum to the visa, so it's good enough for when I'm showing it to people, but if anyone tries to look me up in the immigration files as "Matthew" instead of "Mathew," I'm nowhere to be found.
2. Direct deposit failed on my first paycheck. They finally cut me a regular check, but when I went to cash it, the bank put a 7 business day hold on it.
3. To try to stave off some of my temporary financial woes, I applied for a Canadian Visa card. I was rejected, having no prior credit history in Canada. The fact that one of my US cards had offered me up to a $29,000 limit made no difference to them at all.
4. Although my second paycheck direct deposited just fine, the expense reimbursement that was supposed to go with it was totally missing. I asked the payroll department what I should do about it, and they said that because of a records switch it was probably lost, and that I should resubmit the expenses under my revised personnel number. I did, and the deposit under the original number showed up the next day. I've been working with them for two weeks to get it straightened out.
5. When the movers didn't show by the last date they told me they would arrive, I started harassing them daily. Each day they told me they'd check with the driver and get back to me. They would never get back to me. So I'd call again the next day, and they'd give me the same story, that they needed to talk to the driver first, and they'd get back to me. I never ever found out what the driver said any of these times. I'd scheduled and rescheduled days off to meet them three different times on revised arrival dates for which they didn't show, without ever calling. Long story short, they were over two weeks later than the latest they promised. At least on this issue, though, I got some recompense, as I badgered them into refunding me $100 for every day they were late, retroactive to the first day past the promised latest date (about two weeks total). I still haven't received the check yet, but it's due any day.
6. After all the delay with the movers, I suddenly realized that the date my car was supposed to arrive had long since come and gone. I called the car shippers repeatedly and got no response. Finally, last Wednesday they called in a panic, saying my car had been here since Monday, and I hadn't come to pick it up yet, and that I owed them three days storage for it.
7. Even though things had been fixed for the second paycheck, direct deposit for my third paycheck failed without any notification. I was pleased to find a paper check in my mailbox the next day, so I didn't worry too much until, having taken it to the bank, the teller and I discovered that it was a voided check. This third paycheck, whenever I do get it, also has overtime pay on it (for which I'm ineligible, and am told I'll have to write a check back to the company for), and no taxes withheld (which I'll have to remember so I don't get hit too hard for it). Also, of course, the accompanying expense reimbursement was missing. Additionally, my vacation accrual seems mysteriously to have reset itself to zero before this pay period.
Anyway, yeah, didn't mean to get all mired down in all that, but I'd been meaning to mention it for a while now, and the sad thing is that there are probably at least two or three messes I've complete forgotten. But, on to the original point of recounting all this:
1. I received my third pay period expense reimbursement today. Too late not to get charged interest on the expense charges, but I'm going to see if I can get credit for that as well, since it wasn't my fault.
2. I was approved for a Visa card finally. It has to be secured, but Rani my friendly banker person tells me that within a year or so that should no longer be an issue.
3. I'm told my third and fourth period paychecks will both deposit tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
4. I got my BC driver's license! How exciting. Actually, it's only the paper temporary one for right now, but they said the real one should be in my mailbox within a week.
5. In the shopping mall containing the driver's license office (which, incidentally is the best idea ever, and people in the US totally need to pick up on it — renew your license, browse the Hello Kitty store, and look at the hockey Legos at Toys R Us, all within a 10m radius), I accidentally stumbled across what I think is the only Taco Bell in Western Canada* . I've never been so happy to see a Taco Bell in my life. They still have the Cheesy Gordita Crunch here, too, which was discontinued in the States. It was sort of interesting, how I've always taken for granted that Taco Bell is one of those great universal constants, with nearly identical menus everywhere, but my combo meal came with not a Nachos Supreme, but [perhaps logical if you extend poutine to its natural Mexican conclusion] Fries Supreme — that's right, french fries smothered in nacho cheese, taco meat, sour cream, and pico de gallo. I have to admit, they were rather tasty. For dessert I grabbed a bubble tea at the bubble tea food court kiosk next door.
5.5. (It didn't seem right to call it 6) While at the mall, I did some shopping around. There was the Japanese tableware store, and a cool Asian-influenced cookware store, and a Chinese bookstore. There was a store called Showcase (no relation to the cable network, it seems) which is sort of the Canadian equivalent of The Sharper Image, even carrying a lot of Sharper Image products. There was the As Seen on TV store, which was, well, yeah, exactly what it sounded like — I stayed clear of that place — they even had TVs in there, blasting out infomercials, just in case you needed to verify that your new Miracle Bullet blender could actually be seen on TV before buying it. There was an all-orchid flower shop. And of course, there were all my new favorite Canadian stores: Chapters books, Hudson Bay Company, and Roots, the best warm and fuzzy clothes store ever, where I did some Christmas shopping. Most importantly, there was the SkyTrain station, so, after all this shameless mall-ratting, I could hop straight onto the train home.
I still have plans this week to get my car insured and registered here, and take care of a few other employer-related issues, but if all that goes well, too, I'm almost convinced my streak of bad luck is over. You still might catch me knocking on wood, though, if I don't think you're watching.
*Actually, according to Google Local Canada there seem to be 4 Taco Bells (Tacos Bell?) in all of BC, so I wasn't too far off the mark.
1. Immigration misspelled my first name on my visa. I didn't notice until I left the airport. I couldn't get by Social Insurance Number until it was fixed. I went back to the airport. All they could do was add an addendum to the visa, so it's good enough for when I'm showing it to people, but if anyone tries to look me up in the immigration files as "Matthew" instead of "Mathew," I'm nowhere to be found.
2. Direct deposit failed on my first paycheck. They finally cut me a regular check, but when I went to cash it, the bank put a 7 business day hold on it.
3. To try to stave off some of my temporary financial woes, I applied for a Canadian Visa card. I was rejected, having no prior credit history in Canada. The fact that one of my US cards had offered me up to a $29,000 limit made no difference to them at all.
4. Although my second paycheck direct deposited just fine, the expense reimbursement that was supposed to go with it was totally missing. I asked the payroll department what I should do about it, and they said that because of a records switch it was probably lost, and that I should resubmit the expenses under my revised personnel number. I did, and the deposit under the original number showed up the next day. I've been working with them for two weeks to get it straightened out.
5. When the movers didn't show by the last date they told me they would arrive, I started harassing them daily. Each day they told me they'd check with the driver and get back to me. They would never get back to me. So I'd call again the next day, and they'd give me the same story, that they needed to talk to the driver first, and they'd get back to me. I never ever found out what the driver said any of these times. I'd scheduled and rescheduled days off to meet them three different times on revised arrival dates for which they didn't show, without ever calling. Long story short, they were over two weeks later than the latest they promised. At least on this issue, though, I got some recompense, as I badgered them into refunding me $100 for every day they were late, retroactive to the first day past the promised latest date (about two weeks total). I still haven't received the check yet, but it's due any day.
6. After all the delay with the movers, I suddenly realized that the date my car was supposed to arrive had long since come and gone. I called the car shippers repeatedly and got no response. Finally, last Wednesday they called in a panic, saying my car had been here since Monday, and I hadn't come to pick it up yet, and that I owed them three days storage for it.
7. Even though things had been fixed for the second paycheck, direct deposit for my third paycheck failed without any notification. I was pleased to find a paper check in my mailbox the next day, so I didn't worry too much until, having taken it to the bank, the teller and I discovered that it was a voided check. This third paycheck, whenever I do get it, also has overtime pay on it (for which I'm ineligible, and am told I'll have to write a check back to the company for), and no taxes withheld (which I'll have to remember so I don't get hit too hard for it). Also, of course, the accompanying expense reimbursement was missing. Additionally, my vacation accrual seems mysteriously to have reset itself to zero before this pay period.
Anyway, yeah, didn't mean to get all mired down in all that, but I'd been meaning to mention it for a while now, and the sad thing is that there are probably at least two or three messes I've complete forgotten. But, on to the original point of recounting all this:
1. I received my third pay period expense reimbursement today. Too late not to get charged interest on the expense charges, but I'm going to see if I can get credit for that as well, since it wasn't my fault.
2. I was approved for a Visa card finally. It has to be secured, but Rani my friendly banker person tells me that within a year or so that should no longer be an issue.
3. I'm told my third and fourth period paychecks will both deposit tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
4. I got my BC driver's license! How exciting. Actually, it's only the paper temporary one for right now, but they said the real one should be in my mailbox within a week.
5. In the shopping mall containing the driver's license office (which, incidentally is the best idea ever, and people in the US totally need to pick up on it — renew your license, browse the Hello Kitty store, and look at the hockey Legos at Toys R Us, all within a 10m radius), I accidentally stumbled across what I think is the only Taco Bell in Western Canada
5.5. (It didn't seem right to call it 6) While at the mall, I did some shopping around. There was the Japanese tableware store, and a cool Asian-influenced cookware store, and a Chinese bookstore. There was a store called Showcase (no relation to the cable network, it seems) which is sort of the Canadian equivalent of The Sharper Image, even carrying a lot of Sharper Image products. There was the As Seen on TV store, which was, well, yeah, exactly what it sounded like — I stayed clear of that place — they even had TVs in there, blasting out infomercials, just in case you needed to verify that your new Miracle Bullet blender could actually be seen on TV before buying it. There was an all-orchid flower shop. And of course, there were all my new favorite Canadian stores: Chapters books, Hudson Bay Company, and Roots, the best warm and fuzzy clothes store ever, where I did some Christmas shopping. Most importantly, there was the SkyTrain station, so, after all this shameless mall-ratting, I could hop straight onto the train home.
I still have plans this week to get my car insured and registered here, and take care of a few other employer-related issues, but if all that goes well, too, I'm almost convinced my streak of bad luck is over. You still might catch me knocking on wood, though, if I don't think you're watching.
*Actually, according to Google Local Canada there seem to be 4 Taco Bells (Tacos Bell?) in all of BC, so I wasn't too far off the mark.