Sharkboy

I meet weird people all the time, especially at work, but sometimes, just out of the blue when I’m doing mundane things such as getting a coffee or grocery shopping…

GETTING A COFFEE

I’m at Starbucks today in line to get a coffee when these two young asian women arrive and take their spot behind me. They are being obnoxiously loud and a tad too laughy for me. For some reason, one of them hits me by mistake with a bag containing gold or some other really heavy shit. She doesn’t acknowledge it, so I decide to help her out a bit:

Me: You could be careful!
Her: (looking at me, then at her friend saying something I can’t understand and then laughing out loud)
Me: In this country when we hit someone we say we’re sorry in a way of apologizing
Her: (in very broken English) Yo countreh iz asso mah countreh
Me: Well you might have gotten the passport, but you sure failed the Manners class
Her: (looking at me, then at her friend saying something I can’t understand and then laughing out loud… once more)
Me: (to the Barista) I’ll have a Grande Mild and if you sell Kicks In The Ass, I’ll get a couple for my friends behind me
Barista: One Grande Mild coming up.

GROCERY SHOPPING

Tomorrow is pot luck day at work and I signed up to bring a quiche, one easy dish I can actually make. So after work, I made my way to the grocery store, bought all the ingredients and paid. As I was leaving the store and about to go through the automatic doors with my bags full of food, this homeless jumped up and waved his arms at the sensor to open the doors for me, then took his hat off and presented it to me as he took a bow in a form of asking for tip because he opened the door for me… It was just the kind of weird I needed and paid him a shiny dollar for his trouble.

In Ontario, when you request a court date to fight a minor traffic ticket, you need to go in person at one of the Court Services offices, fill out a simple form, wait your turn at the counter and voila, 6 months later you receive a letter in the mail with a time and date to appear in court…

That simple form I talked about really is just that, all they want is the full person’s name, full address including postal code, the ticket number, the date it happened, if you want it in English or French (the two official languages of Canada) and also if you intend on pleading guilty with an explanation OR not guilty. Signature and date are needed to complete the whole thing… As I said earlier, simple form.

Yesterday, one guy came to my counter with his a mangled form, words scratched all over and not fully filled out, he refused to tell us how he wanted to plead, that it was none of our business what he intended to do in court… I told him I couldn’t accept an incomplete form and his request would go unanswered and he would be found guilty in absentia is he didn’t take any action. He wanted to know why he needed to answer that question on the form, I explained that pleading not guilty would require we schedule the officer to come to court, both parties would have their say in front of the Justice of the Peace and a decision would be made at that point OR pleading guilty with an explanation would allow him to save the demerit points as the Justice of the Peace would most likely let him plead guilty to a lesser charge.

He still refused to answer the question…

Then it went like this:

Me: So.. are you answering the question or do I call the next guest?
Idiot: Ok, ok… I’ll take guilty with an explanation
Me: It will be you and the Justice of the Peace and you can save your points that way.
Idiot: The cop won’t be there???
Me: No, only when you plead not guilty is the officer required to be in court.
Idiot: I want to save my points but I want him there too. Give me the form back, I want to plead not guilty.

I gave him the form back, he scratched the first answer and checked the new one.

Me: Ok, the officer will be in court and the Justice of the Peace will make a decision after hearing both sides of the story.
Idiot: I’m guilty of it but I have a very good explanation
Me: They’ll make the decision after hearing both sides. Maybe the officer has a very good explanation too.
Idiot: It’s ok, if he comes to court, I’ll change my mind to guilty with explanation, ahahaha.
Me: That’s your choice of course, but wouldn’t you rather not waste the officer’s time? Personally, I’d rather he was on the street doing his job than knowing he’s in court for hours for no reason.
Idiot: Well, that’s my choice right? And if he doesn’t show up, they’ll throw the ticket out… ahahaha
Me: Sometimes. Not always. The Justice of the Peace WILL make that decision, maybe he or she’ll be in the mood to not throw the ticket out. It’s a gamble.
Idiot: (looking at me not blinking)
Me: (looking back bored out of my mind with him)
Idiot: Ok, I change my mind, I want to plead guilty with an explanation
Me: Sure, but this form is now so hard to read that we’ll start a brand new one, if you change your mind again they won’t know which option you want… we’ll make it nice and clean on the new one…
Idiot: What??? No forget it, leave it like this, I’m not wasting another minute with your stupid forms.
Me: Fine, have a nice day
Idiot: It’s loo late for that now
Me: Yeah I know… for me too.

Last night was another bust for us and Nuit Blanche… Although we did try to go and see some cool things, the mix of drunks and small sidewalks didn’t gel very well and after an hour of it we made our way home…

DR in front of what can only be a Nuit Blanche joke for all Torontonians

Thing is, the whole event reminded me of two fun ones coming up, the Zombie Walk and Halloween, so when I woke up this morning, I was totally in the mood to start with my costume…. I bought a pattern a few weeks back to help with an idea I got over the summer and with my new found confidence of the sewing machine, I was roaring to go… Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

The cutting

I like October… not only are there tons of fun new horror movies, like Zombieland which we already saw and loved, but all the classic ones are also playing on TV throughout the month. YEH!