Is it just me?

Sometimes I wonder if I’m living in a different universe or crossed into another dimension. Why do some people make everything so difficult? I like things to be simple.

I was at Tim Horton for lunch. I’m not a Tim Horton’s fan, but my wife likes the coffee, so I go. I usually just have a soup, but I’m getting a bit tired of eating the same soup all the time. I don’t care for the Classic Chicken Noodle soup, mainly because it has those large butterfly pasta. All you taste is the pasta. I like my chicken noodle soup with regular soup noodles. Don’t like the Harvest Vegetable soup, either, nor the Onion soup. I like the broccoli or cauliflower soup, the Italian Wedding is okay, also. But they don’t always have those.

Anyway, this time I ordered an Italian Sausage sandwich with a soft drink. The girl asked me if I want to make it a meal. It would cost me $6.49 and I would still get a donut with that. It would be cheaper than ordering the sandwich and drink separately. So I said, “Okay.” I don’t mind saving money.

When I looked at the screen that displays what she punches in I noticed that she charged me for each item separately: Sandwich, drink, donut. It came to more than $6.49. When I questioned it, she said that the meal includes a coffee but not a soft drink. Then she said, “I’ll see what I can do.” So she starts explaining what she’s going to do and by this time she lost me. I had no idea what she was actually doing. She started adding and deducting items (My wife also ordered her coffee and bagel). I didn’t look anymore at the screen while listening to the girl. I paid what she told me to pay and went to get my food, feeling like a fool. I didn’t get a donut with my order. They never give you a bill so I couldn’t even check what I paid for. It seemed to me the bill was too high, but I was left with the feeling the whole thing was my fault.

Next time I’ll pay more attention, but mostly I’ll stick to my original order and keep my mouth shut. Why offer something you can’t deliver. All she did was confuse things. Usually, I am always suspicious when somebody tells me they can make it a better deal. Better for whom? Not for me, that’s for sure.

Then we went to Walmart. They were selling peaches by the litre. I remarked to one of the sale’s women that I found it odd to sell peaches by the liter. She gave me this blank look and I said, “You know liquid—liter. Peaches are solid.” Still that blank look. She looked at the peaches and then walked away. My wife said to me, “She had no idea what you were talking about.” I felt like a fool again.

The whole situation is pretty sad. Of course, why am I so surprised? This whole metric system we are supposed to have in Canada is completely screwed up. Everything is a mess. They sell stuff by grams, millimeters, milliliters, liters; kg, by a pound that has only 454 grams instead of 500 g; ounces (how do they fit into a metric system?) meters, inches, etc. There is no rhyme or reason. A wonderful system to confuse buyers. It is difficult to compare, but I carry a metric converter when we go shopping.

We have one of our past Prime Ministers, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, to thank for that mess. He’s the one who introduced the metric system to Canada. It was never implemented the correct way. He also declared Manitoba a Bilingual Province when it definitely isn’t, not with the low percentage of French Speaking citizens living in Manitoba. And now his son Justin is trying to become the next Prime Minister of Canada. I’m afraid what he will screw up should he succeed. He’ll probably sell the country to the minorities. He’s already hugging and kissing them and wants to bring more into Canada so they can change our free country into one similar to the one they are running away from now.

Sorry, now I got carried away again. I’m not really into politics, but at the same time I don’t want my adopted country changed. I like it the way it is. I don’t think that is weird.

Have a good day.