Share's Sharing

I promise I really would have been blogging before this, but my internet is CRAP, and it wouldn't let me sign in. SUCK! I know, excuses excuses. Don't hate me too much. I have a feeling this entry will turn out to be really random, I have a lot of things to say but nothing to transition them smoothly into one another so you get whatchya get!

Firstly, THE JOB. Mmmm, so great I enjoy it a lot! I'm finally beginning to really catch on and my days are running way smoother. I only asked for help twice today :-P I would definitley recomend working at COS with Telus, it's an amazing atmosphere, great "extras", and HELLO it's not a high stress job! There's tons of people around my age and lots of students so I've been running around making friends and I couldn't be happier about being where I am. Okay, that's a lie. I would be estatic if I knew how to speak French. Like, you can be an English operator but heck if I know how to pronounce or spell or attempt to find ANYTHING in Quebec. And those Frenchies talk so fast!!! Look into a typical conversation with anyone from Quebec:

---Automated system--- *City and town please* [We personally don't hear the computer, just THEIR voice recorded]
"Chateauguay Lery, Montreal" [This is of course said extremely fast with a heavy accent]
*Name, please*
"Gerin Lajoie"
BEEP BEEP <--- That's to tell us when we're on line with them.
ME: "Hi, could you repeat the town name please?"
THEM: [repeats town]
ME: "Could you spell that please?"
THEM: "What you mean spell? It is Ch....says name super fast."
ME: [Attempts to get first three letters of the town name, it then comes in automatically... THIS is the easy part.]
ME: "And the name was 'Geeerean La-jou-eh'?
THEM: "Non, non... Gerin Lajoie. Is school."
ME: "Ah, a school, okay. Could you spell that for me?"
THEM: "Oui, "G-EH-ER-I-N L-AH-JAY-O-I-E" [This is of course said with broken French and English letters. Good thing I still remember my french alphabet from elementary school.]
ME: "Okay, I'll just make sure I'm spelling this right." [I spell out what I got from their broken English.]
THEM: "Non, non non non." [In most cases, I've spelled it wrong, and they spout off the name again even faster.]
ME: "Okay, just searching for you..." [This is where I'm frantically trying every possible combination from what they've given me, adding school to the end in hopes that I can come up with something. If I don't, I try and get the street name that it's on which leads to even more difficulty and in half of the cases I just end up passing them on to a French operator.]

I mean, WHY, dear LORD WHY wouldn't they just ask for a French operator in the first place? Instead they have to put me through 2-5 minutes of pure misery, and in only 25% of cases ending up happy that I've actually found the address/phone number that they're looking for.

ANYWAY, that was a little taste of what I go through 30-40 times a day. But apart from the Frenchies, it's usually an enjoyable job. Except for when, on my first day I got a guy YELLING/CRYING for the number for a Vet Hospital screaming that his dog got hit by a bus and she was dying in his arms. That wasn't very pleasent. Memorable yes, unfortunatly.

Oh and yes, it is extremely cold here. Oh yes yes it is. It ranges from... Oh, minus 12 to minus 22ish, hasn't got MUCH colder than that. And this is coming from the idiot girl who STILL hasn't bought boots or a winter jacket. I look homeless whenever I go outside... But I'm far past caring. I STILL freeze my bum off even with three pairs of pants! I go to work and end up peeling layer after layer off. Mmm, it's wonderful. But really, I'll brave through it 'cuz really. What other choice do I have? And the snow's so pretty!

Our household of eight people is being cut in half on Dec 1st. Amber [upstairs] is moving accross the street, and Warren, Hannah and baby Madison are moving to their new place as well. It's going to be such a sad day :-( We all love that baby, and Warren and Hannah are great... The house is going to be SO empty. The next step for Regan and Becca is finding someone else to move upstairs. Although I'll miss Amber a lot, she WILL only be moving accross the street and I'm curious to see who will end up moving in upstairs.

I guess that's all I have for now. Jenn is cooking dinner and the smell is making my concentration go to the floor!