The Election is Over...
Well, as you may have heard, the election is over (it was yesterday). That means that I'm done hiring people. In all, I think that I hired about 600 people. From parking attendants, to Central Polling Supervisors, and people to answer phones in the office. On the morning of the election, I only had to replace 10 people, which was a nice relief.
Yesterday, we all assembled at the office at 6A.M., and I sent out replacements to people who called in "sick" (or who simply didn't show up, and kept the ballot box at their house - a federal offense).
I spent half of the day in the office answering phones, and the other half of the day running supplies between the polling stations, and checking up on the CPS's (Central Polling Supervisor in Elections Canada lingo). There weren't too many problems, apart from the scrutineers who were bugging everyone. The lawyers ended up getting involved at two locations it was so bad.
In the evening I collected in the 183 voting boxes, as they were returned to the office.
Today we started to pack everything up. Literally everything is supposed to be sent back to Ottawa. Most of it will be shredded (including unused forms that are no longer in their original wrapping). The amount of paper that is wasted is incredible. I keep telling myself that I'm supporting the BC pulp and paper industry. It's not doing too well right now thanks to the States, and the tarifs that they've put on Canadian softwood lumber. So much for NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), but then I'm writing about the election, and not politics.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness and many of our people need it sorely... Broad, wholesome, charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetation in one's little corner of the earth."
-Mark Twain

Amen to that. It's so true that travelling broadens your horizons. Yes, I know that it's said so often that it's a cliche, but it's true.

Almost Done...
Well, the election is almost upon us (or at least those of us who are Canadians). I've got my 550 people hired, apart from those who keep going down for the count. They call up and tell me that they can't work the day of the election for all sorts of reasons. I don't want to, I got another job, I'm sick, I'll be gone over the weekend, and it's too early in the morning. Then there are all of the people who go to the wrong training sessions, because they don't write down what I tell them. Or there are the people who call me up and want a better position. Not to mention those who think that they are entitled to work the election, simply because it is a government job. Oh my oh my. I'm surprised at how many crazy people there are out there. It's definitely been a lesson for me...

Go Out and Vote!
If you're over 18, and a Canadian citizen, I want you to go out and vote. There is advanced voting June 18, 19, and 21 (Friday, Saturday, and Monday). Then there is the big election day, Monday June 28, 2004. I don't care who you vote for, as long as you go out and vote.
If you don't vote, I don't want to hear you complain about the goverment.

I Got Paid!
Yay, I got paid! Now you may think that this is a routine thing if you are working, but I never knew in France from month to month if I would get paid or not. I'm happy to let everyone know that the Goverment of Canada paid me my due amount, and it was on time (not four months late).
In addition to that, my (now ex-)bank in France finally wired the rest of the money in my French accound to my Canadian account.

Service en français...
Today I got to help two people in French (since I'm the only person in the office who speaks French well enough to serve people). Canada is supposedly a bilingual country, but almost nobody in my city speaks it as a first language.
The first person wanted to see if he was on the voters list, and the second guy was calling from Quebec. For some reason his call got transfered to my city (which he had never heard of), so I got to help him. Anyway, I ended up giving him the national phone number, since I couldn't help him from the other end of the country.

Just Promoted...
Or maybe I should say that I just hired myself. OK, so you might be a bit confused, just let me explain.
They need more help in the revisions department (updating the electoral list), and so as recruitment officer I have to find people to work in revision. I need more hours (and more money), so I got myself hired into revisions as well as working as recruitment officer. The revisions people make more per hour than I do as recruitment officer, so I'm not complaining. But now that means that I'll be working like a crazy animal (is it a dog or a horse??). I pulled a 12 hour shift today in my two jobs (luckily they're at the same office). It'll be even more busy next week when I have to call people to hire them for election day, and get them into training courses, as well as work updating the electoral list. Even if I burn out, at least I'll be well-off and burnt out...

Now 600...
OK, so I guess that you guys can tell that there's not much interesting happening in my life right now. At work today, my boss said that I now have to hire around 600 people for election day, up 50 people from yesterday. Fun times.
A girl I sort of know just got engaged last night. She's a year younger than me, and has been going out with the guy for nine months (no, she's not pregnant).

Carb Crazy...
I don't know what happened to North America while I was in Europe, but it seems to me that almost everyone has gone carb-ohydrate crazy. The "Atkins Diet" has taken over, and everyone is "counting their carbs".
Now get this, they now offer "carb-reduced" pizza, wine, beer, ice cream, bread (how can bread be carb-reduced??), and even Coca-Cola. It just boggles my mind how obsessed people have become over this thing since I left.
If you want to loose weight, eat less and exercise more. With the Atkins diet, you loose the weight in water, but what about your cholesterol from all the meat and eggs? You're best off just to live a balanced life-style.

Working like a dog...
OK, so I'm not really working like a dog, but I've been working a fair bit lately.
Most of the time it's fun (or at least not boring), but today was a bit stressful. About half an hour before I was supposed to leave, my boss came in and said, "I want you to hire 30-40 people and get them into training sessions for tomorrow and Sunday". Needless to say, I spent an extra four hours in the office making phone calls and trying to get a hold of people. There went my Friday evening. I was going to play ultimate frisbee with friends, but I had to miss that. Urgh...