2006 Projects?

Victoria,

Ever been to the west coast of Canada? It's not cold here, okay, so we might get snow once a year, and yes, we do get rain. It's how we keep B.C. green :) But many Canadians from the the east move here to retire because of the mild weather.

take care, Linda

Maybe the associate didn't know of another store who carried the item. She made the suggestion to Victoria to call the 1-800 so the company is made aware that shoppers are interested in the item, good business sense to me.

take care, Linda

Because Walmart pi$$ed off the wrong (powerful) people?

"Linda D." wrote .

That will come as a terrible shock to the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Workers Union, currently picketing my nearest Sobey's store, as well as the unionised workers at the Safeway in the nearby mall. Labour standards are a matter of provincial jurisdiction, except for employees of certain federal corporations and enterprises, so that what an employee is entitled to will vary from province to province, rather than standard provisions "here in Canada.". Dawne

In part, where I am, because Walmart is American, rather than Canadian. Dawne

Time flies. Sears is 120 years old, which makes it older than Hudson's Bay's chain of deparment stores which were founded in 1912 (the company itself dates to 1670). Wal*Mart is over 40 years old.

That's because the others haven't been operating the same way, at least, not until recently. For one thing, Sears put (that's past tense, please note) its stores right down town in most cases, instead of avoiding town centers as Wal*Mart does. But, to be honest, I stopped shopping at Sears (except for tools) about 25 years ago. I stopped buying tools there in the late 1980s when I lived in Indiana and couldn't get the salesmen to take me seriously.

Not according to USAToday:

Actually we have considered the pacific side of Canada. Of course Mark beleives California is going to drop into the ocean, causing a tsunami which will kill us. LOL. Well, not LOL because it could happen, but he's a scaredy cat :)

I absolutely loved northern California. When I was there a few weeks ago it was it's usual beauty. I am always >Victoria,

"Is Wal-Mart unfairly targeted because it's big and rich, or is it an outfit that uses its deep pockets to wear down (those who sue)?" asks Richard Cupp...

Having worked in litigation for nearly 20 years, I can tell you that a LOT of big companies are targeted by lawyers. If you had a slip-and-fall in Mom & Pop's Corner Store, you might not get a lawyer interested, because there's just not that good odds that Mom and Pop have anything other than their investment in the store. Safeway, OTOH, has a ton of money.

Some of our regular clients were two grocery chains and a motel chain. They got sued all the time. I can't recall more than a handful of cases against Mom & Pop groceries or motels in that ~20 years. Knowing (from personal experience) how quickly our clients got someone out with a mop to clean up spills, I don't buy the notion that they got sued more often because they were slower to clean up; they got sued more often because they had the money to make it worth the lawyers' while.

The worse the economy was, the more work I had, because the more people who were out of work, or thought they were about to be, the more decided to solidify their financial situation by suing for zillions.

As Tamara and I have both said, we worked for lawyers and our legal right to breaks was constantly violated. Have you ever seen a case where Dewey, Cheatum and Howe was sued for doing what Walmart was just sued for? Of course not. No lawyer would take that case, even if the violation was just as egregious. Walmart has enough employees to make it worth the lawyer's while.

"Wal-Mart, which promotes itself as a down-home friendly business, is helping change the nature of corporate litigation by aggressively fighting many cases even when it would be cheaper for the company to settle, analysts say."

State Farm has been doing that since before I got into the litigation field. Some lawyers won't even take the case if they find out the other driver had State Farm, because they *know* they're going all the way to trial.

It's called "fighting insurance fraud". You don't want to reward people who don't have a legitimate claim (e.g., the bozo who says it's all McD's fault that he weighs 400 pounds) by offering them $5000 or $10,000 to go away. And it's one reason why my insurance is with State Farm, because I agree with that stance.

It wasn't as much the colors would fade, but I was thinking in terms of it fraying or becoming tattered. I doubt there was any extensive type of a design stitched onto a baby's bib. Not the designs I'm thinking of, anyway.

But, you are right. If that's the way I want to go, I will not sway from doing it because the washing may harm it.

"Jangchub"

I've seen pictures in British magazines of very large designs cross-stitched on to jeans jackets, usually on a yoke panel or on the back if it is one piece. These areas would not get lots of wear--and if other parts of the jacket frayed, like cuffs or whatever, you are very imaginative, so could likely find something wonderful to both bind and embellish them to lengthen the life of the jacket. Dawne

I stitched a bib with a Thanksgiving design on it. It went through two grandkids and many washings with javax added and it survived quite nicely!

Mavia

I should take a photo of this jacket. My father wore it for over 30 years! It's a Lee Denim jacket. One of the originals. It is tattered and frayed everywhere and I love that. Actually, this is made so well that even with the fraying it is still as strong as iron.

As an aside, the television is on and the Geico geckgo now has a British accent! LOL. That was the cutest thing I ever saw. LOL

Sears Canada celebrated it's 50th anniversary just a couple of years ago...it is not Sears Roebuck, and is only partially owned by Sears Roebuck. The Hudson's Bay Company is older than Sears Canada by approx. 65 years. I work at Sears, I know what I'm talking about.

Sears moved our local downtown store out of downtown in 1990. The store in Victoria has been out of the downtown core for many years. I don't recall it ever being downtown. I guess it depends on where you live.

...Linda

I will clarify my statement then... Non-unionized retail employees are only covered by Employment Standards here in Canada, ie. employees of The Bay, Zellers, and Sears are all non-union. Some of these companies have benefit plans that employees can purchase, but the costs are high. They also have some plans that if you work a certain number of hours during the calendar year you will qualify to have a portion of your benefits paid by the company, so the company reduces the employees hours so they do not qualify. I can assure you this happens.

...Linda

P.S. I've never heard of Sobey's, is that a store in Eastern Canada.

I can answer this, says she, jumping upand down, waving her hand. It is a grocery chain; I know they are in the Maritimes, but can't remember if I saw them in Ontario this year.

Gillian

Sorry, I'm a little late on this whole "federally mandated break" thread, but I do have a career where all of my co-workers and I take federally mandated breaks. I'm an air traffic controller. We have to have a break every two hours that lasts at least 15 minutes away from the operating quarters. We also have to have an uninterrupted lunch of at least 30 minutes between our fourth and sixth hours of work. Usually we get breaks after about an hour on position, sometimes a bit more but usually not less.

But I'm in an unusual profession, over 14 years and counting. And I have to retire before my 56th birthday (although I'll be eligible for full retirement when I'm 49 and fully intend to do so!). :-)

BTW, I am *still* working on TW's Noah's Ark...sigh. I am almost done with Sweetheart Tree's Olde English Needleroll.

Lisa Springfield, IL - Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (KSPI) air traffic control specialist and avid stitcher

Many years ago, back when Reagan was busting up the air controllers' union and it was in the news about how stressful and high-pressure a job it was, I remember a conversation with DFIL (a university professor) in which he expressed admiration for one of his female post docs who was great in the lab and had an active family life with several young children. He said, "I don't know how she does it. She's constantly busy taking one kid here and getting another from here and school's suddenly cancelled and plans change, and she keeps it all in balance and is really good at her job, too."

Being a mother of three myself, and plenty busy even without an academic/scientific career, I replied, "I always wondered why they made men the main air traffic controllers. Women juggle stuff every day and keep all the balls in the air, and nobody thinks anything of it, but for men they say it's SO stressful and such a hard job. They should make women air traffic controllers! We're constantly juggling and avoiding crises!"

He said, "You know, I never thought of it that way."

Sue

That's the ticket - keep them in line!

We don't have steward room service for officers anymore in Australia, although two stars and above still have a personal steward.

BTW - I once ran into my section on a day off wearing jeans and a tee, and with my hair dowm (very long at the time). My Corporal stopped dead in his tracks and just gasped "Gee Ma'am - I didn't know you had hair!"