I'd like to share with my readers, the complaint i just sent to the STM (public transit system here in Montreal). I have not censored, nor omitted names because I feel it's important for everyone to know what happened, and to hell with the person whose name I may be soiling by publicly saying what he did. If he wanted to keep his rep, he should do his job properly, or realize people WILL complain when he gives poor customer service AND leaves me with his full name which is googlable online.
(lol, I wrote googlable!)
This is a follow-up to a complaint I'd already made explaining in DETAIL how the metro doors closed on me, causing bodily harm. Normally people would assume I'd been running to catch the vehicle. I was not. I was casually walking right in, with a friend, among other people who did the same.
The doors simply did not stay open as long as they normally do. Several travelers were left outside the vehicle for the same reasons.
And as I was frantically trying to get loose of the iron-grip of these doors that have absolutely NO safety feature to pop open in an emergency, the controller of the vehicle has the nerve to put on his automated 'please disengage the doors or the vehicle will not proceed' message, as if I were BLOCKING the doors, rather than trying to get free before being dragged off into the distance and smashed against the wall where the tunnel begins.
Metro drivers have MIRRORS - this person was obviously too careless to bother, otherwise he would have SEEN the commotion of 5-6 people trying to set me free, and save my laptop bag from being crushed in the process.
Will the STM compensate me for the days off of work i took to recuperate from the severe pain and internal bruising? (note, i have no physical evidence any of this occurred because photographing my scar tissue would reveal nothing unusual. unless bones had been literally broken, nothing aside from swelling would have shown on an x-ray either). Would they even consider trying to console me verbally (or in writing) for the anxiety and fear it caused not only me, but my friend and 4 strangers? Had my laptop not been dislodged, would they have compensated the repair of loss of my files, or more seriously, the entire computer?
Somehow I doubt it.
Many years ago, I watched a similar thing happen to an old boyfriend. And watched the metro security guards LAUGH and tease him when he was utterly petrified, because the vehicle DID start moving with his body stuck in the doors. He instantly showed them his injuries and seeing the bright red streak along his chest and upper back, they quieted him by mentioning compensation via a yearly metro pass. After complaints were filed and the driver of that particular train fired (so my ex had been told anyway), he was never compensated apart from knowing the guy was fired.
The friend who was with me when my accident happened, says she has also seen this happen to a mother with a baby carriage. The carriage remained stuck in the doors, as the train began to roll. Mom was still outside the vehicle. Luckily a total stranger inside the metro car was a quick-thinker and untied the baby and grabbed him/her as the carriage, I assume was smashed to bits as it hit the wall.
This is complete negligence on the part of the STM. I understand bratty teenagers hold the doors for their friends during peak hours, and that there is a fine for doing so. However, when you don't leave the doors open long enough for people to get through, and then don't check your mirrors before heading out of the station when your system ALERTS you that there's a problem in a certain metro car....um...your rep is being ruined.
For this they hike metro card fees every year.
The following is my angry second complaint:
On March 13th, I received an alarming message from one Noureddine "Nino" Chiby, trying to assure me that the STM always does their job and wants to keep a good rep. He said he is sorry that I should have had to witness an accident in the metro and incidentally hurt my arm. He also said that I did not provide enough location, time, date etc information to proceed with any further investigation.
Here's what I ACTUALLY wrote in my original complaint:
The date, location, exact time, and I explained I could not get the metro driver's license number due to being CRUSHED in the middle of the train when I needed to RUN to the end of the train to do this before the train sped off.
I explained in great detail how I was SLAMMED in the doors on severe scar tissue from 2 old surgeries which at the time, remedied an incredibly fast-track to paralyAis. I was not a "witness" to an accident, I was the VICTIM. I had 5 or 6 witnesses. all were busy trying to rip me out of the grip of the metro doors, as this seemed more important than catching a driver's ID # for future followup. Mr. Chiby seems to think my arm was injured as a result of watching an accident. WHAT? I wrote clearly that my SPINE was injured, with incidental injury to my wrist from trying to keep the door from further crushing my spinal bones.
It is clear to me that Mr. Chiby's first language is NOT English, and I suspect he either didn't understand 90% of what I wrote in my first complaint, or that he just didn't' bother reading it. Perhaps because I expressed myself in English. My mother tongue. If I am fluent in French, why isn't this employee, who apparently deals with the public? I wrote in English because i didn't' want there to be ANY misunderstanding or misinterpretation of my words yet this is exactly what happened when Mr-Incompetence responded to my message. He could have AT LEAST written me back bilingually - did he suspect I also speak french? What if I was an American tourist who ONLY speaks English? Why in the world would he respond with a unilingual email? His assumptions are silly, considering the STM services ALL of Montreal regardless if the clients are native French or English speakers. There are so many allophones in this city. There are so many tourists, this is completely illogical for him to respond in full French, to a complaint made entirely in English. AND not understand what was being reported as a complaint. Unacceptable service. He has since not responded to my answer-email explaining how he has offended me and has NOT helped with my case whatsoever. I'm appalled. and if that word is too complicated, someone within your staff must have a French-English dictionary.
I could have written this second complaint in French, but I still feel more comfortable writing in my mother tongue, as Mr. Chiby may have also done (I researched him on the Internet and I'm not even certain French is HIS first language, but it certainly isn't English).
In the end, I don't really CARE about any political language slant. All I want is JUSTICE for what happened to me because of the STM's negligence. I will NOT re-detail everything a second time because if you guys are doing your jobs, you have on record, every word I already sent. More accurately than I could detail today, weeks after the accident occurred (meaning, the initial details I gave would be more precise because they were fresh in my mind).
I have let Mr. Chiby know that I have access to a lawyer and WILL bring charges, WILL go to CTV news, and that I'm also a journalist, so this has already started to make its way around social networks. Do I have to continue to a more formal complaint/report piece in an official newspaper like The Gazette to be taken seriously?
Monday, March 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Pinup Saints make Montreal SEXY
Check this band out, they are SEXAY - i don't care if you like women or men, they're all hot :)
And playing several gigs around Montreal this August, be sure to take in a couple of their shows coz the hotness comes across live way better than on CD!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Peter Sergakis
Right now in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, there is a project referred to as Mega-Bar.
This project would be horrible for the people living in this borough. I'm already afraid to go get groceries because of all the derelicts hanging around the Sports Station and Karaoke bar (not to mention the drunken idiots smoking their cigarettes and weed right on the street next to the taxi-stand). These two bars are owned by none other than Peter Sergakis, the dude that also owns Sky in the Gay Village (which i always boycott).
Now they want to infiltrate the residents' space surrounding the 2 bars and increase the size of their already-over legal limit sized establishments. This will invade the parking lot in front of the local grocery store, and cause surrounding residents to hear the bars' ruckus til last call if their plans to open an over 250-seat outdoor terrace goes through.
We will no longer have peace and quiet in our own homes if this JERK is allowed to continue buying up our whole city. I received a letter stating all the infractions Sergakis has already committed with his Sports Station. Who is allowing him to break the law, and then insist for more to be broken to serve his own purpose?
He ruined the heritage Cock n' Bull pub by ousting its former owners (apparently charging the same price for half-full pints, claiming a machine counts the ounces)
He has made me no longer want to live in the Ville-Marie borough. He has managed within the past year, to turn it into Vile-Marie. I don't feel safe walking near these 2 bars, with yet a third bar across the street (the new and "improved" Cock n' Bull)
I've lived here for 12 years, but I know other residents have been here for much longer. Some are senior citizens. I'm still young, but what about these older people who just want to live their life and occasionally go for a walk down St-Catherine or surrounding areas? They shouldn't have to fear for their life when getting a cab or groceries nearby!
There are also many families with young children in this neighborhood. Is it safe to have this many obnoxious, unruly drunks hanging around this area?
A friend of mine was patted down upon entering the Sports Station recently. If they are doing body-checks doesn't this send a message that crowds are suspected of carrying certain dangerous or suspicious items?
My friend politely told the security guard that he was in no mood to be patted down in order to get a quick beer. Before leaving the premises to go elsewhere, he joked that he understood the doorman was just doing his job, since the concern is probably more about someone walking in with an Uzi, looking for Sergakis himself, rather than aiming to harm fellow bar patrons.
This 'hood is becoming the ridicule of downtown. If citizens don't speak up, it looks like the project will get the o-kay even though it comes in conflict with so many laws.
I feel ashamed to be a downtowner!
(this was in parts, sent to the Gazette newspaper...wonder if they'd publish it)
This project would be horrible for the people living in this borough. I'm already afraid to go get groceries because of all the derelicts hanging around the Sports Station and Karaoke bar (not to mention the drunken idiots smoking their cigarettes and weed right on the street next to the taxi-stand). These two bars are owned by none other than Peter Sergakis, the dude that also owns Sky in the Gay Village (which i always boycott).
Now they want to infiltrate the residents' space surrounding the 2 bars and increase the size of their already-over legal limit sized establishments. This will invade the parking lot in front of the local grocery store, and cause surrounding residents to hear the bars' ruckus til last call if their plans to open an over 250-seat outdoor terrace goes through.
We will no longer have peace and quiet in our own homes if this JERK is allowed to continue buying up our whole city. I received a letter stating all the infractions Sergakis has already committed with his Sports Station. Who is allowing him to break the law, and then insist for more to be broken to serve his own purpose?
He ruined the heritage Cock n' Bull pub by ousting its former owners (apparently charging the same price for half-full pints, claiming a machine counts the ounces)
He has made me no longer want to live in the Ville-Marie borough. He has managed within the past year, to turn it into Vile-Marie. I don't feel safe walking near these 2 bars, with yet a third bar across the street (the new and "improved" Cock n' Bull)
I've lived here for 12 years, but I know other residents have been here for much longer. Some are senior citizens. I'm still young, but what about these older people who just want to live their life and occasionally go for a walk down St-Catherine or surrounding areas? They shouldn't have to fear for their life when getting a cab or groceries nearby!
There are also many families with young children in this neighborhood. Is it safe to have this many obnoxious, unruly drunks hanging around this area?
A friend of mine was patted down upon entering the Sports Station recently. If they are doing body-checks doesn't this send a message that crowds are suspected of carrying certain dangerous or suspicious items?
My friend politely told the security guard that he was in no mood to be patted down in order to get a quick beer. Before leaving the premises to go elsewhere, he joked that he understood the doorman was just doing his job, since the concern is probably more about someone walking in with an Uzi, looking for Sergakis himself, rather than aiming to harm fellow bar patrons.
This 'hood is becoming the ridicule of downtown. If citizens don't speak up, it looks like the project will get the o-kay even though it comes in conflict with so many laws.
I feel ashamed to be a downtowner!
(this was in parts, sent to the Gazette newspaper...wonder if they'd publish it)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Anyone in Montreal on Thursday, May 27th should come check out lezzie-fabulous Pamela Pachal and her band The Dirty! Dirty blues-rock with the occasional disco beat (seriously!).
Centre St. Ambroise (5080A St-Ambroise - walk 15 minutes from St-Henri metro, or take the 78 bus from Lionel Groulx metro, to St-Remi and St-Ambroise)
doors at 8pm, show at 9pm sharp!
Pamela will be on at 9, followed by Montreal's The Mittenstrings, and headliner Geri Lee Arie. All the gals have their own style, so music is sure to please everyone's diverse tastes! Be ready for blues, indie folk, sweet harmonies, and dirty guitar (the latter provided by Pamela's band).
htp://myspace.com/pamelapachal
And if you miss this show, you can catch Pamela again before she leaves town to tour the rest of Canada, for a more relaxed atmosphere, jam style shindig on May 29th. She and her band will be opening for Geri Lee Arie, who will be hosting an open jam after her short set. So if you fancy yourself a musician, come jam with the gals!
Burritoville - May 29th
2055 Bishop (near Concordia University)
8pm
(and if you're hungry, Burritoville serves the yummiest vegan Mexican food on the cheap!)
Centre St. Ambroise (5080A St-Ambroise - walk 15 minutes from St-Henri metro, or take the 78 bus from Lionel Groulx metro, to St-Remi and St-Ambroise)
doors at 8pm, show at 9pm sharp!
Pamela will be on at 9, followed by Montreal's The Mittenstrings, and headliner Geri Lee Arie. All the gals have their own style, so music is sure to please everyone's diverse tastes! Be ready for blues, indie folk, sweet harmonies, and dirty guitar (the latter provided by Pamela's band).
htp://myspace.com/pamelapachal
And if you miss this show, you can catch Pamela again before she leaves town to tour the rest of Canada, for a more relaxed atmosphere, jam style shindig on May 29th. She and her band will be opening for Geri Lee Arie, who will be hosting an open jam after her short set. So if you fancy yourself a musician, come jam with the gals!
Burritoville - May 29th
2055 Bishop (near Concordia University)
8pm
(and if you're hungry, Burritoville serves the yummiest vegan Mexican food on the cheap!)
Monday, April 26, 2010
Yuri Love!
Just thought I'd share something I've become very attached to on YouTube.
(No, I didn't say "obsessed") ;)
If you don't know what Yuri is...well...you can google it, but briefly, it's girl-on-girl japanese animation/cartoons.
This video's vocal is sung by a human, but the original is in fact crafted by a Voice Simulation music software created by Yamaha. The Japanese are so much further into the future than North America!
Magnet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUViQm6fUcI)
(taboo love song)
(No, I didn't say "obsessed") ;)
If you don't know what Yuri is...well...you can google it, but briefly, it's girl-on-girl japanese animation/cartoons.
This video's vocal is sung by a human, but the original is in fact crafted by a Voice Simulation music software created by Yamaha. The Japanese are so much further into the future than North America!
Magnet (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUViQm6fUcI)
(taboo love song)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Jaimee Lee - part two
Oh and here is an article i wrote about the same artist!
Comments welcome!
http://sunonthesand.com/2010/jaimee-lee-4062010-4082010/
Comments welcome!
http://sunonthesand.com/2010/jaimee-lee-4062010-4082010/
musica!
Hi gang!
It's once again been way too long....
but i've recently been focussing on musical endeavors in the queer community.
i DO hope to spice up the site (AND MERCH!) this summer, but in the meantime, you can check out one of the great musicians i've been promoting this year. send her some love, i know she'd like it :)
Jaimee Lee belts it out
ENJOY!
It's once again been way too long....
but i've recently been focussing on musical endeavors in the queer community.
i DO hope to spice up the site (AND MERCH!) this summer, but in the meantime, you can check out one of the great musicians i've been promoting this year. send her some love, i know she'd like it :)
Jaimee Lee belts it out
ENJOY!
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