One-note Johnny
Feb. 13th, 2017 04:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousme I don't want to make this the All Landlady, All the Time journal, so I promise to try keep it brief. I have been in touch with two paralegals today. The first is actually on maternity leave (she was recommended by a friend who obviously wasn't in the loop), but she gave me some good unofficial advice and then recommended a couple of other names for me to try. I have now secured the services of one of those firms, and will be having my first meeting with the paralegal on Wednesday. She wants me to come in with all paperwork and pictures of my house, so that she can see for herself that there's no damage to the house. Shockingly, she can't take my word for it. ;)
So, for now, I'm exploring options. While a huge part of me wants to just rip off the bandaid and get out of this place ASAP and just have done, already, I am coming to see that there are more reasons for me to just grit my teeth and bear it for a couple of extra months. If nothing else, moving in early spring will be easier than trying to dig out my barbecue, patio table, and a lot of gardening stuff from under 3-4 feet of frozen snow, not to mention that I have to dig my packing boxes out of the shed, which is also buried under the same 3-4 feet of frozen snow. As much as I am loath to deal with extra landlady shenanigans during that time (and shenanigans there will be, I am quite sure of it), moving in the spring would be much more convenient.
There are a few avenues open to me, all of which have some drawbacks and some advantages. We shall see what comes of the meeting with the paralegal and go from there I guess. Yes, that's the royal "we." ;) I can ask my landlady for a
In the meantime, my job is changing categories, starting April 26th, if all goes according to plan. This was all put into motion years ago, when it was decided that Civilian Members were to be eliminated from the RCMP. So we're all being converted to the public service. I think I mentioned this in a previous post many months back, but I can't be bothered to go find it right now.
Anyway, none of the Civilian Members are happy about this, because it means we're losing a ton of the benefits we enjoyed before, including unlimited sick time, which I don't think is offered by anyone else in Canada. Instead we're going to be getting the same amount of time as the other public service employees, which is 120 hours a year. For most employees, that's the equivalent of fifteen days of sick leave. If, like me, you work 12-hour shifts, though, suddenly you find yourself with ten days of leave instead. Granted, most of us don't use that many days in a year, but every now and then it's to be expected that you *will* find yourself in need of long-term leave. Right now, what that means is that if you get seriously ill, you imply stay home and concentrate on getting better, at full salary. Once the "deeming" happens (as it's called), it becomes a lot more complicated. First, you have to burn through your sick leave, then any vacation time you have. Then you have to claim unemployment insurance (thus guaranteeing a not-insignificant interruption in your revenue while they determine if they're going to accept your application), and after, IF that goes through, your insurance kicks in after a year. Needless to say, unemployment and insurance is a lot less than your actual salary.
So if, for instance, you get cancer, you get to also worry about keeping your kids fed or a roof over your head as well as worrying about whether or not you're going to die. Before you say "But lots of people have to worry about that!" let me hasten to assure you that I know. The point is that we had a more progressive set of benefits, and we are going backward. The goal should not be to remove our benefits so that we're like everyone else, the goal should be to give everyone else the same security we have. Of course, that's not what's happening, and I can all but guarantee you that it will end up costing the government more in the long run than they are saving in the short run.
The other part of this is that, thanks to Bill C-7 and the elimination of Civilian Members, we also now have to unionize. Now, I'm generally pro-union, so this isn't terrible news, but I will confess that, having never been part of a union before, the unionization process is breaking. my. brain. We have several unions competing for our attention, and none of them appear to understand our jobs or see the whole picture or even be able to give us a straight answer to any of our questions. It's bloody well disheartening.
I keep meaning to talk about watching The Clone Wars, or my continuing re-watch of Deep Space Nine, or any of the other shows I'm watching, but my brain is currently being consumed by anxiety about my living situation. When that's not happening, my brain is being consumed by anxiety about the entire world being a political trash fire. There is, of course, the living nightmare going on in the United States, but even Canadian politics are being depressing, with Trudeau going back on his promise of electoral reform, which was basically the platform on which he was elected. It's such a disappointment, even though I have to admit I'm not entirely surprised he's reneging on it.
Okay. I am off to find more painkillers in the hopes of making this lingering stress headache go away. I have fish in the oven for dinner, so at least healthy food is in the offing. See you on the flip side, LJ!
So, for now, I'm exploring options. While a huge part of me wants to just rip off the bandaid and get out of this place ASAP and just have done, already, I am coming to see that there are more reasons for me to just grit my teeth and bear it for a couple of extra months. If nothing else, moving in early spring will be easier than trying to dig out my barbecue, patio table, and a lot of gardening stuff from under 3-4 feet of frozen snow, not to mention that I have to dig my packing boxes out of the shed, which is also buried under the same 3-4 feet of frozen snow. As much as I am loath to deal with extra landlady shenanigans during that time (and shenanigans there will be, I am quite sure of it), moving in the spring would be much more convenient.
There are a few avenues open to me, all of which have some drawbacks and some advantages. We shall see what comes of the meeting with the paralegal and go from there I guess. Yes, that's the royal "we." ;) I can ask my landlady for a
In the meantime, my job is changing categories, starting April 26th, if all goes according to plan. This was all put into motion years ago, when it was decided that Civilian Members were to be eliminated from the RCMP. So we're all being converted to the public service. I think I mentioned this in a previous post many months back, but I can't be bothered to go find it right now.
Anyway, none of the Civilian Members are happy about this, because it means we're losing a ton of the benefits we enjoyed before, including unlimited sick time, which I don't think is offered by anyone else in Canada. Instead we're going to be getting the same amount of time as the other public service employees, which is 120 hours a year. For most employees, that's the equivalent of fifteen days of sick leave. If, like me, you work 12-hour shifts, though, suddenly you find yourself with ten days of leave instead. Granted, most of us don't use that many days in a year, but every now and then it's to be expected that you *will* find yourself in need of long-term leave. Right now, what that means is that if you get seriously ill, you imply stay home and concentrate on getting better, at full salary. Once the "deeming" happens (as it's called), it becomes a lot more complicated. First, you have to burn through your sick leave, then any vacation time you have. Then you have to claim unemployment insurance (thus guaranteeing a not-insignificant interruption in your revenue while they determine if they're going to accept your application), and after, IF that goes through, your insurance kicks in after a year. Needless to say, unemployment and insurance is a lot less than your actual salary.
So if, for instance, you get cancer, you get to also worry about keeping your kids fed or a roof over your head as well as worrying about whether or not you're going to die. Before you say "But lots of people have to worry about that!" let me hasten to assure you that I know. The point is that we had a more progressive set of benefits, and we are going backward. The goal should not be to remove our benefits so that we're like everyone else, the goal should be to give everyone else the same security we have. Of course, that's not what's happening, and I can all but guarantee you that it will end up costing the government more in the long run than they are saving in the short run.
The other part of this is that, thanks to Bill C-7 and the elimination of Civilian Members, we also now have to unionize. Now, I'm generally pro-union, so this isn't terrible news, but I will confess that, having never been part of a union before, the unionization process is breaking. my. brain. We have several unions competing for our attention, and none of them appear to understand our jobs or see the whole picture or even be able to give us a straight answer to any of our questions. It's bloody well disheartening.
I keep meaning to talk about watching The Clone Wars, or my continuing re-watch of Deep Space Nine, or any of the other shows I'm watching, but my brain is currently being consumed by anxiety about my living situation. When that's not happening, my brain is being consumed by anxiety about the entire world being a political trash fire. There is, of course, the living nightmare going on in the United States, but even Canadian politics are being depressing, with Trudeau going back on his promise of electoral reform, which was basically the platform on which he was elected. It's such a disappointment, even though I have to admit I'm not entirely surprised he's reneging on it.
Okay. I am off to find more painkillers in the hopes of making this lingering stress headache go away. I have fish in the oven for dinner, so at least healthy food is in the offing. See you on the flip side, LJ!
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no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 11:25 pm (UTC)The battle droids were my favorite part of season one. The characters grew on me a lot. I found season one very disjointed, which made it harder to get invested. But by season two it does pick up, for sure!
no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-13 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-13 10:48 pm (UTC)Luckily what my landlady is doing is highly illegal. If I wanted to, I could force her to let me stay for the duration of my lease, because she's claiming damage that doesn't exist. Both the paralegals I talked to told me that she'd be laughed out of the Landlord and Tenant Board's court based on what she's done.
The goal now is to be as prepared as possible so that she doesn't trample all over me and my rights. I want to get out, but I don't want to leave myself open to being liable for later damages she can them claim were incurred during my tenancy. What a pain.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-13 11:37 pm (UTC)For a... what? Don't leave us hanging like that! :-P
I'm really sorry to hear of all your problems with her - that's been my worst fear for myself ever since the new owner bought my building (not realized so far, thank goodness & knock on wood, though there have been annoyances...)
I was wondering about the legality of it. I expect that Ontario is less pro-tenant than Quebec, but even so it does sound like your landlady has been exceeding her rights. I'm glad you have that confirmed now.
When she made her offer of three months, I trust it you either didn't accept it right away, or did so in a non-binding way?
no subject
Date: 2017-02-13 11:49 pm (UTC)My landlady is 100% exceeding her rights, and in fact what she is doing is illegal. The consensus among the legal professionals I've consulted is that she wants to pull a fast one: force me to pay for the repairs AND force me out so she can get in a new tenant who will pay more money for the place.
She can't actually evict me based on her current claims (the burden of proof is on her), and her little lawyer's letter doesn't count as an eviction notice, even though they're acting as though it does. Mostly this is just going to be a giant pain in the ass for me, not to mention the expense of paralegal fees. Ugh.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 03:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 11:12 am (UTC)Honestly, I don't know the entire story about this landlady, but from what I've read here, you've definitely made the right decision and even if things go to plan, or improve, at least you've got some support from the kind of people that know what they're doing. I've never really had any trouble with a landlord, and often got myself out of a place before it got bad, but I think that's just down to the fact that I tend to get feelings from people and avoid the crappy ones.
I can see the downfall in the changing of category for your work, I think it's sort of how it works here in New Zealand, but I can't entirely be sure as I've never had a full time job. If it wasn't going backwards then it would be no problem, but I suppose it's down to the fact that it costs the government slash employers? I'm not sure, but I see both sides, it just makes it crappy because you're all used to things a certain way and it does make life difficult for those who do get sick, or are to get sick in the future.
Sick people definitely don't need that extra worry. They need to find a middle ground, rather than just choking it down so much. Like... putting in a clause for people that are terminally ill or have certain problems that arise, by, I don't know, covering them for a full medical examination and getting the sick person assessed. We have something here, called ACC which covers accidents, and then we have to rely on things like our insurance for everything else.
Either way, it's nice to read about it, I really am curious, so keep us updated on that and try not to worry too much, I don't want you getting sick. Take care.
no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 11:43 am (UTC)I am usually good with getting feelings about people too, but when I rented this place it was from a property management company who were a dream to deal with. Then my landlady fired them and took over herself in order to cut down on costs, and it has been an absolute nightmare ever since.
If it wasn't going backwards then it would be no problem, but I suppose it's down to the fact that it costs the government slash employers? I'm not sure, but I see both sides
The thing is, it won't actually save them money in the long run. They're just moving the budget from one place to a different place and making it look like they're saving money. I'll maybe get into this in a different post, but my job takes about 12-18 months to hire for (due to security clearances, etc.), and then another 6-12 months to get someone properly trained. As Civilian Members, we're expected to stick with the job for several years, if not to say for an entire career, and we put up with a pretty punishing schedule (12-hour rotating shifts) in exchange for having a steady job with very good benefits.
Being converted to the public service means that employees have a lot more lateral mobility, which is good for the employees but *terrible* for the employers. Why work a schedule that screws up your health if your employer is then not going to take care of you? We're already short-staffed, and we expect to lose at least another 10% of our staff to day jobs when this happens, which means we'll be forever screwed, because we'll lose people faster than we can replace them from now on. So that means our employer will be flushing money down the toilet doing security checks and training for employees who likely won't be staying with us for long enough to make it worth it.
Oops, that turned into a rant. Sorry! XD
no subject
Date: 2017-02-14 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-02-15 07:26 am (UTC)