you should vote even if elections canada is crazy.

if kingston elections canada was a person, i'd give it a good slap upside the head. violent, you think? perhaps, but i'm just frustrated. and at this point it seems appropriate.

here's the story. i called elections canada before i went home for the holidays in december. i told them i wanted to work at a polling station either at the advanced polls or on election day. they ask for a phone number to reach me at. i gave them my mississauga number. they want a kingston number too - why? i have no idea. i told them i would not be there, but they still wanted it. i gave it to them. over the holidays i didn't hear from them. i get back to kingston in january and there is a message on the phone for me 'abby, we have you working the advanced polls, please call us back so we can confirm a training time.' by the time i got the message it was too late, i called them back, and they told me they found someone else. alright - that's fine, i got over it. my conclusion: i am not working for elections canada this year.

i get a call the following week from elections canada: 'abby, can you work standby on election day?' i told them i could not, because i did not have transportation, and if they asked me to go to some far away place in kingston, i would not be able to make it. the lady says okay, that's fine. conclusion #2: i am not working for elections canada this year.

weeks pass by, and the thought of working for elections canada is way out of my mind. until this past thursday - elections canada calls my house.

EC: 'hi, is cindy there?'
Iris: 'cindy?? no, sorry, wrong number.'
- a few hours pass by -
*phone rings*
EC: 'hi, is cindy there?'
me: 'cindy? i'm sorry, there is no one here by that name.'
EC: 'a cindy [my last name]? at 68 [street name]? '
me: 'my name is abby [last name] and i live at 8 [street name] apartment number 6.'
EC: ' well, now that we've finally gotten a hold of you, just letting you know that you are working at so-and-so school on elections day. you will be a poll clerk.'
me: 'huh? i'm sorry, did you say i was working on election day?'
EC: 'yes, that is correct. '
me: 'i'm sorry, but i do not know where that school is, and i do not have transportation to get there. the reason i wanted to work for elections canada is because i was told you can request a polling station, and i would have requested one near where i live. i was called twice before, and as far as i knew, i was not to be working on election day.'
EC: 'oh. well, okay.'
conclusion #3: i am not working for elections canada this year.

so i went along, happily on my retreat this past weekend. i came back and iris says, 'there's a message for you on the phone from elections canada.' just imagine my shock. i check the message, and there's this lady saying 'hi cindy, my name is _____ and i will be working with you tomorrow at the polling station.' what the HECK??? I'M WORKING???????????? i haven't even been trained this year! wait, let me get this straight... I'M WORKING?????????? what is going ON?? so i called the lady i was working with and told her my situation. she was sympathetic, and tried to find out what we could do. she called the dude abover her and he told her to tell me to come tomorrow, and they'll work things out. fine. i didn't want ____ to be working alone, i mean, it would have been really bad if she had no poll clerk at all. i decided to go- she said she would be able to pick me up in the morning. i'd done the job before in 2004, so i kind of knew what i was doing. i got all my stuff ready, and went to bed.

i got up early this morning, and ____ picked me up. we went to the school and started setting up. i saw the dude who is above her, and we were going to try to work out how i was going to get paid. then, this chick shows up: 'hi, i'm sarah, i'm supposed to be the poll clerk at this station.' i'm like what the heck is going on?? so dude who is supposed to be in charge is like 'well, let me call the office and see what's going on.' he calls, comes back and tells me that they only have sarah's name listed as a poll clerk. he looks at me 'do you have transportation to get home?' i tell him no, and then he walks away. the lady who picked me up graciously offered to drive me home - she was really nice about it and felt bad about the whole situation.

so i am at home now. and my final conclusion is that kingston elections canada is ridiculous. people are getting paid to be careless, and are wasting other people's time and sanity.

now that i've ranted and gotten that out of the way - go vote.