Life at Up Up and Away Investment International: Chapter 8: (A serialized novel by Robert K. Stephen)

Chapter 8

Will the Doberman lawyers be needed in your “downsizing”?

So, you have a termination package in your hand. There is a line for you to sign before the law will consider it binding. Never sign anything on the spot! The first thing you should do is to determine how long largecorp’s offer is good for so you can take appropriate action before the expiration date which just might mean asking for an extension. The second thing you should do is review the terms of the severance offer for reasonableness. Then I would recommend you should retain legal counsel to review the offer and then help you negotiate a better offer if so advised or if all else fails then to litigate.

Lawyers speak of a “notice period” terminated employees are entitled to. This is essentially a common law term which has evolved from a series of court decisions. It measures the time a court would think it would take you to find alternative employment. This depends how senior you are, your age and skill set amongst other things. For example, a senior employee with a high executive functioning ability who is close to 65 ordinarily would face a lengthier job search that a 35-year-old with less seniority. The common law ordinarily gives a month’s notice per year of service. If you are entitled to a notice period of nine months you will receive 9 months of salary. The employer can also give you working notice where you continue to be employed during the notice period. This extremely rare as once you are fired you are no longer trusted so best to clear you out.

There is a ritual to termination offers given by largecorp. Largecorp’s counsel knows exactly what you are entitled to under both statutory and common law but in most cases they’ll low ball you. Then your counsel will up the ante to more than you would be legally entitled to and they’ll settle somewhere in the middle of the difference knowing full well most people will not litigate to recover their full legal entitlement. Litigation is awfully expensive and largecorp knows this so you’ll almost always be lowballed.

Now where things may be a bit less creative are if you had signed an employment contract with largecorp where you have agreed to a notice period upon termination. However even then there still may be benefits and bonus issues that need to be negotiated. Your employment contract may not be as tight as largecorp thought it was.

Depending on what province you reside in instead of an hourly fee payable to your lawyer you may be able to proceed by a contingency fee where there are no hourly legal fees but your lawyer gets a cut of any additional amount your lawyer obtains for you that exceeds largecorp’s original severance offer.

I don’t wish to bog you down with too many legal details but here are some key points you should be aware of concerning a termination offer by largecorp;

Employment Contract: You may have signed one when you accepted largecorp’s offer of employment. It may set forth fully or partially what you are entitled to upon termination. Simply because you agreed to it does not necessarily close the book on what your notice period is and your entitlement to other employment benefits. Often clauses in the employment contract can be ambiguous and poorly drafted. They may be worth a legal challenge.
Notice Period: Statutory law and both the common law offer differing notice periods. Statutory law usually offers a less substantial period (usually based upon years of service) than common law but common law can always come into play. The common law provides about a month per year of employment capping around two year’s notice. The higher the seniority of the victim, the years of service of the victim, the age of the victim and skill set of the victim are taken into consideration in establishing the common law notice period.
In Addition to the Standard Notice Period Punitive Damages May be Awarded; If you were fired in an oppressive and embarrassing manner the court may offer you what is called punitive damages punishing largecorp for treating you in a harsh and oppressive way.
Beware of the Americans: American law is far more parsimonious than Canadian law when it deals with notice periods which is generally speaking a week for each year of employment. If you are in a Canadian largecorp which is a subsidiary of an American largecorp don’t settle for the American standard.
Pay Careful Attention to Benefits: Pay close attention to all benefits like dental and health insurance, bonus payments, life insurance, professional fees, pension plan contributions and employment benefit plan contributions. These benefits should continue to be payable during the notice period. Of course there is the possibility you could be paid off in a lump sum as opposed to salary continuation.
Termination for Cause: The law offers virtually no protection if you were terminated “for cause” which means amongst other things, fraud, theft, incompetence, misappropriation of confidential information or trashing largecorp on social media! Again, consult a lawyer on this point as cause can be manufactured and it is often difficult for largecorp to show cause!
Your Duty to Mitigate: The common law provides you have a duty to mitigate your losses which means if you are on salary continuance during your notice period you must expend some effort to find alternative employment. How rigorous this may be in many respects depends on your age and skills. If you are 63 years old I highly doubt largecorp will relentlessly pursue and monitor your efforts to find new employment but be a good boy and girl and attend those outplacement sessions. It rather depends on largecorp’s attitude. Do keep a journal of your outplacement activities, networking activities and job interviews as you may be asked by the Human Resources Department to provide updates to prove you have been mitigating your losses. If they think you haven’t been trying hard enough they may turn off the taps.
Don’t Cheat: Your severance offer will turn off the taps of salary continuance either completely or pay you a certain incentive amount if you find employment during the notice period. If you feel like you have been fucked over by largecorp there is the thought that may cross your mind not to tell them you have been hired thus enabling a double salary. Do so at your own risk as there will be a clause in your severance offer requiring you to notify your largecorp if you have found employment. Beware that largecorp will be more than willing to hire a private detective. CRAP had me tailed twice. I am sure they would have clapped their hands in glee if they had found out I was going off to work without advising them I had found new employment.
Be Wary of Indemnification and Release Agreements: Once you settle there will be a possible indemnification and release agreement to be signed between largecorp and you. Pay attention to any restrictive covenants prohibiting you from accepting offers of employment from largecorp’s competitors for a certain period of time and in a certain geographic area. As you may have a very specific skill set this may be deadly to you. These types of agreements really do require an employment lawyer review.

OK then you have had your initial employment lawyer consultation. You can accept the offer. You can negotiate the offer on your own with your lawyer’s advice. You can have the offer negotiated between your lawyer and largecorp’s lawyer. Eventually you may decide to litigate which is very expensive. It rather is a matter of dollar-based math on what to do.

I should mention the concept of “constructive dismissal”. This is the situation where largecorp in effect demotes you in a variety of ways such as reducing the amount of your direct reports, reducing benefits or salary taking away your office or other actions that would humiliate a reasonable person. In this case you can pull the employment relationship plug and seek damages. Before pulling the plug do consult with an employment lawyer.

Let me emphasize that many of you dislike or are suspicious of lawyers. But when you have a termination offer in front of you I urge you to consult with a lawyer who specializes in employment law.

Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International; Chapter 7: (A serialized novel by Robert K. Stephen)

Chapter 7

Your new friend the outplacement counsellor

Largecorp and the in its pocket management faculties have obliterated the word “fired”. A gentler term to use is “downsized”. This gentle term was no doubt invented by some management faculty whiz years ago. It has been so effective that in addition to the Human Resources Department using the term that employees of largecorp now also use this neutral sounding term or an equally polite term “let go”.

I am certain these captive management institutes, mostly named after successful capitalists who have donated a shitload of money to have these business faculties named after them, also invented the term “outplacement counselling”.

Outplacement services were historically offered to more senior management types but recently have been extended to many fired employees. Outplacement firms are a variety of remora feeding off largecorp. They are paid by largecorp. The sooner you find a new job the less severance largecorp pays. Outplacement is not for your own good but rather for that of largecorp! Largecorp cares for employees! If they don’t they bear a reputational risk.

The public relations spin put out by largecorp is that offering outplacement services shows the deep concern and care largecorp bestows to its former employees. Since when has largecorp ever shown any true compassion for its employees? Lies, lies and more lies. The fuel that largecorp is powered by.

Most severance packages are not in lump sum payments but rather salary continuance for the period of your notice period. Should you find employment before your notice period and severance payments end you usually are required to forfeit to largecorp all or part of the value of the remaining severance. So getting you back to work quickly is in the financial interest of largecorp hence the utility of outplacement counselling firms. I have found the more senior the employee the higher calibre of outplacement firm is used in the realization it is more profitable to get those with enormous amounts of severance being paid to off the payroll than lesser expensive fired employees.

An outplacement counsellor was at my termination meeting offering gentle support and compassion and written details about his firm’s outplacement services. Being a child of the 1950’s and sixties I was really not interested in any immediate counselling. We Boomers often pride ourselves on being tough and are quick to reject any form of psychological assistance.

Congratulations, you are on an assembly line of rejected, dejected, frustrated and bitter ex-employees now burdened with a new job of getting a job. You are told by your outplacement firm this is a 9-5 task for you! Even in your aggravated and miserable state you are now a commodity for a largecorp service provider. My advice to you is take some time off to recuperate from your traumatic firing. Your riled-up mind and exhausted body really require some healing time before subjecting yourself to more corporate babble you’ll hear from your outplacement firm.

These outplacement counsellors are not accredited by any professional body like lawyers, doctors or nurses. Often they have been terminated themselves and created a new business of outplacement counselling because they could not find themselves a job! People who could not manage to find a job are teaching you how to find a job! Although you and your outplacement counsellors share the fact that you are both largecorp rejects your outplacement counsellor is paid by largecorp and most likely receives a bonus for getting you back in a new job before your severance payments cease. These folks are not on your side and do not have your interests at heart. You are nothing but a broken-down human being to be quickly shovelled back into another largecorp.

You may not appreciate their relationship with the largecorp that terminated you but they speak the same lingo and spout the same old tired dogma that their largecorp Human Relations Department contacts run to like lemmings. They are your method actor teachers helping you fit the mould a future employer can feel comfortable with. You are the monkey to be trained to play the tricks to get the big banana. You have “transferable skills” You are a “team player”. You are “client driven”. You “have the big picture” but are “technically proficient”. You “thrive and grow with challenges”. “Global diversity and inclusion” are essential corporate goals. Blah, blah and more blah.

You’ll be fed much hackneyed jargon in outplacement meetings and you’ll recognize much of it from those largecorp personal development sessions you previously attended. So, don’t expect too much originality here. You are now going to be prepackaged as a new improved commodity in the same marketplace to the same tired legions of largecorp employers.

The outplacement firm is just a resource to be used. I say use what they have to offer which could be word-processing services, a new business number with voicemail, resume preparation and interview preparation. They may even offer quick psychological testing so you will better know your personality and its flaws from an employer’s perspective.

If you believe you are going to obtain true emotional support from outplacement counsellors, I doubt it. The emotional healing you will receive is from your fellow victims so many of whom are excellent employees but made a powerful enemy or were part of a giant soulless “reorganization” largecorp snaps into place when profits are lagging. So many of the victims I encountered were from largecorp financial institutions who thought nothing of firing thousands at the whim of a psychopathic CEO. How did that person become a CEO? He or she was most likely a brutal and efficient killer wiping out enemies and competitors with “extreme prejudice”.

The same largecorp advertising compassion, care and devotion to their employees and customers, donating huge philanthropic sums to charities and universities then turn around and fire thousands and before you know it their CEO is the United Way hero of the year or in The Canadian Business Hall of Fame. Employees are like in some giant abattoir butchered in the name of shareholder returns in the marketplace and in silence obscene executive compensation makes a joke of the term “shareholder value”.

It is ironic that the Senior Management Team states the mass terminations were done to protect the jobs of existing employees but the survivors have extra work heaped upon them to the point that burnout reaches epic proportions and disability costs spiral upwards due to workplace stress. Yes, there is mental wreckage amongst those “let go” and those “lucky” enough to have escaped mass firings.

Matters usually get so bad the blood on the floor is mopped up by the Inhuman Resources Department before it seeps into the management suite and is sanitized as best it can be to “manage effectively” the terror of the survivors and the fear that they may be next. The prime motivator in the SMT ranks of largecorp is the never-ending bottomless pit of greed. The prime motivator of the largecorp employee is economic survival and that direct deposit into heir bank account.

Bear in mind outplacement counsellors are rarely brilliant. They simply recycle what can be found in self help books. You may be a bit rusty on the lying, cheating and sanitizing that is needed to weasel yourself into your next position and that’s why they are there so use them. It would seldom seem that in an interview you speak from your heart but rather from a multi-purpose script. If only largecorp would respect honesty. Perhaps this explains why an increasing number of Canadians are deserting largecorp and setting up their own businesses!

COVID Vaccinations: Has there been a lack of communication on side effects?

Time to Discuss Potentially Unpleasant Side Effects of COVID Shots? Scientists Say Yes.

By JoNel Aleccia and Liz SzaboNOVEMBER 12, 2020

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A health worker injects a woman during clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine at Research Centers of America in Hollywood, Florida, on Sept. 9. (EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI / BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Drugmaker Pfizer is expected to seek federal permission to release its COVID-19 vaccine by the end of November, a move that holds promise for quelling the pandemic, but also sets up a tight time frame for making sure consumers understand what it will mean to actually get the shots.

This story also ran on NBC News. It can be republished for free.

This vaccine, and likely most others, will require two doses to work, injections that must be given weeks apart, company protocols show. Scientists anticipate the shots will cause enervating flu-like side effects — including sore arms, muscle aches and fever — that could last days and temporarily sideline some people from work or school. And even if a vaccine proves 90% effective, the rate Pfizer touted for its product, 1 in 10 recipients would still be vulnerable. That means, at least in the short term, as population-level immunity grows, people can’t stop social distancing and throw away their masks.

Left out so far in the push to develop vaccines with unprecedented speed has been a large-scale plan to communicate effectively about those issues in advance, said Dr. Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.

“You need to be ready,” he said. “You can’t look for your communication materials the day after the vaccine is authorized.”

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Omer, who declined to comment on reports he’s being considered for a post in the new administration of President-elect Joe Biden, called for the rollout of a robust messaging campaign based on the best scientific evidence about vaccine hesitancy and acceptance. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has created a strategy called “Vaccinate with Confidence,” but it lacks the necessary resources, Omer said.

“We need to communicate, and we need to communicate effectively, and we need to start planning for this now,” he said.

Such broad-based outreach will be necessary in a country where, as of mid-October, only half of Americans said they’d be willing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Initial doses of any vaccine would be limited at first, but experts predict they may be widely available by the middle of next year. Discussing potential side effects early could counter misinformation that overstates or distorts the risk.

“The biggest tragedy would be if we have a safe and effective vaccine that people are hesitant to get,” said Dr. Preeti Malani, chief health officer and a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Pfizer and its partner, the German firm BioNTech, on Monday said their vaccine appears to protect 9 in 10 people from getting COVID-19, although they didn’t release underlying data. It’s the first of four COVID-19 vaccines in large-scale efficacy tests in the U.S. to post results.

Data from early trials of several COVID-19 vaccines suggests that consumers will need to be prepared for side effects that, while technically mild, could disrupt daily life. A senior Pfizer executive told the news outlet Stat that side effects from the company’s COVID-19 vaccine appear to be comparable to standard adult vaccines but worse than the company’s pneumonia vaccine, Prevnar, or typical flu shots.

The two-dose Shingrix vaccine, for instance, which protects older adults against the virus that causes painful shingles, results in sore arms in 78% of recipients and muscle pain and fatigue in more than 40% of those who take it. Prevnar and common flu shots can cause injection-site pain, aches and fever.

“We are asking people to take a vaccine that is going to hurt,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “There are lots of sore arms and substantial numbers of people who feel crummy, with headaches and muscle pain, for a day or two.”

Persuading people who experience these symptoms to return in three to four weeks for a second dose — and a second round of flu-like symptoms — could be a tough sell, Schaffner said.

How public health experts explain such effects is important, Omer said. “There’s evidence that suggests that if you frame pain as a proxy of effectiveness, it’s helpful,” he said. “If it’s hurting a little, it’s working.”

At the same time, good communication will help consumers plan for such effects. A COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be distributed first to health care staffers and other essential workers, who may not be able to work if they feel sick, said Dr. Eli Perencevich, a professor of internal medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa Health Care.

“A lot of folks don’t have sick leave. A lot of our essential workers don’t have health insurance,” he said, suggesting that essential workers should be granted three days of paid leave after they’re vaccinated. “These are the things a well-functioning government should provide for to get our economy going again.”

Making sure consumers know that a COVID-19 vaccine likely will require two doses — and that it could take a month for full effectiveness to kick in — is also crucial. The Pfizer phase 3 trial, which has enrolled nearly 44,000 people, started in late July. Participants received a second dose 21 days after the first. The reported 90% efficacy was measured seven days after the second dose.

Communicating effectively will be vital to ensuring that consumers follow through with the shots and — assuming several vaccines are approved — that their first and second doses are from the same maker. Until full protection kicks in, Omer said, people should continue to take measures to protect themselves: wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing. It’s important to let people know that taking appropriate action now will pay off later.

“If we just show them the tunnel, not the light, then that results in this mass denial,” he said. “We need to say, ‘You’ll have to continue to do this in the medium term, but the long term looks good.”

The best communication can occur once full data from the Pfizer trial and others are presented, noted Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccinologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia who sits on the federal Food and Drug Administration’s advisory board considering COVID-19 vaccines.

“When you look at those data, you can more accurately define what groups of people are most likely to have side effects, what the efficacy is, what we know about how long the efficacy lasts, what we know about how long the safety data have been tested,” he said. “I think you have to get ready to communicate that. You can start getting ready now.”

JoNel Aleccia: jaleccia@kff.org, @JoNel_Aleccia

Liz Szabo: lszabo@kff.org, @LizSzabo

COVID Vaccinations: Know the efficacy and risk

Covid-19: Vaccine candidate may be more than 90% effective, interim results indicate

BMJ 2020; 371 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m4347 (Published 09 November 2020)Cite this as: BMJ 2020;371:m4347Read our latest coverage of the coronavirus outbreak

Rapid Response:

Covid-19 vaccine candidate is unimpressive: NNTV is around 256

Dear Editor

Pfizer’s vaccine “may be more than 90% effective.” (Mahase, BMJ 2020;371:m4347, November 9) Specific data are not given but it is easy enough to approximate the numbers involved, based on the 94 cases in a trial that has enrolled about 40,000 subjects: 8 cases in a vaccine group of 20,000 and 86 cases in a placebo group of 20,000. This yields a Covid-19 attack rate of 0.0004 in the vaccine group and 0.0043 in the placebo group. Relative risk (RR) for vaccination = 0.093, which translates into a “vaccine effectiveness” of 90.7% [100(1-0.093)]. This sounds impressive, but the absolute risk reduction for an individual is only about 0.4% (0.0043-0.0004=0.0039). The Number Needed To Vaccinate (NNTV) = 256 (1/0.0039), which means that to prevent just 1 Covid-19 case 256 individuals must get the vaccine; the other 255 individuals derive no benefit, but are subject to vaccine adverse effects, whatever they may be and whenever we learn about them……We’ve already heard that an early effect of the vaccine is “like a hangover or the flu.” Will vaccinees who are later exposed to coronaviruses have more severe illness as a result of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADEI), a known hazard of coronavirus vaccines? Is there squalene in the Pfizer vaccine? If so, will vaccinees be subject to autoimmune diseases, like Gulf War Syndrome and narcolepsy that have been associated with the adjuvant?

We already know that current Covid-19 vaccine trials are unlikely to show a reduction in severe illness or deaths. (Doshi, BMJ 2020;371:m4037, October 21) Will they be like seasonal influenza vaccines, which have not proved to be lifesavers, and may even have increased overall mortality in the elderly? (Anderson et al, Ann Intern Med 2020;172:445) We need a lot more time and a lot more data, especially in view of massive uncertainties about Covid-19 case definitions and statistics.

ALLAN S. CUNNINGHAM 13 November 2020

Competing interests: No competing interests13 November 2020Allan S. CunninghamRetired pediatricianCooperstown NY 13326 USA <crabarbicus62@gmail.com

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COVID Vaccination: Buyer Beware (or at least in a position to give informed consent!): Why are physicians in the United States so vaccine hesitant?

MISES WIRE

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What the Covid Vaccine Hype Fails to Mention

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11/24/2020Gilbert Berdine, MD

Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article.

Pfizer recently announced that its covid vaccine was more than 90 percent “effective” at preventing covid-19. Shortly after this announcement, Moderna announced that its covid vaccine was 94.5 percent “effective” at preventing covid-19. Unlike the flu vaccine, which is one shot, both covid vaccines require two shots given three to four weeks apart. Hidden toward the end of both announcements, were the definitions of “effective.”

Both trials have a treatment group that received the vaccine and a control group that did not. All the trial subjects were covid negative prior to the start of the trial. The analysis for both trials was performed when a target number of “cases” were reached. “Cases” were defined by positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing. There was no information about the cycle number for the PCR tests. There was no information about whether the “cases” had symptoms or not. There was no information about hospitalizations or deaths. The Pfizer study had 43,538 participants and was analyzed after 164 cases. So, roughly 150 out 21,750 participants (less than 0.7 percent) became PCR positive in the control group and about one-tenth that number in the vaccine group became PCR positive. The Moderna trial had 30,000 participants. There were 95 “cases” in the 15,000 control participants (about 0.6 percent) and 5 “cases” in the 15,000 vaccine participants (about one-twentieth of 0.6 percent). The “efficacy” figures quoted in these announcements are odds ratios.

There is no evidence, yet, that the vaccine prevented any hospitalizations or any deaths. The Moderna announcement claimed that eleven cases in the control group were “severe” disease, but “severe” was not defined. If there were any hospitalizations or deaths in either group, the public has not been told. When the risks of an event are small, odds ratios can be misleading about absolute risk. A more meaningful measure of efficacy would be the number to vaccinate to prevent one hospitalization or one death. Those numbers are not available. An estimate of the number to treat from the Moderna trial to prevent a single “case” would be fifteen thousand vaccinations to prevent ninety “cases” or 167 vaccinations per “case” prevented which does not sound nearly as good as 94.5 percent effective. The publicists working for pharmaceutical companies are very smart people. If there were a reduction in mortality from these vaccines, that information would be in the first paragraph of the announcement.

There is no information about how long any protective benefit from the vaccine would persist. Antibody response following covid-19 appears to be short lived. Based on what we know, the covid vaccine may require two shots every three to six months to be protective. The more shots required, the greater the risk of side effects from sensitization to the vaccine.

There is no information about safety. None. Government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) appear to have two completely different standards for attributing deaths to covid-19 and attributing side effects to covid vaccines. If these vaccines are approved, as they likely will be, the first group to be vaccinated will be the beta testers. I am employed by a university-based medical center that is a referral center for the West Texas region. My colleagues include resident physicians and faculty physicians who work with covid patients on a daily basis. I have asked a number of my colleagues whether they will be first in line for the new vaccine. I have yet to hear any of my colleagues respond affirmatively. The reasons for hesitancy are that the uncertainties about safety exceed what they perceive to be a small benefit. In other words, my colleagues would prefer to take their chances with covid rather than beta test the vaccine. Many of my colleagues want to see the safety data after a year of use before getting vaccinated; these colleagues are concerned about possible autoimmune side effects that may not appear for months after vaccination.

These announcements by Pfizer and Moderna are encouraging. I certainly hope that these vaccines protect people from the harm of covid-19. I certainly hope that these vaccines are safe. If both of these conditions are true, nobody will need to be coerced into taking the vaccine. However, you should pay even more attention about what is left out of an announcement than about what is stated. The pharmaceutical companies are more than happy for patients to misunderstand what is meant by efficacy. Caveat emptor (buyer beware)!Author:

Gilbert Berdine, MD

Gilbert Berdine is an associate professor of medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and an affiliate of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University.

Punishment and Ostracization for not Submitting to a Fast Tracked COVID Vaccination? A New Class of Society “The Refuseniks”

Here in Canada in the Province of Ontario there have been remarks made by the Premier of Ontario, the Minister of Health of Ontario and the Chief Medical Officer of Health of Ontario that those who do not get vaccinated for COVID-19 will be subject to “restrictions”.

Given the severe possibilities of a refusal to vaccinate and a possible insidious tracking mechanism of the “refuseniks” the government of Ontario has given absolutely no guidance or concrete information about the consequences of refusing to be jabbed by a fast tracked chemical.

The Ontario government has only mentioned the issuance of a vaccination certificate in passing in a few remarks to reporter’s questions.

So no certificate of vaccination how far can the corporations and health care bureaucracies of Ontario threaten the “refuseniks”? Terminate employees who are refuseniks? Refuse to hire refuseniks? Send refuseniks to re-education camps in Sudbury? Sanction pogroms in refuseniks communities?

Surely any government issuing certificates of vaccination as is proposed by Ontario ought to set guidelines and restrictions how the certificate or lack of it can be used. Refusal to do so is an abandonment of democratic principles. Surely the government of Ontario is not stuck in some Stalinist NKVD purge plan? Yes a “Day in the Life of Ivan COVID Refusenik”.

Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International; Chapter 6; (A serialized novel by Robert K. Stephen)

Chapter 6

Welcome to the theatre of the “downsized”

I knew something ominous was imminent when I received a call from Felicity Poker’s assistant that our 3 o’clock meeting had been switched from Poker’s office to an office in the Human Resources Department. Instinctively I knew It was going to be my own Blessed Event. My legs went into jelly mode.

Well at least the Blessed Event for me was quick and accompanied by a curt Felicity Poker goodbye somewhere along the lines of,” We have decided to reorganize and your services are no longer required. We would like to thank you for your services. Here is your severance package.” With a smirk on her face she quickly departed. Then some unknown man entered the office introducing himself as an outplacement counsellor with some terribly insightful, “I know how bad you feel. If you want to talk about it I am here for you.” I said, “No thank you.” I took his outplacement information package along with my severance package and walked out.

In retrospect I could say I knew this was coming especially reflecting on Brian Cochon’s words to me when he knew I would not approve a pay out to his client of certain pension fund expenses they had paid into the fund. He really did mean me and not CRAP when he said unless you refund those expenses you’ll be terminated. This was blackmail and intimidation and since Felicity Poker was no doubt involved it was a conspiracy to commit blackmail. In retrospect I should have reported their actions to the police and The Law Society of Upper Canada.

Now if the Blessed Event happens to you I think it means that you misunderstood largecorp’s culture and management personalities. Even if your decisions and actions were sound you piss off the wrong person you are toast.

If there is any good about the Blessed Event it is that you most likely have escaped a toxic environment and gained a jolting insight into largecorp. Being terminated is a brutal act. It tells you that you are not valued as an employee and subjects you to an elevated level of financial and emotional stress particularly if this is the first time you have experienced it. Remember your reactions may not equip you with the right winning attitude you need to move on and succeed. Sorry for using those words “winning attitude”. I get a bit sarcastic now and then. It sounds like I copied those words from some management textbook.

Now being mindful my advice is not to take the Blessed Event personally. You can’t change what has just happened and the more you contemplate this act of brutality and get caught up in it the more hurt you will heap on yourself.

Strangely enough you are now the star of the show! The centre of attention! The stage is ablaze with your racing emotions of anger, hurt, hatred, revenge, insecurity and panic. As I previously said you can dump most of these emotions in the trash where they belong or keep them professionally managed and use them as an energy source to fuel your job search. For goodness sake don’t waste them on the gawkers of your terrible corporate smash up. There are no doubt a few onlookers who would derive great satisfaction from seeing you dragged away from your “termination room” by the Pinkerton boys!

Remember you are on the stage doing a dog and pony show for a prospective employer. If you are wrapped up in a plethora of negative emotions how can you be a good actor! The prospective employer has now become the director in your life. Stick to the script found in all sorts of self-help books and advice from outplacement counsellors on how to land a new job. That script is often full of baloney and hot air so like a good actor you’ll need to adlib a bit to appear “genuine”.

I think I survived my Blessed Event by treating my role as an actor in the Theatre of the Downsized. This permitted me to distance myself from the brutality and treat myself as an actor. Follow my advice and you’ll be a lot healthier for doing so.

But you say I am not an actor! Perhaps you have a good point there! There are few natural actors. Most require formal training. You’ll get loads of training from your outplacement counsellors if you are lucky enough to be given access to one. You’ll also get your script from the self help books I mentioned and from the outplacement counsellors. And don’t be shy as having worked in largecorp where you have done quite a lot of acting pretending to listen to management spewing out gibberish and the concerned look you gave at your performance appraisal sessions almost looked as if you cared about the process. In both cases your inner self shouts “Idiots” but you give a sage nod of approval in your acting capacity as an employee.

If you know largecorp you know all too well its Senior Management Team are the masters of doublespeak. They rarely walk the talk as they are too busy justifying their looting and pillaging of the corporate coffers.

However even if you think you are a decent actor on the largecorp stage and you received excellent performance appraisals the truth is that your bit part may come to a crashing thud and you can be a victim of a corporate hit with a carpet being prepared to roll up your body, take it out of the office and throw it in a dump truck.

Of course I don’t want to be grandmotherly here (and I assume your grandmother never worked in a largecorp) but have some pride in your accomplishments. You were respected by your colleagues and clients and did an excellent job but most likely you failed to play the Game well enough. If you are terminated you most likely failed to say” Yes” enough. You failed to flatter your superiors and you really cared about clients.

The SMT at largecorp would like to have you believe they care about clients but they are too busy justifying their existence so as not to get themselves taken out by a corporate hit, shifting blame instead of taking responsibility and obsessively running numbers but real client management is performed by their underlings like you and me. And it is client management that brings revenue to largecorp.

So remember the spotlight is now shining on you in your termination room. Ask any questions you need an immediate answer for. Show no anger and shed no tears. Exit your termination session and grab that severance package and get off the stage. Go home and get anti-corporate and have a Martini or two. Celebrate the fact you are no longer a corporate drone.

I know few largecorp employees that have not been terminated. It is part of the unwritten job description. And while it really hurts the first time when it happens again you’ll be less devastated because you’ll know through all the people you meet at your outplacement counselling sessions and networking interviews being terminated by largecorp is just the way it is for countless thousands of people.

So what role does your Human Resources Department have in your demise? Rest assured they have been consulted and asked what a reasonable severance package would be. You can usually count on one of them being present at your Blessed Event with a termination offer. They may have arranged for an outplacement counsellor representative to be present at the meeting. In many cases adding to the brutality of the termination a security guard has grabbed your jacket, purse and briefcase and is waiting outside the termination room to escort you downstairs.

Quite frankly the Human Resource Department’s job is to get you out the door at the lowest possible cost. They are very polished at this as largecorp has terminated many people in the past. Your agony has nothing to do with them. All they want to do is get it over with so they can go out for a smoked meat sandwich, without the fries as the latest version of largecorp’s wellness publication had warned all employees of the dangers of eating fries! Of course not out of concern for your health but to lower long term disability costs caused by your clogged arteries when accompanied by largecorp stress leads to heart attacks.

Again, I urge you not to take them too seriously. They have a standard script. It is most likely your boss that is the hitman behind your termination. The Human Resources Department representatives are simply low-ranking employees doing what they are told. Again I say restrict any of your utterances to asking necessary questions. There is no sense in being rude. No tears or pleading please! No matter what pressure is being placed on you do not sign anything on he spot.

It is interesting we fuss with the defence of blind obedience to underlings in concentration camp proceedings yet in a Canadian largecorp like CRAP the SMT can economically murder thousands yet be honored by charitable foundations due to their magnificence. It shows how sluttish charities are to largecorp. It illustrates the many internal contradictions of largecorp.

Ontario Investing to Support Young Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking

BACKGROUNDER

Ontario Investing $46 million to Support Young Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking

December 10, 2020

Children, Community and Social Services

As part of the province’s Anti-Human Trafficking Strategy, Ontario is increasing services for child and youth victims and survivors of human trafficking by providing $46 million for 27 new projects across the province through the Community Supports Fund and Indigenous-led Initiatives Fund.

Community Supports Fund Recipients for 2020-2025 include:

Algoma Family Services (Sault Ste. Marie) $1,273,400
Group and individual counselling for at-risk children and youth (aged 11 to 17) and other vulnerable populations (such as racialized and newcomer populations), as well as intensive services for victims and families.

Boost Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (Toronto) $938,600
Wrap-around services for children and youth (aged 11 to 18) including psycho-education and specialized trauma services, and development of coping skills.

BridgeNorth (Newmarket) $2,496,000
Survivor-led peer mentoring and day program for children and youth, providing supports from early intervention through to stabilization, transition and reintegration.

Cedar Centre (Newmarket) $1,385,300
Trauma-specific, rapid-response therapy to help children and youth (aged 3 to 18).

Centre de santé communautaire Hamilton/Niagara (Hamilton/Niagara) $949,400
French-language services such as psychotherapy support, referrals and assistance accessing resources, as well as outreach and prevention for children and youth.

Covenant House (Toronto) $978,800
Specialized mental health supports for girls (aged 14 to 18) and counselling for families, provided as enhancements to the transitional housing program.

Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women (Toronto) $327,200
Survivor and youth-led program for children and youth (aged 10 to 17) including individual and group therapy, clinical referrals and engagement with families.

FCJ Refugee Centre (Toronto) $463,200
Peer outreach by youth with lived experience to connect children and youth with supports and resources for labour and human trafficking.

Montage Support Services (Toronto) $800,000
Customized supports for individuals (aged 16 and above) with developmental disabilities, helping them to access services such as housing, job readiness and life-skills training.

Ontario Native Women’s Association (Kenora, Lakefield, Midland, Niagara, Orillia, Ottawa, Sioux Lookout, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Toronto) $3,098,700
Youth response team comprising specialized workers and peer mentors with lived experience to provide early intervention, street-based outreach, immediate response and referrals in 10 locations across the province.

Project iRise (Toronto) $967,400
Survivor-led, one-year leadership and empowerment program, including workshops, mentorship and employment skills development.

Regional Municipality of Peel $3,103,700
Integrated services hub for children and youth (aged 12 and up) providing on-site health care, trauma counselling, addictions support, legal aid, education and employment services.

Roberts – Smart Centre (Ottawa) $4,962,400
Program for children and youth (aged 12 to 18) that includes 24/7 crisis support and mobile treatment services, residential services, life skills training and mentorship.

SickKids, Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Program (Toronto) $604,100
Clinical services for children and youth (under age 18), including systematic screening for early identification, specialized mental health interventions, and survivor-led peer support.

Sudbury and Area Victim Services (Greater Sudbury) $548,700
Trauma-informed supports in English and French for youth (aged 14 to 18), including learning path and skills development, youth drop-ins and outreach programs.

Victim Services Leeds and Grenville (Brockville) $586,600
Ongoing services for children and youth such as trauma counselling, employment readiness and peer supports, including access for those in rural and remote areas.

Women’s Centre (Grey & Bruce) Inc. (Owen Sound) $1,325,800
Direct services for children and youth (under age 16), including residential placements, life skills and education assistance, as well as supports for victims of all ages.

Women’s Resources of Kawartha Lakes (Kawartha Lakes) $783,500
A four-month stabilization program for children and youth, including residential services, individualized programming and skills development.

YWCA Niagara Region (Niagara) $1,407,200
Residential program for youth (aged 16 to 24) providing access to crisis housing, trauma therapy, peer support and cultural connection.

Indigenous-led Initiatives Fund Recipients for 2020-2025 include:

Atlohsa Native Family Healing Services (London) $1,386,700
Supports for Indigenous children and youth in care or transitioning out of care, as well as boys and LGBTQ2S youth, including land-based activities, healing and wellness retreats and residential programs.

Fort Frances Tribal Area Health Services (Fort Frances) $1,193,200
Prevention, intervention and aftercare for children and youth (aged 12 and up), including follow-up support and community integration.

Ganohkwasra Family Assault Support Services (Six Nations of the Grand River) $1,281,600
Protection and early intervention services including a two-year youth housing program, youth retreats, and culturally appropriate individual and group counselling.

Indige-Spheres to Empowerment (Thunder Bay) $826,400
Indigenous survivor-led arts-based workshops to support healing, as well as peer supports, mentoring, education and prevention for Indigenous children and youth.

Kenora Chiefs Advisory (Kenora) $1,054,000
Wrap-around, culturally-appropriate supports for Indigenous children and youth (aged 13 to 24), including one-on-one support, counselling, referrals and mental health support.

Native Child and Family Services of Toronto (Toronto) $1,254,500
Culturally-responsive, trauma-informed services for high-risk Aboriginal children, youth and LGBTQ2S individuals, such as land-based retreats, job readiness and life skills training.

Ontario Native Women’s Association (Kenora, Lakefield, Midland, Niagara, Orillia, Ottawa, Sioux Lookout, Thunder Bay, Timmins, Toronto) $7,713,100
Youth response team comprising specialized workers and peer mentors with lived experience to provide early intervention, street-based outreach, immediate response and referrals in 10 locations across the province.

Timmins and Area Women in Crisis (Timmins) $964,100
Mobile team for five remote and 11 rural First Nation communities to provide culturally-appropriate, survivor-led programming in preferred languages for vulnerable and underserviced Indigenous communities.

Tungasuvvingat Inuit (Ottawa) $3,326,400
Early prevention and outreach for Inuit youth (aged 13 and up), as well as culturally-based programming, therapeutic practices, and help accessing housing and counselling.

Additional Resources

Ontario Increasing Supports for Young Victims and Survivors of Human Trafficking

Media Contacts

Alex Spence

Minister’s OfficeAlex.Spence2@ontario.ca

Kristen Tedesco

Community and Social Services, and Immigrationmedia.mccss@ontario.ca 416-803-6153

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Wellness as a Possible Hotel Trend in a post Pandemic World (EHotelier)

Looking inward with in-room wellness amenities

Larry Mogelonsky235 postsPosted on Yesterday at 9:12 am

While having strong revenue management will always be paramount for any hotel, growing ADR and making your nightly rates less elastic to market conditions is largely dependent on brand differentiators and the operations you establish to make the guest experience memorable. The pandemic hasn’t stopped this pursuit, merely pivoted it as we all look to swim in the stream of new customer habits.

The bulk of these new traveler behaviors pertain to the delivery of a safe onsite stay through sanitization and social distancing. Our messaging to prospective guests is mostly designed to assure them of this quality via upgraded cleaning and disinfection standards, as well as the implementation of contactless technologies to remove (or reduce) physical touchpoints, all without compromising our service delivery.

But look deeper. If every property is discussing COVID-19 safety updates, then how can you ever stand apart by doing the same? Before you cry foul, know that communicating these assurances is absolutely critical, but you must do more.

The post-pandemic travel world continues to evolve in many fascinating ways, presenting a host of trends that you can take advantage of in order to give your brand an emotionally charged edge. For instance, with the surge in dog adoptions stemming from the widespread social isolation over the past year, do you think that more guests will be searching for pet friendly hotels?

Many of us have now grown accustomed to the home life. Remote work policies mean fewer commutes into the office, while simultaneously, our options for journeying about the world are still limited due to the swath of restaurant, bar, gym, salon and retail store closures. New habits are solidifying. We work from home; we cook for ourselves more often; our living rooms double as fitness centers.

All this social isolation has caused us to become more introspective. We will expect hotels to appease this behavior with new in-room amenities so that we can still have a great guest experience but without strictly relying upon access to onsite (and potentially high contact) facilities to achieve this. A clear path to this goal is through wellness features added to each guestroom.

Indeed, most of the major brands are already seizing upon this trend, like Accor’s All Stay Well or Hyatt Together which are both on-demand content services offering a range of exercise, meditation, mobility, sleep or yoga routines, often through partnerships with leading players in the wellness space. What I emphasize here is that if the big chains are bolstering their brand standards in this regard, then you cannot allow your property to get left behind.

The beauty therein is that wellness is such a catchall term these days that you can get as creative as your budget permits to build a unique interpretation. While you may not have the resources to put together a full-fledged app, this shouldn’t stop you from exploring your options.

Get your team together; make it a fun brainstorming exercise. Here are some ideas:

Onsite fitness, meditation or yoga calls, kept within the new guidelines for viral safety via clearly marked attendee floor circles, strict online booking for contact tracing and the option of a video alternative for those who want to remain in their rooms
Basic exercise equipment like yoga mats, bands, roam rollers or light weights, available in the room or at request, and always disinfected prior to delivery
Healthy foods with nutritional tidbits, available as a surprise-and-delight welcome amenity, as part of a rejuvenated room service program or in the minibar, again abiding by sanitization rules
In-room aromatherapy, which can encompass flowers, allergen-free materials, essential oil diffusers or branded scents
Anything else that can bring the calming experience of an onsite spa into the guestroom such as beauty product or grooming samples
Personal wellness consultations, conducted either in-person with physical distancing, or via your preferred platform for videoconferencing
Mindfulness enhancers such as stimulating in-room artwork, hydrotherapy, daily haikus or thoughtful materials accessible via a phone, tablet or TV

Undoubtedly your team can come up with a myriad of incredible recommendations that are tailored to your specific region if you give them a day or two. Importantly with all of these ideas listed above, there’s the possibility for an upsell by making these prearrival purchases, add-on services at any extra cost, bundling them into a rooms package or incorporating them into a higher product tier.

Take heed, though, as right now these wellness amenities can be marketed or sold as a value-add for your brand. Similar to what we’ve seen with the rapid adoption of upgraded cleanliness and safety SOPs this past spring, these aspirational trends can have a way of quickly becoming the expectation. The more that chains embrace in-room wellness, the more likely these amenities are to be perceived as standard rather than noteworthy across our entire industry.

Ultimately, moving into the wellness space should start with a pledge to continually guide your guests on the path of introspective self-improvement. To be started, it need not be something so elaborate and comprehensive. Simple is often better.

As my dear friend, Janis Clapoff, now the General Manager at Belmond El Encanto located in the hills just north of Santa Barbara, remarks, “In this new age we’re living in, good morning cards via room service or a positive affirmation with a flower and calming quote during turndown can go a long way. After the madness of the pandemic, we should all slow down and literally smell the roses.”

Life at Up Up and Away Investment International: Chapter 5: (A serialized novel by Robert K. Stephen)

Chapter 5

The lament of the lost Martini lunch

OK, we have moved along at a good clip here so perhaps let us take a bit of a rest to digest the Blessed Event and get a bit sidetracked.

Sometimes it takes the passage of time to determine the true nature of events and the Blessed Event just might turn out to be one of those! There is the power of positive thinking! Perhaps the tone of sarcasm and bitterness should be set aside and your conclusion will be that this book is a testament to largecorp and of course for the incredibly wise, pocket stuffing people that run it and run many of our lives which I refer to throughout as the Senior Management Team or SMT for short.

Before proceeding further with deep subject matter, you may want to know my credentials. Who I am might influence your decision to buy this book. I am not a senior executive at a largecorp nor am I ever likely to be. Ooops! I can see I am losing credibility as you were expecting a learned book by a super CEO. Therefore I didn’t have this chapter as some sort introductory chapter! So I have hidden this fact deeper in the book! I detest largecorp and their in the pocket schools of business management. The Canadian Business Hall of Fame makes me puke. The public institutions named after the filthy rich CEO robber barons (provided a huge donation was made) show a massive failure of anyone to put the brakes on largecorp. OK, I am laying my cards on the table.

I am a lawyer by trade. There goes even more of my credibility! I was born in 1953 in New Haven, Connecticut so I am seasoned enough to be familiar with the night The Beatles appeared for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show. I lived through the Vietnam War and the countless protests and newsreel footage. I saw Kennedy shot and Jack Ruby too! Computers befuddle me. I may be an anachronism in terms of technology, but boy do I know largecorp!

I really don’t have many memories of corporate life from my father. He was a firm believer in separating work and home. He refused to invite over business colleagues to advance his career.

He rejected one current rule of corporate advancement that the distinction between home and office should not be blurred. Senior executives were the highest class and hence should socialize amongst each other? He used to say, “I am here away from the office to enjoy myself and get away from what goes on in the office.” Yes, again a bad lesson taught a little boy that would be a disadvantage in the current corporate culture. But in the 1960’s there were many who agreed with my father’s approach and they simply refused to bring the office and its management cadre home with them. They demanded free time to enjoy their families. And how many Filipino nannies were there in the 60’s? Was it my fault I got stuck with the rules of corporate life in the 60’s?

To really get off the track I can remember one facet of corporate life which was the arrival of a new car my father was entitled to each year as a corporate executive. Here was a definitive corporate perk that left a favourable impression on me as a young tot. However it was hardly sufficient to deliver my soul to largecorp at some point in the future.

There were frequent business trips my father took and I recall missing him but he was there each weekend and for that matter home for a late supper almost every night. In fact, the whole neighbourhood was around for the weekend. The street was alive with neighbours doing their chores and chatting with each other. And there were many a week-end party. There was a sense of community.

The 1960’s corporation gave its employees an opportunity to inter-act with neighbours in a meaningful and non-businesslike fashion. Mom and Dad were most often at home to tuck in their children to bed. These days Mom and Dad may still be off at the office and a Filipino nanny feeds and tucks in the children. The streets are deserted on the weekend as many mothers and fathers are in the office and even at home with mobile devices and remote access employees being enslaved 24/7. Capitulate to this exploitation to survive! The hell with family life! We are now back to the Industrial Revolution except the coal mine has been replaced by the office tower and the only grime on today’s office tower employee is shame at deserting family responsibilities. Corporate survival and the Filipino nanny may have gone so far as to obviate shame. After all, getting ahead is more important than family and decency. And that mega Mercedes SUV is a must.

Now I have gone through (or have been devoured by) largecorp but hopefully you’ll note I derive some meanings from my experience. I remember that many executives of the 1960’s liked to party hard and the multiple Martini lunch was a reality. This may have been because of the war trauma many of these executives had suffered during WWII and the Korean War. Life was brief and meant to be enjoyed in the moment. Sounds a bit like mindfulness!

In those days, there was no Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. It was the hard stuff usually rye and ginger ale or rum and cola. And the crowning glory of the 1960’s corporate executive was the Martini lunch. As a child, my siblings and I used to sit at the top of the stairs and listen to the goings on of these neighbourhood parties. No one got plastered just lots of noise, laughing and good times and no such phrase as “designated driver” existed and it meant we could pig out on leftover soft drinks the next day! Unlike the legions of obese children of North America many of us children of the 1960’s were banned from consuming soft drinks except for very special occasions. There was little obesity in those days.

The corporate parties one goes to today are demure and too loud a laugh leads to gossip that you are plastered. Parties are viewed as “networking events” to make contacts and further your career and corporate survival. Party goers have been transformed into weasels and moles to collect information that will lead to self advancement. As many people, as possible are to be “networked” and ranked as to usefulness. The consumption of food and alcohol is closely monitored as “discipline and control” are important characteristics for advancement in largecorp. One too many a drink or shrimp can sink your future!

One indication of the power of largecorp over the individual is the disappearance of the Martini lunch. I recall chatting with one of our most successful salespersons within my division at CRAP. Hubert was in his late 50’s and becoming more disillusioned with his job. Hubert lamented the disappearance of the Martini lunch which he scornfully remarked was replaced with some healthy stir fry or sea bass and MINERAL WATER! As Hubert said, “We used to get together with a prospective client and start lunch at a nearby steakhouse with a few Martinis. By the time we had finished it was three and we used to be so tired we’d head home for a nap before dinner. We really got to understand our clients and build a relationship. It was a humane way of doing business and it produced results. Now we are pressured to have no alcohol lunches and ordered to sell, sell, sell. How can you build a relationship over a 45-minute lunch? Instead of the long Martini lunch where we could slowly slide in our sales pitch now we must do it in 45 minutes. Clients perceive this as obnoxious and high-pressured selling. Not only that I have to write a detailed report on the lunch!”

Today Hubert would be pegged by largecorp as a corrupt and an alcoholic Willy Loman. Largecorp demands a mineral water lunch. Prospective clients now are a force to be managed according to a strict set of “relationship building” techniques invented as you may have guessed by business management faculties funded by largecorp. Isn’t it very odd that this academia who have little or no experience or use for business relationships are designers of relationship management programmes? Friendship has been reduced to superficiality and designed solely for profit taking purposes. The elimination of the Martini lunch shows the soullessness of largecorp.

Having a father on the inside would have been an unbelievably valuable asset to have but that asset depreciated instantly with my father’s death at 45. Fortunately, he had a massive life insurance policy so financially I never really suffered. Now his death did put me in “an outsider” position continually embarrassed by not having a father. It scarred me psychologically. I lost more than a father but also a valuable mentor and connection

As I had mentioned previously one of my father’s last wishes was to make a “man” out of me so I was shipped to one of New Haven’s top WASP private schools, “Penton Academy” which was an excellent introduction to corporate life. This was a semi-militaristic school that was full of Second World War and Korean War vets that thought the students were military recruits about to be sent off to battle and in retrospect I must admit they were not too far off the mark. We were abused and beaten regularly but thank God not sexually (at least not me).

Although a WASP my fatherless status put me into the ranks of the Jews that were accepted as tokens and had to bribe their way into Penton Academy with large “donations”. What in earth was a Jew? I had never encountered one before but like me they were outsiders and we bonded immediately. They were good people. WASPS were suddenly distasteful to me unfortunately making me yet more of an outsider. In those days the word “global inclusion” would be met with a hearty chuckle.

In this private school, there were lessons about corporate life to come. Prefects were like a junior division of senior management. They could turn you in for violations of the rule and you’d then be beaten on the ass with a cut-off goalie stick by a teacher. Keep on their good side and you would be fine. Thank God. In our dining room in grade 7 I was an assistant table captain which meant at our table I could serve dessert and for that matter seconds to whomever I chose. Being a table captain or assistant table captain meant you had no waiting duties. Strangely or purposely the Jews were never table captains or assistants. They were waiters along with all the others who had not been appointed as table captains or assistant table captains. Hierarchy even in the dining room.

As the English were being persecuted and denied many rights in Quebec my wife Fay and I joined the hordes of Anglo refugees and ended up in Toronto articling for a sole practitioner in a less than tony part of Toronto. I was a decent law student but neither brilliant nor a cheater and coupled with no connections in Toronto my articling position was far from Bay Street but as for diverse experience in corporate, family, criminal and employment law it was an extraordinarily rich and rewarding experience.

Perhaps I was unskilled in corporate politics of the big law firm but I was happy in the shadows of power and prestige. And I was grateful for the diverse and wonderful articling experience. One very memorable experience I had was listening to a terribly upset woman who had worked as a secretary for 27 years for an insurance company. She was hit with the Blessed Event and offered a paltry 16 weeks of severance. Inexperienced as I was in the law of termination of employment I felt this poor lady was getting the rawest deal possible. It was more unpalatable as this insurance company was in the midst of an advertising campaign emphasizing how much it cared for its clients. Obviously it did not care for its employees. We settled for two years of salary as severance. I quickly saw that Canadian corporate image and corporate reality were two different realities.