Stand up and be counted!

I remember getting the "Stand up and be counted" speech as early as 10 years old.  I would hear that phrase over and again for years to come.  Dad was a big advocate of escalating an issue until there was nowhere left to escalate it.  He wasn't a fan of not getting his own way.  


I always found it strange as a kid, that often things would go our way, simply because most people don't escalate anything.  The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and all of that jazz. Rude would not be tolerated however, and if we couldn't answer the phone properly and be polite when on it, I wouldn't be allowed to use it.  He was a stickler for that.  

Having said that, I've never been one to complain just because I can. Something has to have been fairly serious to warrant such attention.  

I remember being trained to take proper phone messages, and make business calls at 11 and 12 years old.  Dad was at one time the shop steward for his Teamsters local and often those messages messages were colourful.  Dad also had his own homebased business, so I got a lot of practice on a variety of calls.  

You may have seen my Service Ontario rant on Facebook a few weeks back.  For something named "Service Ontario", I was gearing up to change their name with a black sharpie.  

From the service being down for two days, then getting the wrong paperwork in the mail, and then finally getting a ride in to get the paperwork done and getting a royal run-around.  It would be almost a week before we actually got everything filed I needed to so I'd have my EDL and OHIP renewed.  A serious PITA!  Hubby had to take a day off of work to make it happen as well, which was the most maddening of all. 

I'd started with a query, and it was escalated to the Ministry.  I got a message back and to say the least the woman was sadly misinformed about the situation at hand and how it was handled. 

I wrote back and clarified everything, and today I got a message back from the Office administrator for the office I'd been dealing with.  She had been contacted by the liason officer I'd previously spoken to.  

I understand the business owner has been brought up to speed on the lack of respect and the false information we received.  More training has been advised.  

I tend to be a pretty easy going person, but even the mellowest of us all loses their marbies now and then.  Some things should simply NOT go un-reported.  Don't be afraid to make some queries and make sure that you're always being counted!! 

Today I could have sworn I heard Dad yell "That's my girl!" for sticking up for myself and seeing it through to the end.  Sounds weird perhaps, but it's a comforting sound.