READER SUBMISSION

This tale of service gone wrong came to me from a friend and follower of the blog:

My wife and I decided to play golf in Gananoque last Friday evening. Coincidentally, that afternoon I got an e-mail from Groupon which offered a coupon for a half-price fish & chips dinner for two in Gananoque. I purchased the coupon and then got a response from Groupon : allow up to 24 hours for "delivery" of your coupon. So, I printed the web pages that showed the transaction and headed off to Gananoque. We arrived at the restaurant after the usual rush hours and it was almost deserted. The host, a middle-aged man, met us at the door and inspected my print-out. He wouldn't commit to the deal but went away to "ask the owner". Five minutes later he returned with the bad news – couldn't confirm the transaction code so wouldn't honour our pledge. As we are about to leave, does he extol the virtues of their menu and prices ? No. Does he offer us a free salad appetizer to entice us to stay despite the Groupon denial ? Nope. He simply watches two hungry customers walk away. AMAZING !

How do these businesses stay alive ? Mob money ?!

(P.S. We went down the street to the Old English Pub and had a lovely dinner of...   fish & chips ! ... and beer. Came home to see that the Groupon coupon had "arrived" and had EXACTLY the same transaction code as the pages I took with me...

MY COMMENTS:

Rule number one:

NEVER SAY "NO" TO A CUSTOMER!!

Rule number two:

NEVER, EVER, SAY "NO" TO A CUSTOMER!!

Honour the coupon and be happy that you have people walking in. Honour the coupon, even if it isn't a coupon for your establishment. At Ramekins, people would, every so often, bring in coupons from other places. Our clientele were of the "older" age group. We would figure out a way to honour them. Why not? 

TALK THE WALK

BEFORE

DURING

Greg is wearing a lovely pair of khaki shorts with numerous pockets. Black socks. An authentic Panama Hat from Panama. It's unfortunate that you cannot tell from this picture, but his ass looks amazing.

ONE THOUSAND VISITORS!!

If you are number 1,000, please leave a comment and let me know who you are. There is a prize for you!! Dinner for two at:

Sir John A's Pub in Downtown Kingston!!

There is a counter on the right hand side of the screen. If it says 1,000 right now, you are the lucky winner. If you live in Russia... perhaps you have a sister in Amherstview, or something.

SHOES.....to make a difference!

SHOES... to make a difference!

www.walkamilekingston.ca

Help Greg raise money for Kingston Interval House. Click on the link above, and donate to the "SHOES... to make a difference!" team.

You can become an ARCH-SUPPORTER by pledging $10.00

Or a SOLE MATE by pledging $20.00.

Our LATEST donor is:

Margot C. of Kingston, $20.00, "Sole Mate", Thank You!!

Catherine W. of Kingston!

She donates $10.00 and is inducted into the category: "Arch-Supporter".

Leslee O. of Kingston is our latest donor! Thank you! She donates $20.00 and becomes a member of "Sole Mate".

Our total now at $290.00 donated!!

BEST CONCERT EVER?

Was the Bryan Adams concert last night at the K-ROCK centre the best concert that I have ever seen? Probably not. Here is where it ranks:

1.   THE EAGLES, Toronto, ON, Hotel California Tour (1977), with the opening act:
          JIMMY BUFFET and the CORAL REEFERS.

2.   QUEEN, Ottawa, ON, A Day at the Races Tour(1976), with the opening act:
          THIN LIZZY

3.   THE TRAGICALLY HIP, Kingston, ON, Opening the K-ROCK Centre (2008)

4.   ELTON JOHN, Kingston, ON (2010)

5.   GORDON LIGHTFOOT, Massey Hall, Toronto, ON, Summertime Dream Tour (1976)

6.   k.d.lang, National Arts Centre, Ottawa, ON (2009)

7.   DANNY MICHEL, Chalmer's United Church, Kingston, ON (2011)

8.   BRYAN ADAMS, K-ROCK Centre, Kingston, ON (2012)

9.   WOODSTOCK, (1969) If everyone who CLAIMS to have been at this concert... WAS at this concert...
          then the little city of Woodstock, ON, would have been wiped out. As it was, this iconic gathering,
          featuring the likes of April Wine and Eddie Bear, has gone down in Canadian history as: Apocryphal.

BARRETT'S PRIVATEERS: The Picture Book Version (apologies to Stan Rogers)

OH THE YEAR WAS SEVENTEEN SEVENTY-EIGHT!!!!

SHERBROOKE (then)

HOW I WISH I WAS IN SHERBROOKE (see above) NOW!!

Letter of MARQUE

A LETTER OF MARQUE CAME FROM------

Letter of MARK (Zimmerman)

THE KING!!

The King (then)

THE KING (now)

TO THE SCUMMIEST VESSEL I'D EVER SEEN!!

Pretty scummy vessel, eh?

GOD DAMN THEM ALL!!!

GOD

the Damned

EYE------!!!

EYE

WAS TOLD---!!!

Me, being told

WE WOULD CRUISE THE SEAS---!!!

Cruising the seas

FOR AMERICAN GOLD---!!!

American Gold

WE'D FIRE NO GUNS---!!!

No Guns

SHED NO TEARS!!!

No Tears

NOW I'M A BROKEN MAN---!!!

A VERY broken man!

ON A HALIFAX PIER!!!

Halifax Pier No. 21

David Peer, of Halifax, NS

THE LAST---!!!

The Last Supper (that's Barrett on the right)

Last Chance, ON (city limits)

The Last Days of Disco (?)

OF BARRETT'S---!!!

Dave Barrett (former premier of BC)

PROFITEERS!!!!

Rupert Murdoch

SORRY!! WE MEAN: PRIVATEERS!!!!

Privateers (a young Murdoch can be spotted at the back)

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! STAN ROGERS!!!

Stan Rogers

His grave. You can almost HEAR him spinning...

BRYAN ADAMS: True or False?

Bryan Adams (SUPPOSEDLY)

Went with Margot to the Bryan Adams concert at the K-ROCK centre last night. He reminded us all that he was born in Kingston. He said that it was 107 years ago, but I did not think that that was true. That would make him older than Mick Jagger!! So I looked it up. He was born in 1958. In Kingston. And you know what? I WAS BORN IN 1958.... IN KINGSTON!! The weird coincidences continue. When Bryan was born, his Dad was in the army. SO WAS MY DAD!! His Dad was working at The Staff College. SO WAS MY DAD!! His Dad was English. SO WAS MY DAD!! WHOA!!!

You KNOW where I'm going with this. I AM BRYAN ADAMS!! And... he is me. I told Margot about this. She just sighed, and said: "I wish".

...or is this Bryan Adams?

But what if it's true? What if.... what if we were accidentally switched at birth? Most of you probably think that that might be a rare sort of thing, but most of you probably do not pee at The Toucan very often, or as often as me. Over the urinals there, someone hangs interesting stories cut from papers like The National Enquirer and The Global Star. Next to The Globe and Mail and The New York Times, these are really quite fascinating news sources. From stories I have read while draining my bladder, I know that babies being switched at birth is as common as.... as common as.... well, as common as aliens performing colonoscopies on drugged and rudely violated rural Americans. In other words, all the time! Why, according to my sources (see above), there are residents of rural America who have had more alien anal probes than they have had visits to a family doctor. (Then again, their health system is VERY different from ours.) This fact certainly goes a long way toward explaining to Canadians why rural Americans feel compelled to carry loaded weapons and drive armoured vehicles. Maybe if I had been sodomized over two dozen times by visitors from "Out of State" I, too, would behave similarly. Who can say?

"Are there any other weird coincidences that come to mind?" Why.... yes! Bryan Adams first job was washing dishes when he was 15. In a restaurant. I have worked in restaurants every year of my life since I was 16. His career took a slightly different path after that, of course. While Bryan was rising in the Canadian rock music world like a rocket, I was.... still working in restaurants. But!! I OFTEN SING WHILE WORKING!! As does "the other Bryan Adams". Last night at the concert he sang quite a bit, and he was certainly working hard. I sing while I set up the bar in the morning. He sings and then he closes down a bar... in the morning. He has several Junos. I have a brick at Juno beach with my name on it. He has an album called: Waking Up the Neighbours. And guess what? I'VE DONE THAT!! I HAVE KEPT NEIGHBOURS AWAKE WITH MY MUSIC!! He has another album, called Reckless. I AM OFTEN RECKLESS!!

I need to hire a lawyer. I think that I have been deceived for long enough. I will begin by forcing him to change his name, legally, to: "The Alleged Bryan Adams". I will, at the same time, change mine to: "Possibly the Real Bryan Adams". We will go from there. Is the burden of proof on him, or on me?      

THE SHUFFLE

1.   I HAVE THE TOUCH (Peter Gabriel), from
          Shaking the Tree: 16 Golden Greats

2.   ONE FLIGHT DOWN (Norah Jones), from
          Come Away With Me

3.   BITTER GREEN (Gordon Lightfoot), from
          Complete Greatest Hits

4.   RUSSIANS (Sting), from
          Fields of Gold: The Best Of

5.   BELLE STARR (Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris), from
          All the Roadrunning

6.   ECHOES (Pink Floyd), from
          Echoes (Disc One)

7.   DESIRE (U2), from
          Rattle and Hum

8.   MAROONED (Pink Floyd), from
          Echoes (Disc One)

9.   FRAGILE (Sting), from
          Fields of Gold: The Best Of

10.  TOWER OF SONG (Leonard Cohen), from
          Live in London (Disc One)

RED SHOE DIARIES

SHOES... to make a differenc

ARCH-SUPPORTERS ($10.00 donors):

None so far.

SOLE MATES ($20.00 donors):

Kelly P. of Kingston
Charles F. of Kingston
Paul L. of Hillier, ON
Leslee O. of Kingston

PODIATRISTS ($30.00 donors):

Charles L. of Brockville

WELL-HEELED ($50.00, or more):

Maureen M. of Vancouver, $100.00
Paul M. of Toronto, $50.00

TOTAL PLEDGED, AND RAISED, SO FAR:

$260.00 to "SHOES... to make a difference".

THANK YOU!!

www.walkamilekingston.ca