Canadian Tire: Skidding Out of Control?
Canadian Tire: Skidding Out of Control?
A Critique of Customer Service in Quesnel, B.C. Canada
By
Arthur Topham
November 22, 2021
A couple of weeks ago on November 7, 2021 I was in Quesnel to do some shopping and one item on my list was to stop off at Canadian Tire and pick up another 5 gallon pail of Shell Rotella T4 15W-40 oil for my Ford diesel pickup. I’d been purchasing it there since I bought the truck and have always been satisfied with the service even though during these heady times of covid mania I’ve become a lot more skeptical of the big box stores like Costco, Walmart and Canadian Tire.
Being adamantly opposed to all the NDP government’s bullshit “mandates” and “lockdowns” propaganda I usually do my shopping in outlets who don’t make a big fuss over normal folks who prefer to not wear a diaper over their face while doing business in town. Having been my own mechanic since I first started driving 58 years ago I’m well aware of the fact that it’s not a healthy practise to breath in exhaust fumes from one’s engine and so by simple extrapolation (or deductive logic if you will) it’s also not advisable to block off your ability to expel your own CO2 exhaust fumes by placing a rag over your nose and mouth.
But also because of Murphy’s Law on Unexpected Fecal Fulmination: Corollary #1 – “Shit Happens!” I usually wear my bandana in town for those extra special occasions when logic, reason & common sense cease to be effective (see image above).
As I said I’ve purchased my oil at Canadian Tire before so when I entered the store via the Automotive Parts Dept. entrance I walked past the service counter where a couple of employees were standing talking to each (with their masks on) and proceeded down the aisle to where the oil was. When I got to the spot I was relieved to find that there was still one pail left of the regular oil. The synthetic brand was double the price and out of my budget at the time. I proceeded to pick up the pail and then carried it down to the service counter. The two clerks were still engaged in conversation so I sat the pail on the floor and waited until they were done talking. A couple of minutes later one left to go into the garage and the other fellow fellow turned and saw me and asked me if he could help. I wanted to make sure of the price so I told him the make and model of my vehicle and he looked it up in the book and said it was the right oil and gave me a price. I said “great” and picked up the pail and carried it down to where the guy’s cash register was and sat it down so he could scan it.
As he was doing the scanning and I was getting my wallet out to get my debit card he started chatting with me and we carried on like that until I’d paid for the oil and got my receipt. Once the transaction was completed he then offered to carry the pail out to my truck for me but I declined saying that I was a placer miner and used to carrying heavy objects and it wouldn’t be necessary. I thanked him for his help, picked up the pail of oil and exited from the store and put it in the back of my pickup. At no time throughout the whole process was I wearing my bandana and at no time did the sales clerk ever make so much as a hint that I ought to be wearing a mask.
I was about to get in the truck when I remembered that I also wanted to check on another item in the store. Some years back I had bought a flashlight there. It was one that you can carry in your pocket the brand name being “Coast G20”. It’s about 6 inches long and about 5/8” in diameter. It’s been a mainstay for me and living out in the country I’m never without it as it comes in handy for so many different occasions when you need to shine a beam on something to either open a lock or check out some dark corner in one of your outbuildings or even find your way around the house at night when you’re stumbling down the hallway to let the dog out to its thing. I thought to myself maybe they still sell this particular model and mine was beginning to act up whenever I would push the rubber button to turn it on. I recalled that it was guaranteed for life but I didn’t have my original receipt with me but I figured it wasn’t that costly an item so what the heck why not check and pick up a new one.
I walked back into the store through the main doorway and proceeded to go down to the isle where I remembered the flashlights were. Much to my surprise and satisfaction they still had the same model and it was priced at around $15.00 so I decided to purchase a new one. When I went to take one off the horizontal hook I realized that they were locked on with a tab that required a key and when I turned to my left toward the main isle there was a clerk walking by so I asked him if he had a key for the lock. He kept walking and said no but he’d let someone know down at the paint department counter and they’d come and open it up.
While I was waiting I happened to glance down the main isle to the south end of the store and it was then that I saw Don walking about where the guns and ammo section were located. I already knew that was his department because he is a neighbour of mine who lives out in Cottonwood on the Barkerville Hwy where I do. I gave him a wave and he waved back.
When I turned to see if the clerk with the key was coming from the other direction I saw an older, fairly big man with his red Canadian Tire shirt on approaching me. He walked right up to me and stopped about 2 feet away and immediately asked me if I had a mask. In his left hand he was carrying a box of the standard blue masks. I told him I didn’t and that I don’t wear the blue masks because they’re laced with magnetic particles of graphene that aren’t healthy for people. In like a split second he literally jumped back from me to what I imagined would be the 2 meter social distance requirement as if he’d suddenly realized I was hold a chunk of plutonium in my hand and he was in grave danger of losing his life! As I observed his behaviour and countenance I could see that he was going to be a problem. He then immediately responded to my remark about the blue masks with a haughty half shriek of exasperation and told me in no uncertain terms that he couldn’t serve me and that I would have to leave the store IMMEDIATELY OR ELSE HE WOULD CALL THE COPS!
There wasn’t anyone else around us in earshot and I looked at him and said, “Oh for fuck sakes man just open the lock and I’ll buy my flashlight and leave.” The fact that I used the “f” word only intensified his already overly, in-your-face, aggressive response to my refusal to kowtow to his demand to obediently put on the little blue diaper and do what I was told. He then came closer to me again demanding that I leave NOW.
Around that point my neighbour Don, seeing that things were going awry, came walking up from the gun department with the likely intention of trying to settle whatever was going on. He walks right up to me and stops no more than two feet away and says to me that I should just put on a mask and not start any trouble. As he’s telling me this I’m observing him as well. There he is well within the “safe” 2 meter distance standing directly in front of me with his mask dangling off the end of his lower chin. His mouth and nose are totally uncovered. I say to him, “You gotta be kidding me Don. You’re standing here right in my personal space, practically face to face, with your mask hanging off your chin and telling me that I should put a mask on!?” He replied by saying something about how they are only following orders.
Meanwhile Bozo Bill is standing there fuming like a volcano ready to blow its top and coming closer demanding that I leave before he calls the police. At that point I decide that the best thing to do would be to just calmly walk away and depart without my new Coast G20 flashlight. As I’m walking back up the main isle Bozo Bill is right behind me making sure I don’t dash down another isle and escape. I stop and turn and ask him if he’s been jabbed adding that I have found that people who’ve been given the bio-weapon tend to become more aggressive as the poisons in it work their wonders on the body. He proudly declares to one and all (by then some other staff are around him and a curious customer or two) that he’s had his two shots and his booster to boot! Gad zooks I’m thinking to myself as I continue walking away this fellow is likely shedding spike proteins by the bucket full by now given his state of agitation.
As I walk out my neighbour Don follows me through the check-out counter and out to the front exit making small talk about event that just occurred. As I’m leaving I turn to him and ask him if he’s been jabbed too. He tells me that he’s had his first two shots. I look at him and say, “Take care Don and good luck” and continue walking slowly to my truck which is parked directly ahead of me across from the main entrance. I turn to look back and I can see a small crown of staff and others milling about near the front entrance. Whether Bozo Bill actually called the cops or not I don’t know as they never showed up before I left. I opened the door to the truck and reached into my camera bag and took out my Nikon and then walked a bit closer to the store and took the photo that you see in the header accompanying this article. I then departed to Extra Foods where I knew that I would be welcome to shop in peace without a mask and be treated like a normal human being.
Epilogue
Due to other work commitments I didn’t get around to finishing this article for close to two weeks but just a couple of days ago on Saturday, November 20th I had a rather unusual email from a local friend of mine that became the catalyst necessary to complete the story. He had sent me a video titled “Will you fight?” which I posted on my social media FB page. That wasn’t anything unusual as I get multiple people sending me videos on a regular basis both on FB and via regular email.
Inside the body of the email was the url to video and a short text message that read: “Was in Canadian tire this afternoon. Someone was in there without a mask and he asked them to call the cops [he didn’t want to leave]. Getting crazy. Some people have had enough!” When I read the message I chuckled to myself and immediately thought he was referring to my little run in with Bozo Bill back on the 7th of November. I wrote him back and told him to call me thinking that he didn’t know who that “someone” was.
He did call and when I told him about my experience there he was flabbergasted and said, “No! Really? Well, that’s pretty weird because I was referring to an incident that took place today the 20th of Nov. and then proceeded to tell me that he was in Canadian Tire shopping when some person came into the store and headed down toward the paint department. The person was a male and dressed in overalls and looked like he was working somewhere and likely needed some supplies and that’s why he was there. He then went on to describe what happened and it was basically a replay of the same scenario I describe above. It was even the same bad actor Bozo Bill who was harassing this worker and threatening to call the police. The man apparently responded to the threat by telling Bozo B to go ahead and then quoting something to him about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. When I heard the story I realized that incidents like the ones I’m now relating are likely occurring on a regular basis in the Canadian Tire store in Quesnel and because no one is reporting them on social media or via the alt media the general public is oblivious to the fact. It’s a definite for sure that local residents won’t be reading about incidents like this in Quesnel’s Cariboo Observer.
Conclusion
What were seeing here in the Canadian Tire example is a case of one department in the store (the Automotive Dept.) behaving in a civilized manner toward its customers and then in a different department seeing employees behaving like bullying, undisciplined goons toward customers who, for whatever reasons, are unwilling to wear the tainted, poisoned blue masks that the company is so quick to offer to them. At no time throughout my encounter with Bozo Bill did he ever ask me whether or not I had an exemption card or anything to that effect.
What therefore does this signal to the general public? Are we dealing with schizoid, power-tripping personalities working in some areas of the store and in other areas mature adults with common sense who are treating their unmasked customers with the same respect that they do the masked ones? One thing for certain that’s becoming plainly evident is that the disgraceful, disgusting, aggressive behaviour on the part of the Bozo Bills working for Canadian Tire sure as hell aren’t helping the company to make a profit and stay in business and be competitive. After what I experienced trying to buy a $15.00 flashlight after just spending a hundred bucks on another product with no issues attached there’s no way that Canadian Tire will ever get another penny out of me and no way that I’ll ever be able to offer anyone positive advertising were they to ask me whether or not Canadian Tire was a decent place to spend their hard earned money.
Large corporations like Canadian Tire may see individuals like myself and the fellow in the work coveralls as merely collateral damage and chances are they’ll likely ream out the good staff members in the Automotive Department for not demanding that I wear a poisoned rag in their establishment while shopping. If they threaten them in any way I do hope that they’ll contact me and let me know about it.
It’s long past time to end the lockdowns and the illegal mandates and the forcing of untested jabs of poison on the populace be they adults or young children. If these draconian measures don’t end soon I imagine that one day I’ll be driving by the store on my way to Extra Foods and the sign over the door will be reading “COMMUNIST TIRE” instead of CANADIAN TIRE.