Month: September 2011

The video below describes my Grandfather’s life as he grew up in Vancouver, and the family’s produce store in Kerrisdale. You can see him as a little boy in his father’s lap around 20 seconds in. The narrator is Girlie Koo, my Great Aunt and my Grandfather’s sister.

I have many memories of the shop described in the video, JB Hoy Produce. When I was young, I remember going there with my parents and “working” the register. They had an old-fashioned brass register that I remember being fascinated by. For my efforts, I was always rewarded with a popsicle from one of the freezers on the lefthand side of the store.

I remember that my Great Uncle Allen was a quiet and kind man, who often worked “behind the scenes” while my Great Aunt interacted with the customers out front. The shop had a great energy and was a large part of the Kerrisdale community.

I wish there were more family run businesses in Vancouver, because every time I enter one I’m reminded of this time in my childhood.

Katy

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So, this summer I got a letter in the mail from this Golden Key Honour Society asking me to join. At first it seemed like a pretty legitimate group, but the more I read the more I felt like it was a bit of a scam. There were a couple red flags that made me skeptical of the authenticity of this society.

First of all, they require you to achieve grades that put you in the top 15% of your faculty, but joining once means you are in for life. To my knowledge, there are no yearly fees and no other parameters. Basically, if you do well in your first year of University, you could fail the rest of your courses you would still have membership to this society. Most legitimate academic societies reevaluate your eligibility every year.

Moreover, a quick google search showed me that this group has had money issues in the past. The Wikipedia article has a section entitled “Controversy,” where it describes some shady dealings:

“Concerns were raised over a decade ago about the apparently large gap between the amount of money spent on salaries and the amount spent on giving out scholarships. Articles in theUniversity of British Columbia student newspaper the Ubyssey claimed to have examined the society’s finances and scholarship practices. Although the society claimed to “return 75 per cent of each membership as benefits and services to local chapters and their members [while the] other 25 per cent is used for administrative expenses,” the Ubyssey found that in 1997 salaries, management and general expenses totalled $2,997,827, almost 47 per cent of the $6,430,054 in total expenditures. A second article found that Golden Key spent just $289,461 (US dollars) on scholarships, less than 5 per cent of their total expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1997. The society now claims to spend approximately $1,000,000 annually on scholarships and awards,^[11] though it is unclear whether this allocation has remained proportional since then. ”

However the fact that made me extremely skeptical of this society was the fact that you have to pay $90 to enter. It’s unclear what this money is put toward, except for the vague notion  that “scholarships” are given out by this society. This fee is not mentioned anywhere in the welcome letter, and I was surprised when I saw the amount mentioned.

The Honour Key Society does have a UBC chapter though, so that adds an amount of credibility to it’s name. When I saw their booth at Imagine Day, I wanted to ask some questions about how it would actually add value to my resume, but the girl manning the booth wasn’t even a part of the society! I found that a bit strange, and to be honest I wondered if she was only there to gain acceptance into the society. If that was the case, I could hardly expect any impartial views.

I’m not saying whether you should or should not join this society, however, I’d just tell you to be careful. Make sure you do some research on this group before you decide to join. I wouldn’t want anyone to get scammed out of $90, and I also wouldn’t want people to miss out of valuable experiences because of this!

Katy

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First of all, let me state that I don’t have unreasonable demands for the bookstore. All I wanted were my books! Seriously, there is a disturbing lack of organization that I’ve noticed over my two years here at UBC. For instance, last year the bookstore ordered the wrong book for my ASTU 100 class, so the professor had to rewrite her entire syllabus to fit the book that the store had ordered instead!  But that’s not what is bothering me right now.

OK, here’s my story:

All I wanted was the course materials for my ARTH 300 class. Since I was on the wait list for the class, I hadn’t bought the course materials ahead of time (in case I wasn’t able to register for the class.) So when I got to register for the class, I went to the bookstore to get the course materials, but of course they were out. (This is understandable because they would have been bought by people already registered in the course.)

On Tuesday I put my name on the course reserve list. Now, if you’re not familiar with a course reserve list, this is where the bookstore orders you a copy of the book, and gives you a call when it arrives. However, they only hold the book for two days. They tell me that the materials should be in on Thursday – Friday at the latest.

Wednesday – Even though they haven’t called me I go to check just in case. Nope.

Thursday – Not in yet.

Friday – Nope.

Saturday – I call to check, and the lady says they’re not in.

Sunday – No call.

Monday (Today) – I still haven’t received a call. I ask the lady at the info desk if my course materials have arrived, and without checking anything, she tells me, “If you haven’t received a call, they’re not in yet.” OK, fair enough. So I walk away to check on the Chem lab coats and find out that they’re not in yet, “but might be upstairs being processed.”

On a whim, I go back and ask the SAME lady to check when I could expect the materials to get in. She rolls her eyes and I say, “humour me.” So she goes onto her computer and then goes to look through the course materials on reserve behind the desk. She then goes back to her computer and tells me, “It looks like the course materials had already arrived, but are sold out now.”

Me: “….What.”

Her: “Yeah, you didn’t get a call?”

Me: “No. No one called me.” By now I want to scratch my eyes out.

Her: “Well do you have voicemail?” She gives me a look like it’s my fault no one called me.

Me: “Yes.”

Her: “It also looks like you’re not on the course reserve list. It seems your name is not on here. You know we only hold the books for two days after we call you, right?”

Me: “I realize that, but no one called me, and every time I came in to ask for the course materials I was told that they weren’t in yet.”

Her: “OK, well I can put you back on course reserve but you’re going to have to wait another couple of days.”

Me: AAAAAHHHHHDHGKSLNFKELNSSSSSSS (in my mind)

So long story short, I have to wait “another couple of days,” for my course materials, and I still don’t have a lab coat.

Katy

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EDIT: When I got home that day, I found a message on my answering machine saying that my course materials had arrived. Since I only had a 1 hour class, that means the package was probably RIGHT BEHIND her when I was speaking to her… When I got there the lab coats were out as well.

So, my (our) first week at UBC is over. It’s been a little hectic, what with switching classes and whatnot. I hope that everyone has had a good summer! This summer I went to Italy with my family, where we went to some amazing museums and ate delicious food. I also went to Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels with my cousin Lauren. We ended up seeing the Berlin Wall, the red light district in Amsterdam, and eating some moules and frites in Belgium! (I would highly recommend the Belgian waffles at Dandoy in Belgium!)

A highlight of my summer was seeing the statue of David in real life – it’s huge!

This is just a quick post to see how everyone’s summer went! What was the most memorable experience from your summer holiday?

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Katy