Stuck in Prince George? One Man's Opinion

Tuesday, November 20, 2007 03:44 AM

I happened to be on the morning flight heading to Vancouver on the weekend. I don’t hear all that well so when I started to listen to a gentleman a few rows back sounding off, it had to be loud enough that a good section of the airplane could hear.

He was telling a fellow passenger that he lived in Prince George, and that he was,”Stuck here”. Now I don’t care about those comments (although I was tempted to unbuckle my belt and say, “Hey Bud, if you don’t like PG why in the hell do you live here?") but then he came with a new sentence which left me silent. He said that he was "stuck" in PG and he worked for the planning department in the city.

Oh, planning department you say, you mean the place that you go when you’re thinking about coming to the city to look for a place to open a new business, or perhaps to see what kind of a business and social climate you can expect, that planning department?

If that is the attitude of someone who might talk with a potential industry or investor (and I prey to God that he isn’t allowed to talk to anyone in the public) then its time he picked up his bag and moved elsewhere. He might be better equipped at planning a wheat field in Alberta. With that kind of attitude, he should not be allowed to have any contact with anyone looking at a possible move to our community .

I won’t name him, that wouldn’t be appropriate, he knows who he is; as a matter of fact, if the Planning Department doesn’t know, they should be doing some serious looking.

To the guy who complained about being "stuck" here, on the face of your pay cheque it says, “City of Prince George" that means, however small, I contributed to that cheque. If you are "stuck" here give me a call, I can tell you how to get,” Unstuck “

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 03:44 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: BCRacer on November 20 2007 7:11 AM

Way to go Ben.
I agree and that could apply to all the outher "STUCKIES" we have as well.
I chose to live here, never ever felt stuck.

Posted by: giterdun on November 20 2007 7:43 AM

HEY BEN, HE MUST HAVE BEEN RELATED TO OFFET.

Posted by: steeliepete on November 20 2007 8:48 AM

I have to disagree with Ben on some of his points. I'm also, in many ways, stuck in Prince George. Job availability, home prices, the cost of a move, family obligations, etc. require that I remain in PG. Would I prefer to live somewhere else, you bet I would!!! I plug away at the same ol' job day in a day out. Not a bad job but I could easily work in a more desireable community. I'm not a winter recreation guy, I don't ski, snow mobile, hunt, ice fish, or snow shoe. Aside from not interesting me, I don't have a lot of funds to go out and equip myself with new gear.

I do agree with Ben's concerns about the conflict b/t the guys job and his statements but identifying someone after over-hearing some semi-private statements and then using a broadcasting position/reputation to put it out to the whole community is a little harsh in my opinion. I'll try to avoid sitting near journalists in any location in the future. Ben should have called the department or even the guy directly to get a context of the statements or to express concerns with the department supervisor or whoever the guy reports to with hopes that feedback would shape this guys choices regarding the messages he sends as a representative of the City in the future.

Posted by: kitkat on November 20 2007 9:04 AM

This is one opinion I agree with 100% Ben, people with this attitude should feel lucky just to have a job!

Posted by: RRrabbitt on November 20 2007 9:09 AM

Choices people !!!.... choices... we all have choices... life is what YOU decide it will be or will not be... only YOU.

There is only one constant.... "everybody has to be somewhere... and you're here."

Blessings

Posted by: culturevulture on November 20 2007 9:21 AM

I unstuck myself earlier this year. It has been a wonderful experience. We stayed in PG for 20 years. I left the day after I retired. It was (and remains) a great place to raise kids.
This morning my wife and I are going to bicycle over to the marina and go sailing.

Bon Voyage!

Posted by: Palopu on November 20 2007 10:23 AM

People are **stuck** in bad jobs in bad towns all over the world.

There is no requirement that you have to like your job or the City you live in. For most people we work to earn money to feed out familys etc;, and quite often this means living in places you would rather not be.

Perhaps because this individual was a City Worker. (Oxymoron) He should have kept his feelings to himself. I think we all know that when people retire from their cushy Governmnt and other high paid jobs, they move to other areas to enjoy their retirement.

I can think of at least 25 individuals who retired in the last 15 years who moved to the Island or the Okanogan. Im sure there are many more.

Posted by: ammonra on November 20 2007 11:22 AM

There are also thousands of people who have moved to Vancouver Island who were employed in private Non-government jobs. Just because someone works in a public sector job does not mean they give up their perdsonal rights. To require them to do so is called discrimination and double standards.

Like many others I moved from PG after I retired. I too worked in a public sector job. However, as it happened I liked PG and my job, but I still left after retiring. So what? That is my business, not yours.

The fact is that private conversations are just that, even when overheard by others due to crowded conditions. It is none of Ben's business. This is one occasion when Ben should have kept quiet and minded his own business, not someone else's.

Posted by: Harbinger on November 20 2007 11:30 AM

Some people are "stuck" in a place called Bangladesh. Count yer blessings ya snivelling ninnies!

Posted by: NMG on November 20 2007 11:30 AM

Anyone can "unstick" themsleves if they really want to. Some choose to do so and some don't. That's life folks.

Posted by: duffer on November 20 2007 1:57 PM

I agree with Ben on this one. We pay for city employees and if anything one of them says has a detrimental effect (even a small one) on a new business from starting up, that person should be reprimanded. If he does not like it here, or doesn't like his job, he should leave. Open the job up to someone that does like it here and will promote the city and not put it in a negative light. For all you people that did leave, you are not paying for this negative city worker anymore, so it really is none of your business.

Posted by: Jimmi on November 20 2007 2:50 PM

that might explain some of the bizarre (lack of) planning decisions in this city.....

Posted by: ammonra on November 20 2007 3:18 PM

Human rights are everybody's business. The employee is paid to do work. As long as they do their work competently and to their employer's satisfaction , that is all that is required. Their personal attitudes are their own affair, especially when expressed as a private comment from one person to another. As long as their personal attitudes do not break any law, they have the right to them, and the right to express them without retaliation.

Or, perhaps you think that people who comment on Opinion250 and make statements with which their employers do not agree should be fired. Do you?

Posted by: duffer on November 20 2007 4:16 PM

Private comments in the confine of a room with no one else present are much different than comments made in the presence of other people. He should not have been discussing things like that in front of others.

Posted by: skabowl1 on November 20 2007 4:27 PM

I am one of the unstuck, well, unstuck from Prince George but now stuck in the rat race nightmare of the lower mainland. Sure we don't get the cold weather but there are tons of other disadvantages. There are disadvantages where ever you chose to live. I was just down in Phoenix Arizona and folks were whining about a lengthy heat wave!!. I would move back to PG in a flash if circumstances were right, much the same as I would also move back to Prince Rupert, Fort St John or Trail. A community is what you make it and I have been fortunate enough to make all of those communities "Home".

Posted by: ammonra on November 20 2007 6:42 PM

Duffer, wouldn't opinions published in this forum be made in the presence of other people? Does that mean you would agree with someone who said something here that his employer did not like could be fired?

Incidentally, some of my tax money does go to the City of PG via the provincial government, so I am paying for this competent City worker still, and it is my business.

Perhaps it would have been wiser for him not to say it where others could overhear, and perhaps those that overheard could have respected his privacy.

Posted by: Runner46 on November 20 2007 9:28 PM

By my choice I am sticky for Prince George.

Posted by: owl on November 20 2007 11:44 PM

I'm stuck in Canada ....

;-)

Posted by: duffer on November 21 2007 8:19 AM

Ammonra, on this forum no one knows who you are. Perhaps you are the city worker that is being spoken about here.

Posted by: diplomat on November 21 2007 9:02 AM

Ammonra:"Incidentally, some of my tax money does go to the City of PG via the provincial government, so I am paying for this competent City worker still, and it is my business."

Don't forget Prince George citizens also pay taxes to the Provincial Government, just like you. Some of it goes to pay for government employees in your neck of the woods, so your statement is basically superfluous and without much merit, if any.

We ALL pay taxes into the barrel that has no bottom.

*Stuck in Prince George* and loving it!

Posted by: owl on November 21 2007 9:17 AM

I agree that "conversations" in public places ... which an airplane or a bus are ... are not private. It appears that Ben also recognized the individual, but did not name him. So, he did the "right" ethical thing.

By not naming the individual, the comment becomes a generalizerd one which identifies, to me at least, how important it is for those in any business to make sure that the people who may be at the front desk or are communicationg with clients in any way, support the business they are working for. Otherwise, the "product" or "service" you are providing will not be as effectively promoted as it could be.

Organizations need people who believe and support the organizations.

Posted by: owl on November 21 2007 9:24 AM

BTW .... there are feedback mechanisms at City Hall and many other places.

If one does not like the service somehwhere, such as at a restaurant, one can make a complaint, whether it is the server or the cook or whoever or whatever.

So, one could actually write a letter to the City Manager to complain about the individual if one felt strongly enough about it.

It is a free world. People are free to say what they wish. They may, on occasion, have to suffer the consequences. It shows that one has to have some sensitivity about what they say.

Posted by: ammonra on November 21 2007 10:04 AM

Oh, please, Duffer, I am retired, an ex-health care worker not a planner, and live outside PG. I don't know who the person is, Ben has preserved his privacy to that extent. Also, I suspect quite a few people have figured out who I am by now.

I would note that ad hominem attacks, such as your's was, are a clear indication that the attacker (that's you, Duffer) can't validly respond, so attacks the person. Thank you for conceding the strength of the points I made.

To Diplomat, you emphasise my point. Chester said, "For all you people that did leave, you are not paying for this negative city worker anymore, so it really is none of your business", and I was contradicting him. My point was perfectly valid as a response to that. Perhaps reading all the posts in future might enable you to get the context, rather than responding to seeing my name by a blast of red.

To Owl, I agree, but for one point. The person was identified by gender and as a member of a very small group in City Hall. That is sufficient information to identify him. If Ben had said it was a City employee, a very general term, I would have not commented.

I would make an observation, though. Nobody has responded to my question about whether an employer would be justified in taking action against an employee for anything they may have posted on Opinion250 (or any other forum). It goes to the heart of the issue.

Should a person's expression of personal opinion (provided they are not criminal) justify an employer disciplining them when they have had no effect on the performance of his duties?

If so, who determines which opinions are detrimental to employment and which are not?

Posted by: duffer on November 21 2007 10:24 AM

Ammonra. Am I ever glad I am not your spouse.

Posted by: lmorg on November 21 2007 11:39 AM

Ammonra, I agree with you. Somebody must have pee'd in Meisner's cornflakes that day or he hadn't had his coffee yet.
Lots of people have lived or live in PG for many years but feel they would like a change. Hey, summers are short, winters drag on and the air stinks from pollution. That is not to say they don't enjoy their jobs and do it well.

This person's comment was personal in nature and there is no evidence to support that it's even related to how they do their job with the city. Nor was it in any way a slam to his employer. If the city of PG tries to discipline this person then they will have to cough up some money in a lawsuit, and I know the city has had to do that before!

This story is another example of perception equals reality syndrome.

Posted by: ammonra on November 21 2007 12:34 PM

Oh what a pity, Duffer, I was so looking forward to a romantic interlude.

Posted by: Death to Socialism on November 21 2007 1:17 PM

Sure anyone can become "unstuck" but sometimes the cost can be too great. Just because you live somewhere shouldn't require that you turn a blind eye to it's flaws & drawbacks.
No one on this site ever has anything good to say about PG until somebody suggests that it might, in fact, SUCK!

Flame on!

Posted by: diplomat on November 21 2007 2:51 PM

Ammonra:"Chester said, 'For all you people that did leave, you are not paying for this negative city worker anymore, so it really is none of your business", and I was contradicting him. My point was perfectly valid as a response to that.'"

I didn't say that Chester was right but one doesn't have to invoke the fact that one is paying taxes (some of which may go to Prince George) as if one earns somehow a right to express an opinion by doing so.

We all pay taxes (that evens the playing field) and we all have a right to express our opinion - even if we don't pay any taxes at all.

It's not my fault if you haven't grasped what I am saying.

None of it is an attack against you, unless you insist on seeing it that way.

Cheers!

Posted by: Howrd_B_Stern on November 21 2007 3:50 PM

So the guy from the City of PG hates his job huh?

There's a support group for that. It's called "Everybody" and we meet at the bar on Fridays!

Posted by: ammonra on November 21 2007 6:30 PM

My point about the taxes was meant to be much the same as yours, Diplomat. We appear to be saying much the same thing, I apologise for misunderstanding you.

Posted by: diplomat on November 21 2007 7:52 PM

Right on! I read all your comments again, we are on the same wavelength. No apology needed.

Cheers!