(a note from the editor and publisher of The Tea Makers)

My attempt to build an army of Dead CBC Presidents has obviously failed. Many signed up, but never wrote, and there are even more names in the blogger system which are not displayed in the “Contributors” list (I have no idea why).

“cbcinside” seems to have spoken his/her piece and is pretty much done. My fans drove “CBC Survivor” to delete his/her post and give up the internet altogether (when this is all over I will give a fuller account of this interesting episode). Guylaine Saucier wants to redesign the site instead of write. Fine with me. The letters should be bigger.

It’s confusing and embarassing to have so many contributors and only one person writing, so I’m going to clear out some dead wood myself and get rid of these people.

The offer still stands, however, for any serious contributor.

It has also been pointed out to me that not linking to other sites from my site is considered rude. This was never my intention; I just didn’t know how to do it. I will figure it out.

Finally, thanks to Guy Dixon of the Globe and Mail for writing a nice article on me last weekend, without making me out to be a madwoman.

12 Comments

  • Anonymous says:

    Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that the Herb Tarleks of CBC would gather to gloat at one of the most suburban bars smack in the middle of at least two dozen funky downtown hangouts, (I hear their regular hangout East Side Mario’s was over-booked).
    Guess the Lakota bonuses must have been boffo this past week. However I wonder if soon they’ll be taking a bonus cut – and have to discount the ad slots for the next couple of months– even if we all get inside – it’ll be endless repeats of the shows that must have ALREADY repeated at least six times. Who wants their stuff advertised on THOSE shows? But then again who picks a marketing and sales career at a quasi-government institution? My big surprise/disappointment though- was hearing that same story about that senior news manager.That tale made me a lot madder and sadder then those pitiful pix inside Jack Astor’s. I never thought he’d say stuff like that.

  • Anonymous says:

    The invite for that $1,125.74 lockout celebration was for 5:00PM….from what I’ve seen, the ones inside doing the work don’t get to leave at 5PM. So, these ones singing “I’m still standing, yeah , yeah, yeah” are the ones sitting on their thumbs and spinning. Yeah, yeah ,yeah.

  • Anonymous says:

    You must be management. The logic is unmistakable. When you have 55 hundred workers (friends, associates, peers) walking around a building for seven weeks, not receiving a salary of any kind. Cancel the party and save the social activities for another time. This has nothing to do with a union. It’s about optics. We worked together before the lockout and we will work together again. If a night out is worth alienating yourself with every person outside of the building than bottoms up! We will see who’s around for last call.

  • Anonymous says:

    Thus spake anonymous:
    Take for example the shot of the media sales managers rewarding themselves with a night out at the pub, setup by an invitation to come and celebrate six weeks into a lockout. Are these people clueless?

    Why do you assume they were being rewarded? Can’t a person, regardless of affiliation, be allowed to go for a beer once in a while?

    Not only do you demonize them for having a job while you do not, you try to rob them of the right to socialize after hours.

    Are non-CMG CBC employees to be punished merely because they happen not to belong to your union?

    Harsh penalty indeed.

  • Anonymous says:

    Agreed. “Head on Pikes” is a little over the top, but the people who have been walking the line have a right to be upset. Take for example the shot of the media sales managers rewarding themselves with a night out at the pub, setup by an invitation to come and celebrate six weeks into a lockout. Are these people clueless? Or the senior news manager overheard telling another colleague that the lockout has been the best thing that could have happened. Now he can pay off his home renovation bills. You know who you are, and guess what, so do we. It was the talk of the line yesterday. I can list many other examples. When we finally return to work, we will be professional and relieved (for the most part) to be back on the job, but if everyone expects that it will be forgotten, they’d better think again. Too much has happened.

  • Anonymous says:

    Let me add my (anonymous) name to those showing appreciation for Ouimet’s thoughts and efforts this last couple of months. And while I’ve got the space may I ask that those seeking “HEADS ON PIKES” “when we’re back in the building” cool down the rhetoric. This kind of mad-eyed vulgarity belongs to the bloody mob. Returning to work will be weird enough; I don’t want to have to also worry about Robespierre over in the corner sharping his stick. Get a grip, man.

  • Cold Feet says:

    I have also found this to be a valuable forum.

    (In part, it’s made me happy I not based out of that snake pit they call the TBC!)

    Maybe a few years from now (but please don’t wait 30 years!) we’ll be reading an article in MacLeans or The Walrus called “I’m the Guy they called The Tea Maker.”

    Will you be credited as “a true patriot?” (Do Canadians ever consider themselves Patriots?)

    I guess we’ll have to wait to find out.

  • Anonymous says:

    I agree this thing is almost over. But listen, everyone, there’s more important business to be done when we’re back in the building. Remember it….FOUR HEADS ON PIKES, LABELLED RABINOVITCH, STURSBERG, CHALMERS AND SMITH.

    We must not rest until this is done!

  • Anonymous says:

    A note on bigger letters – a hint:I had been brooding on buying a magnifiying glass for this and other blogs until a friend recommended I download Mozilla Firefox as my browser. You can enlarge the size of the font on websites by hitting Control and the plus sign; decrease it with Control
    and the minus sign(which is also the dash: -).

    I too appreciate not just Ouimet’s insights, but her wit and writing ability. Could be there is a novel in this madness.

  • Anonymous says:

    Thank you for being so candid… and for calling a spade a spade each time you see it.

    I may not always agree with you, but it takes some courage to write from the ‘inside’. Too bad your teamaker colleagues were ‘scared off’. I hate to tell them we’ll be way scarier when we return. Get used to our new outspokeness, people!

    I also hope we hear snippets from you after the lock-out is over. You’re hilarious… and you should be a character in a Finkleman show.

  • Ouimet says:

    Thanks, Laurence. It’s pretty obvious that I’m making this up as I go along, but I think I’m generally going the right way.

    I don’t know if these discussions will ever lead to anything, but they have been fascinating for me to read. And I’m obviously not alone. So let’s see where they go?

    I honestly expected more managers to volunteer to write, but I don’t blame them for chickening out. Blogging is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be, at least for me.

  • Laurence says:

    Thank you again for maintaining such a valuable forum. We need this.
    We may not agree with any given manager’s opinions…but we need to hear them aired in a way that will allow us to accord them some respect (or not, at least in one case) and have a conversation based on that. Both your writings and the related comments sections have turned out to be the place for that.
    You are doing a GOOD THING for both sides.
    Again, thank you.

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