We're on the highway to hell
The long dreaded Northwestern Connector project has begun in earnest. When it is finished we will be surrounded by eleven traffic roundabouts with only one route of escape from the area that doesn't include at least one. My only roundabout-free way out will be to travel north on Drake to Walnut Lake to Halstead to Pontiac Trail to M5 and down to 96/696. It's either go that good 10 miles out of my way to get anywhere or risk life and limb going through the roundabouts. No, that's not totally right. The routes I take to places north, northwest and northeast of me won't change.
They claim that this is going to improve traffic flow and safety, but I don't believe it for a second. This is America. We're too busy talking on our cell phones, fiddling with our Blackberries, and watching porn on our onboard DVD players while we drive. We can't handle roundabouts. That would require things like courtesy, patience, reading signs and PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!
We already have one roundabout out here. It's on an access road that runs alongside M5 that never sees heavy traffic. Invariably, though, I'm confronted by people who can't figure out when they are supposed to yield, what lane they are supposed to be in to get where they are trying to go, etc. A neighbor recently told me of encountering an idiot going the wrong way around the roundabout.
They've already broken ground on the first roundabout. It is the instersection I pass through to get anywhere, right down the road from me at Maple and Drake. Two of the three being created in Phase 1 of this ludicrous plan will interfere with my daily commute. By the time they're done there will be four of them on my commuter route (that includes one at 14 Mile and Orchard Lake,
cocoajava, so be warned).
As long as I'm on a rant and roll I've got a few choice words rolling around my brain for Paul's managers, too. Instead of hiring a new maintenance tech to fill the vacancy left by the firing of Lazlo a couple weeks ago they transferred a tech from another property. That actually made some sense, which is a real change for this company. Or so it seemed. They bring in a known quantity, someone whom they know has experience, someone who knows the company and just needs to familiarize himself with the new property. It should quickly lessen the stress and strain on Tony and Paul, who have been trading oncall back and forth between them for several weeks (Lazlo was on vacation for two weeks before being canned). Guess what Paul found out today? The new guy won't be taking oncall rotation. It's part of the deal he made when they transferred him. And here Paul, who has been with the company more than twice as long as the new guy, who has the best attendance record on the property, who stolidly goes out and does whatever they ask quickly and efficiently, who does the snow and ice checks that the lazy-assed grounds supervisor is actually responsible for, who is beloved of the residents (and I have the letters from them to prove it), hasn't gotten a raise in at least three years even though he has actively pursued one for over a year. Tell me, please, in what universe is this fair or just or right?
Paul's hours this past pay period? 136.75. That's less than 4 hours from his record, which came during a particularly blizzard ridden pay period. Pretty much all he's doing is working and sleeping right now. If we suddenly got hit with a big blizzard I think it would about kill him. We have got to get him out of here.
They claim that this is going to improve traffic flow and safety, but I don't believe it for a second. This is America. We're too busy talking on our cell phones, fiddling with our Blackberries, and watching porn on our onboard DVD players while we drive. We can't handle roundabouts. That would require things like courtesy, patience, reading signs and PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ROAD!
We already have one roundabout out here. It's on an access road that runs alongside M5 that never sees heavy traffic. Invariably, though, I'm confronted by people who can't figure out when they are supposed to yield, what lane they are supposed to be in to get where they are trying to go, etc. A neighbor recently told me of encountering an idiot going the wrong way around the roundabout.
They've already broken ground on the first roundabout. It is the instersection I pass through to get anywhere, right down the road from me at Maple and Drake. Two of the three being created in Phase 1 of this ludicrous plan will interfere with my daily commute. By the time they're done there will be four of them on my commuter route (that includes one at 14 Mile and Orchard Lake,
cocoajava, so be warned).
As long as I'm on a rant and roll I've got a few choice words rolling around my brain for Paul's managers, too. Instead of hiring a new maintenance tech to fill the vacancy left by the firing of Lazlo a couple weeks ago they transferred a tech from another property. That actually made some sense, which is a real change for this company. Or so it seemed. They bring in a known quantity, someone whom they know has experience, someone who knows the company and just needs to familiarize himself with the new property. It should quickly lessen the stress and strain on Tony and Paul, who have been trading oncall back and forth between them for several weeks (Lazlo was on vacation for two weeks before being canned). Guess what Paul found out today? The new guy won't be taking oncall rotation. It's part of the deal he made when they transferred him. And here Paul, who has been with the company more than twice as long as the new guy, who has the best attendance record on the property, who stolidly goes out and does whatever they ask quickly and efficiently, who does the snow and ice checks that the lazy-assed grounds supervisor is actually responsible for, who is beloved of the residents (and I have the letters from them to prove it), hasn't gotten a raise in at least three years even though he has actively pursued one for over a year. Tell me, please, in what universe is this fair or just or right?
Paul's hours this past pay period? 136.75. That's less than 4 hours from his record, which came during a particularly blizzard ridden pay period. Pretty much all he's doing is working and sleeping right now. If we suddenly got hit with a big blizzard I think it would about kill him. We have got to get him out of here.