Drop the Pop, Sunsets, and Canada Goose makes it better!

Aula class getting busy on a strawberry smoothie.

         March madness, seriously.  I thought February evaporated out from under us but March went poof into the ether.  Nunavut has a "Drop The Pop" Campaign that gives funding to schools that want to run a week long healthy beverage initiative.  So keeping with the McThompson DTP from Qik, I reinstated the smoothie contest but made it bigger and better.  Each class submitted a recipe, the Aula class got their volunteer hours making and distributing each recipe during 4th period each day to the entire school, and each day we included a healthy snack.  The winning class(es) win a smoothie party worth $200!  We culminated this event with an Inuit Games Fun Friday where I announced the two classes with the top number of votes.   

Inuit Games are something else entirely.  I participated in the leg wrestling and had my butt handed to me by a grade 9 student.  I feel like there is definitely a strategy involved there that I don't have the slightest clue about.

Girls Inuit leg wrestling action shot!

Action shot!

Then there is the finger pull, where you link middle fingers with the other guy, one of you takes the defensive position (the guy in the green) and one of you takes offense, and you literally pull until the other guy's finger gives out and then you switch.  Now I'm not entirely sure if it is the amount of time you hold on or if it's who gives out first.  I will get clarification on that one and get back  to you.

This looks like it hurts so bad.

Handsome Nigel.  He wasn't at the Inuit Games.  He's just handsome.

So handsome.

 I got my Canada Goose package in the mail today and although the pictures are too bright and slightly unfocused you can see that my NEW hood has toggle pinchy things that slide up and down my hood strings.  The hood is also significantly deeper.

...dirty mirror...shhhh don't tell my mom!

 The hood being so deep, in order to make it manageable the put a strap on the back to allow for it to be shortened or lengthened at will.  They also double lined the hood making it that much warmer and better than the previous hood.  Well done, Canada Goose.  Well done. 

NEW HOOD!

AND THEN... I thought I'd show you the 8pm sunset... or at least that's what time the sun went down two days ago.  It will set 15 minutes later tonight :)  We are stampeding towards 24 hour daylight! Pretty soon I will be blacking out my bedroom windows so that I can sleep.

Sunsets on the top.

Cheers from the top!

Oh Canada Goose, You Know Not What You've Done...

Ok, so I'm angry.  Two words: Canada Goose. I am going to let our correspondence speak for itself... or lack there of from CG.

01/03/2013

Hello!
I picked up the Mystique parka last Christmas and until this past winter have thought that it was, quite frankly, the best purchase I've ever made... until I moved to Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. The parka is beautiful but the design is flawed and I've had to make some alterations that I think you should consider including for safety and practicality. The parka hood doesn't have a draw string or a way to fasten the hood around your head so in the wind the hood blows back off your face or even off your head completely no matter how much you manipulate the wire in the hood ruff. This exposes your face to brutal wind and cold that would otherwise be shielded by the deep hood and warm fur ruff. I have rectified the situation with an ice-skate lace, a leather needle, and some sinew. In order for the parka to protect me from the high winds and extreme high Arctic temperatures, I had to sew the skate lace on either side of my hood so that I can tie it under my chin. This is not ideal but it is practical and for a company that makes claims of being the (un)official parka of movie sets and about being THE parka for the high Arctic, AND CHARGES PRICES THAT ECHO THAT SENTIMENT one would assume that the parka design would be practical. I've included pictures so that you can see the position of the ties. I have not included the FROSTBITE photos that I got due to lack of functioning hood. Luckily, the frostbite wasn't severe and the tissue didn't die. Frostbite isn't the point, though. Making a quality product is the point.

I've had my eye on PBI Camp hoodie and I've even gone so far as to price it out through your approved retailers but I am hesitant because I don't want to buy another product that I'm going to have to fix in order for it to be practical.

I really hope you take my suggestions/alterations to heart because this is not just a fashion fix, it's for safety in the harsh climate here in the high Arctic.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Thompson

01/09/2013

Hello,
I wrote a letter a week ago regarding the Mystique Parka and I have yet to receive a reply. Please confirm that you got my email and give me an estimate as to when my email concerns will be answered.
Thank you,

Jennifer Thompson

01/10/2013

Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting Canada goose. Can you please advise what was written in your previous email so that I can help you?
Kind regards,

01/11/2013

Hello,

Paraphrased (and lacking illustrative photos) my letter read:

About a year ago I made my first Canada Goose purchase, I purchased a Canada Goose Mystique Parka and I thought that it was the greatest purchase that I've ever made... until I moved to Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. The parka is warm and wonderful but with one serious flaw: The hood. The hood comes with a wire in the ruff that allows you to control how closely the hood sits around your face but in the harsh Arctic Climate the wire in my Canada Goose Arctic Program coat doesn't stand a chance against even a mild southern wind never mind the strong -55 northern wind that gusts up to 70km/hr. The first time I got frost bite on my face was when I was walking home from the school where I teach, I was walking into a north wind and my hood wouldn't stay up no matter how much I manipulated the wire in the ruff and since there is nothing to tie or fasten the hood under my chin, and even with a hat, scarf and goggles, I was powerless to stop the wind from blasting my nose and cheeks.

Frost bite is dangerous and not something that I cared to repeat so I did some serious brainstorming. With a skate lace, a leather needle, and some sinew, I cut the lace in half and fastened the pieces to my hood so that I can tie the hood under my chin and now keep my hood from blowing back off my face.

It is effective - and I think ingenious - but based on the cost of the coat, the premise of Canada Goose Arctic Program, and the quality of the rest of the coat, I cannot believe that Canada Goose didn't think to make this simple alteration themselves.
That is where I am confused. I paid $800 for an Arctic Program coat that I had to Frankenstein an ice skate lace into hood ties in order to not get frostbite.
It was like there was a serious disconnect between the design of the body of the coat and the design of the hood. Now, normally I would make my crafty alteration, give myself a thumbs up, and go on my merry way. But for the retail price of the coat... I feel like those crafty alterations should have been unnecessary. The Inuit staff couldn't believe that I bought a parka without a way to fasten the hood; the impracticality of it blew their minds. They laughed and said that I should have given them the $800 I spent on the coat because for $400 they could make me a way better parka WITH hood ties and that I could take the extra $400 and by BINGO tickets since it would probably be more worthwhile. The coat is beautiful, don't get me wrong, but this isn't a fashion coat... or at least I didn't think it was. Even on the "mean" winter streets of Toronto my fashionable Mystique parka hood would blow off without my homemade ties.

In the high Arctic, one needs practicality. My frost bite is almost healed now and my parka is back to being the best purchase I have ever made...and altered. I am writing to your company because you are world famous for making incredible Arctic clothing and I want you to continue. I am writing to make a practical suggestion: add a hood pull/snap/zipper/string to the Mystique Parka. Don't make it because it will be fashionable, make it because it is practical and will provide the wearer with greater protection. This email would have been far more serious in nature had my walk home been even five minutes longer because that, I'm told, would have been how much longer my skin needed to freeze and cause scarring. I've, thankfully, only had pain, peeling, and bright red skin.

My previous email also included several photos of how I made the alterations to better demonstrate how easily you can improve this parka. I didn't include them here because the attachments probably prevented you from getting my email but I can easily resend them in our next correspondence.

This isn't a typical letter of complaint where I threaten to never buy any of your products again and to salt my friends against your brand. I live in the high Arctic: Canada Goose is THE uniform. In fact, while I was looking over the Canada Goose website for the contact information, I stumbled upon your Polar Bears International camp hoodie and thought it would be fantastic for spring here in Gjoa Haven. I hesitated though because I don't want to buy it, love it, and then be forced to make a practical homemade alteration to improve the performance of the product like I had to with the Mystique Parka.

Jennifer Thompson

01/14/2013

Hello Jennifer,

Thank you for contacting Canada goose. Can you please advise the size and color of your mystique parka?Regards,

01/14/2013

Medium. Black.

01/28/2013

Hello,

Can you please send in the length in inches of the removable hood zipper. As well as your address and phone number.

Regards,

28/01/2013
Hello,

The length of the removable hood zipper is 15 inches.

My address is  Gjoa Haven, Nunavut X0B1J0 and my phone number is 867-360-xxxx.

Regards,

Jennifer Thompson

02/11/2013
Hello Lauren,It has been a few weeks since our last communication and I was wondering what progress (if any) has been made?Regards,Jennifer Thompson

08/03/2013.... notice I mailed it to both Lauren AND the general email just to make sure SOMEONE was reading my emails...

To: info@canada-goose.com, lshapiro@canada-goose.com

Hello,

Around Christmas I wrote a letter to Canada Goose regarding an issue I was having with my Mystique Parka (basically I had to sew ice skate laces onto the hood so that I can tie it under my chin to stop it from blowing off making it appropriate for the harsh Arctic climate here in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut) and I was put into contact with Ms. L. Shapiro.  However, our last communication was January 28th where I was asked for my mailing address and telephone number as well as the length of the zipper on my hood in inches.  I tried to follow up with this email requesting more information as to what would be mailed to me and what the zipper length was for but have not received any further communication.  It's been over a month and a half.  Please follow up with me regarding this matter.

Thanks,

Jennifer Thompson

03/08/2013
Hey Jennifer,
Thanks for following up. We made a custom hood for you that has drawstrings built into it. It is in transit, the following is the tracking number.
Canada Post 4600827867217868
Kind regards,

And this is what I got in the mail today...

It's a fur hood ruff with the same gauge wire as my other one... 

That is 2 inches too long for my hood...

and it doesn't have any ties....

Which begs the question: what the hell?

I'm sitting here right now straight up bumfuzzled.

Honestly.

I don't understand.

Keep you posted.  

complaint letter(s) update :)

It has been a fair bit of time since my myriad of complaint letters were sent off into the ether with an enraged shove and I figured it time for an update.

This little gem that I sent off to Air Canada got me 20% off my next flight and refunded food, clothing, and luggage credits:

AC8157 Yellowknife to Calgary. We had an unscheduled stop and deplaned and changed planes in Edmonton – based on the reaction of the pilot and our flight staff, this was not planned. Our plane was sent to Winnipeg and we were given a plane that went mechanical. In Edmonton we were delayed several hours without any explanation or meal compensation – there was an option on the Air Canada website where I paid $7 for a meal option on each section of my flight. There was nothing offered on this flight in the form of meal/snack other than a free bag of pretzels. Why is this option offered and encouraged but not honoured? Our plane worked perfectly and yet it was taken away from us and sent to Winnipeg, why?

Edmonton to Calgary – I spoke to the customer service desk in Edmonton regarding being worried about making my connecting flight. The agent would not give me any information about the cause or expected duration of the delay. She would also not guarantee that I would have a seat on a future flight should I miss my flight. I spent the entire flight delay trying to purchase a ticket on my smart phone to insure that I could be home for Christmas – this was not possible because of the quality of the wireless at the airport. Arrived in Calgary at 7:15pm but could not physically get to the gate of my connecting flight leaving at 7:30pm despite running to the gate. I was given a hotel room at The Radisson and $20 voucher for the airport. Unlike some other passengers I was not given a food voucher for the hotel, so my dinner (which I should have got on the plane because I signed up for the onboard meal option but neither flight offered a meal or snack) was out of pocket. I was given a spot on the 7am flight. 

AC134 or AC107 Calgary to Toronto – The flight left late and we were told that the number of passengers was restricted because we were overloaded with cargo. While sitting on the tarmac, our plane was notified that we would be also stopping in Regina, making our flight Calgary-Regina-Toronto-Ottawa. When we landed in Regina the 20 minute stop turned into an hour and we were forced to deplane. There was no meal on the plane and we were not compensated with meal vouchers. I was told that because of the duration of the flight my meal icon on my ticket would not be honoured. 

Arrival in Toronto – When I arrived in Toronto, my bags were nowhere to be found. That was also the case for everyone else who got off our flight. The only exception was someone who got on the plane in Regina and sat across the aisle from me in row 11. He loaded up a cart and took all of his bags to a box van waiting outside the double doors beside baggage carousel 1. When I spoke to baggage, at first they didn’t even know we stopped in Regina. Upon further exploration by a very nice man, it was determined that the only bags taken off our flight in Toronto were the 6 or 7 priority bags that I watched loaded onto the box van. It took 20 hours for my bags to be returned to me - for which I was not compensated - and although there was no external damage to my baggage upon closer inspection an Inuit carving that I brought down from Gjoa Haven , Nunavut with me as a gift was broken into several pieces despite being wrapped and packed appropriately in its own box within a Rubbermaid tub. This tells me that my baggage was not handled appropriately despite the fragile stickers placed visibly on the tub.

I understand that Christmas is a busy time of year with a large volume of passengers flying on your planes. I also understand that mechanical issues arise and cause delay. My experience flying with Air Canada this holiday season cannot be played off by the volume of passengers or merely mechanical issues. Our plane was targeted to receive the short end of the stick. We were made the plane that would get all the delays so that everything else would run smoothly. I understand that, it's sound business practice to upset a few people to benefit many. It is my understanding that only a fraction of the people upset will actually file a complaint and from those people most will accept the initial apologetic response given by customer service. I am not one of those people. I want compensation for all the meals I had to purchase out of pocket because your meal program wasn't honoured. I want all of my money refunded from that online meal option I put on all of my tickets. I want the meal purchase option removed from the flights offered to Yellowknife because they are offered under false pretenses. (Furthermore, I flew back to Yellowknife AC8138 on December 31st on Air Canada and although the flights were on time, the meals that I prepaid for were not honoured. Now, this may not have been a serious issue for me but what would have happened if I was diabetic or hypoglycemic?) I also want an explanation as to why our plane was sent to Winnipeg and why we were given a broken plane. Where did my luggage actually go and why? I want compensation for the outfit I had to buy to go to the Christmas party the night I arrived in Toronto with no luggage. And finally, I want at least ONE good reason I should give you my business again. 

In the past, I have booked with you because Air Canada has provided fair ticket prices and convenient flight times and I’m sure your company will continue to provide fair ticket prices and convenient flight times, however, I will be exploring my options the next time I book a flight because I would rather pay higher ticket prices than have an experience similar to the one I just had. 

I am attaching a copy of my flight itinerary so that you can see that I am not exaggerating about the delays, mistreatment, lack of food, and lost luggage.

My goal with this letter was to receive a credit of about $500. Mission complete.


And the rant/love letter that I sent to Canada Goose (it can only be described as such because I took the position of "I love your product but in order to make it perfect you must make these few changes...") as detailed in a previous post garnered me a custom made parka hood for my Mystique parka with proper hood ties. The package is currently in Edmonton and when I get it in my hands I will post pictures. Now, I'm going strictly by the short letter of response to my email, I'm not sure if there will be anything else in the box. My goal in writing this letter of love/complaint was slightly more ambitious. In a perfect world, I wanted Canada Goose to give me credit and royalties in the new parka design as well as a free or significantly reduced Polar Bears International Camp Hoodie (I implied that it would be my next purchase regardless of the outcome of the letter but that I worried that I would have to make some sort of alteration to make the hoodie appropriate for the Arctic - sneaky, I know).  I was also kind of hoping to become one of Canada Goose's "Goose People" one of the beautifully accomplished Canada Goose wearing people that are featured on the CG website.


Finger's are crossed for my Canada Goose pandora package.  

Regardless of the contents of the box, though, I'm ahead.  So the next time you're stewing about terrible customer service or a faulty product, don't just natter at your friends and family or try to salt your facebook friends against the company.  WRITE A LETTER.  It will take ten minutes of your valuable rant time to scratch/type out your beef and another ten minutes to make it classy (name calling doesn't win friends).  Those 20 minutes will immediately make you feel better and will probably result in something free.  What's not to love about free?  Remember to lead in with how long you've been a happy customer and hit them low with how disappointed you were with your last experience... provide detailed proof (names, dates, and times) and make sure to keep the baseless accusations to a minimal.  Mr. Massey at Sherwood High School had a point when he said as soon as you call names in a debate you lose your argument.  Don't be the frustrated, helpless child calling the bully a stupid head.  You're better than that.

I'm not always successful, however.  My last letter, a quick rant to Body Shop about not qualifying for free shipping due to my postal code resulted on a head pat and a link to the fine print.  

Meh, it happens.

Happy Ranting! 

Fred Russel

The question always arises: what do you get for a child under one?

Books? No.

Clothing? Meh.

Diapers? Too easy.

Toys? Boring.

Guinea Pig? Hells yes!

Well, at least that was the answer early last week in Gjoa Haven.  

Helpful tip: kids under one don't really need guinea pigs as pets.

Needless to say, the grade 8 classroom at Qiqirtaq High School now has a new pet.  Meet Fred Russel!

Why would a bunch of 13 year olds name the class pet Fred Russel when no one in the community has either names? you ask.  Funny story.

The name Fred Russel came about when Kelli let her class vote.  The top three names were: Fred, Russel, and skunk... and when the class was asked to narrow down the field to two names the class dead locked: 7 for Fred and 7 for Russel.  Now Kelli being the creative and brilliant individual that she is gave the class another option: Why can't our pet have both names?  And Fred Russel was born!   

The best part about the guinea pig's name is the pronunciation.  The name is not said as two separate names it is run together by the children into one name: Fredrussel.  

I've never had a guinea pig before the smallest pet in my world having been Buddy the dog so helping with this little thing has been interesting.  But as far as small animals go Fredrussel is AWESOME!  Relaxed, enjoys being petted and held, makes all sorts of hilarious noises and looks like a powder puff.

And the best part - the part that makes my heart sing - is that we're pretty sure Fred Russel is a girl.  

Fred Russel: lady guinea pig.

yeah, buddy!

New Carving!

I thought I'd write a quick post bragging about my recent carving acquisition.  The carving is by Tommy Kuniliusie

 from Clyde River, NU and it is made from the rib bone of a 

bow whale.  
It stinks the same way my polar bear whale bone carving from Qikiqtarjuaq stinks BUT it's not bad enough that it can't be displayed.  That polar bear got wrapped in plastic and frozen until I could  bring it south and bake it for a summer out in the blazing sun.  It's not that bad. Thank God.