What’s with elections? The NDP did in fact win in Alberta as predicted but many people believed they wouldn’t. And the Conservatives in the UK won a majority which wasn’t predicted at all. Women made the difference in that election, according to the Globe and Mail (subscriber only) as a third of those elected were women.
The Economist weighed in on the Alberta election saying that Canada was leaning left, with the Alberta win and predicting a Liberal win federally in the fall.
One vote the federal conservatives won’t likely be getting is from Omar Khadr, 28, who was finally released from prison despite the federal government’s attempts to keep him locked up. Khadr’s lawyer is another Harper non-fan, but we can’t print what he said.
In other news, mid-market is now the new high-end. The outlet mall being constructed near the Vancouver airport to entice in-transit passengers to spend lots of money while waiting for their next flight, appears to be less high-end than originally announced. Tenants were suppose to include Burberry, Prada and Michael Kors but instead will house the Gap and Under Armour.
And Whole Foods is trying to shake off its ‘whole paycheck’ nickname by opening a chain of stores with lower prices to attract younger shoppers.
What is clearly not high-end is how nail salon workers are treated. A series in the New York Times has looked at the profession and found many salon workers are underpaid and over-worked. The NYT provides tips on how to make sure you are a socially-conscious nail salon customer. One tip – pay more. If you pay more chances are the salon worker is getting paid more too.
Singapore is trying to encourage its young people to not go to university and instead stay at home and work in a job that doesn’t require it. The country is having trouble filling positions such as hotel clerks and factory workers but it’s a hard sell. Going to university is viewed as the only way to make decent money.
One thing not to do if you are considering a new job is discuss it online. A recent engineering grad asked readers on Quora (a question and answer website) what they thought about two job offers he had received and giving his own views on each. One job offer was immediately revoked with the company CEO saying they could be picky enough to only hire people who really wanted to work there and the engineer clearly didn’t.
