This is probably going to be the toughest write in a very long time.  I always try to spin a balance of negative and positives in any of my posts, but sadly the scales are well tipped in the wrong direction, so far this trip.  I have been excited for the opportunity to come here and see this part of the country, since I realized it was a possibility.  I did loads of research,( OK lots of google searches) checking the place out, and was inspired by the beauty.

It IS absolutely beautiful, and breathtaking, from the air….miles of water, rocks, and trees, and then the city, of about 20000 people, just appears all of a sudden.  There is tons of native art, from the time you step off the plane, and throughout the part of town I have seen so far, which shows such a sharp contrast, with all the brilliant colours, against the rocks, that are  everywhere.  The airport has the most impressive lobby of any I have seen, with a huge polar bear depicted on ice, with two seals swimming around, close but not too close.  Massive and beautiful.  While I waited for my suitcase, I took a quick peek into the tiny gift shop, where there was a delicious bowl of fresh apples for sale, at ONLY 2.50 each.  That will be a lead in to some of my other thoughts here shortly.

The plane arrived an hour late, due to a delay in Calgary.  I might remind people, I live in Edmonton, north of Calgary.  Anyone who just did any math quickly will realize that flying south to get north, doesn’t make sense, but that’s how my company booked my flights.  I never fly Air Canada, if I can help it, and this was re-enforced by the fact that both flights were tiny planes, with no televisions, and not even a single bag of peanuts, or cookies.  One half of a glass of water, and one small glass of diet coke, and an hour late.  I didn’t let that upset me too much, and actually thought, when my suitcase was the first one off the plane, that it was an omen that this was going to be a great trip.  Yes, not so much.

I managed to get a cab straight away, and hopped in for the ten minute ride to my hotel.  I should have known by the cab driver’s response to my query on the quality of my hotel, that I wasn’t going to be entirely impressed, but I am getting a bit ahead of myself.  The ride from the airport was spectacular in scenery.  Boats on water at every turn, massive rocks and tons of lush green trees.  I was getting excited, after being scared and nervous all the previous night.  I need to listen to my sixth sense more often.  I had been apprehensive about my hotel from the moment I checked as many of them as I could out, and just from the website, thought to myself, I hope they put me anywhere but The Discovery Inn.  Guess where I am staying?  The oldest looking hotel I have ever seen.

Tiny bit of backtracking.  There are two stores in Yellowknife I can be working in, and the company I work for does not pay for cab rides, so even the 20 dollar trip from the airport will not be reimbursed, and I am allowed 20 dollars a day for food, which normally would be not a single issue.  Might I gently remind you of the 2.50 for an apple at the airport.  This being said, I asked my boss for them to put me as close to the store they want the most hours in,  and when he told me the dreaded Discovery Inn was closest, I cringed and told him it was the only hotel in town that looked awful.  His response, and I might quote, “Well, you asked for the closest to the store, it’s right across the street, beggars can’t be choosers”.  One of the nicest hotels in the city, is only about a 2 minute farther walk to the store, and about 50 bucks more a night.  Enough said, kind of.

So we pull up outside the hotel my driver described as, not the nicest but adequate.  Two sets of shopping centre-like doors, I can barely wheel my suitcase through, into a long, single width hallway, past a Chinese restaurant, to a very small desk, and a flight of stairs.  Anyone getting a sense for anything yet?  I shall continue.  A very nice Asian gentleman, digs out the ONLY reservation he has, takes a photocopy of my driver’s license, has me sign a bunch of stuff, and tells me that the only thing covered by my company is the 735 dollar weekly room rate.  Internet is 5 bucks a day, out of my pocket.  Then he gives me a key and says he has me in a room with a microwave, a fridge, non-smoking, on the third floor, with……wait for it……..no elevator.  He does offer to carry my luggage and off we go.  The temperature in Yellowknife yesterday was 28C and humid, and I walk into a room where the heat blasts me in the face.  There is a window air conditioning unit, with the curtains clipped with binder clips up around it, and it isn’t on.  Nor is the fridge plugged in, and I can not plug it in without unplugging one of the two lights in the whole room.

There are two double beds, which I was later to discover, are lumpy, squeak when I roll over, and have the thinnest bedding I have ever seen.  I had to use three pillows, stacked, to equal the height I am used to.  I almost forgot to mention the cigarette burn holes in the blanket.  The TV remote did not work, and the microwave is on top of the entertainment unit, and I can’t really reach to put anything inside it.  There aren’t enough extra plug outlets to plug my laptop, my phone charger, and my tablet in at the same time, and the one my phone was plugged into, turned out to be connected to a random light switch, across the room, which I of course never noticed, until my phone beeped that it was dying, while it was plugged in.  Anyone getting a clear picture, because it gets worse.

My job while I am here, is to use my tablet to fill out applications for credit cards.  I was told no one had been here for over a year and they have always done big number here.  With that in mind, and with it already being 3:30 in the afternoon, with the delay, I changed my clothes in the sticky heat, and turned on the tablet.  No go.  It will not pick up an internet connection in the hotel, anywhere along the street on the walk to the store, or in the store itself.  I can not do applications without it connecting, even briefly.  Something told me to pack the only pad of paper applications I had at home, but I have a grand total of 48, they are expecting closer to 200 from me, and I have no means to send them out.  I called tech support, no answer.  I called my boss, and text him at least three times, no answer.  So I did the only thing I could, and grabbed my paper, borrowed a clipboard and a pen from the front desk, and hit the store at 4 pm.  I find out rather quickly, that I have been duped AND the store closes at six.  Oh, the bigger, newer, busier, right across the street from a Tim Hortons and a brand new Super8 store, is opened until 9, but I have 2 hours to get at least 13 apps, in a store full of what I will kindly call, a very lower classed grade of customer.  At least every second person wanted the card, but had no identification on them, and an equal amount of those same people, were missing at least two teeth, but generally, a whole string of them.

To say I was getting frustrated, would not come even close to it, and I almost cried when the manager looked at me, quite sympathetically and said he knew his store was a tough sell.  I asked him how he knew, and he told me the last girl there had a terrible time, and maybe I should try the other store.  The other store is a 45 minute walk, in excessive heat and humidity.  At 6. and with a total of 6 apps, I decided to go back to my hotel and grab a cab.  When I asked the desk person what it would cost, I was told 30 bucks, roundtrip, but the bus is only 5!  I am sorry, I am not taking public transit in a city I don’t know, alone, on a schedule that only runs about every 30-55 minutes.  I called it a day, came up to my room, and sobbed for the next 45 minutes.

By bedtime, after a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart, the only thing open in this end of town past 6,  for some groceries, a very nice salad, some good conversation with a couple of people, and a couple very nice pictures of a couple places I want to go to, I was feeling much better, and had come to a couple of decisions.  I was going to make the best of this, and give my boss three options, if he ever gets a hold of me.    Boss man will have the option to A) Pay my cabs so I can work the other store B) Book me into a hotel closer to the other store or C) Take whatever applications I can get out of this lousy store and be happy with it.  I will call tech support in the morning to get my tablet sorted.  Decisions made, sleeping pill taken, a good book to read, and I thought it would be all okay!

Let’s get back to this air conditioner.  It is the nosiest thing ever, and if I turn it off, it is sickeningly hot in minutes.  It ran all night, and about every 20 minutes, shuts itself down with a big thud.  The curtains pinned around it let in more light than my sleep mask can handle, and I have been awake since 3 AM.  This does not,  a happy Cindy make.  It pretty much guarantees I will make myself sick, inside of the next 6 days.  I truly do not know what I am going to do until my boss responds to phone or text messages, but I do know I will never allow head office to book my hotels for me ever again, end of discussion!

So until then, I am eating bread and peanut butter, as my budget doesn’t allow for much if I want a decent dinner, I am contemplating a shower, and praying for hot water, and being serenaded by this miserable a/c unit!  I am not going to lose it today, and if tech support can’t figure out my tablet issue, I will use what applications I have, work my 5-6 hours and let someone else worry about how the filled out few will make it to Vancouver.  Oh, and find coffee somewhere….