Reasons Kanye Shouldn't perform in Canada-Ye

For the closing ceremonies of the Pan Am games in the city of Toronto, some brilliant human being had the great idea to book Kanye West. To perform. Not to just show up and say 'hello', he would ACTUALLY perform some of his huge songs to people who have heard of him. He would put on a huge show in front of people who have heard his music at parties and had a great time. That's disgusting. People DO NOT want this man to perform at the closing ceremonies, and I am one of them. Why should he perform there? Who made that ridiculous call!? Just. Terrible. Here are some reasons that Kanye should NOT close the Pan Am games. 

The Canadian Dollar Is LOW

Kanye West is a massive star. He has been making great music and giving us great entertainment for over ten years. He is paid very highly for this. Now he's supposed to make CANADIAN money? That's gross. NO ONE should be paid in Canadian money. No one. Not sure what he charges for shows, but let's say it's $300,000. He'll be paid that in CANADIAN, and when he goes home to his super mansion, that will be worth $231,000 American. $231,000! He'll go to buy his daughter a $70,000 dollar necklace, and realize that he doesn't have it. If he performs in Canada, he will be underpaid. Do we want ANYone to be underpaid? No. No we do not. 

He Doesn't Need To Go To Cold Places Anymore.

The man fought through winters in his life. Chicago is NOT messing around at all when it comes to winter. Chicago gets so cold that it actually freezes the entire state of Illinois, and makes Missouri cold. Canada is cold. Right now? Not cold, but MAN, Kanye doesn't need this. He could be on a beach, still thawing out from the winter of '96 in Chicago. Don't make this man, perform in a city of cold winters and people. Just. Don't. It's not fair. If anything, have him close out the PanAm games, but take them to Florida, or South America, or the Sun. Don't stay in cold Canada. Don't do this. 

He'll Have To Cross The Border

If Kanye closes the Pan Am games, he'll have to cross the Canadian border. THAT thing, is not the best. The border guards will look Kanye in the face, and say, 'What are you coming to Canada for?' And he will have to say, 'I'm Kanye West.' And they will say, 'Yes. But what brings you to Canada?' And he will have to say, 'I'm Kanye West. I rap. I do shows. I am Kanye West.' And they will say, 'Yes, we know all this, but what are you DOING here?' The Kanye will have to look in their eyes, look down in disbelief, think about how big you have to get before people understand why you travel, and then take a sip of espresso. Don't put this man through this. He doesn't need a border guard pushing him around. 

Toronto Can't Offer Kanye Anything To Do

'Kanye, welcome to our city! Notice that people will give you bad looks for no reason at all. But hey, no worries! We have plenty of things for you to do. You can go to Dundas Square! It's like Times Square but worse. You can go to High Park! It's a... park... thing, way over there. You can go to the CN Tower. Ooooooo. It's tall, man! We have Queen St, where you can buy clothes that you wore five years ago but only now do people here think they're cool. Yonge st! It's the longest street in the world! The downtown part of it is pretty cool, there's a big MALL on it, and if you keep walking just a little bit, it turns into a weird porn store fiasco where you can get clothes for strippers and prostitutes. But THEN, it gets good again! And then bad again. It's really long!'

Kanye can go to the Canary Islands and have margaritas shipped in from the Virgin Islands. He doesn't need to be at these PanAm games. 

If Kanye Is Performing In Canada For People That Don't Even Want Him, He Won't Be Making New Music

While Kanye is in Toronto, performing to people who are yelling, 'I signed a petition for you not to be here! I wanted Rush!', he could be in the studio making more of the great music that he makes.  He could be in a studio making music for people who actually want it, not performing to people from the woods who would rather here Kim Mitchell. Might as well go to the studio, Kanye. Nobody yells at you to leave, and people who like what you do might cry. 

Twitter @nathanmacintosh

Moving to Canada.

This week, America made it legal in all fifty states for gay people to get married. Which is amazing, and really cool to see America act like a full country instead of just having pockets of places where gay marriage is legal. But SOME people are angry about it. 'This can not happen!' they say. Not in their country. And they are pissed. SO pissed that they said they would do the unthinkable. One of the worst things that ANY American could ever think of doing. They, are going to move to Canada. 

'Honey, it's happening! Hell is freezing over. We're moving to a place that froze over thousands of years ago. Pack your dog sled. We're going to the North Pole. Canada.'

First of all, really stupid idea. You want to move out of America because they made gay marriage legal? Canada did that ten years ago. Also, the ONLY time you'll think of moving to Canada is when your country goes against god? The only time you'll think about moving to a great country that you know nothing about is when yours insults jesus?

Second, you can't just MOVE to Canada. It's a real country with rules and such. Can people just move to America? No. There is a process. Just because Canada has the idea of being a nice place, doesn't mean you can just show up like it's your buddies couch. 

'Hey, friend. I thought I'd just crash here for a couple of years. That's cool, right? There's troubles in my own home. I won't sign the lease or do any paper work or anything. I'll just crash on your couch. And hey, please keep it down. I have needs to.'

You can't just MOVE to another country. You can't even order something online without filling out some papers. You think you can just show up in a different place? Not a reality. Also, what are you going to tell the border? 

'Business or pleasure, sir?'

'Pissed! That's what! God damn livid!'

'Been there. Go right on, sir. Stay livid, eh?'

I would love to know what these American's who are never going to move to Canada would say at the border when moving to the country that they are NEVER going to move to. Not even if their President is one day an alien who grows fifty feet tall and starts eating children, they'll NEVER make that drive north. It'll never happen, but here are a couple thoughts of what they might say at the border. 

'Why am I COMING here?! Because I'm angry at America and believe we all need guns! You don't want me in your country? Well suck my bag! But not in a gay way. That's what I'm mad about.'

'Look, I'm an AMERICAN. A -M -e... the other letters. You're a dumb little country. I'm going to bring some culture to this mother. You're lucky to have me,... EH. Now step the hell back!'

'My country is letting faggots get married. I swear to g.... You guys do that too? You stupid faggots.... Do you guys have a Chik Fil A? Oh for CHRIST. And I was gonna move here? How do I make a U-ey you queer?'

'Look, I don't know where I'm going here. I know Toronto and Montreal, and I know they touch each other, but other than that? Haven't figured it out. Any place not covered in ice right now?'

'Have you ever heard of a little man named Bruce Springsteen? Well, he's OURS. If you own an album, I should be allowed in your country.'

'We helped you in WW2. Like, what the hell? No, that's not true. We didn't work together to fight Germany. You guys were being given wedgies by England, and we went over there and started cracking heads! You owe me! My grand father PERSONALLY saved a MILLION Canadians in WW1, and now you're going to disrespect me like this?'

'Listen you ignorant syrup sucker, my grand pappy would suck your un-american dick just to prove a point. If he was alive today he'd say, 'Son, run this stupid border guard over.' I didn't get type two diabetes from white powdered donuts and never walking to be talked to like this by a g d CANADIAN. When I find this seat belt buckle I'm gonna beat your ASS. Jail? Sure. I'M going to go to jail. A CANADIAN jail? What's that? A hollowed out tree? I swear to EVERY holy that you people can just su.... ahhhhhhhhhhh! (man tased through his F-150 truck window.)

Twitter @nathanmacintosh

How I Brought Down FutureShop.

Today, FutureShop, Canada's Best Buy which was bought by Best Buy in 2001, closed it's doors to either disappear into the night or, become Best Buy. I worked at FutureShop for about four months when I was 18. Honestly, I really wanted to work at this place. I thought at the time that it would be so cool to work around TV's and video games and such. It was for awhile, and then I started to single handedly bring the company down. How did I do this? Here's a list. 

Executive Lunches

Ah, the executive lunch. Took a whole hell of a lot of these. What is an executive lunch? It's what me and a few people working at FutureShop assumed the CEO's and such of the company were taking. Two, two and a half hour lunches. just brazen lunches in the middle of the day. There's was one guy specifically who always wanted to take these. We'd see each other at around 11am, walking the floor. One of us would always drop it.

"Executive?"

"Oh, buddy. I need an executive today. This place is kicking my ass."

We'd go for lunch at Pizza Delight across the street for their lunch buffet. That thing ran from noon to two. We'd crush the whole thing, then get dessert. Our lunches were supposed to be a half hour. If we took a peasant lunch, we'd get to pizza delight, order, and have to walk back across a highway and parking lot eating pizza like stupids. The executive allowed us to REALLY stretch out. 

I'm assuming the executive lunches cost the couple around ten grand. We took in enough lunches in four months that if broken down in half hours would last a year. 

Calling a guy named Dwayne 'Dwaaaaaaayyyynnnneee!' like Garth from Waynes World

I worked in the Home Theatre department with a guy named Dwayne. I would always say, "Dwaaaaaaayyyynne!" like Garth Algar. 

"Don't say my name like that."

"Okay.... Dwaaaayyyyynnnnneee!"

He really didn't like this, and it really made me laugh. Doing this on a daily basis probably cost the company at least ten bucks. Not exactly sure how, but it had to. 

Showing up late, leaving early

After awhile, I wasn't a fan of this place. I wasn't really into selling TV's and the full manager told me a couple times that I was an idiot. I was also 18, and didn't care at all about making a bunch of money. So, I started coming in late. Like, an hour here, two here. If I had an eight hour shift, sometimes I might actually be in the building for three hours then leave. One day I came in late, found out a TV that I sold the day before had been returned. You could check your numbers, and because of that TV return, I actually owed the company $2.36. OWED them money. I went home. Played Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. I was called once when doing this.

"Nathan, where are you?"

"Uhhh, I'm in the back. What's up?"

"Oh. Do you know where this thing is?"

And that was that. I hung up, and went back to Grand Theft Auto. Showing up late and leaving early probably cost the company seventy thousand dollars. These are all just projections. The same ones that they placed on us. 

Costing The Company Twenty Five Grand

I was at work one day, and the assistant manager came up to me. 

"Nathan, can I talk to you? Your numbers are down. You are supposed to have thirty thousand dollars worth of sales by this time in the month. You have five. That means you've cost the company twenty five thousand dollars. What are you going to do about it?"

I didn't really have an answer. I think I told her I would try harder? She told me to make TV stands. Instead of walking the floor, talking to the hero's that would come through, I sat in the home theatre department banging a hammer into some wood. 

Costing the company twenty five grand probably cost the company twenty five grand. 

Not selling big enough TV's

As I stated, I wasn't the best at selling TV's. Why? Honestly, I didn't really want to. I liked talking to people, so that's what I would do. 

"Hey, how are you?"

"Just looking."

"I'm just asking. What's up?"

Then we might talk about movies or whatever. I would tell people what they wanted to know about TV's, but I didn't want to pull the grease of pretending I cared, then talking them into the service plan, which was the only way I could really make money. One day someone came in, and asked how much the TV's on the wall cost. The TV's that were always on. The ones that were placed there the day the store opened and only shut off at night.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. How much?"

So, I go in the back where the manager was. He is back there, throwing a whistle Nerf ball back and forth with another manager. 

"Why do you want to know how much those cost? You're seriously selling that? Wow. What do you bring to this company, Nathan?"

(Whistle From The Nerf Ball)

Once he was done making a SWEET catch over a trash can, he, with his wisdom and expertise and everything else he brought to the company, told me the TV would be fifty bucks. I go back out and tell the customer, who says they'll take it. So I have to get a ladder, climb the top, unplug and dust off a tube TV that was on for at least five years straight, and struggle to bring it back down. Get it on the floor, and this criminal asks me something I'll never forget.

"Do you have the box for it?"

"Buddy, for fuck sake, of course not. I almost died getting this. Please just die." What I wanted to say. But didn't. I went and made this animal a box.

Getting this TV down, making a box and bothering the Nerf throwing Czar with a question probably cost the company a million dollars. THIS was the big one.

Obeying managers 'Don't Give Deals' slogans.

Managers always told us not to give deals to people. At first I thought this would never come up. But EVERYday. EVERY single day, people would come in and want deals. A lot of times over stupid thing.

"I'm buying this pack of gum. What can you do for me on this TV?"

I would tell people that we couldn't give deals. Wasn't allowed to happen. People would ask for my manager. I'd go cool, they're going to say the same thing I just said. I'd get my manager, and they would come over. 

"How can I help you, sir?"

"I'm buying this pack of Trident. I want a deal on this two thousand dollar TV."

"Hmmm. Tell you what. You buy two packs of gum, I'll give you the TV."

"Deal!"

So, in getting the manager to do something they told me not to do, I cost the company here at least a couple bucks. 

Raising My Arms Like A Winner Each Day I Was On The 'Lowest Sales' List

Every day that we would come in, the manager would read out who had the most sales the day before and who had the least. Every day, I was on the list of the least. 

"Okay, and again, for the LEAST amount of sales, is Nathan. Way to go, Nathan. Way to help the company."

I would raise my arms like I'd won the Intercontinental Title. Doing this made it look awesome to make the lowest sales list, so I'm sure some others did it. This would have cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

My Last Day

My last day at FutureShop was on New Years Eve. I was a seasonal worker, and at the end of this day they were going to let us know if they were keeping us on. I had been called an idiot, not that smart for a red head, I was always at the bottom of the sales list, and was executive lunch advocate. I wasn't going to be asked to stay on. I decided to take an executive walk out, and leave during the day. Before that, I was asking people what they wanted to pay for things. 

"Ah, man. I really want this DVD player. But it costs a bit much."

"How much you want to pay for it?"

"Eighty bucks?"

"Done."

"Really?! What about sixty?"

"Come on, man. Let's not get greedy."

I did that for a couple of hours, charged people what they wanted to pay for things. Then another guy and I decided to walk out and hit the casino. This day probably made the company money. Once I left, it might have been looking up except for today. Goodbye, old friend. 

Twitter @nathanmacintosh