Another of Life's Great Ironies

Saturday night, already! Where has this week gone, Ms J?! I can't believe how quickly time flies since I began training here at VIA. That's VEE-yah, incidentally, not VYE-yah. And yes, the days slip by so quickly now. Ottawa, hotel room, breakfast, return to Mimico. Rest, visit Colleen, then race back to Ottawa. It's a bit of a grind at times, but I'm doing fairly well, I think. I've completed nine round trips now and I'm becoming a bit more confident each time. I'm actually beginning to enjoy it!

But here's the irony:

Back in the dark days when I still worked for BBRC, (that's the Black-hearted Bastard Railway of Canada, Ms J. Remember?) I was faced with the prospect of training people to operate our GO trains. I was uncomfortable with the idea, to say the least.

"I'm not training those Bombardier pricks so they can steal our jobs!" I wailed. "As a matter of fact, I refuse to train ANYONE. Screw 'em. All of 'em. And the BBRC as well."

And yet, Ms Journal, and yet ...

Here I am at VIA, grinning humbly and fully expecting to be trained. Many of the hoggers I'll train with at VIA are guys with less seniority than I have. Nevin, for instance. He's way junior to me. When I'm finally qualified, I'll have the right to displace him off his Ottawa job and force him to bump onto another assignment. Nevin knows this, but still agrees to train me. Frankly, I doubt I will bump him. My conscience would never allow it. But that's not the point, is it? The point I'm making here is simply this:

I refused to train engineers at BBRC, but still expect to be trained by VIA guys.

Ironic? You bet.
Hypocritical? Clearly.
Another lesson learned?

Another lesson learned??

Yeah, Ms J. Another helping of humble pie.

Napkin, please.

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