Well, I thought I would be working until Thursday, but it’s looking like I might take that day off as vacation, too, since things are running fairly smoothly here. Smoothly enough, in fact, that I can type you all a nice, lengthy entry on my lunch break about my current obsession. Unsurprisingly, it involves booze and jewelery.

I have found a mission; the LCBO is having a marketing promotion with Birks called “Meet Your Match”, where they are giving away a $30,000 engagement ring via a contest where you collect game tokens from “select bottles of Ontario wine” in “participating stores”. Except that apparently NO stores have volunteered to participate.

Certainly not our local Weston and 401 gigantic-mega-liquor-outlet, where they had hot pink posters and banners galore advertising the contest, but no game tokens in sight. The management appeared befuddled in the extreme when I asked about where I might find some of the well-advertised game tokens, and it took about ten minutes to find the appropriate manager, “Bruce”, who ended up being utterly clueless and altogether no help at all.

Hello! The contest has been underway since September 15th, people!!!
Has nobody paused to ask you these questions yet?
Have you not bothered to wonder about it yourselves?

The Manulife Centre LCBOs were not much better. The guy at the regular store across from the Indigo at least had the savvy to understand what I was talking about when I pointed agitatedly at the many six foot tall fuschia posters bedecking his display case in the window, but informed me that sadly their store was not participating, but perhaps the Vintages store located north of them *directly across from Birks* might have tokens.

No. No they bloody well don’t. The manager at that location said that they were promised tokens by head office, and only the posters and check out counter advertising material had shown up. Where are these gorram tokens?!?!

Weird fact: yesterday, the clock on the telephone of the cubicle I’ve been sitting at during the transition time between old job and new job read “December 19th” all day. Why would the phone think it was my birthday?