BOUQUET To the kind gentleman at Port Place who gave my grandsons $20 to buy flowers for their great-grandmother when he overheard them discussing that they didn’t have enough money. Your kindness will not be forgotten and they have already got their plan in place to pay it forward.
BEEF To my roommate’s Roomba. Find your own kitchen, stop scaring me away from mine.
BOUQUET To the cheery cashier in Pomme. He interacts with each customer in such a happy way, and always has a compliment for them – he likes their glasses, their necklace, or their sweater.
BEEF To the beefer about his reasoning for flying the Canadian flag upside-down. If you are in distress, I suggest an education. You, in fact are disgracing our flag. Veterans fought and died for your freedom. Go live in a communist/dictatorship country. Perhaps then you will appreciate your freedom in Canada. You should be ashamed.
BOUQUET To the doctor at Specsavers who informed me that I did not need new glasses, just a strong reading lamp, thanks for your honesty and saving me megabucks.
BEEF To Nanaimo city council. Lantzville did it, why can’t you?
BOUQUET To our Chase River customers, the compassion, understanding, and a willingness to lend a hand to those in need. It has been a heartfelt honour to witness such great acts of kindness first-hand at the Chase River Country Grocer the past couple of weeks. Please know we see you and how amazing you truly are.
BEEF To companies and stores that put stickers on their products that require an industrial grade solvent to remove the glue they use. Incredibly frustrating.
BOUQUET To Industrial Plastics and Paints for providing a piece of heavy-duty plastic for free to mend our local book box which had been vandalized recently. We are so grateful for your kindness in helping keep our book box in good shape and supporting reading for everyone in our neighbourhood.
BEEF To the person in Lantzville who beefed about a neighbour letting their cats run wild in their yard. You can’t control cats like dogs and cats roam anywhere they please. And catching birds is what cats do. Deal with it.
BOUQUET Thank you to the kind couple that helped when my husband collapsed in Costco. You made a difficult situation much easier. He is doing fine now. Our world is a better place because of people like you.
BEEF To the city for paying so little attention to accessibility and pedestrian safety. Perhaps before spending millions on bike lanes that are barely used, there could be some funds allocated to creating sidewalks so that those of us without the ability to drive don’t have to push strollers along busy streets to get to a bus stop or walk our children to school. Pedestrians matter too.
BOUQUET Very grateful to Buckerfield’s for their Christmas pet Santa photo. We also got some doggy goodies, including a toy that has miraculously survived a pummelling by our puppy and still looks great. Thanks for giving out such high-quality toys as part of your wonderful Santa photo experience. Hope you do it again this year.
BEEF We ventured out for dinner (a rare occurrence with prices now) to a pub. I could not believe the level of service; non-existent. They would not even engage in eye contact or acknowledge we were there. The servers appeared to engage in chats with the locals and everyone else eventually got served. This pub used to be excellent for service and food, but clearly this is no longer true.
BOUQUET To Lisa, who looks after, cultivates and maintains the legacy of my father’s garden after his passing. We are so grateful for your care, investment of time and energy and continuing to grow, care for and create new food and plant life every season without being paid. Thank you.
BEEF To the person who feels the need to rev and ride their motorcycle up and down Irwin Street, over and over again, at any hour of the day, everyday. Don’t you have any respect? If you’re that bored take your bike up the highway and go for a real ride. Also, the speed limit is 50 because this road happens to be a residential road.
BOUQUET Thank you to executive of the Chase River Community Association as they have offered their time and efforts to serve this community over many years. Our chairperson Mike has served this community for over 30 years. We are grateful and appreciate your leadership.
BEEF I was appalled at the council session regarding the Colliery Dam Park dam. Citing studies about drowning deaths and scare-mongering with other mentions of dam fails (constructed very differently from our dams) are not the methods I expect from experts the city hires. They should be open to looking at options that don’t involve exorbitant amounts of tax dollars to come up with alternative methods to comply with the dam safety regulations.
BOUQUET I fainted in Quality Foods Northridge Village and sustained a serious concussion. I woke up in the NRGH and fortunately received great care throughout the rest of the medical crisis. I have no idea who helped me at Quality Foods but I wish to thank all the staff who called 911 and co-ordinated the medical response. I feel badly for anyone who experienced any stress as a result of this incident, but I am so grateful for the quick response and want to share that I am on the path to healing.
BEEF We need more walk-in clinics in Nanaimo, so we aren’t tying up emergency.
BOUQUET To Nanaimo and every other B.C. municipality that has done so for cracking down on short-term rentals and empty houses lately. Maybe, if I’m lucky and this pressure keeps up, I’ll one day be able to retire here in a home of my own rather than having to move out to the Prairies in my dotage.
BEEF Very disappointed in a restaurant downtown today. Got there at 10:30 and didn’t get our food until 11:15. Another table that was there before us got theirs after us. The waitresses were great but the kitchen seemed short-staffed. Will probably choose another restaurant in the future.
BOUQUET To the city for implementing an ‘advance walk’ at some light-controlled intersections. A very effective idea much appreciated by this driver and walker.
BOUQUET To the Bulk Barn and its manager. The bottom of a bag had given way and chocolate eggs had spilled all over the parking lot. The manager immediately invited the customer back into the store, offered to replace the bag at no charge, and then had the mess outside cleaned up. Now that’s customer service.
BEEF To the City of Nanaimo. Pay parking on the streets around the hospital is supposed to ease congestion? The parking is plugged up because it takes so long to get in and out of the hospital. Fix the real problem. It’s not parking.
BOUQUET To the immigrant people coming to Canada with their politeness, work ethic and family-oriented outlooks. I’m proud to welcome them to Canada and thank them for taking up the slack created by our entitled, entrenched society.
BEEF To employees who ask, pressure, or persuade the customer to give them a 10/10 – likely because a monetary reward is attached to a perfect score. But rarely are services a 10/10. But 10 or no 10, my opinion is now skewed, which makes it far too much effort and concern to fill out a survey.
BOUQUET To the ground-floor neighbour who is moving out. You ineptly left your piles of old cigarette butts on your balcony. This shows it wasn’t me who was disturbing other tenants with smoke. Beef to the building manager who had singled me out for this, threatening eviction of anyone smoking. I told you so.
BEEF Seems to be a lot of discrimination against the Irish in Nanaimo lately, we have Pride parades but we can’t pull off a St. Patrick’s Day parade? Nanaimo must like slimy snakes.
BOUQUET To the amazing staff at Budget Glass for fixing this teacher’s broken overhead projector glass so that the students can use this old-school tech for a new-school project. You were so helpful, even when I had to come back and have the piece adjusted due to my mis-measurement. Thank you for your caring service.
BEEF To the Chicken Little gang. If it’s not too much rain, it’s not enough, if it’s not enough snow, it’s too much. Too hot, not hot enough. It must be exhausting.
BOUQUET Thank you to the lovely young girl in Country Grocer who offered me a $50 bill to help pay for my groceries. What a caring young person. I hope she found a needy recipient. Thanks also to grandma for her obviously caring guidance.
BEEF To the restaurant in the north end that continues to charge an MSP surcharge on the bills. I have never been to any other restaurant that does this. It might be small but it is the principle that counts.
BOUQUET To Riley Y. and his crew Curtis and Cody of Key Excavating. I had a big underground leak on my property and had no idea where to start to have it fixed. Riley patiently walked me through. The job was done in less than a day. I was lucky to have such polite, hard-working, and knowledgeable workers. It was wonderful to see young people choosing to work in the trades. They are so desperately needed.
BEEF To a plumbing company that makes a house call and charges for the use of company tools.
BOUQUET To Quinn, the young man who delivers our Nanaimo Bulletin. Thank you for doing such a fantastic job each week. You are respectful of our properties, using only the driveways when it would be easier to cut across the lawns. You are polite and greet the residents with a smile. I can speak for my neighbours when I say thank you and keep up the good work.
BEEF To the driver of a vehicle with sports team branding for trying to drive while on the phone.
BOUQUET To the kind person who turned in my purse after I left it at Costco. Your honesty and integrity are true blessings and this disabled senior thanks you from the bottom of my heart.
BEEF To the disrespectful driver of the Maserati with loud exhaust who revved their engine while we were getting out of our car. You show that you have no respect for citizens in our city.
BOUQUET To the young man who sang You are my Sunshine, in memory of his grandparents, at the Bowen Park Activity Centre. It was so emotional, we were all in tears. Thank you.
To submit a beef or a bouquet to the Nanaimo News Bulletin, e-mail editor@nanaimobulletin.com.