Just got back from a work week in Moncton. While there I hit some repeat spots (including dinner with my parents, which is always great) but also tried a few new ones:
Laundromat Espresso Bar, which was fine. Kind of liked the idea of it as a bar (they also have live music sometimes) but I was there in the middle of the day, so…beer next time.
Notre Dame de Parkton, a lunch-only sandwich place famous for its high-quality bacon. I didn’t get bacon this time, but did get a smoked meat sandwich which, while small, was one of the best I’ve ever eaten. The meat melted in my mouth. The bread was soft as a cloud. Classic yellow mustard. Pickle, cole slaw, and plain chips on the side. Perfectly executed lunch. Will repeat.
Banh Mi Bready, a (you guessed it) banh mi place near my office which an employee recommended. I got the grilled pork at their suggestion, and it was solid. Good option for next time. Glad to see it was hopping too — good for them.
The new Main Street location of Red Satay. I’ve been to the St. George location a bunch.
Picked up a couple of excellent wines at that primo ANBL too:
Earlier this week I visited Prince Edward Island for the first time in (*checks with his mother*) about 45 years. I don’t know why that is — we lived an hour away, but never went. I guess it was just more of the same thing we grew up with in NS, except with a ferry ride (or, after 1997, an expensive bridge toll) thrown in.
To be more specific, I really only spent time in Charlottetown, for a couple of days of work. We did manage to sneak in a tasty meal and cocktails at Slaymaker & Nichols, excellent coffee from Receiver, a lobster roll from Salt & Sol, and a cruise around the harbour. We were lucky; the weather was 98% beautiful (no sign of the after-affects of a recent hurricane off the coast), the water was calm, and we even spotted a few seals. It felt good to be back on salt water.
After the harbour cruise, we all made an obligatory visit to Cows. A thoughtful co-worker even bought us all t-shirts from Cows; a few days later, the security personnel at the Moncton airport would be big fans of my Scoop Dogg shirt.
Yes, Moncton. After the meetings in Charlottetown ended I hitched a ride with a colleague back across the bridge (my first time traversing it, obviously) to Moncton where I worked for a few days. Not much of note in that short visit, except that I finally visited CoPain, an artisanal bakery. I’ll be back, on the strength of that croissant alone.
I’ve been meaning to talk about this article for months, because it infuriates me. I spent a total of 22 years working in the banking industry: 14 at a big six bank, and 8 more at a smaller challenger bank (which railed against the kind of stuff described below). Based on what I saw working at that big bank, nothing in this article surprises me.
Marketplace has spoken confidentially to current and former bank employees from all the big banks: TD, RBC, BMO, Scotiabank and CIBC. CBC is concealing their identities because they fear professional repercussions. All expressed similar concerns about enormous sales pressure they say leads to potentially costly or otherwise dangerous financial products being pushed on customers.
“I had to mislead customers into getting products that they didn’t need, to reach my sales target,” said a recent BMO employee.
“It’s not a customer service … environment,” a former Scotiabank employee said. “We’re there to sell — and make money for the bank.”
While I never worked in a branch, it was common knowledge that this happened. Branch staff had monthly sales quotas. I personally witnessed — as a customer long after I left that bank, mind you, not as an employee — staff in a different big six bank offering products to a customer that they obviously did not need, not because they wanted to, but because the system prompted them to and they knew they’d be in trouble if they didn’t ask.
They will push credit products and other revenue-generating products in order to meet sales quotas, vs. giving advice which would benefit the customer. From the same article:
In a second test, Marketplace sent a colleague wearing hidden cameras to meet with financial advisors at the big five banks.
She posed as a customer with a $50,000 inheritance coming soon and wanted financial advice. If asked, she said she also had a $350,000 mortgage and $17,000 in credit card debt.
None of the advisors asked about existing debt, instead recommending that our tester invest the full $50,000 in products like GICs and mutual funds, which help bank employees hit their sales targets.
When our tester raised the credit card debt herself, only BMO and CIBC clearly recommended that she use part of the supposed inheritance to pay it off in full.
Anyone with a basic knowledge of budgeting and money management would tell you to pay down high-interest debt before investing. But they get away with this predatory bullshit because customers assume that bank branch employees have a fiduciary duty to help them. THEY 👏 DO 👏 NOT 👏.
In one recording, a manager tells Jeraline that in order to make more sales, she should remember that she does not work in customer service.
“We are investment advisors,” he says. “You have to have a bit of aggression.”
Unlike registered financial advisers, financial advisors (spelled with an “o”) at banks have no fiduciary requirement to their customers.
I say this to everyone who tells me about their investments at their bank. 9 times out of 10 it’s some mediocre bank-owned mutual fund which was recommended not because it’s the best option for the customer, but because it makes the bank the most money. Look at this list of the largest mutual funds in Canada, or this table from Morningstar.ca showing the most popular funds on their site last year.
7 of those 10 funds are from big banks, despite their largely mediocre performance. In fact, by the time you subtract the MER, 4 of those 7 big bank mutual funds earned less last year than my everyday bank account. The only reason these funds grew so big is because bank staff recommend them regardless of their performance or suitability to the customer.
Most people are surprised when I tell them the bank employee who sold them a high-fee mutual fund owes them no fiduciary duty. They shouldn’t be. Those banks are designed to maximize their own profits at the expense of their customers, in spite of their spokespeople’s protestations or what their multimillion-dollar marketing campaigns tell you. I didn’t see that — or didn’t want to see it — until I stopped working at one…and I have a Commerce degree and an MBA, plus decades of hands-on experience. My heart breaks for the people who get taken advantage of day in and day out by a predatory oligopoly.
Just back from another trip out east. Couple days in Moncton (no new places visited) and a couple days on the farm with my dad while my mom, sister-in-law, and brother #2 were overseas. Flew back Thursday (and fell kind of ill on the flight, which wasn’t great, but it’s also not the first time I’ve experienced that…I’m starting to think it’s the white wine they serve) and spent Friday working & recovering.
Right before I left for Moncton we had binged The Jinx. Lindsay had seen it; I somehow had not (though I knew what happened in the final episode). Still, learning the whole story was…pretty shocking. So of course when I got back we starting catching up on the new season, and suddenly I’m back to impatiently waiting for Sunday night TV.
Just got back from another trip to Moncton. Highlights:
Stayed at a different hotel this time, the boutique hotel above the St. James’ Gate pub. It was just okay. Showing it’s age a bit for sure. And the cleaners in the room next to mine had no problem blasting super-loud music at 7am through the thin walls. Luckily I was already up, but if you were looking to sleep in it might not be the place for you. No amenities or anything either…just a room.
I managed to coordinate a fly-by hug with my mom on her way to a show at the Capitol Theatre, which was a nice little bonus for us both.
Coupla hammered guys outside the St. James’ Gate got pretty aggro with me as I tried to go to my room, making fun of me because — as far as I could tell — I was wearing a collared shirt. Ah, the Maritimes.
Wine tradition: picked up a pretty nice bottle of Oregon Pinot and drank it over the course of the week.
I’ve just spent the week in Moncton, a more-or-less monthly occurrence now. This time it was rainy — very rainy. But at least it wasn’t snow or sleet.
I managed to try some new places this time, not just the same-old. On Monday I made a quick run to my favourite ANBL, and finally grabbed apps & beers at Pumphouse.
Wednesday I had drinks with more/other colleagues at Carrabba’s, and took a salad to go.
Thursday I decided to treat myself and had dinner, solo, at The Windjammer — a Moncton institution, but new to me. On the way I stopped in once again at the best ANBL, and found they were doing a little wine tasting. I just missed the Champagne, but sampled a fantastic Chablis and some excellent Beaujolais from Morgon. Good timing, I must say. Then, off to dinner.
The Windjammer wasn’t busy; I had a large booth to myself. The staff were just lovely, and matched my pace (i.e., I never waited for a course to show up, but never felt rushed) perfectly. My meal:
Amuse-bouche of beetroot and smoked salmon
Beet & goat cheese salad
Champagne
Granita (palate cleanser)
Bone-in ribeye w/ vegetables & Béarnaise sauce
Chianti
Chocolate truffles
Port
The steak was cooked perfectly, if a little over-salted. Still, I demolished it. They also very sweetly gave me a little jar of smoked salmon to take home, but I forgot it! Gutted.
Since it’s a long weekend I’ll leave Moncton this morning and drive to the farm for a couple of days. Just in time for the end of maple season!
POSTSCRIPT
It was a fun weekend at the farm. I tried to help out a bit with what turned out to be a very busy maple season, but I’m far too rusty. A bunch of family showed up Saturday and Sunday to partake of some maple, so that was an unexpected bonus. I also squeezed in a few hours up the road visiting one of my oldest friends, who I haven’t seen in…god, I don’t know how many years. But we got caught up, and fell right back into our love for music, and laughing about the days when we were kids. When I left he told me he loved me, and I told him the same. I’ve missed him, a lot. I’m excited to get more chances to see him.
I spent three days this week on a quick work trip to two western provinces: Manitoba (where I’ve visited just once) and Saskatchewan (where I’ve never been before). I met up with three colleagues at Pearson airport, and boarded the first of four flights to come in the next 48 hours. It was an Air Canada Express flight, meaning the planes didn’t have screens in the seats, so I got caught up on podcasts.
First on the agenda was Saskatoon. We landed (achievement unlocked: visit all ten provinces), buttoned our coats, and hurriedly walked to the rental car. We’d been dreading the western weather for days — and it was definitely still in the -20s — but luckily arrived just after the worst of it. (The day before it had felt like -48 with the windchill). We grabbed coffee from Museo, then later had fun with colleagues at Mar’s Mini-Golf and Earl’s.
The next day we had a 6:30 flight, so we were all up stupid-early. We were flying to Winnipeg, but because flights in the prairies are non-sensical, one of us had to fly to Calgary first, while the rest of us flew via Vancouver. If you understand Canadian geography at all, you’ll know how insane that is. Anyway, it gave me a chance to watch a movie (Dumb Money) and try out the first two episodes of a new-to-me TV show (For All Mankind). It also gave me a chance to marvel at the snowy BC landscape and see the sun glint off the Rockies, which is always a thrill. However, somewhere along the way I lost my Nexus card, which is going to be a pain in the butt.
We finally arrived in Winnipeg. Same sort of schedule as the Saskatoon: coffee (Thom Bargen, which was excellent), a fun group event (go-carting at Speedworld, which was very fun), and dinner at One Great City brewpub (which had me singing the Weakerthans song of the same name in my head the whole time).
I wish I’d had more (or maybe different?) time in both cities. I have friends in Winnipeg I’d have like to have seen — in hindsight I should have just stayed for the weekend. Then again, the middle of January probably isn’t the right time to spend extra days in cities like that. The crew I was with, who’ve done these trips many times, swear Saskatoon is beautiful in the summer, so maybe someday I’ll aim for that.
Or maybe it’s time to get to work on the territories?
A couple days ago we got back from Moncton. I’d been there nearly two weeks, Lindsay about half of that.
Weather was all over the place. From warm and rainy some days to full snowstorms to bitterly cold to heavy windstorms. That’s the Maritimes in almost-winter, I guess.
I mentioned the family & farm visits in my last post, but I also got to have a drink with a former vendor-side colleague who’s moved east, and an old university housemate who I hadn’t seen in (does quick math) 30 freakin’ years. We ended up in the same line of work, which was fun.
New places I tried this time: Gusto (not bad) and India King (very good), plus a bunch of delivery places because it was so g-d cold. I also got some intel on other good places, so the list has been refreshed for next time.
Once again I was back in Moncton this past week. Of note:
I sat next to someone I used to work with on the flight there, and another ex-colleague on the flight back. Last time I saw a former member of a past board of directors. I didn’t expect Moncton flights to be this kind of reunion hub.
Once I arrived I set out for my usual dinner plan: buy two bottles of wine at the Experience store, and get a baseball steak at The Keg. On the walk there I was a murmuration of Starlings just outside the hotel — I didn’t get video, but someone else did.
New places I tried this time: Cinta Ria (very tasty Malaysian), Taj Mahal (very good, even if I forgot to order rice), and the Tide & Boar brewpub, where I drank some very good beer and ate an extremely delicious (if far too big) Detroit-style donair pizza.
No family visits this time — it was a bit last-minute, and I was pretty heads-down whilst there — but there’ll be plenty more chances.
Three weeks ago Moncton was so hot I was sweating as I walked around. This past week, my first return trip for my new job, started with a day so cold I needed a scarf. It moderated through the week, but still…fall came on quickly.
No visit to the farm this time, but my parents, brother #2 and my s-i-l drove over to have dinner at The Keg, my second visit there in the week, so I ate my weight in baseballs. I also picked up food twice from Red Satay, given how close it was to where I was staying. Brix was similarly close by, thus it was my coffee home base, but I did also have an exceptional cortado down the street at Epoch Chemistry. I also tried quick lunches from Fahda’s (meh) and La Vida (pretty good) during the week.
My wine plan — buy two bottles I’ve never tried before from the EXPÉRIENCE store my first day there and drink them over the course of the week — worked pretty well. I picked up a lovely Garnacha-forward blend, and a 100% Merlot from Saint-Émilion.
Skirl | Dan Dickinson 