Stands shifted for Indy race

Organizers of the 2010 Honda Indy Edmonton have changed grandstand locations to give fans a new view of the event and to reduce downtime on the airport runway.

Oilers Offside at Upscale Restaurant

After losing the annual New Year’s Eve game to the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers dropped the gloves with the staff of Osteria de Medici, an upscale Calgary restaurant.

After a group of almost 50 people racked up a bill of $14,234.06 before tip (16.796.19 after an automatic 18% gratuity), they demanded a break on the bill, according to manager Maurizio Terrigno. Staff members even claim some of the players became threatening during the dispute.

Reports show that half of the Oiler’s tab was on alcohol, ranging from shots of tequila to expensive wines and champagne (they lost, right?).

Restaurant staff claims that only after the fact of calling in the tab did the group request bottle-service prices. (Keep in mind that any restaurant owners who want to provide bottle service must apply for a permit through the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission. Although an upscale restaurant, without evidence of Osteria de Medici having this permit, it may have been part of this issue.)

Reading many online reports, many people have stepped forward with their two cents from both sides of the table:

Wayne Leong, owner of Melrose Cafe and Bar in Southwest Calgary said, “Out of the blue I don’t believe you can say, ‘Can I have bottle service?’” He continued, “I think that if they were to negotiate it at the beginning … but not after, whether they were a regular customer or celebrity.”

Oilers spokesman Allan Watt (although biased from being directly connected to the dispute) stated the bill was “outrageous” and had earlier said the players had a pre-arranged menu on the evening in question. However, Watt has little ground to stand on for some areas of their dispute. He also said the restaurant tried to charge for an imported bottle of expensive brandy after one of the players took a swig from it. Ok, somebody drank directly from the bottle, and are all pissed they’re being charged for the whole bottle? My firm understanding of the Health Code is that the restaurant can no longer serve that bottle to anybody else now that a player was drinking from the bottle. But the all-too-common sense of entitlement and arrogance that comes with being a high-rolling NHL player - such as drinking from the bottle of what was a $200 imported brandy - then crying about being charged for it because you’re an NHLer, makes you a bag of shit.

But alas, there are unbiased opinions floating around the Internet claiming the players have been treated unfairly and accused the eatery’s management of trying to gain publicity by going public with the allegations.

On the Oilers’ team message board, user “Hillcat” stated, “This guy sounds more like a hardcore Flames [fan] just looking for an easy way to give the Oilers a black eye”

IMO, the Oilers should have better managed their evening’s events beforehand to avoid this mishap after the fact. Discover the facts about the restaurant’s bottle service existence/rules and sort it out ahead of time.

From the restaurants perspective, going public with a report did nothing positive for their business. If anything, they lost some seriously paid customers - the entire Oilers organization, plus players and friends, and by going public, any loyal fans as well.

One thing for sure, as someone who doesn’t give a shit about the team nor the restaurant, I’m no more enticed to go there now than I was before all this went down.

The general opinion however, is not one of sympathy for the Oilers. Most people side with the fact that the Oilers and players are very well-paid athletes and shouldn’t be disputing a tab for the team’s night out. The team’s eventual bill was trimmed to $12,381 by restaurant management - almost one-third less.

On the same team message board, username “Lilfrnz” suggested that perhaps the players should have chosen another restaurant if they didn’t want to pay a hefty bill, or the large tip that went with it.
“It was a group of nearly 50 people who refused to pay 33 per cent of their bill. If anything, it sounds like they objected to the 18 per cent (automatic gratuity) which means they shouldn’t have gone to the restaurant.”

Regardless of opinion, the bottom line is that ANY player on the Oilers’ roster (let alone the organization itself), could have paid that bill in full, without question, and not even missed the money. This season’s combined salary for the Oilers roster is a staggering $56.8 million. If it was perfectly split among all 26 players, I’m accurate in stating that the “average” Oilers’ player annual salary is nearly $2.2M, or $42,011 a week - A WEEK!!! Now put all of them together and watch them go “ballistic” (as restaurant manager Terrigno stated) over a <$17,000 bill. Give me a break.

Glitch Results in Over Billing For Bell Mobility Customers

If you are a Bell Mobility customer you may want to verify your last few bills are correct based on your usage. It does not matter what cell phone you have or what plan you are on, every Bell customer in Calgary may have been subjected to the glitch resulting in higher than normal bills.

The problem stems from a faulty cell phone tower located in Downtown Calgary at 7th Avenue and 7th
Street. The tower was incorrectly setup as an Edmonton tower so if that tower was the closest one when you placed a call the billing system thought the call originated from Edmonton. You may have been charged for long distance calls that you did not make.

Obviously, those that work downtown are the most likely to be affected since that is where the tower is located, but anyone that was on a call while driving anywhere near that tower could also be affected. The lack of action by Bell makes it impossible to tell how many customers were affected. In fact, Bell initially denied there were any problems and told customers that called in to question the long distance charges that they would only reimburse 50% of the charges. They have now identified the problem, but have no plans to notify customers that were affected by the glitch.

I am willing to bet that while Bell has no plans to notify customers that were overcharged, they will waste no time assigning employees to investigate to see if there were customers that got free long distance calls to Edmonton due to the glitch. I hate how some companies do not take the responsibility to address issues like this.

90+ Petro-Canada Stations Suffer From Gas Shortage

Over 90 Petro-Canada gas stations across BC and Alberta have run dry because of a gas shortage caused by a shut-down of a fuel refinery in Northern Alberta. Over 120 employees have been assigned to repair the problem, a broken catalytic cracking unit, but the repairs are likely going to take quite some time. The company expects the problem to be fixed by September resulting in almost a month of downtime for the facility.

Across Calgary, most Petro Canada stations were dry. The first Petro Canada station for drivers entering the city from the West just off the Trans Canada Highway is still selling gas but other stations in the area are completely out of all grades of gasoline.

Calgary gas bar owner John Balanazario said he and other station owners have been forced to offer higher grade fuels at lower grade prices and absorb the losses out of their own pockets.

“It’s bad for business, but good for the customers,” he said.

Retailers are feeling the pinch as the convenience stores are empty with gas customers. August is typically a high demand season with many people going on road trips on the weekends. The August long weekend will see many people heading out of town to go camping, and on day trips. Any retailers looking for compensation from Petro Canada will be out of luck as the company has already said it will not be providing any.

“Because the current situation is the result of an unplanned incident, it was actually an incident declared force majeure and compensation is unfortunately not available in a force majeure situation,” said Petro-Canada spokeswoman Kelli Stevens on Friday.

Once the refinery is back online in early September, it will likely take another week or so before fuel production and delivery starts. It will be even longer yet for retailers to determine if they have lost any customers to other gasoline retailers because of the prolonged shortage.

DTP Edmonton 2008

Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008
City: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Venue: Northlands Agricom
Show Hours: 1:00PM to 9:00PM
Adults (Age 12+): $15.00
Children (4-11): $10.00
Seniors (65 or better with ID): FREE
Infants (3 and under): FREE

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