Don’t feel bad about pushing people to the polls

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/09/2019 (2553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Non-voters give me a pain. I’ve been fighting for a few weeks with my lazy and/or vehicle-less friends who say they are not going to vote, because it’s too much of a hassle.

I know the ones who think the way I do politically, because they yap about it openly and they live near me. So I’m getting a tank of gas and giving them rides to and from their polling stations. I’m taking the day off from my small business.

I know this is not unselfish. My preferred party will get 15-20 votes they might not have gotten otherwise, thanks to me. Who says one person can’t make a difference? My friends are so disinterested, only a personal friend who picks them up would get them out to a polling station.

Some might criticize me for only taking people who vote for the party I do. I think about it this way: can you imagine taking people in to vote who are going to vote for some party you would hate to see win? I’m not that open-minded.

— Free Car Ride Friend, Winnipeg

Dear Free Car Ride: I hear your frustration, and appreciate you’re somebody who does something other than complain about things. Yes, you are working this to your own political advantage, and some might criticize, although you haven’t actually quizzed these people about their voting preference.

It is still really their own business and not yours, though they may have talked about it voluntarily. They could still change their minds when it comes to marking their ballots, and that’s their right.

Other people give rides to neighbours and relatives and purposely don’t ask them how they vote. They are just supporting the right to vote. In fact, many friends and family avoid talking politics for fear of stirring up a fight.

The important thing is people get out to vote and you give them the opportunity to get there and home. We should all be helping each other, though I’m not suggesting canvassing people on how they’re going to vote.

Politics affects our daily lives whether we vote or not, so we should all have our say if we can.

It’s always amazing how many people who claim they don’t give a fig about politics, and didn’t bother to vote, suddenly have a lot to say about certain politicians and parties they don’t like after the outcome.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I’ve been getting the run-around from my boyfriend, who doesn’t come over from work like he used to. On the weekends, when he wants some lovin’, he goes on and on about how much he misses me. He gives me the sob story about how he’s so busy working late to cover for friends for sickness or their holidays, he hardly has time to see me.

Now it’s just down to a Saturday night and Sunday morning because he’s so busy working to help others. Oh, isn’t he cute? Such a liar!

I decided to lay a trap and catch him. Last week, I went to his favourite bar mid-week with a girlfriend late in the afternoon — yet another day he specifically said he’d be “working another double shift for a friend.”

We sat at the bar, our long hair hidden in ballcaps. We chatted with a young, inexperienced bartender who blabbed out how she appreciated my boyfriend and his friends’ daily business during the week.

So my fool and his friends came wheeling into the bar at 5:15, and he calls out a “Hi, honey” to the bartender. I turn around on the barstool, take off my ballcap and dark glasses and greet him face-to-face.

His mouth fell open. I told him, in front of his friends, the stuff he left at my house would be in a big orange garbage bag at the curb for 12 hours or as long as it lasted.

He ran over and got it after I left the bar. I wasn’t there because I went and stayed with my girlfriend, who dried my tears. Since then, he’s been calling, leaving messages that he loves me and begging me to come back to him. Today, he even sent flowers! Should I even talk with him, and give him a chance to explain?

— Lonely Girl Feeling Weak, St. Boniface

Dear Lonely and Weak: Explain what? His big stories about being the good guy and working overtime for poor sick friends — when he’s actually at the bar? He may tell you that you caught him the only day a friend got better and came back to work after lunch? Ha! Garbage! Just like the rest of the garbage he’s fed you, for how long now?

Look, he’s a daily drinker, a huge liar and he only uses you as a sex buddy when the need builds up on the weekends. He may also have other sex buddies on the weekday shifts, for all you know. And he thinks FLOWERS will make all that go away? Be strong; hold that line!

You can do way better than this guy, girlfriend. Buy your own posies, and start your love life over when you’re good and ready, with a much better guy.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg R2X 3B6.

Miss Lonelyhearts
Advice Columnist

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