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Despite the epileptic fits, Gilbey has worked at "odd jobs" over the years. He can‘t hold onto anything permanent, and says he even has trouble find odd jobs sometimes. Kitchener to keep from hunger. Gilbey has been caught in this vicious circle since his father died in poverty years ago, leaving him nothing. _ But he can‘t work fullâ€"time to pull himself up by the Gilbey suffers from epilepsy, a condition he‘s had since he was a teenager. ‘"The doctor tells me I can‘t have a job until this clears up," he says. "I have epileptic fits ... and they‘re pretty serious." ‘"When people hear that I take these epileptic fits they don‘t want to hire me. I get pretty serious â€" I can do harm to myself and to others." â€" â€" But there is another Waterloo. A Waterloo of poor people, of youth needing help to "make it". There‘s a Waterloo of people needing food hampers to be able to feed their families, of seniors finding it difficult to live on their allowance, of families desperately trying to make ends meet on insufficient social assistance payments. The Chronicle will outline the extent of the "hidden minority" in Waterloo through the individual stories of people residents. The ailment is kept under control by drugs. "The doctor says if I don‘t take my pills, I won‘t live long," he says. Gilbey has trouble making ends meet on that, and frequents the soup kitchen at St. John‘s church in Still, Gilbey wonders what the longâ€"term impact of the pills will be on his mind. Murray Gilbey is caught in a vicious circle. The 42â€"yearâ€"old lives in the Waterloo Hotel, with "welfare" paying his rent. He‘s constantly broke, and living off $100 a month disability allowance, he says. nology city, with a wellâ€"educated, middleâ€"class professionâ€" al population. I‘ve changed my mind about Sunday shopping, and I‘m not the only one to do so recently. _ _ For years now I‘ve thought stores should be open on Sunday. For one thing, it‘s often the most convenient time for me to shop. As well, this area doesn‘t have a heck of a lot of things to do on a typical Sunday. It‘s easy to be bored in the "Golden Triangle" on a Sunday. Unless, that is, you head off to Elmira, or St. Jacob‘s or Elora â€" any designated tourist area in fact. I‘ve been known to head into Toronto to Spadina Ave and the Queen‘s Quay just to fight the Sunday blah‘s. Traditional arguments that people should have a designated day off have never convinced me. After all, the provincial government could simply pass legislaâ€" tion guaranteeing that a worker is entitled to one day off in seven, and may never work more than six days in a row. Everybody could have their day off that way.. I used to manage a wellâ€"known Toronto restaurant. We were open Sundays, and obviously needed staff. While we attempted to schedule Sunday‘s off for most employees with children, the realities of business â€" noâ€"shows, sick employees, holidays â€" meant that sometimes people would have to settle for a Saturday, or a Monday off. I worked every Sunday. He keeps looking. "I‘d like to get the odd job. I think I Sure, it may not be the day they choose, but that‘s life. In hospitality, it is a fact of life, and often a condition of employment that you be flexible. â€" o At the Chronicle all reporters have to be available one weekend in four for assignments. I accept this as a condition of employment. The argument that traditional families should have weekends free to spend with the kids never moved me either. On weekends when one parent has to work Sunday, the other can care for the children. Waterloo has an image of being a booming hu:btacb- Years of poverty take a toll The Hidden Minority can work, as long as it‘s not heavy lifting. It would help me get by. ‘"When I was working, I could pay my own rent." Perhaps the majority of service managers are competent. But many are not. I have attended seminars and workshops where I have been horrified by the stories from other managers. I was derided by others in the business when attempting to switch the management â€" a style which trains people well and then gives them incentive to take responsibility for This calls for good juigement of the value of individual employees. Good managers would assess the overall value of an employee, and not focus on the refusal of an employee to work on Dec. 27. However, based on my experience as a hospitality manager (and as a former partâ€"time retail worker while attending university), I can confidently say that there is a lot of blatantly incompetent management in the service sector. Management wouldn‘t have to actually fire such people to "teach them a lesson". After Christmas, there is a slowdown of several months in the hospitality and retail industries. Management often needs to lay off some employees, and cut back the hours of others, il}/ order to make money or often even to break even. _ ‘ Sandy Baker, who works in a j;wellery store in Conestoga Mall presented council with a petition signed by 326 mall employees. In an eloquent presentation to council, Baker said that some employees working at outlets in the mall fear for their jobs if they exercise their right to refuse to work on Sunday Dec. 27. And I absolutely reject the argument based on religion. Canada is a pluralistic society. No one religion should dictate holidays and days off. But someone changed my mind on Sunday shopping at last Monday‘s city council meeting. Staft and volunteers at St. John‘s Kitchen in Kitchener serve 220 meals a day, many of them to Waterloo residents who can‘t make ends meet without the service. ian Kirkby photo WATERLOO CHROWNICLE, TUESDAY DECEMBER 22. 1987 â€" PAGE 3 »2A4AZLZALLLZLZLLLLELZLTTTTPLTEITE TTAE TIT their actions. Baker said that many of the older women who work at the mall are particularly reluctant to refuse to work on Dec. 27 because they fear not being able to find another job at their age. The province could have avoided this issue by passing quick legislation closing the loophole that allowed the major department stores to claim they had a right to open on the 27th. Instead it decided to not prosecute. It copped out in allowing municipalities to decide the issue of Sunday shopping in general. What‘s needed to counterâ€"balance this is provincial labor legislation forcing some kind of objective deciâ€" sionâ€"making procedure on the service industry when hours are being cut back. Of course, the alternative is for service workers to unionize. Unions have a wonderful way of imposing rationality on such decisionâ€"making. The drawâ€"back with that is that service employers have often been coldâ€"blooded in eliminating potential ‘"troublemakers‘" who might bring in a union where one is needed to counterâ€"balance inept management. I know. I‘ve seen it. Additionally, said Baker, ‘"we are living in the age of the single family parent and many people in retail are single parents". There are enough problems such as drug abuse among today‘s teenagers without taking mothers away from their kids on Sundays, said Baker. She changed my mind. I wasn‘t the only one. Coun. Mary Jane Mewhinney, who had previously come out in support of Sunday openings although opposed to the provinces "cop out‘" legislation changed her position too. Mewhinney told Baker she had been listening, and had been persuaded. days a week. "I don‘t know how I get by. If it wasn‘t for this kitchen here, I couldn‘t make it," he says, shaking his head. It‘s lunch hour at St. John‘s Kitchen, and Gilbey has just finished his meal of mashed potatoes, brown beans, turkey and sausage. He‘s dressed in worn, but clean, blue jeans, a wellâ€"used shirt and a winter parka. He‘s shaved and clean, but there is no gleam in his eyes. Gilbey listens carefully as he‘s questioned about his life, asked to tell strangers about the indignity of living in his world. He thinks about the Mfraix::s before answering, and sometimes struggles to his anâ€" swers so that he‘ll be understood. Gilbey doesn‘t refuse to answer even the most personal question, but draws the line at having his picture taken â€" it‘s too much of an invasion of his privacy. _ Told that he looks good for 42, he replies, "The way I feel some days, I feel a lot older than 42. Some days are tough days and some are easy days." There‘s not a lot in Gilbey‘s life. He gets up at 5:30 a.m. bae-wo“lm't-h‘pnfldntho.luodtoxptm." Onaty'finldnyhewdhtom itchener, has lunch at soup kitchen where he talks with his friends who share his need for a free hot meal once a day, five Gilbey is down all right. But he‘s not out â€" he has a sense of hope about the future. "Maybe after Christmas, after the New Year, we can make a new start," he says as he shakes hands and walks away. At the next table a kid no older than 20, wearing construction boots, and a plaid coat looks over. He smiles as Gilbey leaves. It‘s tough to have easy days when there‘s no work and no money. Gilbey walks a lot for entertainment. He can‘t afford much else â€" although he says he loves to catch an occasional movie at the theatre. He‘s proud of the fact he doesn‘t smoke, and says it helps him afford clothes. Gilbey fights back emotion as he talks about the effects of years of poverty on his life. "It‘s tough when you have no money to buy clothes...I was born on a farm...I haven‘t got nothing to live for. I have no girlfriend, no wife, nothing. I‘ve got nobody. ‘"‘With people helping me, I just get by. Without welfare, I don‘t know how I‘d do it. The prices just keeping going up... * with lan Kirkby