I had a pretty alarming experience today with some of the staff of Azuria, the building that…read moremanages 79 St Clair avenue west which includes sobeys and the residences there ( 70 Mount pleasant). I would strongly recommend reconsidering renting or buying a property there, or any affiliated with Azuria. You may think my story is minor and doesn't matter, but I understand from people in the building that other people have problems with both the employees and the company.
The short version is, I was walking a dog outside the property when I heard one landscaping employee complaining loudly to another about the entitlement of the people in the building. I ignored it at first until I realized she might be passive aggressively talking about me, something that shocked me. I said, "are you talking about me?" Yeah," she said, "I AM talking about you. You people with your dogs think its my job to deal with fecal matter and urine and it's not." She was in fact not working with gloves. "okay.... I said, but I have bags, I said flapping them happily. And my dog is on a leash."
She snorted back, "I don't care, and there is still pee which gets on our hands, its not my job to deal with that. "
I wasn't sure if she was right...isn't it a hazard of working with landscaping that there is stuff in the soil??? Anyway,
I said RESPECTFULLY, "I am sorry, I wasn't aware, and I don't see it posted anywhere that dogs are prohibited,"
She said the following "Oh yeah, AS IF you would FOLLOW a sign if there were one. You people have been told enough."
This was upsetting, I have NOT been told this and I did not deserve this treatment. I said, I am not sure that its right to talk to me this way, I did not know this.She said MOCKINGLY: "oh, why, because I didn't ask you nicely, "oh please don't pee in the garden?!!"
I didn't say this, but ...Umm... yeah, that might have worked. Certainly, being mean to me hasn't helped. At this point, about four other residents had stopped to watch her snark at me, and I was near crying.
"Go away," she said. "you are harassing me."
Again I didn't say it but: WTF? really?
so I indicated I would make a written complaint and she said "go ahead, you aren't that special you know."
I don't claim to be special but I think that this was pretty hostile and unprofessional.
Her friend giggled.
When I exited sobeys 15 minutes later, she was standing by a van marked "the cultivated garden" and complaining about me to about 4 people. I am still investigating if they are affiliated with her. I went inside and talked to the staff at Sobeys who know me by name. They told me who these people worked for, Azuria, and pointed out one of their managers as he was passing. I asked him, respectfully if he had any time to discuss what happened, but he was annoyed and defensive and had already heard a different version. he said, "did our gardener ask you not to let your dog pee in the garden?" That's the point, I said, she didn't ask me that. She just started talking about me aggressively and then ripped into me.
He was unsympathetic, "yeah, well, our staff get alot of flack from dog people."
I am sorry if the staff gets flack from dog people. I sympathize with the fact that not all dog owners follow rules and it is frustrating. On the other hand, I was on leash, with bags, and it wasn't posted and she ripped into me. Should gardeners be allowed to talk to people like this simply because they have frustrations about other people.
He said I could complain to the office, and walked off. I would say he spent ten minutes with me and was not very concerned.
What did I want?
I wanted him to say I will talk to her about being aggressive and unprofessional with people. Not only does it represent his company poorly, but it was really upsetting for me to feel coasted like this. I see the company has poor reviews and I can see why.