If there is one absolute that I have learned in my time at The Mercury it's this: people hate change.
We've seen it time and time again.
The automated garbage issue drew more of a response than almost anything I've encountered in 14 years here. Some of the furor was due to the way the City of Estevan initiated the change, but I have always believed the biggest gripe was simply because there was change.
Although some holdouts might disagree, I think the garbage decision was a change for the better. I can speak only for my yard, but the amount of garbage I find along my fence has been cut by 90 per cent. Really, the only garbage I find now is empty cigarette packages. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life but there are days where if you didn't know me it would look like I have a six-pack a day habit.
Although they haven't made a formal public announcement, the City has made noises about moving garbage pickup from the alleyway to the front curb where applicable. Knowing how much people in this city enjoy change, I am looking forward to the discussion this is likely to generate.
Another example of people bucking change is the new 10 digit dialing system. If you tried dialing a local number on Monday or Tuesday and forgot to include the 306 prefix you got the annoying little message from SaskTel.
It really is irritating to have to listen through the message, no matter how brief it might be. But I'm guessing that is the point.
The comments on social media were almost immediate and a lot of them weren't very nice. If I worked at SaskTel I might be inclined to stay off social media for a few days.
More than anything however, I think people are just annoyed because they hate change. One could argue whether or not the move to 10-digit dialing is necessary - I'm guessing SaskTel wouldn't do if it wasn't - but people are just conditioned to like things the way they've always been.
And that might be even more the case here in Saskatchewan where we were burdened for decades by this mentality. Perhaps it's the stubborn old farmer in us, but as a province we looked at change as something brought on by the devil himself.
We're getting better but we still have a ways to go. The fact that we haven't joined the 20th century and adopted daylight saving time is a perfect example. There are really no good arguments as to why we don't make the switch (Yes, I know many disagree with that last comment).
People don't want to make the change because, after all, it's change.
It has been my experience that as much as you might hate it at the time, change can actually be a good thing. I am as stubborn as anyone and usually one of the first people to be annoyed by change, but time is a great teacher and on most occasions the change has been for the better.
Except for the time Kelloggs changed Corn Pops for no reason whatsoever. What kind of psycho messes with a perfectly good breakfast cereal?
I wasn't exactly a big fan of new Coke either but that stuff sucked. Anyway, if you have any questions or comments about what you see in The Mercury send them to editor@estevanmercury.ca
