Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.09.2010, Side 4

Say your piece, voice your opinion,
send your letters to:
letters@grapevine.is
4
Letters
Sour grapes
and stuff
MOST AWESOME LETTER
A buncha POLAR BEER for your thoughts
We're not gonna lie to you: we really love us some beers. Some folks would
call it a problem, but beer never gave us any problems. In fact, over the years,
it's solved most of 'em. A frosty glass of cold, frothy, bubblicious, golden-
tinted beer has consistently failed to let us down. In the immortal words of the
once-reputable Homer J. Simpson: "Mmm... Beer..."
Now, since we're real pleasant and giving folks here at the Grapevine, we
thought we'd share some wonderful POLAR BEER with you, our readers.
Not only that, you're also getting the gift of social life with it. So here's the
deal: our most awesome letter of each issue (henceforth, or until the good
people of POLAR BEER decide they don't want to play along anymore),
we will be providing our MOST AWESOME LETTER scribe with twelve frothy
POLAR BEERS, to be imbibed at a Reykjavík bar of their choice (so long as
that bar is either Bakkus or Venue). If y'all's letter is the one, drop us a line to
collect. Give us your worst: letters@grapevine.is
MOST AWESOME LETTER:
GRAPEVINE AIN'T GOT LEGS
To whom it may concern,
It is with a heavy solemn sorrow I draft
to you this letter of complaint. Here I
am, a bright-eyed and eager young visi-
tor to your fair city, f lying half way across
the planet to bask in the icy blonde poker
faced glow of your gorgeous landscape
and megafauna for all of September,
my tiny heart brimming with golden
promises of "walking around town with
BONAFIDE local COOL KIDS - the LO-
CAL AUTHORITY on BAD ASS!" Gala-
vanting about town, sharing a beer and
a laugh, not looking like a tourist, what
more could I possibly hope for? Only to
be bitterly disappointed last Friday as I
stood lonely and alone inside Havari
looking just like a stupid fucking tour-
ist. Well, you, cool kids, local, bad ass,
cool kids, really left me hanging. Hang-
ing like a strange, sober, solitary icicle,
doomed for September to wander the
seedy back alleys of RKJVK without you.
Well, see you around I guess.
Sincerely,
Yours for September,
Ashleigh R.
PS If you want to find me and apologize
I am usually wandering around alone in
the Graveyard about midnight.
Dear Ashleigh,
sorry we weren’t at Havarí that day. We
thought we’d been pretty clear that our
walking tour only lasted through Au-
gust. Maybe we weren’t, maybe you can’t
read, maybe someone somewhere made
some sort of mistake. Who knows!
Anyway. You’ll get some beer at Bakkus
to cheer you up. And if you’re really, re-
ally sad about missing that walking tour,
shoot us an e-mail and we’ll give you a
personal one, aight?
Hello there good people at Grapevine,
first thing let me just tell you how great
I think your paper is and how we for-
eigner beings appreciate the pleasure of
some easy information! The reason I am
writing this letter to you is unfortunate-
ly somehow less merry...I am downright
asking for help, for I know how to get out
of the messy situation I find myself in.
Let me explain...I am an internation-
al student at the University of Iceland, I
came here first as an exchange student
but fell so badly in love with this country
that I decided to stay some years more. I
will clarify, for points that will be made
clear in the following, that I do not come
from a third-world country or similar. I
am here out of pure personal interest,
not out of need.
So, I start my studies all over, and
was admitted as a degree student. Be-
ing of humble family, I don't have any
knowledge of the wonderful world
where Mommy and Daddy will take care
of all your expenses. That to say, I have
to work full time to pay my ass off, and it
ain't easy these days. I am a waitress in
a well known restaurant on Laugavegur,
and my condition here is the core subject
of the matter.
My employer is (self-admittedly)
plain racist. I am not entitled the same
"privileges" as my Icelandic colleagues,
for instance a day off for a dinner with
my boyfriend. No, I'll invariably be told
"Ha, it's not possible! You should have
let me know some days earlier, than
I would have said yes" (note: I asked
permission on a Tuesday to have off on
Saturday; if this is impossible, I wander
why my colleague could ask Friday night
for Sunday off, and be told it was ok...
mmh). Plus, I am always spoken to in a
rude manner, that leaves little to one's
imagination as of my foreign passport
as being the origin of it. I am not prone
to self appreciation, but I feel I can say
I am the best among the employees in
my same position, the most dedicated
hard-working girl and often praised by
the customers.
Some time back, during several talks
with the Workers Union Efling I found
out that on top of everything my salary is
around 500 kr. per hour lower than the
law states. Putting it in mere numbers,
I am payed 1200 kr per hour, per hour,
whether Union laws state that night
jobs (such as a waiter is if working after
18.00) should have a minimum wage of
a bit over 1700 kr. I am not gonna con-
sider that since I've been employed for
over a year I should also be entitled to at
least 2 pay-raise already, but I think it's
clear that over 15 months that makes for
a lot of money that I have legal right to
get refunded.
I think it is outrageous that Iceland
does not have laws protecting employees
against this kind of racial discrimina-
tion. It is just plain shocking that these
things can happen in such a progressist
country.
My question is: what would you do?
Sue your employer? I know if the Union
would take over the cause I would win it,
and get all the money back. The point is,
how would I find another job? And what
would I do without money, but leave the
country and get back home?
Can somebody help me out here?
All the best,
*Lisa (of course, I won' tell you my real
name. I'm still afraid of the consequenc-
es if my boss or anyone would read this).
Dear Lisa (if that is your real name!!!),
what’s wrong with being in need or from
a third world country? Maybe we have a
case of the racist pot calling the racist
kettle racist on our hands here? Who
knows!
Anyway. We can’t see that you problem
with your employer has anything to do
with you being a foreigner, really. From
what we can tell, he or she is taking ad-
vantage of you because you let yourself
be taken advantage of and choose to
spend your time writing letters to tour-
ist magazines instead of actually doing
something about it. So go ahead and sue
your employer, and then find a job else-
where. It’ll be fun! If you can’t get one,
well, at least you’re not in need.
Dear Grapevine,
I would like to say thru you : THX to
your wonderful country that it ś allowed
for foreigners to work here, THX to
Grapevine for being updated even in the
middle of nowhere:),THX for the drivers
to bring us these news and customers,
THX to Elva and Svavar from Gullfoss
Kaffee, because they are the best chiefs
I ever had and such a kind persons you
barely can find in Europe. Maybe 1 re-
mark for Icelanders: the probability that
dark hair and dark eyed person will be
speaking icelandic is approximating
to zero :), but pls - have mercy with us,
sometimes we speak other 4 languages
and just there is no chance to learn your
interesting one in advance. So, all to best
to whole Iceland!
Martina, Czech Rep.
Dear Martina,
on the behalf of everyone THXed in your
letter, we would like to THX your right
back for your gratitude and generally
THXful manner.
Anyway, we are not passing on your re-
mark to Icelanders (Icelanders: if you
read what Martina wrote above, try your
hardest to forget it), because we get so
many complaints from foreigner-types
that are trying to learn Icelandic and are
all frustrated that no one will speak it
to them. You shouldn’t worry about not
understanding Icelandic. Most of what’s
said here is pure nonsense anyway, so
just nod your head and go about your
business.
I came across your website and have
been reading it with great interest. Your
English translations are excellent and
this is the first error that I have found
out of 30 articles. I am impressed with
the activism shown by your people in
punishing your rogue bankers.
On http://grapevine.is/News/ReadAr-
ticle/New-Law-on-Work-IDs-Passed
change "eletrical" to "electrical".
Donald E. Pauly
Las Vegas, Nevada
USA
Dear Donald,
thank you for your letter, for your sweet
compliments and for your eagle eyes!
We’ll make sure to maybe amend this er-
ror if we can remember when we have
the time and will get around to it some-
day probably hopefully!
Hæ Grapevine,
I have few questions to ask you.
- Are all articles published on the web-
site appears in the printed edition ?
- Would you have any spare copies to give
of the previous edition of, say, the past
3-4 years ?
( I know that all issues are available on
pdf and therefore printable, but i would
like to avoid it if possible)
Kv.
Yohann
Hæ Yohann!
Thank you for your letter! It totally made
our day for some reason. Or maybe it was
that wet lunch. In any case, we are feel-
ing SWANK!
(BTW, have you heard Jay Reatard? He
rules! Or ruled. Poor guy).
Now, to answer your questions:
-Pretty much all of the articles on our
website appear in our printed edition.
Not all of them though. Not the news,
for instance. And sometimes we have so
much stuff to get off our chests we can’t
really fit it within our pages, so we just
cram it on our website.
-Uhm... we’re not sure? Try emailing
subscribe@grapevine.is. They might
know.
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