WOMAN: Good morning. Can I help you?

MAN: I’m having a problem with my eyes. They are red and really itchy and driving me crazy. I’m wondering if you can recommend something.

WOMAN: I can see your eyes look really sore. Have you gone to your doctor?

MAN: No, not yet. I thought I’d get some drops to make the problem go away as quick as possible.

WOMAN: Well, we have over-the-counter eye drops that might help.

MAN: What does over-the-counter mean?

WOMAN: It means that the product doesn’t require a prescription. Usually an over-the-counter product is much less expensive, but it can be just as good as the prescription.

MAN: That’s what I want. Which eye drops should I get?

WOMAN: Well, this brand is usually effective. But, it depends on what’s wrong with your eyes. If you have an infection, for example, you really should see your doctor.

MAN: OK. I’ll get these, but if they don’t help in a few days, I’ll see the doctor.

MAN: Hi. I was here a few days ago and got some eye drops.

WOMAN: Yes, I remember. Did the drops help?

MAN: Not as much as I hoped, so I took your advice and went to the doctor. He gave me this prescription.

WOMAN: Do you have a health plan that covers your prescriptions?

MAN: No, I don’t. So how much will these drops cost?

WOMAN: $30. These are really good eye drops. They should take care of your problem quite quickly.

MAN: Yeah, but $30 is a lot. The other eye drops were only $10 and they made my eyes feel a little better. Why is this prescription so much more expensive?

WOMAN: Well, I think it’s just the way pharmaceutical companies set their prices. However, your doctor knows the best medicine to solve your problem, so you can trust that these are excellent eye drops. I’ll have them ready for you in ten minutes.

WOMAN: Your eye drops are ready. Use the drops every day for the next seven days. Put two drops in each eye three times a day. Try to space the time out evenly over the course of the day.

MAN: I can do that, no problem.

WOMAN: The easiest way to get the drops into your eye is to pull out the bottom eyelid and squeeze in the two drops. Then close the eye and rub very gently to move the drops around. Then do the other eye.

MAN: That sounds really hard, but I’ll give it a try. I don’t like anything getting near my eyes.

WOMAN: You should see a lot of improvement in two or three days. These are really good drops.

MAN: Great. Thanks for your help.

WOMAN: Wow, that was quite the lineup for Customer Service. I’d like to return this purchase and get my money back.

MAN: Sorry you had to wait so long. We’re short-staffed today, and the manager is off sick. Is there anything wrong with the printer?

WOMAN: No, it’s a great machine, and a really good deal too—an all-in-one printer, scanner, copier, and fax for about $90. What’s not to like? The thing is, I won’t really use it because my son just bought me one exactly like it.

MAN: So it’s not needed any more. Okay, our return policy is that we refund the purchase price of returned electronic devices if they’re brought back in new condition within 30 days. Do you have your receipt with you?

WOMAN: Right here—sorry, it got a bit crumpled in my wallet. I bought the printer on August 9th, just ten days ago. So it’s covered under your return policy, right?

MAN: Let’s take a look inside and see. All the original packaging is here . . . the serial number on the printer matches the one on the box . . . you’ve brought the instruction manual, USB cable, telephone line cord. Where are the ink cartridges?

WOMAN: They’re inside the printer. I installed them already. They work just great, and there’s still lots of ink in them.

MAN: No worries. We’ll take this printer back for you. If you give me your Visa card, I can reimburse you.

WOMAN: I see on the receipt that I was also persuaded to buy a one-year warranty for $10. And there was also some sort of $9 charge called an “Eco-Fee.” What’s that?

MAN: It’s a fee the government collects at all stores, province-wide, to help pay for recycling and safe disposal of electronic items. We’ll refund your Eco-Fee as well as the warranty. The $14 in sales tax will also be credited back to your account.

WOMAN: Wow, $90 for the printer . . . plus $33 in warranties, eco-fees, and taxes. That’s a lot of hidden fees. Now that I think about it, that purchase wasn’t such a bargain after all.

WOMAN: Hi. Welcome to King’s Landscaping. What can I do for you?

MAN: Hi there! I’m having a problem with a tree in my backyard. I thought maybe I should ask an expert.

WOMAN: You’ve come to the right place! Our landscapers have over 20 years of experience. What seems to be the problem?

MAN: I have a very large maple tree, and I think it’s rotting. It has fungus growth all over the trunk and it has recently started to bend a little, like it’s falling over. It blocks a lot of light to my living room windows anyways, so I thought maybe now is the time to remove it.

WOMAN: Large fungus growth sounds like heart rot disease. That’s common in maple trees. It will decay maples from the inside out, often causing a hollow inside. I would recommend getting one of our tree removal experts to come look at it and give you a price estimate.

MAN: That’s what I think, too. I have a neighbour who offered to remove it for free, but the tree is very close to a power line, so I don’t want any accidents. Also, there might be some difficulty with removing the tree. I live on a steep hillside overlooking a lake, and my backyard is quite small.

WOMAN: I agree with you. Removing trees around power lines can be dangerous and should only be handled by professionals. The space of the property shouldn’t be a problem, though. We have several ways that we can remove a tree if there is limited space. We can saw it into many pieces, or if your property is close to the water, we can bring in a boat to haul the tree.

MAN: Oh, great. Now, what about the remaining stump of the tree? The tree is pretty big—I would say the stump is at least 3 feet in diameter.

WOMAN: We grind it down to the ground, and then you can just let lawn grow over it. Are you or any of your neighbours gardeners? We usually leave the wood chips from the stump to place around flowerbeds.

MAN: I’m not, but some of my neighbours are and I’m sure they would love that. Wonderful! Let’s book a time this week for someone to come out and take a look.

Recently, at a neighborhood yard sale, book enthusiast Dale Mackenzie discovered a literary treasure. At the yard sale, Mackenzie bought several books for just $5.00. When he returned home, he noticed that one of the books, an old copy of Emma by the famous English novelist Jane Austen, was a rare first edition of the novel. Curious about the value of the book, Mackenzie looked up an antique book dealer on the internet. “I thought the book might be worth about fifty dollars,” said Mackenzie. But, much to his surprise, he found out that a first edition of Emma, like the one he bought at the yard sale, was valued at approximately ten thousand dollars. Mackenzie plans to sell the novel through an internet auction site. He wants to donate half of the profits to the public library—which is in need of a new reading room. “I love books,” said Mackenzie, “and would really like to improve our public library so that other booklovers can have a quiet place to go and read.” With the remaining money, Mackenzie plans to take a vacation to Germany to visit one of the world’s largest annual book fairs.

Welcome to Chat Radio. On today’s agenda is the topic of green bins: are they a success or a failure? Started two years ago, the green bin program is a waste management strategy implemented to reduce the amount of garbage sent to municipal landfills. As part of the program, individuals are asked to separate their compostable waste, such as food and yard waste, into green bins provided by the city. The bins are collected on a weekly basis and, rather than taken to a landfill, are brought to a facility that turns the waste into compost. Although generally well received, the program has had its share of criticism

For example, for Judith Knightley, a busy mother of three, the green bins are a nightmare. Knightley complains that, not only is it time consuming to sort the copious amount of garbage produced by a large family, but the bins are also unsanitary, attracting both animals and bugs. Although the green bin is not obligatory, since the program began, regular garbage pick-up has been reduced to bi-monthly, leaving many, like Knightly, feeling forced into its use.

In contrast, Kirk Beauregard, an avid gardener, is thrilled with the city’s initiative. Beauregard, who, for many years, has composted his own garbage in a backyard composter, is glad to see the city catching up. He insists that composting is an easy way to turn waste into a valuable product, a product used by many farmers and gardeners in place of chemical fertilizers. While Beauregard acknowledges that backyard composting might not be enjoyed by everyone, he sees the green bin program as a way to make the composting of one’s own garbage accessible to everyone.

Councillor Trudy Volkov, on the other hand, argues, regardless of like or dislike, that the program was necessary. With the city’s rapid population growth, finding an economical way to manage the incredible amount of garbage being produced was essential. According to Volkov, city council was faced with two choices: either build a new landfill, or decrease the amount of waste brought to the current landfill. For Volkov, the green bin is a win-win solution. Not only is the waste diverted from the landfill, but it is converted into a useful product whose sale can help defray some of the costs of running the program.