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Identify this movie about a government clerk sent to observe wolves.

PenDevil — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 17:30:26 -0800

Identify this movie: Low level government clerk asks to be sent on assignment to observe wolves... I saw this movie on TV when I was still in primary school, or at least I think I did. It's a story about a low level government clerk (guy with red curly slightly balding hair, beard and gold rimmed glasses) - not sure which department but I assume it was one related to wildlife - who requests (and is approved after some persuasion on his part) to be sent on assignment to an arctic area (again I assume it was Alaska, but it might be northern Canada if the film is Canadian) to observe wolves. I'm not sure if his motives for going are just to get out of his deks job or if he has an actual interest in wolve.

He arrives basically unprepared with little decent equipment and the department that sends him even sends with him his old typewriter and a crate full of yellow paper to type up reports (which he does). Basically it's about him interacting with the wolves and overcoming his situation and going on a personal transformation/journey kind of thing.

I also recall him building a gradual relationship with the matriarchal wolf of the pack that lives near him but that's a bit hazy...

One scene I do recall very vividly is he is walking over a frozen lake and hears a rumbling noise, stops, looks around but can't identify where it's coming from. Walks again and hears the rumbling again and stops again thinking it's the ice. He looks up and sees a jet leaving contrails in the sky as it crosses overhead and realising it's the source of the rumbling is about to take a step when the ice breaks and he falls through it.

I can't recall if he actually meets anyone else during the film or if it's just him and the wolves. I'm pretty sure it was made in the first half of the 80's or very late 70's at the earliest.

I'm also pretty sure he dies in the end.

Now I had an active imagination as a young one but I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it. Anyone got any ideas what movie it is?

Is there any acceptable way to ask retail staff for a date?

-harlequin- — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 01:13:16 -0800

AttractiveRetailWorkerFilter: If someone would like a date with someone they only see at retail/checkout, is there any acceptable way to communicate this, that doesn't impose on the worker or make their job harder/unpleasant if they're not interested? I'm thinking mainly female retailer workers here, who often get unwelcome advances, potentially even souring the day, but perhaps sometimes also see people who might not be unwelcome. (Or people who wouldn't be unwelcome if the retailer were single, but isn't).

Don't worry, this is a question of long-standing curiosity, no retail worker will be harmed in the making of this thread :)

Other times, I'm pretty sure I've been hit on as a customer, (always a tricky thing given the nature of retailer-customer relationship), so I'm also interested in discussion on the shoe being on the other foot - what kinds of ways might a retailer communicate interest to a customer (assuming the retailer risks getting fired for coming out with it directly while on the clock).

Next week: Strippers. (I kid :-)

Behind the Scenes at the Supermarket

kmel — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 08:08:32 -0800

Questions for grocery clerks (or people who stand in line at the grocery thinking about people and their purchases). Seeking anecdotes related to grocery clerking: stereotypes ( _____s tend to buy ____ ), or just unusual or funny purchases and the backstories you make up about people based on them. Also, what do customers do to make your job hell? Conversely, what do they do to make it wonderful?

This is to help me develop a half-baked web project idea ...