Does it pay to complain sometimes?

Personally, I think crashing is part of cycling. I think one of the cyclist’s jobs is dealing with imperfect road surfaces. So when I crashed two weeks ago, I e-mailed to the City's Pedestrian & Cycling Infrastructure Unit just so the hazard would be eliminated. As a consequence, I was more than a little surprised four days later when a supervisor from the Transportation Services Division called me, to assure me that the utility that ordered up the cut, the contractor that did the work, and the City itself would ensure that the road would be fully restored. Then, two days later, someone from the contractor called me, and wanted to know what my damages were. I could’ve expanded the list, I guess: my bib shorts and favourite cold-weather jersey were ripped, I’ll probably have to replace my helmet. But I forebore; instead I just reported the cost of truing my wheels and replacing my shifters—still over 300 CAD—all of which I’d ordered up before I had any inkling someone would pay for it.

And yesterday in the mail was a cheque. What a pleasant surprise!