I am in a mood... and it appears that all the forces of nature and humanity are conspiring to ensure that, rather than letting my mood abate, this mood will be fanned into a fiery furnace of frustration (i lurv alliteration, BTW). And so, in an effort to restore balance and not rip off a pinky finger of one of my co-workers, I must now (with a little reluctance) post my first rant.
i don't feel as if we have known each other long enough... we are still in the tender "showing our best sides" phase of the relationship... i want you to like me, really really like me... but alas, if i am not true to myself, how will you ever respect me?
What is it with people these days. Is it just me, or have we become a people content with being rude, dismissive, and downright disrespectful of others. I was raised to believe that you "do unto others as you would have them do unto to you." And not even from a religious perspective... but from a good ole liberal progressive perspective. There is a social contract that we are all bound by -- regardless of wealth, education, body odor, or the attractiveness of one's teeth. No one of us is better than another by virtue of these artificial things. We are all made of the same "stuff" and IMHO, some of us are more privilege not so much because we have some keen talent, but by the benefit of chance (who we were born to and where we were born).
Now, let me preface this by saying that I too, at times, have been known to be rude to someone, but it is certainly not a fixed state, and it doesn't come from a sense of entitlement. It is usually related to the amount of sleep and food I have had access to over a 24 hour period. I have a mocking, sarcastic sense of humor, but I don't just spit it out at any and everyone.
That said, I DO NOT THINK IT IS OK TO BE MEAN TO SOMEONE JUST FOR THE SAKE OF ILLUSTRATING HOW IMPORTANT YOU THINK YOU ARE... people who do this are small and icky.
Last night, M. and I attended our homeowners meeting, what a fucking waste of my time. If I never have to speak to some of my neighbors again, it will be too soon. Now, I understand that HOA meetings are often huge black holes of minutia, and for that, I was prepared. I was not, however, prepared to find out how nasty some of the people I live near are.
Our HOA is still controlled by the developer, it is a new neighborhood and they are still building and selling homes. As such, we as homeowners have very little control in what happens until such time as the developer turns over the last lot. WE ALL KNEW THIS WHEN WE BOUGHT OUR HOMES, it was clearly outlined in the agreement. Now, the developer has flaked on a number of promises and that has almost everyone bent. One of the major items of business for last night was to address the homeowners concerns. That is why we attended. Just to hear the explanation, because as I mentioned, for the foreseeable future, there is really nothing we can do to change the current state of affairs.
About 30 minutes into the meeting, as we discussed the annual financials, two individuals got RUDE. I knew it was about to happen because one kept waving her bony hand and huffing while she looked about the room as if to say "I am important and deserve to be heard for the 8th time..." and the other started everything he said with the phrase "in all due respect..." [we all know that when you say this or "i don't want to offend" you are just trying to give yourself permission to say something nasty]. They were berating the gentleman who manages our HOA. They proceeded to spend 35 minutes nit picking every expense and requesting specific details on expenditures. When Mr. G. indicated that he did not have that level of detail available, that he would be happy to check and get back to them, they became irate and began talking to him in a tone that is generally reserved for petulant 5 year olds and puppies.
They refused to listen to him, refused to hear what he was saying... He made some very good points about the cost of a few items but they were determined to belittle this man in front of the rest of us. Now, had Mr G. been unwilling to work with them or explain the details, that would have been one thing, but we were trying to move onto other business and these two people were busy trying to show everyone how very important they are by being rude to someone who provides a service to all of us. Not to mention the fact that they were airing personal grievances, taking out their frustrations with the developer on this poor guy. Instead of taking his offer to work through it at a later date, they held up business for EVERYONE ELSE THERE.
I was embarrassed. These are the type of people who think just because they pay someone, they have the right to treat them like shit. They are the kind of people that make this world a hard place.
I have, in a past life, worked in investor relations... so let me say that Mr. G. met the fiduciary obligations related to reporting annual financials for a corporation. No shareholder of a corp. would be given INVOICES for expenses at an annual meeting...
We left... I was disgusted. And as I left, I said (loud enough for the individuals in question to hear, without broadcasting it to everyone) that if our neighbors were going to be rude... I wasn't going to be a party to the conversation. I looked them dead in the eye.
It is hard to really capture the environment without providing specifics. Perhaps you think that I overreacted. But, M. always thinks that I overreact and for the first time in as long as I can remember... he agreed with me.
Ok, I am done. I have lots of funnies from the past weekend. Bean was baptized which meant that the whole family was in town. Fun times, people, fun times.
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