Oct 13 2007
To Protect and Serve
Societies have laws.
What are laws?
Laws are a set of rules. You put a group of people together and after a while you end up with some rules.
Some examples of rules:
- Thou shalt not murder.
- Thou shalt not steal.
- A yellow stoplight means proceed with caution.
There are written rules:
- Boogers may not be flicked into the wind. (Alabama)
- Tags may be ripped off of pillows and mattresses. (Colorado)
- It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing. (Texas)
- Up to a felony charge can be levied for promoting the use of, or owning more than six dildos. (Texas)
- Women may go topless in public, providing it is not being used as a business. (New York)
- A fine of $25 can be levied for flirting. (New York)
There are unwritten rules:
- A yellow stoplight means accelerate.
- That length of sidewalk right in front of my house? That’s MY parking spot.
- If you pour the last cup of coffee in the office pot, brew a fresh pot.
You put a group of people together and after a while you end up with some rules. I live in a condominium complex. We have a set of rules. They are called Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions or “CC&Rs”
CC&Rs are standard for most Home Owners’ Associations. They include things like:
- Don’t crank up your stereo before 8am or after 10pm.
- Don’t hang laundry on your balcony.
- No pets may be kept which are a serious annoyance or are obnoxious to other Owners. The Board, after notice and hearing, may cause permanent removal of any animal deemed to be a nuisance.
That last rule is dear to my heart.
When I purchased the unit in my condo, I received a copy of the CC&Rs. In fact, prior to purchasing, you are supposed to read the CC&Rs to see if you can abide by the rules. For example, in my complex, dogs must be less than 40 pounds.
If you’re an owner and you’re renting out your unit, you must tell your renter to abide by the CC&Rs. You’d only know this rule if you read the CC&Rs yourself.
What happens when you break these rules? You get fined. You keep getting fined until you stop breaking the rule. If you break it long enough, the rest of the homeowners can gang up on you and force you to move. That’s the gist of a CC&R.
Which doesn’t mean that all the homeowners can’t vote to change a rule.
Our complex hired a new Property Manager. She not only makes sure that everything is running smoothly she enforces the CC&Rs. The prior manager used to be a fellow homeowner. She was in her late 20s, very warm and friendly. The new manager is in her early 40s and is very professional. She does not live in the complex.
I was picking up a package at my complex’s rental office and asked the new manager how she was doing. Unlike the prior manager, she has begun to enforce the CC&Rs and a few of the owners aren’t liking it.
She’s fed up with hearing about how “the other woman didn’t do that…”
Her response is, “Things are different now.”
When people tell her, “You don’t live here. That’s why you’re making us do this stuff.”
Her response is, “These aren’t my rules. These are your rules. These are in the CC&Rs.”
I’m glad she looks ready to take on my fellow owners. I don’t like seeing piles of shoes in the hallways outside of people’s doors or tires and oilcans stored in our open garage.
As any property owner knows, if you have a house in the neighborhood with a weedy lawn and peeling paint, it drags down the property values for the rest of the neighborhood. In a condominium, shoes in the halls and laundry on the balconies serve the same purpose.
It appears that many of my neighbors are either ignorant of the rules or think that they don’t apply to them.
Oh, I forgot these Unwritten Rules:
- Rules are only there for my convenience.
- Rules don’t apply to me.
She was telling someone to move all the stuff he had stored in his space along with his car. She said that if he didn’t move it out, she’d have to fine him.
“So fine me,” he tells her. “I can’t afford to have storage.”
I guess he can afford to pay a fine, a fine that might be increased for every month the infraction exists. I guess he can afford to sell his unit during a time of dropping property values. I guess he is totally unaware that the HOA can force him to sell if he continues to break the rules.
The encounter that had her really steamed was when she was telling an owner he was breaking some rule.
He WAVED HIS BADGE at her and said, “I’m a cop. What are you gonna do? Arrest me?”
Nice to know that someone who is supposed to Protect and Serve has no respect for the laws of his own community.
Now, I don’t have anything against the police. I don’t like it when anyone abuses their position and authority.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
My neighbor, a law enforcement person, used to say, “You can’t break the law, when you *are* the law.”
Of course, he said it tongue-in-cheek, and just when it was the guys together.
delmer: well, any industry or association has its bad examples. It just seems worse when you have people who are in positions which instill trust (police officers, clergy, teachers, doctors) and they abuse it.
There are also industries that have a bad reputation but good people! Plumbers, real estate agents, car salepeople….
I am bothered too by the officer’s arrogance and misuse of his position. Kudos to the manager who likes to manage!
The first written rule took me by surprise. I should write that rule here for my home, sans the wind part.
This made me smile Ms.Q. Here are two of my own rules 1) Don’t work hard when you can work smart. 2) Always show your indicator when changing lanes! = )
Sue: I wonder at people in power who misuse it. It’s a scary thing. I’m glad our property manager is enforcing the rules. The prior one was really sweet and nice and everyone just loved her. She was also a resident which probably was both good and bad. The new manager is much more orderly. She reorganized the area where we pick up our packages so we can find them mores easily and she sent out a notice about what can and cannot be stored on balconies, patios, porches and in the garage. The notice warned that the property would be inspected for these items and if any are found on the first of next month, warnings would be issued.
Unless the prior manager issued warning individually, I am not sure if any warnings were given at all. I think she did speak with owners though. It’s probably easier for our new manager to play hardball since she’s not a resident as well.
Regarding the “booger rule” – you’d think that be obvious. OK. Obvious for adults. Or mature adults. Then again, you buy coffee and the cups have the words, ‘Warning. Contents are HOT.”
Shama: hey, long time no see! I like your rules and I follow your rule number 2 all the time. Sometimes so automatically that I do it when no one is around. Did you see the movie “Speed”? I had to laugh when the Sandra Bullock character was rocketing down the road and use the turn signal!
Your property Manager should remind him that she is “the law” inside the complex, not him.
New York and Texas, what da …..
As with any position of power, there are some doing a fine job, and others that pursued this exact position to “control”. A domineering persona will strive to create an unbalanced field of play. I have heard countless stories of police using authority in an unethical manner. It has happened to me personally in life. This phenomenon is really a detriment to the fine and outstanding 95% of the “real profesionals” that put their life on the line daily.
How did I come up with 95%?
a2+(good cop – bad cop)*integer c
_____________________________ = 95%
100 / value x=a2+1 (random value y)
How doo, MsQ?
Sent from the good people at Speedcat Hollydale inc.
Speedcat! I haven’t had any bad encounters with the police (embarrassing maybe but nothing rude or controlling) but I have heard of other’s bad experiences.
I think that the job itself must harden them and an officer may not use their power to control but they may end up becoming insensitive. For example, one friend was walking along a residential street. He spotted this roll of money. Just this roll (maybe the width of a ..cigar) held together with rubberband. He looked around. No one. He wasn’t sure how much money it was since it was all the way on the ground but it was still this … roll so he did what anyone else would do – he picked it up and just in case, quickly stuffed it in his pocket so he could look at it later.
He didn’t want to be seen with some wad of money in the street! He said as he put it in his pocket he could feel that there was something inside the roll, something hard. He then wonder if it might be some type of drug money and before he even got the chance to get worried, he was slammed face down to the ground with his arms yanked behind him.
Turned out that the cops had set up a some type of sting. He was very shaken by the event – it was a bit traumatic. Yes it was the police and it was for a reason but really, he was attacked!
He not only was shaken and upset but he was also very angry. He said that after they figured out he was innocent he didn’t receive any apology. My friend is your typical law-abiding, tax paying good citizen. He was very upset by being not only mistaken for a criminal but treated like one.
You do math like I do math.
I’m sorry you had a bad cop experience.
“It is illegal to take more than three sips of beer at a time while standing. (Texas)”
Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m a CRIMINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How did a nice Sunday school teacher like me turn into a CRIMINAL?!?!?!
I really want to say something about the ability to go topless in NY without having to worry about anyone flirting with you, but the truth of the matter is, I’d rather flirt than go topless…so NY is probably not the state for me…
And YIKE! on the policeman guy!!!!!!!!!!!
Regarding the written rules, the first one i totally misread at first. I swear, I thought it said “bloggers” at first read, not “boogers.” As for the third one about sips of beer, fine. How many gulps can i take?
Oh, and for us, the unwritten rule about making a new pot of coffee wasn’t unwritten. It was considered written. But then, that was back in the ages when we brewed some NASTY coffee. Others called it mud, oil, or motor oil, but we called what they drank children’s coffee. If I could see through it, it wasn’t strong enough.