It's Irritation Day!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I'm irritated today. Oh, so irritated. Let me count the ways.

I didn't sleep at all well last night. Happiness consists of getting enough sleep, and today, I'm sucking salt water. Insomnia is irritating.

The other day, I sacked the company that cleans our house. They were less than professional (in so many ways), and I just lost my patience. Hint to aspiring small business owners: If you clean houses for a living, your client should not have to point out to you on numerous occasions that there's mold in the shower. And taking a week to return your business calls? Not really acceptable practice when you work in a "customer service industry." Plus he was really stupid, which was irritating. So we've going back to the company we used prior to my Smart Man being laid off three years ago. They're pretty expensive, but at least they're reliable and actually, you know, clean.

Hillary did well enough in Pennsylvania that she's determined to stick it out until the bitter end. Her sense of entitlement is really starting to get on my last nerve, and I'm sick of hearing about the Clinton/Obama competition. While recognizing that I feel that way in part because "my" candidate is leading and Hillary is just an irritating git, I don't think I'm the only one who wishes she would just go home.

For the next three days, I will be participating in a training event for a strategic business partner of my company. I have a background in technical training, both in the military and in civilian life, so when they asked for a volunteer, I didn't mind stepping up. Until I found out that the individual who's running this goat rope is one of those irritating corporate hacks who believes that his job is not to actually perform work, or provide work product. No, no, that's just crazy talk. His job is to wave the baton, assigning other people to actually do the work, while he takes all the credit for being the "team leader." This behavior pushes my buttons on so many levels. First, what the hell is the company paying you for if you can't actually do the work that's included in your job title? Second, I don't work for you, and I am not your bitch. If you continue to treat me like I am, I may become rabid and bite you. I take direction from two kinds of people - the ones that I'm paid to be subordinate to, and the ones who's professional expertise earns my respect. You don't qualify on either count. Third, you don't get to try and assign me work that is rightfully yours, then take credit for it if I agree to do it. Guess who won't be volunteering for this type of duty again?

And last (but certainly not least), HOA's are just fucking irritating. Aside from my basic discomfort with busybody asshats telling me what I can and can't do with the property that I own, the "agent" that handles our HOA is unresponsive, tends to stretch the truth when it suits him and is also apparently dumber than a stump. This combination leads to him make false statements in a conversation, and then contradict himself a few minutes later in the same conversation. Officious little twit. Over the years, my Smart Man and I have paid over $1,700 to the HOA, and as near as I can tell, the service they provide for that money consists of maintaining the common areas in the summer and providing clean-up dumpsters once a year. They don't clear the sidewalks or the streets of snow. They don't pick up trash. They don't provide a playground or other amenities. They certainly didn't do anything when the renters next door to us had their music so loud it literally rattled our windows and I couldn't be outside because the bass was giving me arrhythmia. What they will do is walk up and down the street (the middle of the street - not on the sidewalk) with clipboards looking officious and searching for rule infractions. Oh, and they "approve" or "disapprove" outside paint colors for your house. That's our current contact with them. So to our HOA and our busy-body neighbors: Fuck off. You irritate me.

So I'll be busy and irritated for the rest of the week. I'm not used to "commuting" or leaving the house for work and the fact that I won't be able to wear jeans and T-shirts for the rest of the week will also contribute to my stress. Yes, yes, I know I'm being a whiny butt about it, but I don't care. The world is conspiring to irritate me this week.

30 comments:

Cindi in CO said...

Must be something in the water in our fair state. I've been crabby all week.

My work PC took a giant dump yesterday, there's not enough time to do all I need to do, and my allergies are relentless this year. I had to get some prescription eyedrops for relief, and they were $40.00!! And that's just the co-pay! I don't want to know how much they'd be without insurance.

Whine over.

Random Michelle K said...

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Jim Wright said...

HOA?

Fuck HOA's. No really. If I wanted to live in a communist state, well, I would.

I'm the guy who would put a thousand pink flamingos in the front yard, paint the house purple, and sit naked on the front porch just to piss the HOA off. I fucking hate the whole concept of Home Owners Associations.

When the HOA pays my mortgage, then and only then do they have the right to dictate terms to me.


Sorry, you're not the only grumpy one this week.

Anne C. said...

Heh. Nice rant, Janiece. I'm pretty much in Jim's camp on this one. I will *never* again live where there is an HOA (except, possibly, when I am ancient and in a nursing home, but even then I'll be a rabble rouser). I live in an old suburb (no HOA), so I get to live next door to all kinds of yard/house diversity. I love pink flamingos, not because they are inherently attractive, but because to me they represent self-expression. I understand, and fully accept, that the HOA protects you from ratty neighbors (like the people next door who had a decaying van in front of their house), but it's something I'm willing to forgo to retain my own freedom.

Janiece said...

Yes, the HOA is really pissing me off this week. I mean, they're REALLY PISSING ME OFF THIS WEEK.

I need to go exercise, to get my blood pressure down...

Cindi in CO said...

I'm with Jim. Fuck HOAs and the whole concept of HOAs. Not a whole lot of that goes on out here in the boonies.

When we painted our house, one of the neighbors asked us if we were Cajun. Because apparantly, Cajuns paint their houses three shades of intense blue to ward away evil spirits.

So we're set. Hee.

And I love my blue house.

Janiece said...

Cindi's house is "Fuck You Blue."

Hehe.

I feel better now that I'm sweaty and my blood pressure is down.

And yeah, HOA's. Evil bastards. Fucking morons. Officious busybodies.

We hates them, precious!

vince said...

Quite frankly, I don't understand why HOAs exist. I have a really good friend with whom I occassionally go around with concerning what should not be allowed due to the potential of lowering property values.

He is of the firm belief that it should be illegal for a howeowner to do anything that would lower his neighbors property values, because doing so is like stealing from them. No purple with yellow polka dot painting. It's evil.

I believe that if you bought, you own it. The only limitations on what you should be allowed to do have to due with health and safety. Garbage with rats and bugs? Bad. Fences or shrubs that block the view of traffic at intersections? Bad. Purple with yellow polka dot siding. All good. Pink flamingos doing the macarena to Barry manilows "Copa Cabana?" As long as I can't hear it inside my house, all good.

As a small business person, I survive because of my customer service. I have clients that I've had for over 20 years. You can't do that without good customer service. Not perfection. But show up when you say you will, do a good job, and if you screw up, admit it and fix it without charging the client for it.

And I LOVE owning my own business. I can fire asshats! Janiece, you have my sympathy. I';m afraid that working as long for myself as I have, I'd have told the corporate hack exactly what I thought of him/her and exactly what he/she could do with it, and that I'd documented everything (I do work for governments - documentation is everything!) and then told him to fuck off.

It may suprise you to hear that I didn't fit in real well in the corporate world and have worked for me for over 21 years.

Janiece said...

Vince, we liked the outfit that cleaned our house prior to my Smart Man's layoff. The ones I booted were much cheaper, so I went with the less expensive option when he found work again. My mistake - you get what you pay for.

As for the corporate asshats, I usually don't have much contact with them in my current role. I usually love my job - this event is a bit exceptional.

As for the HOA, I am forever giving them the Evil Eye. I won't go so far as to say I'll NEVER live in an HOA community again, but their existence will certainly influence my future buying decisions.

Nathan said...

Fuck HOA's.
Fuck Entertainment Tonight.
Fuck SPAM.
Fuck Smelly people on the subway.
Fuck the lady who thinks she's next
in line. She's not.
Fuck the scam that's called me three
times this week already.

What? Oh, sorry. I thought this was the complaint booth.

Janiece said...

Knock yourself out, Nathan.

I hearby announce the rest of the afternoon "Complaint Booth Day" here at HCDSM.

Fuck the Trolls on the "e"!

Carry on -

MWT said...

It has just occurred to me that I'm not actually sure what an HOA is. Do the homeowners have a voice in their HOA or is everything decided by fiat from somewhere On High?

Janiece said...

MWT, it depends on the Association. Usually there's bylaws already in place that you must abide by when you purchase the house. Some of it's pretty obvious - stuff like "don't raise chickens in your yard" and some of it's less so - like "don't plant a tree without our permission."

Members can ask for changes to the bylaws, but the "Officers" pretty much make the decisions. Any person who owns a property in the community can be on the board or be an officer.

Except for the no-life busybodies, though, no one wants to do so.

At least that's the way it works around here.

Anne C. said...

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I have a friend who is on the board for her HOA (condo building, so it's a bit different circumstances). She's in property management though, and doesn't want whiney loud-mouths running her building. She says it's incredibly hard to get people to come to the meetings, much less participate on the board.

MWT said...

What happens if you ignore the HOA bylaws and just do whatever you want?

Cindi in CO said...

Here's one for the complaint booth-

I am so sick of the Democrats and their (read: HILLARY) Jr. High School bullshit.

I guess they just won't be happy until they lose yet another election.

Sigh. God help us all.

Anonymous said...

I've never had to deal with an HOA (what with never having enough money to actually buy property), but I'm with y'all - fuck HOAs. If I spent good money for something, nobody has the right to tell me what I can do with it, as long as I'm not endangering others.

And if this is "Complaint Booth Day" - fuck colds and fuck laryngitis.

But hey! It's Secretaries' Day and I got a nice little pot of purple daisies from one of my bosses. So it's not all complaints...

Cindi in CO said...

I just want to add, that when the Dems DO lose, it won't be HILLARY'S fault, oh, no. It will be the fault of the voters who obviously weren't smart enough to throw their votes her way.

I just don't like her.

Random Michelle K said...

I fucking hate feeling guilty about every damned thing.

Is there someone I can blame for this?

Cindi in CO said...

Michelle,

How about the fucking PC Police? They make me feel guilty all the time, and I thought I was a good person!

MWT said...

Heh, speaking of PCness, my calendar says it's "Administrative Professionals" day. :p

Irritating things of the day for me: tinnitus!

Nathan said...

Michelle,

You can blame Janiece. She's in a shitty mood already so you won't be messing anything up.

Random Michelle K said...

(laugh)

Cindy, there aren't an always lot of PC police here in WV. I tend to live in a place that makes the PC police cringe.

In fact, last fall when we were hiring GAs, my office mate jokingly said we had to hire one student, because she was "SMOKIN' hot!"

So not so much with the PC here. However, you're now free to refer to people as "SMOKIN' HOT!" if you like.

You're very generous Nathan. I'm sure Janiece will remember the gesture!

Anonymous said...

Well, mwt, here at JPL the old ways die hard. We're secretaries, damn it, so Secretaries' Day it is!

I'm one of the most PC people around, but even I think that's silly. And none of my three bosses ask me to get coffee. Mainly because they know I'd give them no end of shit if they did.

Janiece said...

Okay, I'm back from the "training event" for the evening. I arrived 30 minutes early, and went to the room where the hack had scheduled the meeting...and I was the only one there. He had moved the event, but didn't tell me.

Did I mention I will NOT be volunteering for this duty again?

Once I got home, I painted another swatch on the house, which I post tomorrow. MWT, if you do whatever the hell you want in violation of the "covenant," the HOA can take you to court and have the judge order you to become in compliance or be in contempt. Unconstitutional in my opinion, but no one asked me.

Michelle, you can blame me if you wish. I understand, because in spite of my constant irritation today, you've still had a worse day than me.

And let's hear it for Carol Elaine, Secretary Extraordinaire!

Random Michelle K said...

Thanks Janiece, but really, I'd rather blame Nathan. :)

Last complaint of the day: If my mother doesn't chill with the fucking attitude I'm going to... I don't even know what I'm going to. But it may involve a lot of chocolate ice cream.

Random Michelle K said...

Carol Elaine!

Hip Hip HUZZAH!

Jeri said...

Woo hoo Carol Elaine! Happy day!

Yes, I hate HOAs. We don't have one now. One of our neighbors (in a pretty upscale neighborhood) had no lawn, just a weedpatch, for two years - we hated it! But I'd rather call the shots on my own home too.

Hopefully you eventually found the class location. Or not. ;)

My complaint? Teens who think I'm an ATM. Dogs (mine!) who bark too much. People who walk through parking lots in the middle of the traffic lane and glare at you when you want to drive through. Assholes who won't put down their cell phone to drive, check out at the grocery store, or order at a restaurant.

That's probably enough. :P

MWT said...

Assholes who won't put down their cell phone to drive, check out at the grocery store, or order at a restaurant.

Hrm. I consider it good customer service on my part to know when to go into Quiet Mode for a customer who is on a cell phone. Instead of talking to them, I just point to the price display on the cash register so they know how much to pay, then to each of the sauce boxes to offer them some. They nod or shake their head at me accordingly.

If they're obviously not ready to interact with me, then I just skip them and go to whoever's next in line. But that goes for any customer in the store, not just the ones on cell phones.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you all for your huzzahs!

Funny thing is, I was selected (by acclamation) to be the Secretary for the political group for which I do volunteer work. Which means I'm a secretary in my work life and volunteer life.

Allow me to scream.