Why do IDIOTS get away with crap?

(Click the image to make it larger, so you can read it.) Remember the plum tree that keeps me awake? Well, two corrections...as someone pointed out, it's the fence making the noise, not the tree...and it's actually a cherry tree. Not like the kind you go pick cherries from in an orchard, but the kind that drops cherries all over the sidewalk and they make a mess and you step on them and track the juice in on your carpet. Yeah, that kind of tree. Anyway, we're tree hugging liberals, and we certainly don't want the tree cut down...just pruned a bit, so it doesn't knock down our fence.

We live in a condo complex, and Ted is the president of the board of directors for the homeowners. So he called our property management guy to have him call the owners of the tree (another complex, with which we share a fence) and have them prune the noisy, messy thing. The other morning, I was walking Genevieve, and the property manager was here, looking at the tree...and he said for all of the pain it is to get this company to pay to have their tree pruned, it would be easier if we just pay to have it done ourselves. The last time we had to have them do something, it had to trickle up through management and so on, and it took over a month. So, because they micromanage their properties and don't give them the freedom to make little decisions like this, our homeowners get to pay for it. Nice, huh?

Well, this isn't really a BIG deal, but it reminded me of one of the owners in our complex. There was a big war a couple of years ago, because he was doing unapproved work on his yard, having fences moved, blah blah blah. He was such a pain in the ass, that it caused everyone on the board a LOT of stress. Well, guess what? He's thinking of moving, and I suspect he'll be doing some more unapproved work in the near future. And my first instinct? Let him do it, just because he's such a pain in the ass and I don't like to see Ted having to deal with that crap.

I once heard that some insurance companies will deny a claim the first two times they come through...sometimes three times...and if you persevere, they will then pay them. But how many people give up after the first or second try? Why would it even occur to them to keep fighting?

Then of course, there are people like Wally in the comic above, who just work as hard as they have to in order to make sure that they don't have to work. Exhausting.

So, where is the benefit in being a decent person? Where is the economic benefit to fulfilling your obligations in an expedient, courteous manner? I haven't seen one. Seems like the bad guys get away with crap, because we're all too tired and worn out to have to deal with them. Makes me mad.