Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Zombies, Chicken-Hearts, Law and Order

We have had a lively month at the Condo!

Lies, Cocaine, and Delusions
The prostituting, extortionist, scary scream-in-the-halls-"I'm going to kill you and everyone here!"-with-blood-on-his-face guy was Arrested At Last. The Staff is all chicken-hearted--I don't mean the zombies, but the Desk Staff, and so when he came in with his dealer or stable, they could never confront him.

Probably I would have, and been sorry afterward.

The Hearing
So the Owner/roommate/partner came in for a Hearing. The Board threatened to fine him Huge MegaBucks in order to get him in. To avoid the fine, he must write a Never Come Back Here Again authorization (I am sure it has a better title) so that the Chicken-Hearts can bar him from the condo.

Does this sound like it's going to work? No. Is it the extent of our power to protect our Owners and Staff in the law? Yes, unless we want to sue a coke dealer who is currently unemployed.

I suspect he will get out much earlier than a year, break his half-way house agreement, and Return. But we will have the letter this time. The Threat of the Fine is not really a good one now, but it can be renewed with Cause.

The Soap Opera
The dejected room-mate/partner of course knew nothing about this man he was living with. (He was only trying to help him. He was back in France at the time. Can we all say bullshit merde now, in unison?) He was so surprised by all that had transpired. He thinks it is a mental health problem.

I wanted to kick him awake, myself. But these were all the self-delusions of a battered spouse, so I also wanted to direct him to the nearest Shrink.

There is something fragile in the middle of his self-deception. And something calculated, not desperate, under the lies. He's the weak link in our chain.

But the bid for sympathy didn't work. That's not our job as Board members. So we legislated a new reality--we told him we didn't care what his arrangement was, or his mixed feelings, the guy had to go and stay away forever. And by the way, change your locks. We'll want to see the receipt.

A Space to Breathe In
Hello, police force of HotWinds. Thank you very much for tracking this guy down, and providing the Chicken-Hearts, the Zombies, and the preoccupied Bureaucrats of the Board a chance to work this through.

Maybe you didn't get him in on the big crime case you wanted him for. Maybe he was busted only for failure to appear. It was still leverage for us, working for our 275 families and friends, our staff of say twenty.

This Bureaucrat salutes you.

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