Death by Association (meeting)

Last night was the annual (first attempt) meeting for my townhouse association meeting. I knew it was futile to go, but I went anyway. Stupid me. I thought...well, if they don't have enough people there to vote (a.k.a. quorum), we'll all just pack up and go home.

So did that happen? Nine people showed up. We needed 29. So I started to gather my things. But they started yammering about all the items on the agenda. Complaining about this tenant having a large dog or that tenant's coachlight bulb being burnt out. You think I'm joking there, don't you?

On and on it droned. I had made the unfortunate decision to sit far away from the door, so I was fairly trapped. For an hour, they talked about the crappy roofing job and the crappy driveway cement and what they were going to do about it. Uh, repair it? Then the increase of association dues and hooligan kids parking in the complex on their trek to "do drugs" under the nearby bridge.

Finally after an hour, we seemed to have reach the end of the litany of grievances and I saw freedom before me. I wasn't going to die there after all (it was ROASTING in that room). So again, I gathered my papers and my purse and heard, "So, where's the annual financial report?"

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I will not sit through another debate over why this item is detailed under this expense. I will NOT! I quickly got up and pushed my way through the nine chairs and may have even kicked a lady in the leg in my haste to flee the financial dronery (yeah, I invented that word last night).

After all that, we have to repeat the debacle in two weeks to be able to vote. I see a proxy form being sent in my future.