*© Image by Undercover Sandy
Cove-r
It all started
with the first substantial snowfall of the season, around Christmas 2012.
I don’t remember the exact date because I didn’t bother making a note of
it. Why would I? Knowing what I do now, I should have. But
then again, as we all know, hindsight is 20/20.
It’s my first winter in South Park, SCA, and naïve about how things work around here, but only for a little while. The first significant snowfall of the season starts on Wednesday night and I wake up to a winter wonderland on Thursday.
I head out to clear my sidewalk and shovel a pee/poop path on the lawn for the dog; she’s short and would disappear into the snow if I didn’t. Other than taking care of my walkway, The Park takes care of the streets and parking pads, etc., which is one of the reasons I chose to buy here in Sandycove Acres. I’d had enough of shoveling in our hearty Canadian winters where I used to live in The Town down under.
I spot the SCA plow guy, **Rylie, clearing the street around 8:30 a.m., and wave him down as he was scooting by my house, to ask how the snow clearing process works in SCA. He explained about the order of clearance, which is:
1)
Parking lots and entrances first
2)
Main roads and courts second
3)
Recreation buildings and walkways next
4)
Shopping mall
5)
Driveways last
Makes sense. Rylie told me that usually he’d be back around 10:00 a.m. to do the parking pads on my court so make sure to move my car to the street before then. But, that day he had a seminar and it would be afternoon before he could come back. Understandable.
Time ticks by. As the business day at SCA draws to a close, I become concerned that my parking pad would not be cleared and I want to move my car back to my parking spot. At 3:30 p.m. I call the office. The person who answers the phone mentions the seminar and advises that the guys were doing the best they can but I am assured that it would be done that day. Judging by her off-hand manner and tone, I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t called, my driveway would not have been cleared either that day or ever, for that matter. Also, I was given to understand quitting time was 4:30, whether parking pads have been done or not.
This was the start of an extraordinary saga to have my parking pad cleared without having to call the office each time it snows, which, these days, can be frequently.
A
few days ago, Sunday, January 6/13, I was speaking to a Long-Time Resident and
he filled me in on the way the snow clearance really works here in South
Park.
“You
know,” says he, “despite the cost of the snow clearance being included in our
monthly fees, don’t expect it to be done if it’s a weekend or a holiday.”
Huh? Really? What! Does Mother Nature know? Oh hey, quick,
someone send her an e-mail and tell her she can only make it snow Monday
through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. and never on a holiday!
One of the conditions of this lengthy lease is that SCA is to receive our monthly fees promptly on the first of every month but SCA seems to think that it is acceptable not to clear our parking pads in a due-diligent and timely fashion, even though, according to our lengthy lease, it is to be done. Hmmm, I wonder, how would SCA react if the residents decide to cancel the pre-authorized debit for their monthly stipend and perhaps pay it 24 hours late and then only if SCA calls to find out why it hasn’t been paid? If SCA expects the residents to adhere to the lease conditions, shouldn’t SCA be expected to keep their side of the bargain?
Funnily enough, holiday time off in SCA admin and the maintenance department between December 2012 and January 2013, seems to have included Monday, December 24/12. Why? It wasn’t a weekend or statutory holiday, so I’m confused as to why I had to call and call and call to get my driveway cleared, when it should have been done on Sunday, December the 23rd anyway. When someone finally shows up on Monday, it is only by happenstance that I see the plow arrive. I have a feeling that if I don’t react quickly, the plow would leave without doing my parking pad. I throw my jacket on over my night shirt and rush out to move my car.
As I start back to my house, I see the driver staring at me, his body language shouting, “I’m not happy!” The end result of this aggrieved employee’s efforts, whose salary is paid by me and all the other SCA residents, is that my parking pad is poorly cleaned and sod ripped up and it only took him about 20 seconds to accomplish this. I see my Newbie neighbour run out to move his vehicle, so that his drive could be done. Before he could even get into his car, the plow boots off down the street and vanishes around the corner. My neighbour’s face radiates disbelief, as he trudges back into his home, shoulders drooping.
Oh, and, what about this past Sunday, January 6/13? Only the answering service was picking up calls (apparently the Sales office is closed, at least on Sundays, for the next couple of months), and Operator 27 refuses to convey my two requests to the maintenance department to have my parking pad cleared, because as I’m told, “It’s not an emergency”. Again, why should I have had to call? It should have been done and it shouldn’t have to be considered an emergency.
Whether a holiday or weekend day, Mother Nature doesn’t discriminate and the essential service of clearing parking pads should not be delayed by 24 hours or more, or what seems to be the norm on Marlin Court, not done at all. I'm starting to wonder if SCA is waiting for the damn white stuff to melt! Or, heh, heh, heh, is waiting for the residents to get out there and shovel it themselves.
The Long-Time Resident warned me that it wouldn’t “do” to get on the wrong side of a certain person in Administration, aka **The Dragon Lady. So, more than twenty-four hours after my parking pad should have been cleaned and hasn’t been, I have to, yes, once again, call the office. I have learned during my 58 years that if you do nothing or say nothing, nothing will be done.
**Lily answers the phone, trots out the usual practiced pap and advises me that someone should be by today. I must be a titch jaded 'cause I don’t believe word of it. Over an hour later, my drive was still snow-clogged and my car has been parked on the street overnight – a big ‘NO NO’, apparently. I call the office for the second time that day. Once again, the same glib responses roll out of a well-trained Lily.
I ask, “Why do I have to keep calling to get my drive cleaned after every snowfall?”
Lily cheerily replies, “I don’t know.”
“Then I would like to speak with someone who does know.”
Lily couldn’t put me on hold fast enough. I didn’t even get that ubiquitous, ‘One moment, please.’ She transfers me to that “certain someone” in Administration and we have a most interesting conversation. After apprising this person of this never-ending problem, I mention that I have spoken to residents in North Park and they NEVER have a problem getting their parking pad done. The response? Oh, North Park is smaller than South Park. Huh? What does that have to do with the price of rice? Aren’t resources being allocated properly?
According to The Dragon Lady, Administration does not get many complaints from other residents. Really? Firstly, I can only speak for myself and can’t comment on what other residents do or don’t do, and (B), I have observed that most older folk don’t want to rock the boat and won’t complain, especially if they’ve been warned about The Dragon Lady. If they muster up their courage to make a complaint, it’s a good bet that they’ll be snowed by the identical, smoothly scripted spiel that they get from everyone who answers the phone.
The third excuse? SCA’s being doing “it” this way for 40 years. My response? Maybe it’s time to look at how “it” is being done and re-evaluate the processes and procedures, because, in my opinion, the way ‘it’ is being done now, is NOT WORKING.
*© Image copyright by Undercover Sandy Cove-r. May only be reproduced/used with express, written consent of Undercover Sandy Cove-r
**Names have been changed
