Screaming Will Get You Nowhere

Wow, I can't believe I haven't written in a month. There really hasn't been much going on with the whole housing slowdown. We have had to make drastic budget cuts which, thankfully, do not include personnel reduction. We're just stuck with our ancient computers for another year. I can live with that.

This week we had quite the winner. Normally I don't really notice the customers unless somebody requests for me to come out to the counter. That may have something to do with why my story fodder is lacking. I was at my desk when suddenly, from the other side of the office, I heard a guy yelling at the counter staff about how unfair it is that he has to get a permit and "Big Brother" is trying to control everything. I'm still not sure what a reality-TV show has to do with anything.(:-p) Then I heard something very interesting - I worked for [this governmental entity] for 40 years and never had to do this before!! I couldn't help but laugh. Usually it's "I've been a Contractor for 30 years. . ." By the time I got out to see what was going on, the offender disappeared.

When he was out of the building, everyone broke out in shocked laughter. Apparently he was the head of one of the departments in my building and had retired just the year before. Here was a guy who ran a governmental agency yelling and screaming about the government trying to screw him. According to several people, this is not the first time he has railed against the very government for which he worked. The people he supervised hated him. He went so far as to ban anyone from talking about anything that wasn't work-related. How would you like to work for that guy?

This whole uproar was over a residential re-roof permit, which is probably one of the easiest and cheapest permits to get besides maybe a water-heater or electrical panel swap. The first issue was that he was caught doing the work without a permit and one of the inspectors gave him a Stop Work Order. So Mr. Anti-Government was already upset coming in. The yelling started after we had him get an OK from the Planning Department. That is standard procedure for every jurisdiction for which I have worked. I have never seen a re-roof denied by planning. Sometimes there are minimum material requirements such as using dimensional composition roofing instead of the cheap three-tab, which I recommend for durability anyway. The department he ran is tied closely to ours, so it's not like he didn't know how the process works. He's just bitter and angry about something.

At the end of the process, he threw the check at the counter staff, grabbed the paperwork after refusing to sign it, and stormed out. Wow. This isn't a big town, and people love to talk. I'm sure half the town knows about it by now. The strange thing is his wife is known as a very sweet woman. I don't know how she puts up with him.

I praised all involved here for keeping their cool and staying professional through all that. Especially the one who used to work for him. I aspire to never be like that guy.