So it seems The Man has targetted my Canadian flag for their next victim. I found a letter in my doorway politely reminding me of a bunch of clauses in my lease relating to the indoor window treatments, garbage obstructing the entrances, etc. and asking that I please comply with these regulations forthwith.
In confusion I went down to the manager’s office and asked just what the hell the problem was, and my eyebrows raised when the woman said “oh, it’s your flag.”
“You mean the one I’ve been hanging on my balcony for the past eight months without causing any problem?”
“Yes, well, first of all I’m newer to this apartment complex than eight months. Second of all, we’ve been telling other tenants they have to take stuff down that doesn’t comply with the lease, and it seems a couple of them said something to the maintenance people about your flag, and the maintenance people brought it to my attention.”
“Okay, but… the stuff you quoted from the lease in this letter has nothing to do with my flag. There’s nothing in the lease that doesn’t permit me to hang that flag. In fact, I’m kind of offended that you sent me a letter that seems to quote random sections of my lease and tells me to stop breaking it without even having the nerve to say what the problem actually WAS. It’s been perfectly fine for the past eight months; how was I supposed to deduce from a meaningless letter like this what you were talking about?”
“Well, see, I’m new here, I haven’t known about it for eight months, otherwise I would’ve said something.”
“How long have you been working here, then?”
“… Four months.”
And so the conversation circled round and round in the predictable way that most such conversations with incompetent bureaucratic middle-people do. It ended with her saying she’d call her boss and phone me back within the hour… that was about three days ago.
If push comes to shove I’ll probably take down the flag, but it’ll take a lot more convincing than quoting sections out of the lease that don’t even relate to it.
Dan.