Tree, redux.
- Wade
It starting to seem to me, more and more, that you should expect the worst from people. More often than not, you're right. On the off-chance that they exceed expectations, your day is made marginally happier. Like seeing puppies.
Yesterday's example. I have two trees from two separate neighbors in my backyard, thanks to last week's storm. (Both neighbors are named Mark Hoffman, but that's not important right now.) Anyway, the "north" Mark Hoffman told me earlier this week that he was getting someone in to take care of his tree which is on my backyard. Makes sense.
I had not heard from "west" Mark Hoffman, so I popped by last night. We spoke. He said he "hated to be the bearer of bad news" but if the broken part of the tree has fallen on my property, it's my responsibility to get it cleared off.
Sure.
So, calling my insurance agent today. Assuming he'll tell my "west" Mark is on crack. Then my turn to tell "west" Mark that he's on crack. "West" Mark will tell me he's not paying. Find a lawyer to tell "west" Mark that he needs to get his fucking tree of my lawn. "West" Mark finds a lawyer to say that, in the case of Dorsey v. Harsness, circa 1976, a homeowner whose tree falls 34 degrees past the 45th longitude line is not responsible, legally or financially hereto, for removing said tree, ceterus paribus, quid pro quo. More is spent on lawyer fees than actually cutting the tree down in the first place. I will be forever nervous about "west" Mark calling in parties for noise disturbances and feeding my dog hamburger with ground-up glass for as long as I live there.
All because... people are basically a-holes.
Thankfully, I didn't expect anything different.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
