The board meeting got off to a buggy start

 

Today was dedicated to work for the Co-Op.  Nothing was too strenuous.  But it meant that I had to go out in the world as Mario instead of Marian.

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One of the things I am responsible for doing is to take care of some financial transactions as directed by our board's president.  Today, I had to run down to the bank and have a check cut.  Now that I am used to doing this, I still find that I'd rather not be one of the two people who can sign paperwork for the co-op.  I was in and out of the bank in 5 minutes, and drove into town to get a bite to eat.

Once I finished with the bank, I dropped the check off to its recipient and proceeded to take care of a couple of tasks before returning home for the board meeting.  And that's where the glitch occurred.  Although I had sent a zoom link update, one board member didn't get it.  So I had to resend the link while the meeting was going on. Then the meeting proceeded normally.

When we had our old site manager, he wasted a lot of time fighting us all the way.  A meeting that we once completed in 2-2½ hours started stretching to 3½ hours, the extra time being wasted by the old site manager, as he fought us at every chance.  Now that we have this youngster, we completed our business in 2 hours.  What a relief!

I could go on and on about things.  But even I found most of the day to be a bore....

Packing for another cruise - again.

 

Yes, I will soon be on another cruise, and I'll be taking pictures - of the ship.  It's not that I don't want to get off the ship.  Instead, it's because there's nothing new for me to see at the ports when I leave the ship.

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Today, I took care of some business for the co-op, and then attended our monthly business meeting.  Ever since we got our new site representative, things have been running well.  Instead of our meetings running 4-5 hours with the old site manager, they now run 90 minutes or so and are almost a pleasure to attend.  When someone commented about a mistake this new fellow made, I noted that this would be the price we pay to train this person to do the job in the way we want the job done.

Once the co-op board meeting was done, I proceeded to do a couple of loads of laundry before the cruise.  I figure that I'll need clean sheets for when I get back, as well as clean clothes I can take with me on the cruise.  And yet, I still have to pack the fancy dress I want to wear, along with the shoes I'll be wearing with it on gala nights.  It'll be nice to gussy myself up again, as its been a while since I've felt pretty - being stuck in Mario mode for too long can be hard to bear at times.

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Do I think I'll be wearing everything I bring on the cruise?  No.  But I have the room in the suitcase, so why not bring a few things so that I have a few options when I'm on the ship.  While cruising, I hope that the have the "Inch of Gold" chains on sale, as I need to pick up some 24" gold and silver chains to use with some of the pendants I have bought recently.

Even if this cruise is not up to my standards, I think I'll have a good time.  Keep your fingers crossed for me....

The day started off with a visit to the doctor

 

I hate doctors' visits - especially when I receive bad news.  Today, I found out that my blood pressure spiked, and that my doctor wants me to do daily monitoring.  AARGH!   It's hard enough for me to remember to take my medications in a timely manner....

But enough of that.   After leaving the doctor, I went to BJ's to do some shopping, followed by a visit to Trader Joe's to buy some food for the week.  And then, I had time to kill before this month's co-op board meeting.

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Tonight's board meeting would be the first one with the site manager in training, and I was hoping that we could start off on the right foot. First, we had to interview an applicant to buy an apartment, and that went quickly.  And then, we met with the new site manager.  This time, things went quickly, as he understood what we were trying to do, and we understood what he was trying to say to us.  What a change of tome from our prior meetings!  After he left, we took care of some remaining co-op business, and ended the meeting in record time.

Next on my list of things to do would be applying for social security.  As much as I expected that I'd have problems with the process, it went smoother than expected.  For example, when I had to enter data in regard to my late wife, the application form made it easy for me to bypass data that I don't have anymore - such as her social security number.  Now, I have to wait until money starts flowing into my checking account.  Then, I'll deal with fixing the tax withholding on both my pension payments and my social security payments.

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As I've said in other posts: Most of what goes on in a transgender person's life has nothing to do with being transgender.  We still put our trousers on one leg at a time.  But we also have to deal with other issues which would not have been expected for us if we were cisgender.

The saga of water that flowed wrong - so far.

 

On New Year's Eve, RQS overfilled my tub, and water ended up flowing onto the ceiling of the apartment below me.  Although I'm pretty sure I know both cause and way to prevent this from happening in the future, I did the safe thing and reported this to the co-op management company, and asked for someone to investigate.  With a statement from the co-op saying what damages I may need to take care of, I could then go to my insurance company and file a claim under my policy.  This should be a no-brainer, and something that should be taken care of with a minimal amount of fuss on my end.  But things aren't as simple as they seem.

Both my downstairs neighbor and I reported the problem to the managing agent over the weekend, and we expected return phone calls (or emails) that next Tuesday.  All I got was crickets.  I figured that by Thursday I'd need to write again and ask for an update - which I got.  Finally some information!  The site representative was in contact with our plumber and would look to set up a date for an inspection.  I was bothered by this.  The same plumber was here that Tuesday morning, I was here that Tuesday morning, and my neighbor was here that Tuesday morning.  There was no excuse for not asking the plumber to spend a few extra minutes to come to our two apartments and determining the root cause of the problem.

The following Tuesday, we held a co-op board meeting.  As much as I can't talk about many things that happened in the meeting, I can say that I brought up my concerns to the site representative.  And he told me that he already scheduled an inspection of the two apartments' plumbing on Friday at 8:30 am.  What if either of us was planning on being away?  The site representative should have checked with the apartment residents before committing to a date and time.

As you can guess, I am annoyed.  From the time that the problem was detected to the time the apartments were inspected would almost be two weeks.  You can easily see why I want this site representative replaced as soon as possible.

Dealing with screwups!

 

I've been in the position where I've royally screwed up, and deserved to get laid off from my job.  Today's post covers a screw up that I have to deal with for an upcoming cruise, and a vendor's representative who does nothing but screw up.

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When I booked my Hawaii cruise, I noticed that the cruise line didn't have a place where I could enter my middle name.  Normally, this would not be an issue, as TSA does not get involved (much) in who can (or can't) go on cruise ships.  However, since the cruise line booked my air, I found that they screwed up the booking of my flights.

Sometime toward the middle of the year, NCL sent out an email to inform those people who are using the cruise line to book their air travel that they would need to have their complete legal name on file for their flight booking.  I contacted NCL, and gave them my full name: Marian Ann Johnson.  Well, I found out that NCL sent the name "Marian Johnson" to United Airlines, and not "Marian Ann Johnson." This prompted a call to United, where I needed to get past their unfriendly chatbot to reach a human who could fix my problem.  And even then, they may have created an error, as my name now reads "Marianann Johnson".  When I called United for a second time, their chatbot threw up a gauntlet that got in the way of reaching a human to fix the problem the first agent may have caused.  When I finally reached an agent, she said that TSA should accept this.  I am very skeptical, so I will soon be contacting TSA to verify this claim.  AARGH!!!!

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Just after dealing with my plane ticketing issue, I had to attend a co-op board meeting.  Although I can't say too much about went on at the meeting, we made the site representative of our management company very uncomfortable - his performance does not meet the standards I'd want to see in someone with whom I'd do business.  I asked him about an issue regarding a light that illuminates a sign, and he reported that the light was fixed - the electrician had worked on the light the day before.  Well, I was upset.  He is responsible for verifying that all contractors complete their work to our satisfaction before paying these vendors.  So I said that I'd check this light when I went out later.  And, of course, it was not lit.

At this point, I was livid.  This man had left our meeting early, as he was not up to the criticisms we had about his performance. And now, I had proof that he didn't bother to check that the work was done properly.  I'd bet that he'd pay the bill for work not done if I didn't call him out.  So I wrote a polite letter (with photographic evidence) that the work was not done, that the light was not on, and asked him to get this fixed ASAP.  Of course, I made sure to copy the full board on this issue, and blind copied his boss.  24 hours later, he still have not replied to my email.  So, sometime tomorrow, I will send an email to his boss, saying that I (as an individual, and not as a board member) have no confidence in this man being able to take care of requests in a prompt manner, and that I intend to write to the boss from now on for any services that I might need.

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Please remember that I have screwed up big time in my career, and have paid the price for it - I was dismissed from my job.  Since I have a responsibility to the co-op's shareholders, I will exercise the same kind of responsible decision making that others have had to make when dealing with careers like mine....