Ten Random Minutes: To Shovel or Not to Shovel

image: mrboll.com

Forgive me for interrupting my own train of though yet again, but that's just the way this random brain of mine works…..


This morning, I ran across a question from a woman who's new to my area. She asked if anyone was renting from an apartment complex around here where the sidewalks are being kept up in this snow we're experiencing.

Everyone was replying that no, they were not.

Then, another woman chimed in that she used to manage in Washington state and that it is foolish to try to. When a manager shovels and attempts to de-ice the walkways, sometimes they can become more slick. A person can fall and sue.

WHAT?!

Then you think well, what happens when they don't and someone falls, can't they be sued for that as well. Really, we're just damned if we do, and we're damned if we don't. Screwy!

I have a friend who manages apartments, and I know for a fact that she was out shoveling her walks last night. She called us because she wanted advice on how to do it best. Clearly, this woman cares about her tenants. She also has a kind heart and doesn't think about the other side of that coin--that there are rude and vindictive people out there.

Here's what really bugs, though….It seems that once something is in the legal books, there it remains to draw upon for time immemorial.

How do we change things like this? I feel like it's kind of like cleaning out the fridge….You have so much old nasty stuff on the records--things that really shouldn't be there--that the mold and scum dominate, and the good stuff can't be found.

Clearly, my friend isn't out to make someone fall. If anything, she's attempting to make her tenants lives easier. Yet, the written laws make her out as a criminal for doing a kind act--this can be applied in so many situations in our world. It's maddening.

I believe that laws should be out to punish criminals--those who do things to intentionally screw people over. Now that this law is in the books, though, we have punished kindness.

Wow! This just gets me all riled up inside.

I shared about my friend after this woman's comment, and she urged me to warn my friend against doing it. If she gets sued, she could "lose everything."

This is so frustrating!