Communication FUNdamentals

Nov. 11, 2008

The Communication of Bureaucracy: Rules vs Logic

When circumstances finally presented themselves for us to be able to move out of California, we found that my parents were already in escrow with an investment property.  What a blessing to be able to be near them and for them have a built in rental income!  The only challenge has been the militant Home Owner's Association with a passion for rules and a serious lack of logic and grace. Without rules a society would drift aimlessly into chaos.  But without logic and grace, rules drift steadily into organized chaos that is all but impossible to communicate through.  How do you balance the two?  When does logic dictate that it is in everyone's best interest to bend the rules?  How can you navigate through bureaucracy's mine field?  And when it is best just to surrender yourself to the idiocy of rules for rule's sake in order to save your sanity?  Let's look at a one case study: The association that governs the neighborhood where we live reported that our house was in violation.  Why?  Because they found that the trim, which was supposed to be painted one of only two very particular colors, didn't match the paint chip exactly.  Several years ago, before the house was even purchased, it had been repainted an ever so slightly different color.  The penalty? Repaint the trim before the end of the year or face a stiff fine.  The Home Owner's Association (HOA) has a procedure in place for those wishing to appeal an HOA ruling.  First you must write a letter explaining the issue and requesting a hearing.  Next you must be willing to attend a series of hearings to present your side of the issue.  Lastly, you are told that the HOA never grants ANY appeal on the grounds that if they did it for one, they'd have to do it for all.  If you have nothing to do on any given series of Monday nights, this might be an interesting exercise; however, if you want to get anything done, it's an exercise in futility.  The logical arguments that the present owner, nor the bank before them, nor the previous owner (who was the one who repainted the house), had any complaints filed against them for the egregious crime of painting the house trim a shade "pinker" than the chip indicates didn't sway the committee.  The decision was made, the painters were hired and the paint was purchased.  They were told exactly what company to buy the paint from, what two colors they could use AND the exact paint code (mixture) the paint should be.  They were told they had to submit in writing a request to comply with the HOA's demand to repaint the house trim.  In effect, they had to ask permission to repaint the trim the exact color the HOA demanded they paint it.  They did so, however final "authorization" wasn't received and so more phone calls were made as time was running out to get this done before their deadline.  When word finally came, they found that they were partially denied!  They were told they cannot paint the house one of the two colors they were originally told they could.  You see, several months back the HOA changed the color palette on the neighborhood.  New rules were put in place which said that you may repaint the entire house only if you do so in the new colors.  You may only repaint part of the house if you paint it the exact color that was already on the house at the time.  Well, that couldn't be done since that was the entire reason the house was found to be in violation!  After some amount of logical discussion and rules recitation, they agreed to allow my folks to repaint the trim the color they deemed was the color it was intended to be which was one of the two original colors they told us to paint the trim.  My folks agreed, but were a bit skeptical about their ability to please the HOA. About the time they were ready to paint, my folks realized that it was possible for them to pay for repainting and have the trim still not match the paint chip exactly.  Being sticklers for the exact, my folks asked the HOA if they would come down to sign off on the paint before it was used.  NOPE!  They asked if they could bring the paint to the HOA to have them sign off on the paint before the work was done.  NOPE!  They don't "do that".  After painting half of two test areas of trim, we found that the paint they required them to purchase was EXACTLY the same color as what was already there!  The painter told us that the color does tend to change when you use it on different materials such as the one used for paint chips.  Now the decision had to be made.  Do they spend $800 to repaint the trim the EXACT color the HOA said was NOT the right color? After some persuasion, two representatives from the HOA came out to view the paint, the house and the fact that the color matched EXACTLY the color they required it be painted.  Neither one of the representatives would admit that the color was the same.  They had some difficulty coming up with a procedure that would resolve the matter.  Finally we were told that they would take the information back to the committee and they would have to decide what to do.  Meanwhile, my folks were required to pay the painter for his paint and his time spent.  Several days went by with no word from the HOA.  My father called but was always told the rep was out of the office.  Finally the representative got annoyed with him and told him he would have to wait as he had other more pressing matters.  However the fine, wouldn't wait.  Yesterday evening, my parents went to the committee meeting with the paint in hand.  They were allowed to present their explanation that the paint chip was simply not a good representation of the color and a mistake had been made.  They asked the HOA to rescind the violation and remove the fine.   What ensued was unfathomable! First the secretary taking the meeting notes told them they had to repaint the house because they had agreed to repaint.  Pointing out that it was ridiculous to spend $800 to repaint the trim the exact color the HOA DIDN'T want did make some headway this time.  Next they were told that it is possible that the company didn't mix the paint correctly.  My father asked them if they thought it probable that the paint that wasn't mixed well would come out to be the EXACT color that was already on the trim.  They were unmoved.  He suggested the committee buy their own paint and see if it was the same color as the house, however, they were unwilling to spend their own money on such a task.  Finally they were told that the committee could not grant this request to release the violation until they saw the paint on the house for themselves.  So...a representative will be over to the house to paint part of the trim and see with their own eyes if the paint matches exactly.  The saying "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely" comes to mind.  It appears to me that the HOA is more interested in the rules for power sake.  For if they were interested in expedience or justice, they would be willing to admit when they were wrong and remove the violation.  Not only does this waste my parent's time but it wastes the HOA's time.  Raise your hand if you think this is over.  The moral of the story? It is sometimes more important and logical to give grace than to stick to the rules.  * The more you stick to the rules, the more important it becomes to justify your initial finding. * The more important it becomes to justify your initial finding, the more difficult it is to communicate your way to a resolution.  From JoJo's Purple Crayon...

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