So, I'm curious what the big deal was about whatever it was you planned for your co-worker's going away party, Jesse. Did your boss tell you anything specific about what the CEO's issue was?

But most older owner-occupied buildings in NYC are co-ops -- if you move into a condo, it's probably a newer building.

My grandparents lived in a building with a totally weird not-co-op system. When they moved into the building, in the late forties, the building was owned by a single owner, and it was all rental units. (It was built around 1900. I have no idea how long it had been a rental.) Then, in the sixties, Columbia University wanted to buy the building, evict everyone, and build a new dorm. The tenants, naturally, objected to this. Ten of them got together, pooled their money, set up a corporation, and bought the building. The building has about 30 apartments. So for the next 30 years of so, the owners of this corporation stayed there, each paying about $200 a month in rent, while the rest of the apartments were rented out normally, with all the rent money going to the corporation.

This all worked fine for everyone involved until a few of the owners died and their kids didn't want to live there. They'd never gotten any dividends from the corporation -- the benefit of being an owner was paying practically nothing in rent. And nobody could figure out a way to calculate what to give to someone who had just inherited a 10% share of the corporation.

I only have 4 more cds to load from this folder! And that leaves, uh... another 48. Sigh.

So, I'm curious what the big deal was about whatever it was you planned for your co-worker's going away party, Jesse. Did your boss tell you anything specific about what the CEO's issue was?

I passed around an envelope for people to give money, which is apparently Not Done, even though I SWEAR it's been done several times since I've been there. I swear to god I've put money in an envelope that came around with the card. But anyway, what people actually did was hand money to me directly, so when the CEO got it, there was nothing in there, and I think really everyone (CEO + my boss) was already having a bad day due to other things, and the bullshit just escalated, and WTF.

And then people kept checking up on me to make sure I was doing things "right," which I was in every other aspect (sent around a card, got the right kind of food, bought a tablecloth and fucking napkins, etc., etc.), but only because I figured out what to do and then did it myself, not because anyone told me the rules or anything, god forbid.

Anyway, I'm unreasonably worked up over all of this, but it's done now and I can move on.

Thanks for asking.

You and me against the commas, Cass.

I forgot about the possibility of large down-payments. I've been idly shopping to see what we could afford with a 20% down payment now that I have some savings, and the possibilities seem to all be located in trailer parks. Which would mean still paying rent for the spot and not really having a yard, so, probably not gonna go that route.

Anyway, I'm unreasonably worked up over all of this, but it's done now and I can move on.

I'm glad for the second part, but I can relate to the bullshit of it, so... not unreasonable for you to get het up about it, I don't think. People - feh.

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In Trader Joe's news... veggie egg rolls are a hit. Not unreasonable calorie and fat-wise and also quite tasty.

People - feh.

Well, yeah. I just hate the lack of guidelines (except the secret Rules!) the most. I feel confident that within six months, our new HR person will have a Party Policy in place, and then the next person can just follow it, and there will be none of this sturm und drang.

As nutsy as that sounds, Jesse, and it sounds pretty nutsy, it also sounds like typical office b.s. Aggravating as all get out.

And it was definitely the Other Factors that made things so fraught. My office isn't usually like this.

Moving on!

Hey, by exposing this weakness in office culture, you've made fixing it more likely. Cool.