Day 74 - And You All Shall Suffer

My new neighbors, a couple with a young kiddo and an antsy boxer, have gotten into a bad habit. Sure, time is at a premium when you're working, paying the bills and raising a kid and a dog. But is there ever a good excuse to leave bagged dog feces sitting outside your front door (in a shared hallway) or piled at the foot of the (shared) stairs?

 Instead of knocking on the door and politely asking my neighbors to please throw away the poop after the scoop (as would be the mature thing to do, and definitely the most effective),  I instead involve the complex's management company, leaving a message after hours describing my bane. To my credit, I detailed the evidence but instead of hanging my neighs out to dry I simply said, "Here's what I've seen. Maybe there's a new process for law maintenance. But I have seen this around my neighbor's door." (Ok, that's lame. I admit it.)

I expected the complex to call the neighbors, tell them of a complaint and then leave it at that. That seemed like a good way to resolve the issue. INSTEAD: The next day, clamped on the grips next to every door, a fresh white handbill (that's 50s talk for a flier) touted the penalty for leaving bags of dog feces laying around and alluding to "complaints."

Why is it so taboo these days to go directly to the person involved and tell them of a compliant? One, YES, I should have knocked on their door myself. But being a product of corporate employment, I often defer negotiations to Switzerland (e.g. HR or a third party.) However, once the complaint is received, why is it ok to blame everyone (without saying names) instead of going directly to the source, neutrally explaining the complaint and then go from there? It is just like so many companies I have worked at. If one person leaves early, a catty e-mail goes to all employees reminding them of designated work hours. If one person strips their clothes and streaks the office, everyone is invited to a town hall meeting to talk about proper office etiquette. To to the source, folks. Get to the source. Let that source know what the beef is and go from there.

Don't punish the masses for the sake of one person's sin.