So now that I'm president of....

the Resident's Council it was time to have the first meeting of the group with the new president leading the meeting.  The former president is having a case of severe sour grapes, so she didn't grace us with her presence.  Just as well, we were a bit crowded for space and her "powerchair" takes up a good bit of room.

The administrator came and a couple of the residents who were there wouldn't stop hitting the issue of people who cough a lot in the dining room.  There are two separate issues involved and I had trouble getting these people to separate the two.  One is that these people who cough a lot are also rude and won't cover their mouths with their hands, or a napkin or anything else.  The other issue is germs being spread by their coughing, whether or not they cover their mouths.  The administrator promised to try to do something but I suspect there isn't a lot they can do.  Part of the rights conferred upon a resident when they move in is the right to eat in the dining room.

I'd made it clear I wanted the meeting conducted with everyone else listening to the one person who had the floor at that moment; and that we would get to everyone in turn.  But one resident who is very unhappy with life in general just couldn't stop talking.  I asked her several times to be quiet and let the person who had the floor speak and she wouldn't.  So I outshouted her (sometimes it's good to be able to reach for that extra volume, even if it did tax my breathing) and that set her off.  After a string of insults directed at me and others, I was forced to ask her to leave  "I didn't vote for you anyway" was the non-insult portion of her exiting tirade.  As though that might make a difference to me?

I've had thankless jobs in the past, but they usually involved some form of compensation.  When I coached a bunch of bratty military brats in basketball or baseball, I didn't get paid.  But it looked good on my performance evaluations.  When I was a Big Brother (not to my real brother, but to a kid whose father had left when he was an infant), I didn't get paid or reimbursed for my expense, but I got the satisfaction of knowing I was making a difference in that boy's life.  Being president of the resident's council here is a lot like losing control of your bladder while wearing a very dark pair of pants.  It gives you a warm feeling all over but no one else notices.

If the next 11 months of meetings are like this one was, the committee to re-elect me will not need formation.  I will follow the example of General William Tecumseh Sherman.  "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."