Saturday, September 14, 2013

Bitches Gonna Bitch

It's been a bit of time since I've written – life often gets the best of you when you least expect it. The enemy #1 seems to be the flu virus which has kept me pretty much bed ridden for a bit but I wanted to sit and write about what everyone is talking about.

Earlier this month, directly following the 3 day holiday weekend, housing on base went from being owned by the Air Force to being owned by a privatized company, Corvias military living. We all knew that this was coming – granted the process was kinda shoved on us last minute but still we have all been hearing it was going to happen for some time now. People have been bitching for a couple of years now about it not happening then when it finally does happen people once again began to bitch because it was happening. If people aren't bitching about something then they just are not happy I guess. 



One of the “perks” to privatized housing is that Corvias will be taking care of the grass – something that has been our responsibility here on base in the past. With any business venture, kinks have to be worked out with a new company, one of which is how to maintain 400+ yards plus park areas. Working out these kinks means trying to figure out exactly how many workers it will take to maintain these areas, what schedule will work best with these workers, figuring out if more workers need to be hired, ect, ect. In all honestly, it seems as if Corvias has been doing their best to try to make the transition a positive one for us, however you're not going to be able to make everyone happy – or with the case in this base, people are going to bitch.

Sure enough, within 24 hours of Corvias taking over the property, the bitching began. Because of the holiday, some housing areas grass was not cut on the Monday that grass will normally be taken care of once the schedule is running smoothly. Holy shit – people went ape shit I tell you. I would have hated to have been working in the Corvias office on Tuesday morning when the phone calls started rolling in demanding to know why their grass was not cut and the demands of having their grass cut immediately, regardless of the holiday putting a one week delay on their area . Corvias turned around and tried to accommodate these demands. Their workers began working overtime to try to get at last everyone's front yards mowed but then the bitches started up again – the back yards were not done, the flower beds were not weeded, the grass was not cut to their satisfaction.

Here's a reality check – if you are accustomed to a perfectly manicured yard and it means that much to you, bring your happy ass outside and continue to maintain your lawn the way you feel it should be maintained. However, driving around base prior to Corvias taking over, I can't say I have ever seen any lawns that were about to be acknowledged in Home and Garden magazine for being exceptional. I've driven by homes where people haven't touched their yards for months - the grass is knee high and the flower beds were so overgrown that it looked like a forest. I've seen backyards so poorly maintained that they have resorted back to the desert surroundings, completely without grass and with sage brush growing everywhere. To those who were bitching because their grass was not cut immediately – how many of you actually cut your grass weekly to begin with? I know that I have one of the nicer lawns in my neighborhood and I know we sure the hell don't mow it every week. 



Some of the comments I've been reading have honestly kept me pretty entertained. My favorite was the woman bitching because Corvias did in fact weed her flowerbeds – she claimed she was “embarassed” because they missed a spot. If your flowerbeds were so bad that one missed spot is such an embarrassment then obviously they were in pretty pathetic shape to begin with. That tells me that you neglected the upkeep on your flowerbeds and are now expecting Corvias to get them into pristine condition. If they weren't an embarrassment to you prior to Corvias weeding them, then they sure the hell don't suddenly become an embarrassment just because they missed a spot. If you're that damn worried about it, take your ass off facebook, stop bitching and go out and pull a few weeds so you are no longer “embarrassed”.

Point is, everyone needs to take a chill pill and give this new company time to get things back on track. But some people already bring to the table such a negative attitude about the privatization crossover that they have allowed that negativity to reflect in everything Corvias will do. Edwards is not the first property that Corvias has acquired from the government – this isn't their first rodeo. Give them time to get things on track – they had to deal with housing yanking them around, leaving them in a limbo and then try to pick up the pieces immediately following a holiday weekend. If you're that damn unhappy with your lawn, go mow it yourself. Corvias did not acquire Outdoor Recreation, you can still rent lawn mowers from there. 



Lawn care is a service Corvias is offering us free of charge. If they lag behind, its on them, not on you. You have two options, wait til they make their way to your neighborhood or go outside and cut the grass yourself if it bothers you so much. But bitching about a free service accomplishes nothing. If we were paying for them to maintain the yards it would be a completely different story but it's not costing you a single cent for them to send a crew of workers out in the high temperatures of the midday sun (sometimes in triple digits) to cut your grass. So far, we have come off as some pretty ungrateful entitled bitches with all the bitching going on.


Until Next Time