Hi, I'm Jill...the Mean, Nasty New Neighbor

Let me just get right to the point: I'm the kind of person that likes to get right to the point. I'm forthright. I tell it like I see it. There. I said it.

I'm also the kind of person who has an opinion about almost everything, but keep it to myself unless it's something I really feel strongly about. I'm not big on giving advice, unless someone asks.

Currently, I happen to feel strongly about our home owner's association spending $13,000 this summer on lifeguards that text message, eat, listen to iPods and visit with their (non-member) friends while "lifeguarding". That is, if they even bother to show up. And let me just interject, if they don't show up, the bathrooms don't get unlocked, and that's just not cool.

I don't think we even need lifeguards since our community pool is fairly small and not heavily used. But, this summer the contract for lifeguards was signed, so my opinion is I'd really like the money our home owner's association is paying to be put to good use.

My husband and I raised the "no lifeguards needed" idea with the home owner's association president after the pool season last year and we felt it was largely swept under the carpet and not acted upon one way or the other.

So, a couple weeks ago I emailed the President of the Homeowner's Association and voiced my opinion. I gave two or three examples, with specific dates, when I observed lifeguards not doing their job. I presented, again, my argument for spending the $13,000 on something that would benefit a greater percentage of the home owners. For example, $40 could be spent on a new swing for the playground to replace the one with a broken safety bar.

And I also asked for ages and qualifications of the lifeguards working, a breakdown of the costs associated with the pool (wages, maintenance, etc) and a listing of the duties the lifeguards are supposed to uphold.

The H/O President replied that he'd get me the information, when he could find the time, and also copied all of the other Board Members, including Carolyn, the Board member in charge of the pool.

Carolyn lives down the street from us. She has five kids, 4 of them teenagers. We've had a couple issues with her boys loitering around our house late at night. My husband did the responsible thing. He talked to the boys, told them to go home, and then went to their house and talked to Carolyn and her husband.

Let's just say Carolyn doesn't like us very well. And she really doesn't like us now that I've invaded her Pool Territory.

She was at the pool earlier this week and was openly and obviously talking about us to other people there. So, me being the forthright person I am said, "Carolyn, I find it interesting that you can talk about us to other people when what you should be doing, as the Pool member on the Board, is talking to us."

Carolyn The Pool Lady had been unleashed. She told me on no uncertain terms that she could not believe how I went about voicing my complaint. She told us we have not lived in the neighborhood long enough to have an opinion. She told me I am nitpicking the lifeguards. And she called us the "mean, nasty new neighbors."

How do you even begin to respond to someone like that? Her personal opinion about us overshadows her duty as a Board Member. A person who resorts to name calling has bigger problems than the issue at hand. She's embarrassing herself in an effort to defend her position.

It's really sad. It's sad someone like her is allowed to be on the Board. It's sad she isn't more mature about the situation. It's sad our hard-earned money is being managed by a Board that allows her behavior and the poor job performance of the lifeguards.

Ultimately, I think this is a testament to the bigger problem of work ethic in kids today, and the way some adults enable it by not doing anything about it.

She has chosen to defend that, while calling me mean and nasty.

It's just really sad.