Electricity being misappropriated

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  #46  
Old 04-12-2011, 08:21 AM
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quirky, the "entitlement" issues are not a daily occurrence but they do happen. Much more so than in other areas of the country. Parking in a neighbor's driveway is common, especially in courtyard and patio villas -- there's little extra parking and the streets are too narrow to park your car without inconveniencing your neighbors. Usually, neighbors ask. Sometimes they take it for granted.

On the other hand, the send of "entitlement" is also one of the charms of TV. It comes with being a very friendly area. People don't hesitate to stop and help you -- whether it is being lost in a golf cart, something that dropped out of your cart, your cart broken down on the side of the path, pulling a heavy item to the curb for pick up. Ask a neighbor to borrow a tool and you'll get that tool and two others you "might just need."

So, to me, it is a tradeoff. I'll accept a little more entitlement than I'm used to for the kindness bestowed on everyone on a daily basis.
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  #47  
Old 04-12-2011, 08:26 AM
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Thank you all - everything is a trade-off, so I look forward to my Lifestyle Preview visit some day (before the end of 2013) to experience it all.
  #48  
Old 04-12-2011, 09:27 AM
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Default Love it skyguy

sorry I hadn't thought of that first.....giggle...

I'm with you GG, it takes B**ls!

Wouldn't consider doing anything like that, without permission!!!

Amazing what I read on TOTV!



Quote:
Originally Posted by skyguy79 View Post
If that happened to me I just might consider quietly flipping the breaker off while they were using their tool (or whatever) and leave them scratching their head (or whatever) wondering why their tool (or whatever) suddenly stopped working. It would be funny if they were dumb enough to start taking their tool (or whatever) apart to check it out before testing the tool (or whatever) on another outlet! BTW, I am talking about an electric tool... or electric whatever!
  #49  
Old 04-12-2011, 10:10 AM
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Sorta on topic.... We lost 20,000 gallons of water on a month we weren't in TV.... Not a meter issue, since everything is OK since we moved in. We had someone watching the home, so we know it wasn't a leak or a leaking toilet... My neighbor didn't see anything suspicious, during that time either. I did check to see if my neighbors lawn was greener than mine ...

Very mysterious, but we did get credited back for the usage... Utility Co. couldn't determine a cause either.

We just chalked it up to ...whatever
  #50  
Old 04-12-2011, 10:34 AM
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Originally Posted by memason View Post
Sorta on topic.... We lost 20,000 gallons of water on a month we weren't in TV.... Not a meter issue, since everything is OK since we moved in. We had someone watching the home, so we know it wasn't a leak or a leaking toilet... My neighbor didn't see anything suspicious, during that time either. I did check to see if my neighbors lawn was greener than mine ...

Very mysterious, but we did get credited back for the usage... Utility Co. couldn't determine a cause either.

We just chalked it up to ...whatever
WHOA!! Glad you were able to get a credit back for it, at least.

I doubt it was somebody filling up a water tank on a work truck or anything like that, at least not in one shot. That would have to take many, many trips. 20k gallons would take well over a DAY at 10 gal/min (if that rate of flow could be achieved).

On the other hand, do any of your neighbors have a pool.................?

Bill
  #51  
Old 04-12-2011, 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted by quirky3 View Post
Hello - This is my first post, although I have been reading TOTV for many months. I especially follow the "lost kitty" postings, and I'm rooting for Oliver to be found!

I am/was seriously considering The Villages - I need to work through the end of 2013 though (bummer!)

I currently live happily in a gated community near Jacksonville. I want to know more about the sense of entitlement and intrusiveness that seems to be "The Way of the Villages". While I like the idea of neighborliness and building a community of friends, I have to be honest and say it does not appeal to me to live in a community where people don't really respect normal boundaries.

For example, I would not want cars parked in my driveway or things missing from my golf cart - and I am a very friendly person. Just brought up to respect peoples' privacy. I am wondering if TV is a very good match then.

Please tell me more about what to expect in that regard - I'm not sure a Lifestyle preview visit would give me that.

Thanks very much -
Hi Quirky,
Welcome to TOTV! Since you think about wanting Ollie to make it home, I can already sense that you have the TV spirit. I bet you would love it here. Yes, friendliness and neighbor helping neighbor are prominent characteristics of TV. You can't miss these traits-- they are everywhere.

On the other hand, you could live here for years and still be shocked about the "perp" Freeda described in the original post on this thread, just as she was.

So no, you will not come down here and find a bunch of people who boldly take what doesn't belong to them. But if you're looking for folks who will help hunt for Ollie, boy will you be coming to the right place! You'll find such people in abundance from one end of TV to the other.
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Old 04-12-2011, 12:06 PM
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Thanks so much, PTurner! (I have a cat who looks a lot like Ollie, so I think about him every day!)
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Old 04-13-2011, 07:27 PM
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just when I thought I read most everything!!!
  #54  
Old 04-18-2011, 10:07 PM
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Default Lost Water 20,000 gal

To: memason...
If you calc your water usage you may find that 20,000 gal isn't that unusual. We have 8000s.f. of lawn and the recommended 1x/week watering at 3/4" all zones is about 32,000 gal per month, by calculation. Actual usage runs about 29,000 due to sprinkler head deficiencies, etc.. Also, many time you can have an underground leak or worse, an open-ended pipe that was never properly terminated. Would advise you check each zone by your water meter and confirm no leaks.
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Old 04-19-2011, 07:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skyguy79 View Post
If that happened to me I just might consider quietly flipping the breaker off while they were using their tool (or whatever) and leave them scratching their head (or whatever) wondering why their tool (or whatever) suddenly stopped working. It would be funny if they were dumb enough to start taking their tool (or whatever) apart to check it out before testing the tool (or whatever) on another outlet! BTW, I am talking about an electric tool... or electric whatever!

Did he just think that the home was unoccupied (or unsold)? I just closed on a home on Pennecamp drive and the homes on either side of us are completed and unsold. I think the temptation to 'borrow' their electricity would be pretty strong for some people who are not encumbered with the sense of personal honor and integrity I seem to be afflicted with.

I'd be tempted to just cut the cord. What could he say? "Hey, you just destroyed my extension cord while I was stealing your electricity?"

I currently reside in Virginia (retiring to the home we just bought on Pennecamp in two years) and, while I've never seen a neighbor steal someone else's electricity up here, the favorite sport here (at least with some folks) is to take off during the week in the fall and blow all your leaves unto thy neighbors yard.
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  #56  
Old 04-19-2011, 12:50 PM
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Default Well said

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Originally Posted by Pturner View Post
I wouldn't cut the cord either. I agree it could escalate to a major war, but there's an even more important reason. Two wrongs don't make a right. Think about it. Wouldn't cutting the cord be fighting theft with criminal damage to property? If I run across someone whose standards of conduct I find contemptible, the last thing I hope I would do is lower my standards to his.

Flipping the breaker on and off could damage my own equipment/ appliances tied to the same breaker and would just encourage the guy to make sure I'm not home when he breaks in.

I think Freeda's husband did the right thing to talk to him first. However, unlike TH, I would not pretend that, like the thief, I also make no distinction between "neighbor helping neighbor" and theft. That would lead to a worse-case scenario, the one Red described in which TVers actually assume "entitlement" to taking from neighbors without permission (see also, theft).

Isn't acting like this is no big deal doing precisely that: granting TVers entitlement to take things belonging to others without asking? Isn't saying what TH suggests saying precisely that it's an acceptable norm?

Wouldn't kicking the can down the road-- or worse, calling it acceptable-- contribute to the problem in the long run, instead of helping to prevent an entitlement mentality from taking hold?
Well said as usual.
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  #57  
Old 04-19-2011, 01:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LI SNOWBIRD View Post
Well said as usual.
LOL, I wasn't serious with the suggested course of action (cutting the cord). In the first place cutting a cord with power running through it is a tad risky. At most I'd simply unplug it (after thinking about cutting it) and expect he'd get the hint. If it recurred that would be the time to talk with him.
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