Don't Fence Me In

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I'm pretty sure I've created some kind of property dispute between my employer and a neighboring residential apartment company. Since being here in Pennsylvania I've taken to walking to work, as my walk is only slightly longer than the walk I'd have to do from my car in the back of the company parking lot to the building. (No matter how early I get to work it appears that the parking lot is full.) My complete walk-to-work path consists of:
a) crossing the parking lot of some small residential apartment buildings.
b) walking over a grassy field for about 20 feet.
c) getting on a jogging path and navigating that path.
d) crossing the parking lot of my current company.

Aside from the brief moment when I have to tramp through the grass, it's a nice, simple walk. Sometimes if it rained the night before I'll end up with some grass stuck to my shoes, but no one at the office ever seems to notice.

Unfortunately, a chain of events have led me to believe that my path will soon be cut off. First, some "No trespassing" signs appeared all over the parking lot of the apartment building. Then, a new sign appeared in front of the company jogging path stating that it is for employee use only. Then, dividing the jogging path from the field closest to the apartment building, wooden stakes appeared in the grass with the words "property line" stencilled on them. And then, this morning, I noticed some new metal fence posts set up along that property line, obviously intended for an actual fence.

I can't help but harbor the suspicion that all this nonsense is because of me. Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I have never seen anyone else cutting from the apartment building to the company jogging path. One time a woman who was walking to her car in the apartment building parking lot asked if she could help me and I said, "No, I'm just walking to work." It was the kind of "Can I help you?" that sounded more like "You are on my property," but perhaps it is still a little self-aggrandizing to think that my little morning perambulation has sparked a fence building frenzy.

Here's the ironic twist to the whole story: I am an employee of the company that owns the jogging path and I am a resident of the apartment building that owns the parking lot. At no point am I trespassing! If they are in fact building the fence because of me, they are putting in a lot of effort to stop one person from doing something he is doing legally. The second ironic twist is that I'm moving to New York in August. It will all have been for naught... By the time the fence is complete I'll be gone.

1 Comment

The twist at the end of this anecdote is awesome!!!

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This page contains a single entry by MixedMetaphors.net published on July 20, 2005 8:24 AM.

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