Now, now, don't be mean.

My boss and I had a meeting last night with a Village committee. On Monday, we got an email reminding us, as well as the rest of the committee, that the meeting would take place, and I quote here directly, “September 12 at 7 PM at the Village Offices. We will meet in the second floor courtroom as usual.”

So, at ten to seven, my boss and I show up. We go into the Village Offices and up to the courtroom via the public entrance, which is unlocked.

At this juncture, I’ll point out that there is another entrance near the police department, but we don’t like to go in that way because the door is always locked and we always have to bother the police dispatcher to let us in.

And the waiting begins. Seven, seven-fifteen roll by and still no one has showed up. At seven-thirty, we decide to leave. But just in case, we call one of the committee members to see what’s up.

He says, “Where were you guys? We waited till 25 after!”

My boss, in a remarkable display of restraint, informs him that we are still SITTING OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM. Which, let’s all remember, is the location of the meeting.

It turns out that only three committee members showed up, and they waited for us in the chairman’s office, which, let me remind everyone, is not in, or anywhere near, the courtroom. It is, in fact, behind the police department. Turns out he didn’t have a key to the courtroom, so he decided to hold the meeting in his office.

So, rather than, oh, I don’t know, LEAVE US A FUCKING NOTE, or, say, CALL OUR CELL PHONE, or, here’s an idea, CHECK TO SEE THAT WE ARE NOT WAITING UPSTAIRS, they tell the police dispatcher, who could give a rat’s ass. Oh, and his shift ends at seven anyway, so the point is moot. And, we didn’t even go past the dispatcher because the door is locked, so the point is doubly moot. More like moot squared, actually.

Seriously, it boggles my mind that three grown men could be so thoughtless. I actually cannot wrap my mind around the fact that they just blithely thought we’d figure out the meeting location had changed. Maybe they thought we were telepathic, us big-city design consultants. Christ.