What Goes Around Comes Around

From the outset, I was certainly well aware of the dynamics.  The Village had jerked FPL around for a couple of years, squandering both $22K in appreciation if we signed the Franchise Agreement early, and the good will of FPL that would have gone with it.  We didn't accomplish anything, but some in the Village wanted their version of showing FPL who was boss.  Well, we sure showed them.  We then gave them trouble about the hardening project.  Another losing battle, which resulted in an improved neighborhood, thanks to FPL, and increasing ill will from them, for the continuing and pointless aggravation we lavished on them.

A couple of months or so ago, I reached out to FPL, to ask them if by any chance they had one of those "cherry pickers," the truck with the small stand that can be elevated to do work at heights, that they were perhaps going to retire, to be replaced with a new one.  We have tree-trimming we can't do, in part because PW has not developed the expertise, but also because we can't reach areas to be trimmed.  One of those cherry pickers would do us nicely.  So I asked if maybe we could have one of those aging ones, or if they could sell it to us cheap.  Knowing how we treated them, though, and that it could possibly be that they're not feeling the love from BP, I alternatively asked if they could give or sell cheap a cherry picker to me, so I could give it to the Village.

I went as high in FPL as I could, and the answer was no.  It wasn't no, we don't have any cherry pickers we're planning to cycle out.  It wasn't no, we couldn't just give away, or even sell cheap, an item of such value.  It was no, considering the way BP has treated us, we would not possibly gratuitously do anything of such a special and generous nature for the Village.

Euphemisms for the title of this post are "As you sow, so shall you reap," shooting yourself (ourselves) in the foot, or spitting into the wind.  We really did ourselves a wonderful job in our treatment of FPL, and we have egg, or spit, on our faces to show for it.  And we're out $22K and possibly a cherry picker.  What some of us unsuccessfully fought was a Franchise Agreement, which is very good for us, and a hardened network of power lines, which is also very good for us.  Some well-placed thinking caps, huh?