I certainly don’t want to make this into a religious debate, but why the heck can’t you use the moving elevator on Sunday?
How, and why, is Sunday so different from the rest of the week?
Why is it that Sunday has been reserved as “the day of rest” for Elevator #3 in most buildings in the downtown core?
I for one, think this absolutely, positively, ridiculous…
Wikipiedia explains Sunday as the following:
Sunday is the day of the week following Saturday but before Monday. For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day of worship of God and to rest, due to the belief that it is the Lord’s Day, the day of Christ’s resurrection. Sunday is a day of rest in most Western countries, part of ‘the weekend’. In some Muslim countries, Sunday is a normal working day whereas Friday is the day of rest, when Muslims go to jummah prayer. According to the Hebrew calendars and traditional Christian calendars, Sunday is the first day of the week, but according to the International Organization for Standardization ISO 8601 Sunday is the seventh and last day of the week. No century in the Gregorian calendar starts on a Sunday, whether its first year is ’00 or ’01.[1] The Jewish New Year never falls on a Sunday. (The rules of the Hebrew calendar are designed such that the first day of Rosh Hashanah will never occur on the first, fourth, or sixth day of the Jewish week; i.e., Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday).
Sooooo……..Christ’s resurrection means I have to move my mattress on Saturday?
All sensitivities aside, I say this to try to hammer home how stupid a condominium’s rules and regulations can be.
Most people around the world do consider Sunday to be something of a more “relaxed” day. I’m not sure how you would explain Sunday, or what word you would use to describe it, but it’s certainly different from the rest.
It’s the weekend, and I get that.
It’s the last day before the business week starts, and I get that too.
But I don’t understand why so many things in the world have to stop on a Sunday, including using the moving elevator in a condominium.
On Saturday afternoon, I went down to the concierge with cheque in hand, and said, “Can I book the moving elevator for tomorrow?”
He said, “sure,” at first. But then paused and said, “Oh, sorry, you can’t. Tomorrow is Sunday, and there’s no moving on Sunday.”
I asked, “Do you mean that there’s no moving on Sunday? Or that the moving elevator cannot be booked on a Sunday?”
He paused again, and said, “What’s the difference?”
Of course – he thought they were one and the same.
I’ll be honest here folks and tell you that I told him straight up, “I am moving some things tomorrow. I just wanted to know if I could use the moving elevator.”
I work six days a week, and quite often – seven. When am I supposed to move my mattress, bed frame, and four boxes of old books? Should I take a Wednesday off work? Should a teacher call in sick, or a lawyer cancel a court appointment?
What the heck are people supposed to do if they can’t move on a Sunday?
I know, I know – you can move on a Saturday. Of course!
But this leads into the other problem with only allowing moves on Saturday, and not Sundays:
But picture a building in the downtown core with 300-400 units, and now picture ONE moving elevator, and three time slots from 9am – 12pm, 12pm – 3pm, and 3pm – 6pm.
How is this supposed to get done?
No double-bookings, of course!
I can’t tell you how many clients have said to me, “I called the concierge in my new condo to book the elevator for the 30th, but they said it’s already booked. What am I supposed to do?”
That’s a good question. I’ll tell you what I did…
I told the concierge on Saturday, “I know you don’t make the rules, and I don’t want to get you guys in any trouble. I apologize in advance if you’re working on Sunday, but I am moving some things. I have a van, and I’m moving a mattress, a bed-frame, and some boxes.”
Sure, I can’t book the moving elevator, but I can move can’t I?
That’s where this gets almost comical, in my opinion, because the concierge told me “there’s no moving on Sundays,” which is an extension of, “the moving elevator cannot be booked on Sunday.”
So let me ask two simple questions:
1) Is there a limit on the number of times you can go up and down in the elevator in a day?
2) Is there a difference between a lady carrying a load from Costco (36-pack of toilet paper, 12 rolls of paper towel, 18-pack of Kleenex), and me carrying a box of books?
No, and no.
So how can there be a “no moving” policy?
And who is this protecting or serving, how, and why?
I know, I know – Sunday is the day of rest.
But if everybody is at home resting, then who the hell is going to be bothered by seeing another human being with a bookshelf in an elevator?
Is Sunday really the day of rest though?
Again, from Wikipiedia:
Christians from very early times have had differences of opinion on the question of whether Sabbath should be observed on a Saturday or a Sunday. The issue does not arise for Jews or Seventh Day Adventists, for whom “Shabbat” or Sabbath is unquestionably on Saturday (Acts 13:13-14). Nor for Muslims whose day of assembly (jumu’ah) is on a Friday.
Okay, so what if the board of directors in a condo is comprised of five Muslims, and they set the rules and regulations in the building. Can you book the moving elevator on Friday then?
See how ridiculous this all is?
What is so goddam special about Sunday?
I’m sorry, but I find the day of the week to be arbitrary (especially after the last paragraph from Wikipedia shows that other days are special for religious reasons as well), and I find it illogical to suggest that an entire building’s worth of residents has to divide Saturday among them in order to move in and out, and accept deliveries.
It’s bad enough that Rogers or Bell tells us that they’ll be at our place between the hours of 9am and 5pm (BTW – if you haven’t seen the video on the “Honest Cable Provider, I guarantee THIS will make you laugh!), forcing us to take time off work, or ask a retired mother for a favour, but it’s another thing entirely to think that our own building, the very place we call home, has rules that restrict and prohibit us from doing things easily.
Sunday is just a day.
Nothing more. It’s not special.
We’re not a society of 9-to-5’ers anymore. Today’s Torontonians work tough jobs, long hours, and have much less free time than folks did a generation ago.
So why the heck would you outlaw moving on Sunday, when for many people, that’s the only day when a move is possible?
Many of us live in condominiums for the lifestyle, which means we don’t have to shovel snow, rake leaves, fix a leaky basement, repair a roof, but also worry about security, packages being delivered, etc.
So it boggles my mind when a condo, whether via the property manager, or board of directors, has rules and regulations that make day-to-day living more difficult, instead of easier.
Whether it’s refusing to accept keys at the front desk, not allowing packages to be left for non-residents (the concierge refused a package of mail for the owner of a condo the other day from the tenant, because the owner was a “non-resident”), or the refusal to allow residents to move on a Sunday, sometimes, I wonder whether the condo “lifestyle” exists in theory only.
Long time fan
at 7:58 am
Puerile post, man. You should have taken the day off.
Ed
at 10:12 am
Couldn’t disagree more.
I think David often says what many of us are thinking, and I’ve been in this situation a lot before myself!
These condo boards are now instituting rules simply to demonstrate their authority. I hate being told what to do by somebody I employ.
Patricia
at 10:27 am
I had to Google “puerile.”
I think the rules are puerile, and residents are often treated in a puerile manner.
This post makes the whole argument, including the religious aspects of Sunday, rather puerile.
David
at 11:38 am
I had a similar situation in a condo many years ago. I had just moved in and bought some furniture. The condo rules were that you had to book the elevator at least 48 hours in advance, but the store could only give me 24 hours notice on the delivery date.
When my furniture arrived, the concierge refused to let me bring it to my apartment. The delivery guys looked at him like he was nuts. I asked the guard, so what am I supposed to do, leave my new couch in the lobby for 2 days? Or return my couch and sit on the floor? I told him that I was bringing it into my apartment no matter what. The concierge had a hissy fit but it took 5 minutes and no one was inconvenienced. The couch was wrapped in heavy plastic, so the elevator wasn’t damaged at all.
I also had a similar situation with my bicycle. There’s was no way that I’m going to leave my $1,500 bike in the under ground parking lot, just so that it can get stolen. I even got a letter from my insurance agent that stated that they wouldn’t cover me if my bike was left in the parking lot. So the condo board had to back off and leave me alone. I was so glad to move out of there and I’ll never live in a condo again. Too many rules and yet my neighbors had loud parties all night and no one ever did anything about that.
The simple solution is to just buy a house and then you don’t have to deal with this crap.
GinaTO
at 1:24 pm
“Too many rules and yet my neighbors had loud parties all night and no one ever did anything about that.”
Ha ha! Indeed. I’d much rather shovel my snow and pay my roof repairs than deal with silly rules and loud neighbours again.
Long Time Realtor
at 2:08 pm
@GinaTO: Correction.You’re paying for snow removal and roof repairs (and many other services) every single month. It’s called maintenance fees.
P.S. Does anyone remember when we were told that Sunday shopping and buying liquor on the Christian sabbath would lead to the downfall of society?
GinaTO
at 12:19 pm
I know that, but I prefer to do it myself, or pay for it directly, than delegate.
David Fleming
at 3:03 pm
Remember when Bob Rae and the NDP party tried to ban shopping on Sundays in the 1990’s?
I should have included this in my blog post. THIS is what I don’t understand about Sundays. I don’t see why it should be any different than other days of the week, or why in today’s ultra-busy society, why we should be forced to somehow slow down on Sunday, rather than use it to our advantage, and how we see fit, even if that includes MOVING.
Rap Scholar
at 4:46 pm
When Rae assumed office, the Retail Business Holidays Act of Ontario had recently been found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Ontario, meaning that many stores were allowed to open legally on Sundays for the first time
Rae announced that his government planned to introduce legislation for a “common pause day” across Ontario, “to help strengthen family and community life while protecting small business and the rights of workers”.
In practice, this initiative would have required many retail establishments to close on Sundays, with exemptions for religious minority communities. The province also appealed the court ruling to a higher court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, which restored the previous status quo.
However, many retail owners as well as members of the general public preferred Sunday shopping to be legal, and in 1992 the Rae government yielded to the pressure and reversed its position, amending the Retail Business Holidays Act so that only statutory holidays, and not Sundays, would be common pause days
Sabrina
at 9:20 pm
Bob Rae didn’t try to ban shopping on Sunday. He tried to CONTINUE the ban on Sunday shopping that had been in place forever. I’m sure you’ve heard about the Eaton family covering their store windows on Sunday. And do you remember (or have you heard) what a big deal it was that the LCBO finally opened on Sundays? Toronto likes to see itself as multicultural but it still suffers from its Protestant history in many ways, and this is one of them. Anybody remember Paul Magder?
IanC
at 5:12 pm
In our Condo…
We can’t move Sundays, and most Saturday’s are off limits as well.
Only the Saturdays at the beginning and end of the month are okay.
??
AndrewB
at 11:24 pm
In my building I find Saturday moving to be even more “disruptive” for residents. Saturday everyone is in and out of the building so frequently and elevators get busy. Sunday, if everyone is so “relaxed” and resting is the theme, seems like to perfect day to put an elevator on hold.
ScottyP
at 11:39 am
I was going to say the same thing. I’m completely fine with Sunday moving — it’s a chill day, no one’s in a rush, and if an elevator is on service for an hour or two, so be it. Aside from church-goers, is there really anything you’re in a *rush* for on a Sunday?
But Saturdays? There’s a reason why they call traffic on Saturdays “All-Day Rush Hour”. That’s the day when people generally try to get a multitude of things done. And yes, I understand that moving is one of those things, but that’s a major inconvenience for the majority of the residents of the building. So sorry, but waiting for an elevator for 10 minutes on a Saturday is not cool.
Same goes for marathons, parades, street closures, etc. I’m all for it on Sundays, but when it takes me 45 minutes to drive what usually takes 10 on a Saturday morning, it drives me bonkers.
Geoff
at 8:58 am
That’s one thing I don’t miss about living in a big condo building. I actually moved to a small loft building back in 2002 that didn’t have an elevator, just stairs. Some people considered it a drawback but I quite liked not having to wait for an elevator. Moving day wasn’t easy though, but it was just two days after all.
One of the major pluses now with owning a house is that it’s so much easier to schedule deliveries and the like, I must admit.
DavidP
at 11:12 am
The secret to moving in a condo is to book a cargo mini-van, park it underground, and then take the elevator directly down to the basement with your stuff. You don’t have to take any days off work just to use the elevator, and only the nosiest, most annoying condo board member would ever comment if they tried to get on the same elevator.
David Lloyd-Jones
at 5:08 am
Sunday is important because after about the time of Augustus any Roman Emperor had to keep the Praetorian Guard happy — and this was a wee bit of a problem for Constantine, being as he was about to turn Christian, while it was a fair bet that the Guard were about to stay firmly Mithraic, at least until they saw which side their bread was buttered on.
Suddenly the Sun God’s day coincided with the Christian God’s day — and it stayed that way until about 2012, when a recent Pope made an offhand comment to the effect that Yeah, it’s all a lot of arbitrary nonsense, as above.
Money was also important to the Praetorian Guard. Hadn’t you lubricated your concierge with a bottle of Scotch, or the equivalent in cash, last, uh, Christ-mas?
-dlj.
Ameena
at 8:51 am
THIS IS SO ACCURATE IT MAKES ME UPSET TO THINK ABOUT IT !!