As always it depends on the state. But in most states, HOAs are private organizations that are created by contract. That is, the developer of the subdivision puts them into the deed that accompanies every purchase. The HOA “powers” derive from the terms of the deed and the purchase contract. Essentially, every homeowner signs a contract with every other homeowner in the subdivision when they buy the property. What that contract says is of course depends on what the writer (usually the developer) wanted it to say. This contract is attached to and is part of the deed, a buyer cannot unilaterally alter the terms without the agreement of the other parties. Yet another reason to check the deed of a property before one buys it. Rarely done, but always a good idea.
Of course the enforcement powers of the HOA depend on what the state law says. In some states the law gives HOAs considerable power. In most states it the HOA can sue for violation of the terms of the contract.
So HOAs are private contracts, not state law. How they are enforced depends on state law.
I’m just amazed they still let you into kindergarten at your age.
And your mom, having another baby at her advanced age!
The concepts of royalty and religion are far more detrimental to our potential and development than anything else mentioned here. We’re getting past the nonsense of the former but remain shackled by the anachronism of the latter.
I say we design a new code of ethics that draws from consensus among the major religions and that ultimately replaces them. The dos and don’ts of deconstructing divinity. Come on, people: no Santa Claus and no Boogie Man. It’s just us.
I’ll just leave this here…
Funniest posts I’ve read this morning. I’m dying over here! 
Pledge of Allegiance in schools. Really creepy in my opinion- too North Koreanish.
National anthems at sporting events. Too many people worry about how other people behave during it.
Shaking hands with strangers at church.
Fawning over veterans. “Thank you so much for your service, now I’m going to turn around and vote for people who will send you into the next meat grinder.”
All of the Hallmark Holidays: Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day, Grandparents’ Day, Sweetest Day, etc.
Dollar dances at wedding receptions.
Asking people how are you? Most times I don’t really care.
Thanking someone via email for getting a work task done and the you’re welcome email. Quit cluttering up my inbox.
Cashiers asking me if I found everything. If I can’t find something, I fail to see what you could do about it.
The penny. Let’s round to nearest nickel if not dime.
Gas prices ending in 9/10 of a cent.
And the church itself.
I agree with this one. Get rid of pennies, and while you’re at it, get rid of paper money, too, and just use coins, if you are going to use cash at all these days.
And, honestly, that question is essentially social filler, and is the normative follow-up to “hello.” Social norms are that, unless it’s an interaction between close friends or family members, any answer more detailed than “I’m great,” “Can’t complain,” or, at worst, “Could be better, but I’m getting by” is TMI, and not what the questioner expected nor wanted.
You’ll be glad to know the store I work at abolished this one years ago.
Any establishment still insisting on it these days is nuts what with all the supply line issues.
I always presumed that what the cashier was supposed to do was to pass on to management that the customers were looking for something that the store didn’t carry; so that if there were repeated requests for something, management could consider adding it.
I agree that if the store’s got a lot of supply problem shortages the question doesn’t make much sense.
I’ve had the cashier in Michaels (craft store) and at Dick’s Sporting Goods ask me this and if I say I couldn’t find xyz they’ve paged an associate to help me find it. Because usually when I am shopping at either of these places in recent years, I can’t find anyone in the various departments.
I work for a giant retailer and we have a self appointed group of corporate weenies whose side job is harassing Marketing, Merchandising, Pricing and Operations to stop rolling out shit that makes our front line associates life’s miserable.
The previous regime (20+ years ago) had a policy that it was almost impossible to get hired in corporate except through the stores. This was not working for 20+ years as things had become more computerized and analytical. We had Finance & Accounting folks who barely knew how to use spreadsheets and IT people who knew about exactly one brand/model of equipment,
But now we have swung the other way and corporate has too few people who have ever worked in stores. Stuff gets proposed and rolled out that would be vetoed by anyone with actual store experience. We actually have a council of store associates who are supposed to review proposed changes but it’s degenerated into a rubber stamp because you don’t get on or stay on the council if you’re “too negative”
The lack of genuine appreciation for our store associates among the corporate staff is truly soul crushing.
Probably so. And I’d bet they’re the same people who get their panties in a twist about participation trophies as well. They’re so hung up on only celebrating absolute success, that they forget how kids think and what motivates them.
I mean the various little-kid graduations are cute, and they do a fantastic job of reinforcing the work they put in to learn what they did. And mark milestones in the kids’ lives- getting out of preschool and going to kindergarten is a big one, and so is getting finished with your first year of school. That’s worth celebrating, especially to little kids. It’s just the first step out of 13 for your average student, but it’s a big deal in terms of reinforcing how important school is. I mean, I would agree that an elementary school or middle school graduation is kind of ridiculous; those kids are old enough to know that they didn’t actually graduate anything, and that they’ve still got years of compulsory school left to go. But I think for kindergarteners, it’s an affirmation and a confidence building thing.
And for that matter, so is the effort they put in on their sports team. They may not be any good at it, but at their age, we want to reinforce the effort, sportsmanship and teamwork, not the actual performance. And for the most part, the best way to do that is to collectively reward the team with little participation trophies, not single out some kind who happens to be good at something at 7 years old through no fault or effort of his own.
But these people are so hung up on the idea that society should only reward good performance that they miss the point of a lot of those things.
Well that kind of seems like a good thing to me.
Sure, for adults. But I don’t know what exactly is to be gained by taking groups of little kids and pushing them into a every-man-for-himself rat-race at that age, rather than teaching them stuff that both sinks in at that age, and that is more easily taught at that age- how to be part of a community, that effort pays off, that there’s value in teamwork and cooperation, and especially for sports, that EVERY member of the team is valuable and worthy, not just the best kids.
They’ll get enough of the dog-eat-dog stuff as they grow older, without having to force it on them as small children. Not everything has to be competitive and have a winner and losers. And that’s another lesson worth teaching by giving everyone a trophy or having a graduation in kindergarten.
My eldest daughter started elementary school in the Dallas area in the late 90s, not only did they do the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance; but also the Pledge to Texas. I kid you not.
The only elementary school I went to in Texas was in San Antonio when my father was stated at Ft. Sam Houston. I don’t even remember if it was on base nor can I recall if we said the pledge or not. But by the time we moved back to Texas and I started middle school in Plano we didn’t say the pledge then.
I can understand cashiers asking, or being asked to ask, “did you find everything” if working in a store that tries to ensure satisfaction or sample opinions on what they carry.
I don’t understand being asked it in thrift or charity shops where what they carry is essentially random. But they seem to be the ones asked to ask this the most.