New resident gets fined $75 by HOA for violating package rule when it's their fault for not giving him a proper mail key: 'You can't cite people for problems you created through your own incompetence!'

No one should be fined by the same people responsible for said fine. That's about as counterintuitive as it gets, and yet no amount of hypocrisy is enough to stop your local homeowners' association from trying to get some extra cash from its residents. 

This new tenant lived in an apartment building that was, unfortunately, part of an HOA, and he felt the negative consequences of the HOA-resident dynamic almost immediately. First, he was promised a key to the mail room upon moving into the complex, but the delivery of said key was delayed for weeks on end. At first, this wasn't a problem for the resident. Then, one day, he received a $75 fine from the HOA for allowing too many packages to accumulate in the mail room. Of course, these packages could not be properly accessed and taken by the resident because he still did not have his key to the mailroom. He made numerous attempts to explain his predicament, but the HOA board members refused to acknowledge their own part in this mess. 

This catch-22 illustrates just how useless HOAs are when it comes to actually helping out their residents. However, when they discover new ways to enforce ridiculous rules and collect more money from folks, they will jump at the opportunity.