Below are the main reasons that former members preferred to exit Fantasy Island. One interesting this is that many of these issues could/should have been brought up at the weekly meeting.
Temperature
I like the temperature around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Some people prefer it lower, perhaps 78 or 79. 79 is tolerable, but I get uncomfortable any lower. The introduction of an isolation tank further motivates keeping the room temperature at 80 degrees: it insures the air above the water in the tank is not too cold.
Electromagnetic interference
At least 2 residents were highly sensitive to wifi signals or large computer screen radiation.
Bumping noises
On occasion, I have done vigorous morning exercise routines. One member mentioned that she heard it. But want to actually witness it. Another member was concerned about a number of bumping noises, such doors closing and more. Ideally, feedback would occur as soon as these issues happened.
Eviction
I did choose to evict one tenant. The person quit paying rent. That, in and of itself, was not a reason to evict the person. Because this is a cooperative, the idea is to cooperate with people. But this person’s behavior became very uncooperative in addition to not paying. Reflecting on the issues with this person was instructive:
- one night a conflict occurred that triggered former trauma in the member. Instead of engaging in conflict resolution, the person began to act haughty and high-strung (e.g. slamming doors in people’s faces, no longer attending weekly meetings). Understandably, during the conflict, the person was quite uncooperative, even to the point of throwing things in the direction of the other party. But after the trauma reply, the person continued to carry a grudge and behave in a resentful fashion instead of engaging in conflict resolution and trauma healing. The lack of cooperation violates the central tenet of Fantasy Island as a cooperative.
- Uncooperative behavior as mentioned above. In addition verbal threats of getting a restraining order or filing charges of sexual assault (when there was none) led to the weekly meeting minutes requiring sign-off by all members. This way, we are all admitting that there are no other issues and that we have brought everything to the table that is a source of conflict. Put another way, if she were to go to the police with claims of mistreatment, she would have to explain why she signed her name each week on a paper listing all outstanding issues.
- Ducking the weekly meeting. This person started using evasive tactics to avoid the weekly meeting, leading to me changing it several times and her not showing up each time it was changed.
- Losing money – the eviction took 60-75 days, meaning no revenue during that time + paying for eviction service by a skilled professional.
