Well, that was certainly... refreshing. Not really, of course, but it's a lot harder to convey sarcasm in writing than it is with my tone of voice and facial expressions. Seeing as how you're not able to see my face or hear my voice...
I just got back from a meeting with the manager of my apartment complex. It was less than informative and more than aggravating.
Backtrack: about a week and a half ago, I informed the infuriatingly incompetent apartment manager (henceforth known as the IIAM) that Anthony and I would be moving out, but that we didn't want to move by April 30th (when the lease is up) but about two weeks later, around May 15th due to various circumstances.
Me: Will you offer a prorated rent for the two weeks we're off lease? (Am I mistaken, or is this a relatively simple, straightforward question?)
IIAM: Why are you moving?
Me: There's not enough room. It's too noisy with the new tenants a few doors down from us. (Thought, not spoken: "I don't trust you. You've been marginally dishonest with us and exceedingly uninformative in all past interactions. I have no desire to continue living in a location that requires me to place any modicum of trust in your abilities.")
IIAM: Well, we also manage another set of apartments nearby. They're much, much bigger, and the tenants are all really quiet.
Me: That's certainly something we can consider. So, if that doesn't work out, will you be offering a prorated rent for the two weeks or will we have to move out when the lease ends?
IIAM: Oh, you don't have to worry about the lease if you move over to this other place. Since it's all owned by the same company, there wouldn't be any problem. You wouldn't have to worry about when your lease is up. You could move before that, no problem.
Me (getting increasingly frustrated): No, see, our lease is up at the end of this month, April 30th, and we don't want to move until two weeks after that, around May 15th. I'm trying to find out what our options are. I know we can go month-to-month at the end of the lease for at least a month, but we don't want to stay for the entire month. Do you offer a prorated rent for the time we would actually be in the apartment?
IIAM: Oh, oh, no, that's not a problem. If you move into this other complex, we'll just renew your lease and it will be applied to the new location. No problems at all. So, do you want to see the other apartment? It's just a little distance from here.
Me (mentally throwing up my hands in defeat): Sure. Let's go look at it.
[Insert brief tour of marginally larger apartment. Note that neighbors at 3:30 in the afternoon on a weekday are blaring the radio and being generally quite loud.]
IIAM: So, do you want the apartment? There's another couple interested in it, but I told them, if they didn't sign the papers today, that it's on a first come, first served basis. So, if you sign the paperwork today, then, it's all settled. It's all yours.
Me: Well, I'm a little concerned about the amount of noise from the neighbors. I'm also concerned about the parking situation and the fact that the laundry room is pretty minimal for how many people are in this complex. [Insert longer list of reasons I don't think this apartment will work.]
IIAM: Well, just go ahead and think about it. Maybe you could bring your husband here and he could take a look later tonight?
Me: That's a possibility. He should be home relatively soon. We could come back and take a look at that point. If this doesn't work out, though, what about the two weeks' difference in time?
IIAM: Well, if Anthony does come back to look at it tonight, that would be very good. Then you could fill out the paperwork and start moving over right away.
Me (supressing the urge to simultaneously scream and throttle IIAM): Why don't we go back to the other apartments. I need to check on my laundry.
IIAM (nodding and beaming cheerfully): Sure, sure, no problem.
Mercifully, she finally answered my question (albeit resentfully) when we got back to the apartment complex and told me that we would be offered a prorated rent for the two weeks. She still, however, refused to give me any definite numbers. I find this somewhat alarming as the rent is supposed to increase by $100 when a lease goes over to month-to-month. I will be very surprised if the prorated amount doesn't end up reflecting that. She also made the statment that we'd be charged for cleaning the apartment. When asked about this, she explained that they hire a cleaning company to come in after each apartment is vacated and that the tenant is charged for that. Excuse me? Sorry, but that's standard practice for ALL apartment complexes. You have no right to charge me for standard cleaning that you have to do after I vacate. If I leave the place in an awful mess, or if I've damaged something that needs to be fixed, ok, fine, I won't argue with you. But you have no right to charge me for a cleaning service you will hire regardless of how well I clean when I move out. When I started trying to debate this with her, she fell back on her favorite line: "Well, that's what the Spieker Company insists on. I have no say in it, I just go through and say whether or not I think it's clean." Anyway...
Fast forward to today (ironically enough, working on laundry again). After passing by the office on my way to the laundry room and determining that there wasn't anyone in there, I headed back to our apartment. Sitting in the living room beginning to pack, my favorite IIAM comes to knock on the door.
IIAM: Excuse me, did you want that other apartment?
Me (gaping in disbelief): Um, no...
IIAM: Because I have a lot of people who want to rent it and I need to know if you're planning on moving in there.
Me: No, no, definitely not. We found a better place.
IIAM: But this one is only $$$ and there's the move-in special.
Me: You mean the move-in special you told me we didn't qualify for because we're current tenants and not new tenants? Besides we found one for $ less than that one, and it's much, much bigger. Plus it has two heated pools in the complex, it's a gated community, they have--
IIAM (hurriedly interrupting): Well, I just wanted to make sure you didn't want it.
Me: No, this place has much larger laundry facilities and a workout room. It's also got a dining room and a nice, big linen cabinet. They also have--
IIAM (interrupting and looking massively irritated): Well, that's nice. I was just checking. You need to fill out the paperwork, then. You'll be gone by May 1st, right?
Me: Um, no. We talked about this previously. We weren't going to leave until around the 15th, but, since I haven't given my 30 day notice yet, it will probably have to be the 20th of May. You were going to give us a call about the prorated rent for those few weeks. Remember?
IIAM: Well, you need to come fill out the paperwork.
Me (shaking my head): Ok. I'll be over in the next 20 minutes or so when my next load of laundry is ready to go into the dryer.
What the hell is wrong with her??? ERK!!! Actually, on second thought, I don't think she's infuriatingly incompetent, I think she's maliciously misleading. (And no, I didn't try for the alliteration, it just happened.) However, I don't know if I want to give her the title of MMAM as that looks/sounds almost maternal, which she most definitely is not. I seriously can't stand this woman. She's driving me bonkers. The more I deal with her, the happier I am that Anthony's had most of the interaction with her in the past. For whatever reason, she doesn't seem to drive him up the wall the way she does me. Just typing this up makes me want to shake something. Or better yet, throw something. Ok, I need to head out now... thanks for listening to the little rant. Just wait until I tell you about the folks at Kinko's, whose services I will NEVER, EVER be using again. I know, I can tell you're waiting with bated breath!
How many days until finals? What was one good thing that happened today? Miscellaney:
� Tessa Logan, 2003-2005 all writing and pictures unless otherwise noted--in other words, don't steal! Having said that, if you know who took the marvelous picture at the top of this page, please tell me!
