Wednesday, October 26, 2005

The Problem Won't Go Away

This morning I woke up at 4:30. The people above me were taking a shower and there was some serious water coming down on the plastic over the hole in the ceiling. So much water that when they stopped, I decided to take a lightning shower before someone else got in and the water gushed. Good thing. Five minutes after I got out of the shower, one corner of the plastic came free, and a great gushing of water poured into my tub. How disgusting if I had been in there when it happened. How disgusting anyway.

So I waited until I was about to leave for work and called it in to maintenance. I think I woke the maintenance person up. He didn't sound happy to hear from me. I explained that I was pretty sure there was a leak related to the tub/shower above me because the dripping got so much worse when they were in the shower.

I got home this afternoon around 5:30. There was a note in the door saying that some plumbing and re-caulking had been done upstairs, but I came in to find that there is still a hole in the ceiling and there was a mess of ceiling particles in the tub, along with some footprints from a work boot. I flipped. Not only was the ceiling not fixed, a mess got left behind for me to clean up again.

I called the management office.

After telling the whole story to the girl who answered the phone, she said that they have ordered in sheetrock to fix the ceiling, but it's not in yet, and she offered, "well, I can send maintenance in to clean it up tomorrow." No good. No good at all. How am I supposed to get ready for work in the morning if I wait for maintenance to clean it up? No, I told her that I want a discount on my rent this month for my inconvenience. She told me I would have to speak with the manager, who (of course) was on the phone. I said I would hold. Every three or four minutes the girl would be back, acting surprised that I was still on the line. After more than ten minutes, she took my number, promising to pass the message on. Well, I did not receive a phone call. I am irritated beyond belief.

They think I am being terrible, but at work today the other teachers said, "You haven't called the health department yet?" I figure I am a fairly patient person. I just don't like being taken advantage of. Like what's this about ordering in sheetrock. Can't they just run to Home Depot? Are you telling me that there is not one piece of sheetrock to be had in this whole town?

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