A Different World

I knew that renting a house was going to be a different world from renting an apartment. First and foremost, I have a yard now. I have zero yard maintenance equipment. LOL! And even if I had it, I'd have nowhere to keep it because I don't have a garage or a storage shed (this was built as a starter house during the housing boom).

Secondly, there are a TON of kids in this neighborhood. I mean, a ton. I don't mind people's kids when they know how to act, but some of thse hellions have jumped straight off the screen from "Bebe's Kids." They look at you like you're in the wrong when you're driving down the street, even though they need to get the h*ll outta the way. I blame this on the parents that always seem to be missing in action. Sigh.

Third, is the amount of time it takes for them to respond to a maintenance request. They have one maintenance guy named Chris. He hails from Detroit. They are apparently working him like a hebrew slave because he wasn't able to make our appointment yesterday at 5:30. That actually worked out well, because I was stuck in traffic due to an accident. But note that I put the maintenance request in shortly after moving in on 10/1. Yeah.

So Chris arrived this morning a little after 10:30 and promptly went to unclogging the tub and sink drains in the master bath. I know you're probably thinking, why didn't you use some Drano? The type of drain that's in this tub is screwed in and you can't just lift it out. He had to use pliers. Not to mention the isht that was in there when he pulled it out. He told me he's found Barbie legs in drains before. LOL! I did not stay there for the whole cleaning process, but when I walked back in all this gunk was sitting in my tub before he rinsed it down. Needless to say, I'll be bleaching the tub tonight. O_o

I showed him the ill-working fridge they threw in here. When I first saw the unit, I was excited. Side by side fridge and freezer, in door ice and water dispenser. Then I discovered that the ice maker and water dispenser don't work. OK then. Not a big deal. Never had one before, don't need it now. Then I opened it up, and it became clear that this was a used unit. Again - not a huge deal, I'll just need to clean it out well. But when you give me a fridge that doesn't get cold enough, now we got a flag on the play.

It builds up a layer of ice on the back of the freezer, but none of that seems to make a difference. So I pretty much have a refrigerator where the freezer should be, and a refrigerator that's relatively useless. He told me he'd email the property manager (who is on vacay in the Bahamas - must be nice!) and let him know. He started talking about getting a unit similar to what I have. That's when I had to step in and call the 30 second time out.

Listen, dude. I just need a freezer-on-top unit that WORKS. As in, a new one. Tell the owner of the house to use some of the rent money I paid him PROMPTLY on 10/1. LOL! I don't need anything with bells and whistles. I simply need frozen food that's frozen, and cold water when I need it. Not soupy Ben & Jerry's and lukewarm juice.

So, we'll see how this plays out during the week. Property manager is not due back from vacay until Thursday. In other news, two little boys who are TRYING to be useful members of society stopped by today and asked if they could mow my yard either today or tomorrow for $20. I like it when kids are doing positive things, so I accepted their offer. Especially since it's time for a mowing. We'll see how they do. :)