Sunday, February 26, 2012

Help Needed!!!

OK guys.. I need some advice.. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place and I don't know what to do..

Yesterday I was at work by myself, I knew I had a walk through in the morning, Charlie was coming in to read mail and I had a walk through at 5:30pm and then I was told I could just come home. So I drove to work yesterday because it was FREEZING and there was some crossed lines in communication with Jason and I and he thought I had other arrangements so he wasn't ready! So I get to work and didn't even have a chance to make a tea and the phone was going crazy.. I always get there early so I can get completely ready so at 10am when we start answering phones and open the door I am completely ready! Well before I had a chance to do anything the phone was PROFUSELY ringing.. so I answered it finally even though it was before 10am because I thought maybe something was wrong! So I answer the phone to hear "Are you in the office?" (obviously I'm answering the phone) "Yes Ma'am" - "I will be there in a minute!" phone slams down.. EEK! So in comes this IRATE woman two minutes later and she slams something on my desk, a master lock that had been cut.. apparently her storage unit had been broken into the night before, it didn't seem as though anything was taken but this is the second time in 6 months that the garage has been broken into and the last time they broke into her car and it cost her $300 in repairs!! I had no idea that this happened around here and could totally understand how upset she was. Her privacy and personal space had been invaded, it was an inconvenience and you pay all this money for rent in "secure" buildings and this is happening. I told her that I was new but I would call Deanna and see if there was anything we could do. She said that she didn't expect to get much out of her and I had to agree, I told her that I couldn't promise her anything because I don't make the rules but I wanted her to know that I was taking her seriously and that if I didn't get any results then I would suggest she come in Monday morning and raise hell. I told her I would call her after I talked to Deanna. So I called Deanna when she left and she said exactly what I thought she would "there is nothing we can do, tell her to call the police." Honestly I wasn't surprised but I feel like she just passed it off, why cant they do anything? With all the money they are collecting in rent they can put cameras in? change the locks to the garages? anything! So I called the woman back and told her that I got exactly what we both suspected and she said that she knew it wasn't my fault but she was going to put in her notice and break her lease. I cant blame her.. honestly.. people deserve to be treated with respect and I am expected to be "professional" and "not too nice to people"... well look where treating people like that gets you!

So at this point I still hadn't heard from my walk through that was suppose to be there at 10am and Charlie called and ask could he come over in 10 minutes so I said sure. After Charlie, Jason called and said he was coming to get the truck.. ok! So of course that's when my walk through shows up! So I take their pro rated check, enter and print their receipt and tell them I will meet them at their unit in 5 minutes. I make Charlie a hot chocolate and ask him would he mind waiting 10 minutes for me because its not like I can send him home and tell him to come back. I get Charlie settled and head out the door, meet Jason in the drive way and he takes me across the street to show these people their unit.

Honestly this unit was embarrassing.. the cleaners didn't do a fucking thing! There was 6 inches of dust on the chandelier.. every cupboard seemed to have spilled soap in it or something.. I couldn't believe it. I don't have the time to go through after the cleaners are done, not this week especially when I could barely walk and was still doing everything on my own. I just kept apologizing profusely and assuring I would have someone take care of it. Let me just say that I have commented on the fact that the cleaners don't do a good job before and its always brushed off and Mike is made to do the remaining cleaning which makes me so mad.

At the beginning of the week Mike had said one of the units needed to be cleaned and I had done the walk through and didn't think it did.. so because it was my screw up instead of making Mike clean it like I was told to do I did it on my lunch because I didn't think it was fair to make Mike fix my mistake. The cleaners generally suck though, Ive complained so many times besides the fact that our apartment was a fucking mess when we moved in too.. but yesterday was unbelievable!

So I went back to the office and went through the mail with Charlie and then I called Tom (Deanna's husband, also my boss) and told him about the situation and that it was ridiculous and he was so rude to me that when I got off the phone I cried. He basically said that I was making something out of nothing and that not every ones standard of clean was the same and to make Mike do it. Well first of all, it wasn't fucking clean at all so there was no "comparing standards" fucking moron!! So I sat at my desk crying.. I feel like a rat bastard renting people these apartments knowing that if they have concerns they wont be taken seriously, that they will be charged at the end for cleaning when they move into a dirty place in the beginning.. I just cant do it. My morals are worth more than money.. I don't feel good about myself doing this and I feel like I cant be honest either.

Mike and I talked about it as he came in and witnessed me sobbing.. he said that Tom treats everyone like that and he hates him for it. He said that they have always treated people like this and that's why the last 4 girls haven't lasted more than 3 months a piece and all of them left the keys on the desk one night and just never came back.. kind of odd I thought but now I see why. If I was to quit I would tell them exactly why, I wouldn't just leave the keys on the desk.

So finally I got back to work and this young couple came in with their two year old daughter.. she climbs up on the chair, sticks her hand in my pencil holder that is full of those little glass rocks and takes a handful and shoves them in her mouth!! She wasn't even in the 2 minutes! She literally destroyed the model in the 10 minutes she was there! She was cute but unbelievably busy.. I couldn't believe it!

I left at 5:30pm to go and do my walk through over at Discovery and met Martie so we could walk through together and I could get her keys. We walked into the apartment and I was shocked.. the walk through sheet said that when she moved in their were stains on the carpet but this was unbelievable! Her living room carpet looked like someone sat down with a pink high lighter and colored big circles!!! The master bedroom had yellow and blue stains on the carpet, the inside of the dishwasher door was all burnt and melted and no one cared.. she said that she had complained about it but they said as long as it worked they wouldn't do anything. Honestly if I rented an apartment and walked in and it looked like that I would lose it.. I wouldn't live there, I couldn't! I remember Martie from when I first started, her rent was late and she received a letter saying that she would owe the $25.00 late fee and she called freaking because the parking lot was so bad she couldn't get over to bring it.. which whatever.. not really a great excuse but the parking lots were TERRIBLE!!! and of course they wont do anything about that either. So she said that she still hadn't paid that but she works at a bank and planned to bring a box of pennies.. haha I encouraged this! Anyways when I first walked into the apartment Martie said "so how did you get in the business of scamming people out of money?" so we had a little chat and I explained that I don't think I really knew what I was getting into.. she said that she works at Key Bank and they were looking for tellers, she said that I didn't need experience and that they would train me and it was something I could take State to State.. they have benefits and pay pretty good! So she gave me her card.

Honestly I don't want to quit because of all of the reasons I took the job, convenience, GREAT money, all the perks, not having to drive all over town, etc.. but it all that worth my morals? worth my happiness? I feel like a bad person, and even though these things aren't my fault its me showing these places, moving people in, everything! Jason thinks I should suck it up for the year and just be honest with people that its not my fault.. but honestly how long can I get away with that? Not to mention I wont be spoke to by Tom that way again either. I worked on a construction site for years surrounded by men and no one ever talked down to me or treated me like I couldn't do my job because I was a woman in a "mans world" I will be damned if that shit is going to start now. I am educated and good at my job (in this case unfortunately) this apartment business isn't fucking rocket science like they think it is. I don't understand why they wont just change cleaners. I may not have worked in this business before but I have worked for a professional business, billion dollar projects and it doesn't work all that different.. you pay someone to do a job, if they don't do it you find someone else who will.. period! Kris doesn't ask Jason to clean the toilets at work because the laborers didn't do it right the first time.. that's not how these things work! So I feel the need to be honest with her, I have to.. I wont be a coward like the other girls and leave my keys on the desk I will tell her how I feel and if I lose my job because of it I will go to the owner.. and then gladly part ways.

After work Jason and I headed downtown for the fireworks and carnival for Fur Rondy.. big mistake. First off let me just let you in on a little secret.. Uggs = Death trap.. the things have no damn sole.. I'm lucky I haven't whacked my head the amount of times Ive fallen! Anyways we got down there and I froze!!! I was in jeans, my Uggs, fur lined sweater, winter coat, huge scarf, mittens, hat, etc and I couldn't feel my legs! It was bullshit! I didn't enjoy any of it because I was so cold! When the fireworks were over we went over to the F Station because Josh & Kris were there.. we didn't stay long because we had planned to eat dinner at the Glacier Brewhouse and the F Station was packed anyways. We got to the brewhouse and it was an hour and a half wait to eat.... no dice, we went to Humpys which is where I had wanted to eat anyways and there was no tables and it didn't look like there would be anytime soon.. so we went back to the truck and drove down to Lone Star! Dinner was great! We got back to the apartment and I was super tired after a long day and told Jason that all I wanted to do today was sleep in! We had no plans on account that were suppose to get 9 inches of snow today and surrounding areas a lot more.. so we planned to stay home.

Well this morning BEFORE 9am THE PHONE WAS RINGING!!! Let me remind all of you just in case.. WE ARE 4 HOURS BEHIND YOU!!!! SUNDAY IS MY ONLY DAY TO SLEEP IN.. if you cant remember that please kind lose our number or don't call on Sunday's period... thank you and have a good day! So needless to say I was a cranky bitch this morning. Jason got up and made beef stew and I did a hot oil treatment to my hair and then had a shower. We decided to go and wander around Barnes & Noble for awhile and then came home! I am going to empty the dishwasher while Jason does some Internet research! On our way home from B&N we stopped at Knights Taxidermy to take a picture for Dad & Bubba.. haha they watch that place on TV all the time and its a 2 minute drive from our apartment!

Anyways for all of you that I said I would email this weekend I'm sorry I suck.. I still might get to it tonight but yesterday was a crazy day!!

So if any of you have any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated it.. I feel like Im stuck.. I just dont know. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

5 comments:

  1. In Canada you have a housing tribunal which you can take bad landlords to in order to get money back on your rent for work not performed (cleaning, repairs, etc).....do they have the same thing in Alaska?
    If you don't like this job, find another one, then quit the first one! Life is too short to work in something that makes you miserable!!! You should always love what you do!

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  2. To be honest Fiona I feel like Im selling myself short not doing something better.. I just keep telling myself that its only a year but at the same time it will always just be a year or whatever. This job could put us in a GREAT place financially for after this job, and I feel like I cant just consider myself in making this decision, especially because with everything I havent worked or contributed, so this is my chance to make up for that. I dont know how things work here to be honest, I need to look into it. Although I know they can evict people whenever they want, with kids, in the winter.. etc, etc..
    I really thought this job would be a great thing, and Im actually really good at it regardless off the bullshit.. I just dont know if I can do it..

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  3. Your not selling yourself short! Your Canadian and care!!!.....nothing wrong with that at all!!!

    Sometimes you just have to suck up the bad..... go with the flow.....in order to get a something GREAT, as you have pointed out.

    Remember just because you didnt work for a bit DOES NOT mean that you did not contribute!!! That's BullShit!!! ....and you should never think that way! There is nothing you have to 'make up' for!!! Marriage is a partnership that 2 people make a commitment to. A good marriage is good, bad and ugly sometimes, but that's what makes it work!

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  4. Thanks Fiona.. Its not that Jason makes me feel that way its just how I feel.. I talked to her at work today and told her how I felt and why.. I told her that I was embarassed to show units like that and that I do take it personally when people are unhappy and I feel like theres something I could have done to prevent it! Im not sure it will do anything but I said my piece and at least now I will know that I tried to change it.

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