Porch light update part 2

I was sick on Tuesday and stayed home from work, so I went to talk to the property manager when she was in. She said that she had gotten my email and responded to me, but I never received a response from me. I told her that my porch light was disassembled and she said that they were planning to put in a motion sensor, and was irritated that the maintenance guy had taken the light apart and not put it back together. On Wednesday when I cam home from work I found my new porch light assembly - a set of two flood lights and a motion sensor. But the damn thing didn't even stay lit long enough for me to unlock my front door, so I had to stop and wave my arms in front of it. I was sick and stayed home from work again today, and I didn't have the energy to talk to the property manager about it. Yes, I was, and I guess I still am, pretty livid about it. First of all it makes no sense for the lady to care about whether the light is on or not. My apartment is in a corner and the porch light could not possibly bother anyone as the only windows in the vicinity are my kitchen window and my next-door neighbor's kitchen window. I'm glad they did something about my request, but I would have preferred a timer over a lame, and UGLY set of flood lights. If I can remember to do so, I'll call tomorrow about the fact that the light doesn't even stay on long enough for me to unlock the front door.

And to answer your questions, Salome - it's a relatively small apartment complex - probably 30 units. I think it's just an independently owned complex because there doesn't seem to be a management company, just this lady who is the apartment manager.

After I found the complex and applied, I went home and looked it up on some apartment ratings website. There were a few complaints about the apartment manager being a bitch, etc. And then it appeared that the apartment manager lady, E, had responded saying things like, "We evict noisy, unruly tenants. If you broke the rules of your lease, then yes, you would be evicted." My friend expressed concern to me, and I waved it off saying that as long as I'm a good tenant, I shouldn't have any problems. And I reasoned that it's usually the upset, complain-y people who go on these websites, ya know? How many relatively happy tenants are going to go online and rate their "ok" or acceptable property manager? BUT, here I am being a good tenant, and my property manager is making me feel like I'm NOT being a good tenant or that I'm a nuisance to her.

I'm a pretty damn good tenant if I may say so myself. I even became friends with the lady who worked for my previous property manager in LA. She and the manager thought I was such a great tenant that they refunded my ENTIRE security deposit PLUS interest. That is just unheard of! She told me that they would charge me a $60 cleaning fee and I wouldn't have to clean when I moved out. I thought that was a pretty good deal, so I just did a little minor vacuuming and got out of there. The following week she called and said that it looked so good that they weren't even going to charge me the $60 cleaning fee.

Back to the current apartment... The one "major" thing E mentioned when I signed my lease was that tenants are not allowed to keep anything on their porches or patios other than plants or patio furniture. She told a little story where she'd come across a tenant who was storing her broom on her patio. E said, "I told her, '29 other tenants have found a place inside their apartments to keep their brooms; I think you can too.'" I thought it was a little anal, but don't really mind because that just means I'll be leaving in a relatively clean, nice looking apartment complex where my neighbors won't be keeping all their random shit where I can see it on a daily basis. That makes for a nice, aesthetically pleasing complex, and it actually is.

One more thing... on Tuesday when I was home in bed with a cold, E called my cell phone and left a message, "Hi Jennifer... I mean... Julie... I hope you can move your car because there is oil in your carport and we're going to pressure wash it in a few minutes. Well, if you can't move your car, it's going to be dirty." UM, excuse me? I get, what, 15 minutes notice? What if I was out of town? Tough luck? The apartment manager of the place I lived in LA always gave us at least a week's notice of things like that. I can understand that E was acting urgent about it because the complex was being inspected by the Housing Authority on Wednesday, but come on! Plan ahead! AND my parking spot didn't even get cleaned. I got out of bed and moved it for no reason.

J

Porch light update

While my property manager has not responded to my email about the porch light, I'm pretty sure she got it because I came home from work this evening to find a disassembled porch light. Yes, the mounted portion is dangling by the wires from the wall and the light bulb and cover are sitting on the ground.

Whatever.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

MY KING

I went to church tonight and they played the audio of this sermon by Dr. S.M. Lockridge at the end of the service. It's so powerful to hear.

Quite possibly the most absurd thing ever

The client's office I'm working at this week has 4 very wide parking spaces in front labeled "Visitor". My co-worker and I have been parking in those spots all week because we are, after all, visitors. Today the accounting manager asked that we no longer park in the visitor spots.

Why?

Because the CEO parks his fancy-ass Mercedes (or BMW... I didn't pay attention) in a visitor spot and he doesn't want any cars parked next to his because he's afraid his precious little car will get scratched.

Wait. I'm sorry. WHAT?!

WTF?! Are you kidding me? Dude, my car probably cost 1/4 of what yours cost, but I don't want to scratch your car as much I as I don't want my car scratched. And it's not like the parking spots are narrow. I seriously parked at least 3 feet away from the car. Wow. Just wow.

I mean, how can you live your life like that? How could it be satisfying to buy such expensive things that you waste your time that they're going to be dinged? I can't imagine that he'd ever drive it anywhere other than to the office where he has a super wide spot directly in front of his office window so he can keep his eye on it. Ridiculous!!

/rant/

Property management did apartment inspections today at my complex because the Housing Authority is doing inspections next week. The property manager called me this afternoon and asked, "How many people live in your apartment?" Apparently the person who did the inspection thinks TWO people are living there. I said, "Just me. I have no idea what would give him the impression that two people live there. I don't even have anyone who could be living with me." Is it because my apartment is FULL? Is a single person not supposed to have as much stuff as i do? Is it because I have a queen size bed? Am I supposed to sleep on a twin even though I'm a 5'10" adult? No idea... I only have ONE toothbrush in the bathroom...

Yesterday when my property manager was taping letters to the doors alerting tenants that they'd be doing an inspection, she wrote on mine, "Please turn your porch light off when not in use." My porch light has a sensor on it so when it gets dark, it comes on. So I flip the switch in the morning so that it comes on in the evening and I can SEE to unlock my front door. and when it's foggy and dreary out, the damn light comes one before the sun sets, so i guess i have no choice, but to NOT turn my porch light on until AFTER i unlock the front door. I'm paying for the damn electricity. Why does she give a shit if the light is on??

I wrote her the following email this evening:

Hi [property manager],

I want to address your note about my porch light. I had been flipping the switch on in the mornings so that when it gets dark, the light will come on and the porch will be lit when I get home from work around 6 or 7. Unfortunately on days like yesterday when the sky is overcast and darker, the porch light comes on earlier than dusk. I would also prefer that the light be off during the day in order to conserve energy, but as there is no other light between my apt and apt 5 (like the one upstairs) it gets pretty dark in my little corner. Would it be possible to get the porch light on a timer or perhaps change it from a darkness sensor to a motion sensor that the porch is illuminated at night when I get home from work? I have no doubts that the complex is safe, but safety cannot be guaranteed and I don't want to take any risks walking into the dark porch area.

If you need to reach me or would like to discuss on the phone, I can be reached at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thank you!

Julie