Apartment Living

Well, I admit; it's just a little nicer living in apartments when you're the manager in that I got to pick out my carpet, I have nicely painted walls instead of the standard Navajo White, I have the only garage with a door that leads to my patio and into the kitchen, the Crown Molding adds a special touch and the cost of living is answering your door at unusal times and having pushy sales people call at 6:45 A.M., looking for the Housekeeping department.

Today my daugher asked "do these people ever stop bothering us?" and I responded, "yes, when we start paying rent".  In other words, get used to it honey, ain't gonna happen.  The front door say's "Manager", i.e. "bother at will".   I mean seriously, why would I answer my door with an attitude when the benefits are beyond what I could have imagined?

I must admit, some very unusal things have happened here.  I have a tenant who barks when he's mad.  I know this because he came to my door with his complaint.  I stood and listened and then "tried" to explain what I was doing to resolve a problem when the tenant who happened to be inside with me thought it necessary to come to my aid.  She was wrong, of course, but I appreciate the fact that she wanted to show her support....unfortuantly, her style and mine are quite different.  The tentant outside the door thought it necessary to tell me what to do and so the two began a "discussion" of their own...I kept asking the one inside to let me handle the situation but those motherly instincts had already kicked in.  The next thing I know the tentant outisde barked...aahaa, barked. Just like a dog...you know, woof, woof, woof.  If that isn't crazy enough she barked back.  For a few seconds I thought maybe it was a full moon.  I waited in anticipation to see if either of them would grow facial hair but it never happened.  My daughter was sitting on the sofa watching and later told me she was ready to call the animal shelter...ok, that's a lie but she was ready to call the police.

It was something out of a bad book.  So stupid you wanna just put it down but just interesting enough to keep you there.  After a few barks, I stepped back up hoping neither of them would bite me in the ankle and asked them to sit, which of course was followed by a treat...another lie.  I did manage to get in between the two and four fleas later was relieved when the two were ready to let me take my position again and speaking in English was able to calm them both down, no belly scratching involved.

The next day the female dog called to say she was sorry; that she could never do what I do.  To which I responded of course, grrrrrr...ate!  Thought I was gonna growl, didn't you!  I tried to make her feel a little better by saying that we all have our own method and mine is to try to avoid argument, and listen before allowing myself to be drawn into a no win situation.  She said her husband told her to mind her own business but I think he sat her down and calmed her by squashing a few fleas. 

I appreciate the fact that she wanted to come to my defense.  I do, really.  I think she mistook my patience as weakness.  But all I was doing was allowing him to voice his complaint without him thinking I didn't care what he had to say.  I admit, I didn't enjoy the way he thought he needed to voice his complaint; some people think that yelling is the best path to wining but once I was able to get them both to calm down, he quietly listened to what I had to say and then left on his merry way.

It could be he was embarrassed as hell....if hell get's embarrassed...or maybe his wife was whistling for him, not sure.  All I know is he walked away, lifted his leg at the first tree and left me in peace for the rest of the evening.  Now I know why he never came with his wife when she was deciding if she wanted to apply to rent.  God bless her.

Yes, managing apartments has it's benefits...I'm just glad we don't allow animals on our property.