Tenants

Sydney is incredibly expensive. My neighbor lives in a small one room place and pays 300/week for it. Oh yeah, under the equator they charge by the week and water swirls the other way in the toilet. To offset this dramatic upshift in the cost of living I took a job as an apartment manager. That means I have to put out the garbage, write a weekly report (its usually late) and check people out when they move out. For these tasks I get my rent reduced to 80/week for an incredibly small apartment. About twice the size of a prison cell. With grill and my own shower.

When a friend of mine moved in I hadn't checked the room out yet. I mis understood the process. I thought the last group was moving out at 2 on tuesday, not that she was moving in at 2 on tuesday. So I show up to clean and the place is a disaster. Oh, and she's moved in. And cleaning. And angry.

Anyway, I offered to clean but she was already into it so yeah...that was that. She complained to the company, I explained what happened, I apologized again. All was right with the world. Except...the previous tennant left bed bugs. That the new tennant inherited. And it was my fault that it wasn't caught before she moved it. She had to take a day off work because the itching was so bad. Apparently they like the warmer parts of the body, underarms, groins....  Its amazing weve become friends. She made me spanikopita one day.

This other guy moved in recently. I had pulled an all nighter that day and didn't get home from school till about 6pm the next. It was friday, I was beat and crashed, out like a light by 730. At 830 he called to say hi. Then he asked what time a good time to call would be. I told him if he needed something he could call any old time. He said not to worry, he'd never call reallly late like after 10 or something. I told him that if was important enough to call me a at , it would be ok to call me after 10. I thought that he might get the hint.

He just called me to let me know his vaccuum isn't working. FFS. It says right on the rental agreement that for shit like that you need to log a report with the rental agency. But, its easier to call the guy downstairs. God knows I've got a stock pile of vacuums stored in my incredibly tiny $80/week apartment.

Another guy came by tonight. "hey, there's water leaking from our shower into the kitchen"
Me: "did you log a report on the website?"
Guy: "No"
Me: "you should do that"
Guy: "Oh"
Me: "'member the last time this happened?"
Guy: "yeah"
Me: "member that I said you should log it on the website?"
Guy: "yeah"
Me: "So its the same thing right?"
Guy:" yeah"
Me: "I'm gonna get back to making my omlet then"

Oh, and no one here speaks english as their first language. Bed bug girl - French. Water in the kithcen guy - Danish. Guy who keeps parking his truck in the back where he's not supposed to - Irish.

Anyway, off for a run with the bedbug girl.