The Mormons approach me even though I've asked them not to.Why do they not get it?the invitation to be here was not given by every member of the household, nor is the hospitality extended from every member.I make a note to tell the landlord that conducting Bible study, such as it is,in the house's common areas is really inappropriate, and if they cannot observe a few basic boundaries, they need to not be here.It's time get a handle on this situation before it becomes too overbearing.
When I first moved to my little apartment on the banks of the Elbow River, it was my refuge,my hideaway.Nobody ever visited me there, and quite frankly, that's just the way I wanted it. I did socialize occasionally, but always away from home. When I retreated to my apartment it was to gain some solitude, because I was, and am a person who sometimes needs a lot of space. So, for awhile,my apartment was a perfect place. The river just down at the end of the street was glorious no matter what the season, so the location was ideal too.
Nothing ever stays the same for long, or so it seems.I should have cued in the night that Janet showed up with her own key to my apartment that there was something seriously dysfunctional with the way the building was being run.But shortly after that little run in, the building caretaker was relieved of her duties, so that seemed to solve the problem.But only for a short while. Replacing the older woman was a young Arab man from the apartment directly below me.He had the unfortunate name of Osama. Unfortunate for the times that is.While he called himself "Sam", and, I suppose who wouldn't in a similar set of circumstances, I heard others referring to him as Osama a number of times.
The problem with Sam was that he could never be reached for anything when you needed him. Either he wasn't at home, or he was entertaining one of the long line of females who I saw coming and going from his apartment.Literally you could not reach him even on the day rent was to be paid, and the inevitable result was that the landlord, an Egyptian man who maintained an office not terribly far from my apartment would show up a day or two later looking for not just the rent money, but for twenty dollars in late fees for every day the payment was late.The first he showed up on my doorstep,I counted out the cash for him and made sure to let him know that nothing other than the rent would be forthcoming.I pointed out to him that he hired Sam for a reason, and that part of his duties was to collect rent.For that he had to be reasonably available to tenants, and he was not. The following month, I brought the rent to his office, about fifteen blocks away, while there was yet nearly a week left in the month.Then, on rent day, Sam shows up at my door demanding rent, saying that he will no longer accept late payment and promising eviction.I patiently point out to him that he cannot evict me.Only the building owner can do that. Then I show him my rent receipt.He accepts it, as he really has no choice, but says that my bypassing him is unacceptable. I firmly tell him that this is a matter of my discretion and if I'm being required to deal with him, then he needs to be available.
The following month brought more problems with Sam.Clearly the guy was caught up in the idea that being the building's caretaker gave him some degree of power over other people, and that did not really sit well with me.I got along well with the buildings owner, and could think of no reason not to just deal directly with him and shoot Sam the bird as I passed by his door. I chose appeasement as the better option though, because antagonizing Sam could mean that were I to have a leak in the plumbing or some such thing, that the problem might go on at length. But I've never really agreed with appeasement as a policy at any level, so it was so hard to do.Kind of like asking a dog to stay when the room is filled with nice juicy steaks. Instead, I am by personality the sort who likes to set reasonable boundaries and insist on them being observed.Moreover, I see nothing unreasonable about this.Good boundaries are what defines good relationships of any kind, and certainly good business relationships.When I approached Sam with the rent money in hand, two days before months end, he said flat out"I don't have time for you now."
"Well", I replied, "You need to make time.You need to do your job, because in the end of things,you work for your customers.And I happen to be one of those customers."
"Today is not rent day.' he screamed at me."Come back at the appropriate time, or not at all.I'll just write up an eviction notice for you."
"Go ahead Osama...lets see how that works out for you." By this time his latest live in had appeared at the door.She was a short, blonde trashy looking woman with an equally trashy mouth.
"Don't you ever call me Osama again, you fat bastard."
"Why not, it's your name isn't it. I've never been much into diminutive forms of address."
With that he ran at me, throwing a punch that missed by a mile.He was followed by Miss Trashcan, also throwing punches, calling me a racist woman's body part, and telling me that the building owner was an Arab as well, and would toss me straight out the door.
By this time I'd truly had enough of Osama's boorish,disrespectful behavior and decided appeasement be damned I would set the both of them straight without further ado."Listen Lady,your name around here is Bimbo.If you haven't already figured that out you will soon enough.Lets be clear...you have no power in this building.And Osama...the next time you throw a punch at me you'll end up in a jail cell, with a possible stop at the hospital on the way.Now go away and leave me alone.You don't exist.From now on I'll deal only with your boss. Got a problem with that you can go to Hell, but believe me,leaving me alone is your best option.If you do that,I'll guarantee you'll have no problem with me."
So I wondered down the road to Harry's office, cash in hand and paid him. I explained to him what had happened with Sam, and, having cooled off somewhat apologized for having called him Osama, saying that I realized it was likely inappropriate.
"I wouldn't worry about it" said Harry, "It is his name."
Even so, I was upset at myself for having used the term in the manner in which I had.I felt that I needed to keep a cooler head than that.I did insist,though that henceforth, I would be stopping by Harry's business office, or calling him on the phone with rent, or any other matters of concern.He said that was fine, and it became our new arrangement.A month or two later Sam was gone, having antagonized a lot of other people in the building as well.The truth was that our particular building had rents almost one hundred dollars a month less than any of the buildings on our street. Yet nearly a quarter of them were empty in a rental market with less than a 1% vacancy rate. That should have been my second cue as to what was happening.But I missed it too.I thought that with Sam gone, the situation would improve.I was dead wrong.
When I first moved to my little apartment on the banks of the Elbow River, it was my refuge,my hideaway.Nobody ever visited me there, and quite frankly, that's just the way I wanted it. I did socialize occasionally, but always away from home. When I retreated to my apartment it was to gain some solitude, because I was, and am a person who sometimes needs a lot of space. So, for awhile,my apartment was a perfect place. The river just down at the end of the street was glorious no matter what the season, so the location was ideal too.
Nothing ever stays the same for long, or so it seems.I should have cued in the night that Janet showed up with her own key to my apartment that there was something seriously dysfunctional with the way the building was being run.But shortly after that little run in, the building caretaker was relieved of her duties, so that seemed to solve the problem.But only for a short while. Replacing the older woman was a young Arab man from the apartment directly below me.He had the unfortunate name of Osama. Unfortunate for the times that is.While he called himself "Sam", and, I suppose who wouldn't in a similar set of circumstances, I heard others referring to him as Osama a number of times.
The problem with Sam was that he could never be reached for anything when you needed him. Either he wasn't at home, or he was entertaining one of the long line of females who I saw coming and going from his apartment.Literally you could not reach him even on the day rent was to be paid, and the inevitable result was that the landlord, an Egyptian man who maintained an office not terribly far from my apartment would show up a day or two later looking for not just the rent money, but for twenty dollars in late fees for every day the payment was late.The first he showed up on my doorstep,I counted out the cash for him and made sure to let him know that nothing other than the rent would be forthcoming.I pointed out to him that he hired Sam for a reason, and that part of his duties was to collect rent.For that he had to be reasonably available to tenants, and he was not. The following month, I brought the rent to his office, about fifteen blocks away, while there was yet nearly a week left in the month.Then, on rent day, Sam shows up at my door demanding rent, saying that he will no longer accept late payment and promising eviction.I patiently point out to him that he cannot evict me.Only the building owner can do that. Then I show him my rent receipt.He accepts it, as he really has no choice, but says that my bypassing him is unacceptable. I firmly tell him that this is a matter of my discretion and if I'm being required to deal with him, then he needs to be available.
The following month brought more problems with Sam.Clearly the guy was caught up in the idea that being the building's caretaker gave him some degree of power over other people, and that did not really sit well with me.I got along well with the buildings owner, and could think of no reason not to just deal directly with him and shoot Sam the bird as I passed by his door. I chose appeasement as the better option though, because antagonizing Sam could mean that were I to have a leak in the plumbing or some such thing, that the problem might go on at length. But I've never really agreed with appeasement as a policy at any level, so it was so hard to do.Kind of like asking a dog to stay when the room is filled with nice juicy steaks. Instead, I am by personality the sort who likes to set reasonable boundaries and insist on them being observed.Moreover, I see nothing unreasonable about this.Good boundaries are what defines good relationships of any kind, and certainly good business relationships.When I approached Sam with the rent money in hand, two days before months end, he said flat out"I don't have time for you now."
"Well", I replied, "You need to make time.You need to do your job, because in the end of things,you work for your customers.And I happen to be one of those customers."
"Today is not rent day.' he screamed at me."Come back at the appropriate time, or not at all.I'll just write up an eviction notice for you."
"Go ahead Osama...lets see how that works out for you." By this time his latest live in had appeared at the door.She was a short, blonde trashy looking woman with an equally trashy mouth.
"Don't you ever call me Osama again, you fat bastard."
"Why not, it's your name isn't it. I've never been much into diminutive forms of address."
With that he ran at me, throwing a punch that missed by a mile.He was followed by Miss Trashcan, also throwing punches, calling me a racist woman's body part, and telling me that the building owner was an Arab as well, and would toss me straight out the door.
By this time I'd truly had enough of Osama's boorish,disrespectful behavior and decided appeasement be damned I would set the both of them straight without further ado."Listen Lady,your name around here is Bimbo.If you haven't already figured that out you will soon enough.Lets be clear...you have no power in this building.And Osama...the next time you throw a punch at me you'll end up in a jail cell, with a possible stop at the hospital on the way.Now go away and leave me alone.You don't exist.From now on I'll deal only with your boss. Got a problem with that you can go to Hell, but believe me,leaving me alone is your best option.If you do that,I'll guarantee you'll have no problem with me."
So I wondered down the road to Harry's office, cash in hand and paid him. I explained to him what had happened with Sam, and, having cooled off somewhat apologized for having called him Osama, saying that I realized it was likely inappropriate.
"I wouldn't worry about it" said Harry, "It is his name."
Even so, I was upset at myself for having used the term in the manner in which I had.I felt that I needed to keep a cooler head than that.I did insist,though that henceforth, I would be stopping by Harry's business office, or calling him on the phone with rent, or any other matters of concern.He said that was fine, and it became our new arrangement.A month or two later Sam was gone, having antagonized a lot of other people in the building as well.The truth was that our particular building had rents almost one hundred dollars a month less than any of the buildings on our street. Yet nearly a quarter of them were empty in a rental market with less than a 1% vacancy rate. That should have been my second cue as to what was happening.But I missed it too.I thought that with Sam gone, the situation would improve.I was dead wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment