So I was just over at Cst. Kenny's blog "A Policeman's Life," where I read his latest entry about the gentleman who wanted to park in the no parking zone while Kenny was standing in it. (Read it, it's really funny: www.apolicemanslife.com.)
I couldn't help but laugh because I've been in a similar situation all weekend. Our boss manages three buildings from her office in this building. One of these buildings is a supposedly ritzy building on Spring Garden Road. I've been there, it's not that big a deal. It's old and has antique hardware, the heating systems are constantly breaking down ...
Well, the company is in the process of overhauling the heating systems, so the boilers are being rebuilt or something. Well, the process involves interruptions in both heating and hot water use. This is normal if you've ever lived in an apartment building, right? The heat and/or hot water goes off every once in a while so they can upgrade or repair it. Everyone has to put up with it. Anyways, it seems that the project at this particular building has run into some trouble and the heat and hot water interruptions have gone on longer than anticipated. Well, that's just unacceptable, especially to the poor tenants who have to live with it, right?
These tenants are rich people, they think they are just the shiznit and that everything should revolve around them. So when the water goes off they call the superintendents and tell them to get their act together and make that heat and hot water come back on. A few people have even broken their lease and moved out of the building. Well, this weekend, I figure they got fed up with calling the superintendent and getting the same answer: "We're working on it." Someone put up posters all over the building with our boss's office number and her name that encourages the tenants to call her and complain. Well, the boss is out of the office on the weekend because she gets weekends off, so that phone number rings my line. So all morning I've been getting all kinds of calls complaining about how unacceptable and disgusting it is that the hot water and heat are off and these people can be positively abusive, which is kind of ridiculous considering that I can't do anything about it. So I've just been saying that I would pass the message along to the boss.
One woman called and she was very apologetic, telling me that our coworkers at the building in question have been doing the best they can and getting nothing but abuse from the tenants. What I feel like saying to them when they call is: "Hey, do you think we turn off the hot water and heat because we feel like it? Do you think there's this switch that we can just flip on and there you go, you have hot water again!? Do you think that when the hot water and heat goes off we don't do everything we can to get it back up and running as soon as we can? We're in the same boat as you are, we have to live in the building too and it just makes it worse that you call and complain about it all the time!" I have to say, there's a lot to be said for people who can accept a situation that is outside of their own control and be patient through it and trust the people who can control it when they say: "This is temporary, we're working to fix it!"
I find we get three kinds of tenants in this business: the ones who complain about everything, no matter how small it is: "The traffic outside is making too much noise, make it stop;" the ones who never complain at all, no matter what goes wrong: "This water's been leaking through my living room ceiling for about three weeks now and my whole ceiling is soggy and my carpet is soaked;" and the ones who complain when it's reasonable to. Obviously, you can tell which ones I like best.
True story: last week, we were upgrading the plumbing in all our apartments and we went into one apartment that had a giant leak in their living room ceiling. The whole ceiling was soggy, and there was massive stains where the water was pooled in the ceiling. When we asked the tenants how long this has been going on, they said they first noticed it about a week before. We had to hunt that leak down for about an hour before we found it--it was a drywall nail driven into a pipe. We had to get plumbers in to replace the section of pipe, and now we have to replace and/or patch most of the ceiling and walls in the apartment, which is going to cost way more money and time than if the tenant had just called when he first noticed it ...
Anyways, that's the wonderland I happen to live in :)
I couldn't help but laugh because I've been in a similar situation all weekend. Our boss manages three buildings from her office in this building. One of these buildings is a supposedly ritzy building on Spring Garden Road. I've been there, it's not that big a deal. It's old and has antique hardware, the heating systems are constantly breaking down ...
Well, the company is in the process of overhauling the heating systems, so the boilers are being rebuilt or something. Well, the process involves interruptions in both heating and hot water use. This is normal if you've ever lived in an apartment building, right? The heat and/or hot water goes off every once in a while so they can upgrade or repair it. Everyone has to put up with it. Anyways, it seems that the project at this particular building has run into some trouble and the heat and hot water interruptions have gone on longer than anticipated. Well, that's just unacceptable, especially to the poor tenants who have to live with it, right?
These tenants are rich people, they think they are just the shiznit and that everything should revolve around them. So when the water goes off they call the superintendents and tell them to get their act together and make that heat and hot water come back on. A few people have even broken their lease and moved out of the building. Well, this weekend, I figure they got fed up with calling the superintendent and getting the same answer: "We're working on it." Someone put up posters all over the building with our boss's office number and her name that encourages the tenants to call her and complain. Well, the boss is out of the office on the weekend because she gets weekends off, so that phone number rings my line. So all morning I've been getting all kinds of calls complaining about how unacceptable and disgusting it is that the hot water and heat are off and these people can be positively abusive, which is kind of ridiculous considering that I can't do anything about it. So I've just been saying that I would pass the message along to the boss.
One woman called and she was very apologetic, telling me that our coworkers at the building in question have been doing the best they can and getting nothing but abuse from the tenants. What I feel like saying to them when they call is: "Hey, do you think we turn off the hot water and heat because we feel like it? Do you think there's this switch that we can just flip on and there you go, you have hot water again!? Do you think that when the hot water and heat goes off we don't do everything we can to get it back up and running as soon as we can? We're in the same boat as you are, we have to live in the building too and it just makes it worse that you call and complain about it all the time!" I have to say, there's a lot to be said for people who can accept a situation that is outside of their own control and be patient through it and trust the people who can control it when they say: "This is temporary, we're working to fix it!"
I find we get three kinds of tenants in this business: the ones who complain about everything, no matter how small it is: "The traffic outside is making too much noise, make it stop;" the ones who never complain at all, no matter what goes wrong: "This water's been leaking through my living room ceiling for about three weeks now and my whole ceiling is soggy and my carpet is soaked;" and the ones who complain when it's reasonable to. Obviously, you can tell which ones I like best.
True story: last week, we were upgrading the plumbing in all our apartments and we went into one apartment that had a giant leak in their living room ceiling. The whole ceiling was soggy, and there was massive stains where the water was pooled in the ceiling. When we asked the tenants how long this has been going on, they said they first noticed it about a week before. We had to hunt that leak down for about an hour before we found it--it was a drywall nail driven into a pipe. We had to get plumbers in to replace the section of pipe, and now we have to replace and/or patch most of the ceiling and walls in the apartment, which is going to cost way more money and time than if the tenant had just called when he first noticed it ...
Anyways, that's the wonderland I happen to live in :)
Looove the perspective of your job! Thanx for sharing:)
ReplyDeletesounds like a fun job!! I don't know if I would like to deal with that!!
ReplyDelete