DECEMBER
My hot water tank in my apartment was not functioning correctly. I could only get between three and five minutes' worth of hot water. I'm not exagerrating; I take fairly fast showers, and the water would go tepid within a couple of minutes and straight into cold a few minutes later. I mean, I couldn't even give my dog a bath without the water running cold before I could get all the shampoo out of her hair (she was not pleased about THAT, either). Also, it's winter. Cold showers suck.
I called my landlord three times to complain about the hot water tank. My opinion was that the tank was probably old and faulty and needed replacing. Maintenance came to my apartment every time I called, but as far as I could tell, they didn't actually DO anything about the tank. I work from 8-5 Monday through Friday, so I was never around on the occasions when maintenance made their visits.
LAST THURSDAY
I had woken up on New Year's Day with a terrible pain in what I thought was my kidney. I had had previous kidney infections. I thought I might have another, so I scheduled a doctor's appointment for Thursday. I hate going to the doctor, so I was already in a bad mood, and my shower was worse than usual; I got maybe a minute and a half of hot water before it went tepid. My doctor's appointment did not go well and I was told I would need X-rays, so I was grouchy and decided to call about my hot water tank for the fourth time. This time, I got to speak with the landlord herself, who said she would send someone to the apartment that day.
Later in the day, she called me at work and said, "You were right about your hot water tank, it was definitely not working. Actually, it exploded and flooded your apartment and the one behind yours! But we promise we will steam clean your carpets."
Oh god.
I got home and maintenance had moved all of my belongings into the (dry) bedroom, which was great. The only exceptions were my couch and my recliner, both of which had been moved to the far edge of the living room away from the flooded area. My hot water tank had been replaced with a brand-new one, and maintenance cheerfully assured me that they would get my carpets clean as soon as they dried out. I collected my dog (who was trembling in the far corner of my bedroom) and left for several hours. When I got home much later in the evening, the carpets had been untacked and industrial-strength fans had been strategically placed in the living room to dry out the carpet. A note had been taped to my washing machine. It read:
"Will reconnect your machine Friday. Cord not long enough."
Okay. I can deal. They DID manage to save my stuff from a drowning, so that's cool.
In the meantime, my apartment looked a mess:
Maintenance clearly neglected to wipe their feet upon entering my apartment:
Also, they were kind enough to leave a dirty sock in my kitchen.
They also threw a bunch of trash into my recyclables bag, but ... oh well, I guess that's to be expected. Like I said, at this point, I was just glad they saved my stuff.
FRIDAY
I came home from work, expecting to find a working washing machine. The carpets were still untacked and the fans were still there, but this wasn't surprising; after all, I'd rather they get the carpet completely dry than lay it back down while wet and risk it molding. However, the washing machine had not been reconnected as promised, and the bifold doors that cover the closet where the washer and dryer live had been moved to my bathroom. Okaaaay ...
SATURDAY
I know that maintenance doesn't work on Saturdays, but the front office DOES and I decided to call anyway. I explained my situation and that I had been promised my washing machine would be reconnected on Friday and it hadn't been, and I would like to know what the status on that was. After all, it was a weekend, I pay to have a working washing machine in my apartment, AND I do laundry on weekends. My situation was not deemed an emergency and I was told the washing machine would be reconnected on Monday.
At this point, the general mustiness and humidity of my apartment was starting to get to me, so I relocated to my parents' place for the rest of the weekend.
MONDAY
The washing machine was not reconnected. My carpet had been retacked and steam-cleaned, but the washing machine was still disconnected, the bifold doors were still in my bathroom, and most of my belongings were still shoved in my bedroom. Also, although the carpet had been fixed, the huge fans were still in my apartment. Like, what am I supposed to do with a couple of enormous fans?
TUESDAY
I called the landlord and kindly asked her to please send someone to reconnect my washing machine, reattach my bifold doors, and take the fans away, as they did not belong to me. She said she would send someone out.
When I came home from work, none of these changes had happened. At this point, I briefly considered selling the fans on eBay.
WEDNESDAY
I called AGAIN and reminded the landlord that we had spoken the previous day about the situation in my apartment. She seemed genuinely surprised that no one had stopped by my apartment, and this time I got to hear her contact maintenance on the radio.
When I got home, the fans were gone and the doors were reattached (although poorly; the right door barely closes now). Also, maintenance had decided to move my furniture to approximately where it had been before the flood.
My recliner is extremely old and it has a metal base. It had been pushed to a different place during the flood, and apparently it had been pushed into a WET place, because maintenance put the chair back into its normal corner and a huge, ugly rust ring remained on the carpet where the chair had been sitting for the past several days:
I mean, they didn't try to cover this up or anything. They just moved the chair to its normal home and left that huge-ass stain on the carpet. I'm going to write a letter to the landlord about this so that (hopefully) doesn't get taken out of my security deposit.
I went to try my washing machine and it STILL didn't work. Utterly defeated, I gave up and called my dad, who arrived in twenty minutes armed with a flashlight. We peered down behind the washing machine and saw that the hoses had indeed been reconnected, so we went to work about moving the washing machine away from the wall. Lo and behold, maintenance had neglected to PLUG THE WASHING MACHINE IN. In fact, the washer had been sitting ON TOP of the cord and had completely mangled the plug:
We managed to get the plug back in working order with the aid of pliers, but the grounding wire broke off completely, so my washing machine is no longer grounded. As long as I don't have a short or anything, I guess I'm in no immediate danger of electrocution!
At this point, I really don't know what to do. The bifold doors are seriously messed up and are no longer flush; they look completely crooked and they don't even close all the way anymore. I have a hideous rust stain on my living room carpet. The washing machine, while it works, has a plug without a grounder. I feel like if I call about it at this point, they're not going to do anything. However, I really don't want to be blamed for the stained carpet or the condition of the folding doors.
Ugh, it's just exhausting! I've had strangers in my apartment nearly every day for the past week, and they've been leaving things in worse shape than when they started. The one GOOD thing about this is that I've had wonderfully hot showers!