I took the key to the adjoining unit out of the lockbox, climbed up on a stepladder, and switched my broken light fixture with their non-broken one all by my little lonesome self. Problem #1 solved. I used the always-certain, country-bumpkin method of duct-taping the gaping hole under my back door so the critters can't get in. Problem #2 temporarily solved. My mom vacuumed the place, and it was clean and livable, and I scheduled the carpet cleaners for Tuesday afternoon at 3:00pm. Problem #3 solved. Exterminator came and sprayed for everything to take care of Problem #4, and the telephone and water guys got me all hooked up. I was on a roll!!!
So I call the realtor, only to be ignored yet again, and then I got mad. (You'd think I would have been mad before that, but Zoloft really does work wonders) I didn't want to do it, but she forced me. I had to call her office. I feel very sorry for the man who answered the phone because he got an earful. But he promised to track her down and call me right back. And five minutes later, he called and assured me that THIS TIME, she would answer her phone. :-)
THEN the fun started. About two hours after I finally spoke to my realtor, three trucks pull up to my house. My realtor and her husband went and pulled the builder off of a job site and dragged him and a couple of his workers back to our duplexes. Apparently, they had already fired him from other jobs, and are about to sue him for what he's done with this job (Gee... That would have been great to know BEFORE I signed the lease). My realtor's husband is also a builder and the two guys nearly broke into several fistfights over the course of two hours. I began to wonder, "At what point does one call the cops?"
So we have Incompetent, RUDE, Abrasive Builder who blamed everyone EXCEPT himself for his crappy work. (Did you know that it was MY fault things didn't get done because I wasn't at the house when he came by? Well, DUH, you freakin' idiot! I DON'T LIVE THERE!!! That went over really well with me. Moron.) We have Obnoxious, Know-It-All Builder (Realtor's husband) who was sure to point out numerous times how HE would have done things correctly because he "builds half-million dollar homes". We have Blonde Chick (My realtor) who is just that… Blonde. All three going at each other... Blonde Chick stuck in the middle because Incompetent Builder refused to speak to Obnoxious Builder directly. Incompetent Builder telling me and Blonde Chick that he'll give us the numbers of all of the subcontractors that he used to do the work and we can call them ourselves because he "just forgot about some of it." (Another thing that didn't go over well with me. I told him that is HIS job and I'M not doing it.) But mostly, Mom and I just sitting there cracking up because it was so funny…
They never did completely fix the water leak, but Obnoxious Builder figured out what the problem was. There was a broken pipe where the A/C is supposed to drain. But he temporarily fixed it… With duct tape, of course…
Stay tuned for more in the continuing saga… Friday is Christy and Sasha's turn to join in the fun! (Sash – Call me if you still want to come by. But you enter at your own risk! There's no telling what fun adventures lie ahead!