Apartment Woes: Revisited

Referencing this entry: Apartment Woes (May 27th, 2008)

Up until two days ago, we had still had, at best, poor hot water in our building. You could get a warm shower, if you planned out when you ideally should take one. The best time was around 3am, for obvious reasons.

It was recently discovered a few days ago, where the source of the problem was. It was partially the neighbor underneath us, who came as no surprise, but also the girl next door? They discovered a leaky bathroom tub. A hot water leaking bathtub. Maybe its just me, but I don’t think it should have taken a month to have figured it out?

Now that its in the high 80’s its a bit irrelevant, but I’m certainly glad to have it fixed. And that’s saying the very least.

Apartment Woes

It’s about 60°F outside, probably a few degrees less inside, and I’m in flannel pajamas. At almost four in the afternoon. Why? Oh, I just took an ice-cold shower. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if it had been optional (or it was 90° and humid), but then again, it wasn’t. Welcome to the joys of apartment living? I guess since its included in my rent, I should be grateful to have it at all, huh?

To put it bluntly, I haven’t had hot water for over a week, teetering on almost two weeks in a day or so. If I want hot water for a shower, I’m out of luck. If I want it for dishes, I have to boil it myself and fill the sink, which is always a losing prospect as by the time you’re done, half the water is already lukewarm. Frustrating doesn’t even begin to describe it.

It could be worse, oh sure, but considering I’m paying for it, I’d like to be able to have, you know, my options. I’ve reported the problem to management three times by now and still nothing was done. Well, no, that’s not totally accurate. They called out a repair man, who – just guessing here – didn’t repair anything? I’m starting to not blame them. Part of me is starting to wonder, since I’ve started monitoring the showering habits of the tenants around me (thin bathroom walls are pretty awesome), if it isn’t a mechanical problem after all.

Recently, I’d say in about March, we had a new tenant move in beneath us. Before him, one of my close friends occupied the space until she ended her lease and left. This new guy is supposedly sick, but other than being devoid of an actual personality from what I can tell, he seems perfectly fine. And I’m sure he does have a personality, somewhere, but I’ve yet to see it, so I can’t be certain about it. From his bumper stickers on his car, I can tell you he likes David Bowie, AFI, and global warming.

When he first moved in, he hammered all the time. For the first month, all day long, it was all I heard. Eventually that annoyance subsided, thankfully, as I started to not be able to tolerate the constant headaches. Unfortunately, that problem transitioned elsewhere.

He takes, oh, three showers a day. And this was a few months ago. My mom told me today she heard him taking two of them; one at 12:30pm and the other at 1:30pm. When I went to take one at 3:30pm, he was in there again! I’m willing to bet, based on recent observations, he’ll take one at 7:00pm or so, as that’s a usual, and probably again at 9:30pm. He used to do it where it was one during the mid-afternoon and two at night. Now its constantly. Five showers. A day. What the hell? No wonder we don’t have any damn hot water!

I miss having a house like you can’t imagine right about now.