Leering and Staring

At work we had to attend a sexual harassment prevention seminar. The speaker gave a Powerpoint presentation. One of the slides contained a list of inappropriate behavior, such as touching, gestures, leering and staring.

The speaker told us that in a previous class a creeper said, "What? Leering and staring isn't sexual harassment! I do it all the time!"

When met with shock, the creeper asked the speaker, "Come on, don't you leer and stare?" The answer was no.

At the end of class the creeper wrote "If you don't leer you're queer" on the seminar evaluation form, and signed his full name.

The idiot does not work for the department anymore.

Couchsurfing

It's been a nomadic week for me. I have my belongings split between several places so I don't have to annoy any particular friend for more than several nights at a time, especially if they're a couple who wants some "alone" time.

Odd Guy has tried contacting me 3 times since I left. I am very suspicious about his motives.

His first text message was the day after I moved out, and was a polite offer to let me move back in. It was very uncharacteristic of him to use words like "thank you," especially after throwing a fit just 24 hours before, so I ignored the message. Besides, why the hell would I move back in?

Several hours later, he said "come back to the apartment and I'll give you your deposit." My first thought was "It's a trap!" I assumed he meant that he would give me back my money if I moved back in, due to his first message. I wasn't that desperate for cash.

I talked to one of the other roommates, who told me they planned to move out too, so perhaps Odd Guy was trying to recruit me back.

The day after that he sent another message, saying that if I moved out my bed (which I gave away to one of the other roommates), and changed the lock on my bedroom door back to the original unlockable doorknob, he'd refund my deposit.

I called the girls because obviously, they wouldn't want me giving the keys to him while they were still living there. I've called them twice but they haven't responded, and it's been days. I think that since they're moving, they don't want the bed, and are afraid to tell me.

My parents insist that we should go and get rid of the bed, change the doorknob, and leave him the keys this weekend to wash our hands of the matter.

I really, really would rather not go back, but I don't want him to call me again when the girls move out, or when his lease expires.

Hopefully he will be gone since this is a 3-day weekend, and my family can settle things in peace. I'm not going to bother making an appointment with him because I don't really believe he will give me any money, and I don't care anyway.

Drama Central

I'm going to be couch-surfing for the next month. I could not stay at my old apartment anymore. Odd Guy got too psycho, and I had an emergency move yesterday. My dad and boyfriend moved most of my belongings to my parents' house, and I'm staying with friends and the bare necessities.

There's a lot of gritty details, and I'm still digesting, but the major points are:

Odd Guy got progressively crazier this week, and more angry we didn't go along with his control freak plans. The last straw for me was when I caught him putting pubic hair on my towel on Thursday night to retaliate. I didn't confront him because I didn't want him to completely freak out and vandalize all my things before I moved out. I stayed with a friend Friday night.

On Saturday morning, I told him I was planning to move out with a friend. I tried to be casual, non-accusatory and "played dumb." I said, "I'd just rather live with a friend. You don't need to pro-rate January rent; just give me the deposit and I'll be gone, thanks."

He refused and said "I'll give you my answer tomorrow." I asked him, "Oh gee, does that mean you'll have the check tomorrow?" He kept repeating that he'll "answer" me tomorrow even though I was sure he was just trying to be a jerk and string me along. Eventually he freaked out and said a number of crazy things:

1. He'll never give me any money back.
2. I should have appreciated that he did me a "favor" by letting me move in, even though I was paying rent.
3. He figured out that I was a "conservative" (I think he meant selfish) person when I kept locking my bedroom door.
4. It's "his" apartment, and I didn't have the right to keep him out of my room.
5. If I was a decent person, I should have offered him extra money during the time in December when no one else had moved in.
6. It's "my fault" girls I never met or spoke to flaked out on moving in last quarter.
7. I can't complain about the 5 people living there because this week "doesn't count" due to a girl being gone for a number of days due to a family funeral.
8. He didn't break the contract by moving in 3 people without my consent. I agreed to rent the room, and never made him promise not to put 5 people in a 1 bedroom apartment. (Hmm, maybe because it's common sense?)
8. He wasn't afraid of me telling the apartment management about his illegal sublets because he's "there legally" so he's safe, but everyone else can get into trouble. (Obviously he doesn't understand how things work).

My fiance showed up, and Odd Guy yelled "I don't know you" and told him to get out because he was not renting there. He slammed the door on my fiance and locked it while I was inside with him. My fiance was afraid he was going to attack me, and told him he was going to call the police. Odd Guy told him to go ahead.

Can you see why I had to leave that day?

I doubt I will get my deposit back, but if it means I never hear from him again, it's worth it. At the moment, he's 100% wrong because he has my money and I don't owe him a dime. Legally, he doesn't have a leg to stand on, especially since he lied to everyone else and told them I was going to move in January anyway. The other roommates are understandably upset about the situation, and are also pessimistic that they will get their deposit back. I will not be surprised if they decide to flee the coop as well.

Unfortunately, Odd Guy has my parents' address because it was printed on my checks. If he contacts me again I think filing restraining order would be a good idea.

Show Me the Money

The landlady finally sent me my deposit. I'm going to cash the check tomorrow and hope it doesn't bounce.

It's been like pulling teeth to get this woman to give me what she owes me. I called her the other day and asked, "Why haven't you sent me my deposit yet?"

She claimed to not have my address, which I emailed to her daughter 9 days ago, as she requested.

I reminded her of this fact, and she said her daughter couldn't get the address because "she hadn't been at work because of the holiday."

Your daughter got 9 days off work because of Thanksgiving? You live in a million-dollar house and have no internet access at home? Your daughter makes Facebook status updates through telepathy?

I told her to stop lying. I ran through a string of lies she's told me, as she kept trying to interrupt me with "Excuse me! Excuse me!"

I called her a liar. It felt good. I knew that even if she didn't send me the money right away, I still ruined her day by calling her in the morning. I live close enough to get mail from her in 1-2 days so I said that if she didn't pay up immediately I'd know.

I told her to send a money order and she ended up sending a check, but for now, I have a small victory.

Good News and Bad News

I'm currently in a new apartment. Wooo!

The other week I saw an ad looking for a roommate, and I pounced. The timing was perfect because my internet got cut off, and the city sent a notice threatening to shut off the water. There were two rat incidents this month as well.

I moved the weekend before Thanksgiving, and waited until I was done moving to notify the landlord because I was afraid those deadbeats would stop paying even more utility bills.

I called the landlady, expecting to hear a long sob story from her. Perhaps she was so surprised by the departure she didn't have anything to say, but she calmly made an appointment to meet with me last Tuesday to get my keys and return my deposit.

I suppose I should have expected it, but the bitch did not show up.

I sat in the empty house waiting for her. 15 minutes after our scheduled appointment time I called her.

"Mrs. ____, are you stuck in traffic?"

"I can't come today. I'm out of town."

"What? What do you mean you're out of town? You picked this day and time for us to meet."

"I'm not coming. I'm out of town."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was a sudden thing."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I don't have your phone number."

Liar! How in the hell did you call me early this month to hassle me for more money?

She then suggested we make another appointment during Thanksgiving weekend. No lady! I'm leaving town. I'm not coming back just so you can stand me up again.

I was so mad. Knowing how shady these people are, I had prepared a document for her to sign, stating, "As of this date, I've inspected the house, and Snark has returned the keys and is no longer responsible for anything that happens to the house, has paid all her bills, etc. etc."

Now she has my deposit and can accuse me of vandalizing the place or stealing the ugly crap she has stored in the garage and living room.

I absolutely did not want to retain possession of the keys during the time the house is empty, especially during the holidays, with a big "FOR SALE" sign out front. I went to the landlady's real estate agent's office, gave her secretary the keys, and got a receipt for them.

That wasn't ideal, but I hope it was the best I could do at that time.

The landlady "promised" she'll mail me my deposit check.

If it doesn't come very very soon I'll make it clear to her that crossing me is not worth $200.

I Need to Move

I am officially fed up. Those of you who have been following my blog know about the litany of horrors I've been subjected to at my crappy apartment. My horrible landlord bullied me and my roommates because we were students that were too poor to hire a lawyer and too busy with school to fight a lawsuit.

My landlord lowered the rent in September (for the month of October) because I had no hot water for 12 days and they were afraid I was going to move.

Today Mrs. Landlord called me and says I didn't send her enough rent money for November. "Oh no, you misunderstood. The discount was just for October only. The regular rent applies from now on."

I kept living here because of the discount. She certainly gave me the impression that the discount was permanent because they were selling the house and couldn't get anyone else to rent.

Her husband happened to be at the house when she originally offered me the discount by phone in September. I immediately typed up a revised rental agreement and had her husband sign it because I didn't trust these people. I was right.

The landlady tried to weasel out of our agreement by saying, "I don't know anything about my husband signing any papers."

I gave him a copy to take home. It's not my fault he lost it. I can send you another copy.

"Well, the house is in my name. I take care of everything for the house. He can't make deals with you."

Then why is he willing to sign agreements?

"No, no, the discount is just for October. You need to send me more money now."

That's not fair. By signing, your husband told me I would pay the discounted rate perpetually. If you disagreed, you should have notified me right away, until waiting for me to pay for another month.

Her justification for charging me extra was "Oh woe is me. I have $800 in bills a month and your rent won't cover it."

Your money management problems are not my problem.

She continued to whine, "You know, your water bill was $400."

Um, that's only because you didn't pay for months, until the utility company shut off my water.

"I pay $85 a month so you can have internet."

That's a flat out lie. For $85 a month I should have data packets being delivered to me by cherubs carrying silver platters.

I read her the riot act. I told her the lack of communication between her and her husband was not my problem and I was fully paid for the month. I am not sending her any more rent money.

I'm sure these bastards will "forget" to pay the utilities this month again in retaliation. I'm moving. I would rather live in a cheap motel than deal with people who barge in unannounced. (Earlier this month they sent a repairman over with his own key. He unlocked the door and walked into my apartment without knocking while I was home). I'm going to store my belongings at my parents' house and live with the bare necessities.

Too bad I couldn't have decided this before I paid for November. December will find me in a new address.

Comfortable Bathing

I Have Hot Water.

Yes!

Mrs. Landlord actually showed up at my house yesterday to wait for the Gas Company guy, after I threatened to move out. I made it clear to her that her duty was not to just let the GC guy in, but to get me hot water. If the GC guy couldn't fix the problem, she was going to buy a brand new water heater that day, and have her husband or a repairman install it. I said, "I can stay here and pay rent for next month, or you can refund me half my September rent and deposit now. It's your choice. I can write you a check next month, or you can write me a check this month."

Mrs. Landlord came over in the morning and I went to work. When I came back, there was a service report from the GC guy on the kitchen table.

It turns out it was a simple pilot light problem. That's what I told them last week.

If they had listened to me last week, when I said, "I think it's the pilot light and I'm willing to take Friday off work to wait for the GC," we wouldn't have been in this mess.

Instead, they dragged their feet and lied to me. In the end, Mrs. Landlord had to take the day off work, drive 170 miles round trip in her giant gas-guzzling SUV to my place, sit in the hot house (without AC) and be so bored out of her mind she cleaned my kitchen.

I have no sympathy for her. She brought this on herself.

The Hot Water Rant

I am officially sick of living in my place. I have not had any hot water since September started.

Warning: Depressing post ahead! Skip and wait for the next post for something cheerier.

There was a gas outage in my area during Labor Day weekend, while I was gone. (This was not the landlord's fault . . . yet).

I realized on Tuesday the 2nd that I had no hot water. I found out that the Gas Company was in the process of restoring services to everyone.

I waited for them to get to my neighborhood. By Thursday I realized something was wrong and I called the GC saying they skipped me. Because I was just a tenant, and not an account holder, they said I could not request service, and my flaky landlord had to make the call. (I can understand this policy any other time, but this is just stupid when the GC knows for sure there is a problem in the neighborhood).

I called the landlord's daughter on Thursday since she was in charge of the GC bill, and left a message. She emailed me Friday saying she was going to contact the GC to send service people.

Then silence.

On Sunday I called Mrs. Landlord. She insisted her daughter didn't tell her there was a problem, but said she will call the GC on Monday morning to make an appointment and call me.

I ended up calling her Monday night, and she said the GC is coming Tuesday afternoon.

I realized she lied about calling when her husband showed up instead. He couldn't figure out the problem, and asked me for the GC account number so that he could call.

Um, no. I don't have it. That's why you're here.

He called his wife and daughter and they ignored his calls. (Gee, now you know how that feels Landlord). He hung around for a bit, desperately making more last-minute, half-assed repairs before some homebuyers showed up that evening.

His wife eventually called, then talked to me, saying that it was not a gas problem, but a problem with the water company. I thought this was ridiculous. She insisted she called some "association" that collected "hot water fees" for the area, and they promised I would have hot water that afternoon.

That evening, I was still taking cold showers. I called Mrs. Landlord, who did not pick up the phone.

Today, Wednesday, I called Mrs. Landlord again, and was told the number was disconnected.

WTF!?

I got ahold of her at a different number. She said she would call the "association" again.

She called back later and said, "I think it is a Gas Company problem. Can you call them?"

1. I told you that a week ago.
2. I tried. I'm not an account holder, remember?

She whined about "having to make all these calls" for me, but did call the GC.

She then informed me that they are coming tomorrow (Thursday the 11th), but did not know what time.

Excuse me? You don't have an appointment? I took Tuesday afternoon off at work to wait for the imaginary GC repairman you lied about, and now you want me to take Thursday off too, and wait at home all day for someone you might be lying about again?

I told her I am going to work and she is taking the day off tomorrow to come wait all day at my house.

If I don't have hot water when I come home tomorrow, things are getting very ugly.

Mass Shunning

My co-worker Molly came into work Monday and told me she had the most awful weekend. At the formal party she attended Saturday night, her date expressed surprise that she had romantic feelings for him.

Her reaction: "Are you retarded? We've been dating for 2 months."

His response: "I thought we were just friends. I had no idea you liked me."

She was absolutely stunned. "WTF? You thought we were friends with benefits? You asshole!"

He was very affectionate with her in public, and all her friends thought they were dating. This revelation was a complete surprise to everyone.

While Molly was in the bathroom crying, Mr. Asshole tried to smooth things over by telling Molly's friend, "Yeah, she's a beautiful girl, and really nice, but I just don't feel that way about her. "

His PR attempt backfired. The news spread through the whole party, but somehow got twisted into "Molly's an ugly bitch and I don't want to be with her."

Everyone gave him the cold shoulder, and disinvited him to their Superbowl parties the next day.

After Molly went home, she got phone calls all weekend asking how she was feeling. Mr. Asshole got messages from people chastising him. Even his frat brothers, stereotypically known for their "bros before hos" philosophy, called him and said, "That's not cool, man."

A large section of the Greek population at school hates him now. Molly sniffed to me, "Karma got him back quick. I don't feel bad for him at all."

Neither do I.

Background Check

I'm applying for a position that requires a background check. A special agent came to my house today to ask me some routine questions. The interview itself went smoothly and I have nothing in particular to say about it.

However, what happened right before the interview was a perfect example of someone being too persistent.

I opened the door to the Agent and offered him a seat. Before he even sat down, a teenage boy came and knocked on my front door. The Agent said, "I have no idea who that is."

The teen said, "Hey I'm knockin' on neighbors' doors, tryin' to get enough points." (One of his cohorts had already come by earlier, trying to sell magazines, solicit subscription donations for children's shelters, and earn enough points for a prize).

I said, "Sorry, but someone else already came by."

"But I didn't see a bug-off tag," he whined.

"What?"

He explained, "You're supposed to get a door tag that shows you were already visited."

I thought, "Do you think I'm lying to you?" but said, "I didn't get one. Sorry, but I already gave a donation." (Bug-off kid).

"Did you know it's illegal to solicit donations?" (Then what the hell are you doing?)

"I don't mean to be rude, but I'm in the middle of a job interview."

The teen peeked in and saw the Agent. "Oh, is he interviewing you right now?"

"Yes."

Rather than leaving, despite having been given 3 very good reasons to do so, the teen said, "Hey man, do you want to help me get some points?"

The Agent declined.

I wanted to say, "Sorry, but my employment prospects are more important than you getting a bike," but that would have been rude.

Instead, I politely expressed my disinterest again. As I was shutting the door he yelled, "I'll be back in ten minutes!"

Thankfully, he did not come back.

What cheek.

The Roomate Saga Part 4 (The End)

For the rest of the story: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Quick recap: Sleazy Chick, my ex-roommate, left town without moving out her belongings or paying for her damages. The landlord charged us $800 for repairs, cleaning, and dumping Sleazy Chick's junk.

Good Roomie called Sleazy Chick's parents several times, after finding their phone number in the yellow pages. No one picked up the phone, but Good Roomie didn't leave a message, afraid Sleazy Chick would erase it.

After several calls, Sleazy Chick's mom, Mrs. Chick, used caller ID to call Roomie back.

"Who is this? Why do you keep calling the house?" she said, angrily.

Roomie explained who she was, what situation we were in, and that her daughter owed us money. Like her daughter, Mrs. Chick tried to weasel out of paying.

Mrs. Chick's first argument: "Well, everyone used the furniture, so everyone's responsible for it."

Excuse me? We all brought items that we shared, and we moved all our own items out of the apartment. If we dared to touch your daughter's things, she would probably be suing us.

Mrs. Chick's second argument: "You can't blame my daughter for everything. Those French girls who subletted during the summer probably left a mess."

What? They brought furniture and potted plants in their luggage for a 6-week stay? They had barely enough room for all their clothes and toiletries in their suitcases. I took them shopping right after they landed. Furthermore, they were very neat, and cleaned the house without being asked, even though they were in a hurry to catch their departing flight.

Mrs. Chick's third argument: "Some of the stuff belongs to my daughter's old roommate Mandy."

So what? Mandy lived there before us. Your daughter had a full year to get Mandy to move her stuff or throw it out. When we moved in your daughter gave us the impression everything belonged to her.

I wrote Mrs. Chick a calm, polite letter explaining what her daughter did, why she can't blame anyone else, what the charges were, and how much she owed the landlord and each roommate.

Instead of trusting her to mail 4 separate checks (for me, Good Roomie, Good Roomie #2 and the landlord), I told her to send one to us, which we would split up, to make it more convenient for "her."

I also added, since we owed the landlord money, it was in the best interest of her daughter's credit report to pay us soon.

To my surprise, Mrs. Chick sent us the money. Promptly. And the check didn't bounce.

Throughout all this, Sleazy Chick stayed silent. I'm glad all this is over, but the whole situation left me very disappointed, and surprised at how selfish someone can be.

I can understand if you're spoiled, and you can afford to buy a new TV, living room set, kitchenware, etc. every time you move. What I don't understand is why it takes too much effort to put an ad on Craigslist saying, "Hey broke students, poor people and recyclers: come get some free stuff."

At the very least, how hard is it to say to your roommates, "I don't want ____, so throw it out so you won't get charged" ?

The Roomate Saga Part 3

Earlier posts: Part 1 and Part 2.

In my last post I described how my roommate Sleazy Chick left sent me a text message indicating a stranger was moving in with me, then dodged my calls for a week.

She finally called back, saying Jack was a "student" who wanted to move to town 6 or 7 weeks before school started, so he could "settle in." Okay. She also said she planned to move her personal belongings out of her room before he moved in, but would return at the end of the lease to take her furniture and dishes. (This second part later turned out to be a lie).

While I was out of town for the weekend, she moved everything out of her room, but left a lot of shopping bags and trash in the apartment, outside of her room.

When I came back, the French subletters told me they had tried to ask her about Jack (which they had every right to do, since they were being forced to live with him as well), but were brushed off rudely. This only made me more nervous.

I know, "appearances can be deceiving," but it was hard not to remember my ex-con suspicions when I finally met Jack. He was older than your average college student, very burly, very tattooed, very very scarred and drove a very beat-up car. He looked like a man that had been at the wrong end of a broken beer bottle many times.

Luckily, I was able to move into my new apartment early, and didn't live with Jack long. He was probably rather nice, but living with an unknown man wasn't a chance I wanted to take.

Crisis averted, right?

No. After this, Sleazy Chick ceased all contact with us. Our landlord insisted we turn in all our keys together, so I kept calling her to ask when she was moving out, and if she could give me her keys. (We had apartment, room, closet, pool, exercise room, and mail keys, and would have been charged $5 for each missing key).

She refused to respond, even when I called again the day before our lease was up. I told her I assumed she was coming on the very last day to move out, and I left the envelope with all the keys on the kitchen counter, for her to turn in with her keys. I explained the situation to the landlord, and said my procrastinating roommate would come on the last day.

Remember Sleazy Chick's promise to remove the ridiculous amounts of junk she accumulated over 3 years? It didn't happen.

The landlord called me several days later and said Sleazy Chick never returned. The landlord was "appalled" at the amount of furniture, trash, knickknacks, dishes, food, etc. still in the apartment. It took 2 people 4 hours to move everything out and dump it. On top of that, there were damages in Sleazy Chick's room. The landlord had called Sleazy Chick before, without response, and was not dealing with her again.

Thus we -- yes, WE -- were being charged $800 for Sleazy Chick's crap.

Our deposit didn't even cover the full amount. On top of the money I handed over when I moved in, the landlord wanted me to pull another $100 out of my outlet-store, student-budget jeans, to cover her designer-clad ass.

That was what really galled me. I suspected I wasn't going to get my deposit back, but to have to shell out more money for someone else, in order to avoid my credit being ruined, seemed incredibly unfair.

I'm going to try to wrap things up in Part 4: Chasing the Money.

The Roommate Saga Part 2

Sorry Part 2 took so long. I just started my second job.

For Part 1, read here:

At my old apartment I lived with 3 other girls. Sleazy Chick graduated in June and went back to her parents' house. The lease expired at the end of August, and we all assumed she would come back periodically to move out her things. She had lived at the apartment for 3 years, and had a vast quantity of furniture, knick-knacks, paintings, kitchenware, potted plants, etc. It looked like it would take multiple trips for her to get everything, and we weren't in a hurry (yet).

Roommates 2 and 3 were out of town for the summer, and subletted their rooms to 2 very nice girls who were visiting from France for the summer.

Since I was the only "original" roommate in town for the summer, I was in charge of collecting the rent money from everyone, and turning it into the landlord (who insisted on getting all the rent at one time, or charging everyone a late fee, regardless of whose check was missing). Roommates 2 and 3 wrote checks for July and August and left them with me. Sleazy Chick disappeared before giving me any rent money.

I left her several messages along the lines of "Can you mail me the rent? It's due in __ days."

After a while, she finally called back and said she'd bring the rent money "this weekend" when she came to pick up some of her belongings. I told her to leave it on the kitchen counter if I wasn't there, and to leave a check dated for August as well.

I came home to find she did come by, but left no checks, so I called again, with no response. After the rent was past due, she finally told me her "dad had already mailed the check directly to the landlord." Gee, couldn't you have told me earlier? You know, like during one of the 4 times I left you messages?

As annoying as all of this was, I wasn't particularly angry until I received a text message from her that said "Jack is moving into my room in August."

What? Who the hell is "Jack"? You subletted your room to some random man I've never met? And you don't even have the decency (or courage) to tell me in person, or call?

I left her multiple messages, asking her for details about Jack. Her text gave me no indication as to who he was, when he was moving in, if he was a convicted felon, etc.

Seeing as how we only had a month left on the lease at that point, I was really worried what kind of person would take the trouble to move into a place for only a month. A recent parolee? Someone who got kicked out of a halfway house?

I wasn't even sure if she had subletted to a fellow student. She dodged my calls for a week, so I started suspecting something was very wrong with Jack e.g. she had rented to a 50-year-old creep she found on Craigslist, who thought moving in and out for 30 days was worth the trouble to be around 3 college girls.

Stay tuned for Part 3: Jack Moves In

The Roommate Saga Part 1

Some of you may be aware I moved earlier this summer. There were some lingering issues I had to deal with, mainly connected to one particular roommate, Sleazy Chick. Now that certain financial issues have been resolved (and hopefully I will never have to contact her or her family again), it's time to rant about what she put us through.

This will be a multi-part series. First, let's give you some background about her.

She had a number of disgusting habits, but here are a few:
1. Regularly leaving her dishes unwashed for up to 2 weeks.
2. Clogging up the toilet and leaving to stay with her boyfriend, without calling maintenance.
3. Smoking pot with all the doors and windows closed (while the rest of us were home).
4. Being inebriated and crying so loudly for hours we couldn't sleep. (If it's 2 AM in the morning, and you need to fight with your boyfriend, do it in your car. Better yet, drive somewhere else first).
5. Having equally disgusting, drunken friends who threw up in my bathtub, used my towels (and then put the soiled items back in the cupboard).
6. Hosting a party where we ended up with paint on the wall, dirt and rocks on the carpet, used glassware mixed in with our clean dishes, and beer cans in the bathroom.
7. Buying Costco-sized packs of pregnancy tests. (I am not kidding. I found them when looking for toilet paper and was absolutely weirded out. It never occurred to me that anyone would want to, or need to, buy more than 1, or even 2, tests at a time).

No, she was not "white trash." She came from a well-to-do family, wore expensive clothes and drove a nice car. She was just one of the most appallingly inconsiderate people I've ever met.

Part 2 will set the foundation for the move-out drama.

Evolution of a Loser

Level 1: Dork
The other night, I walked past a man who exclaimed, "Wow!" as I passed. I ignored him and kept walking.

Level 2: Creep
About 10 minutes later he tracked me down and said, "You are really hot!"

Level 3: Jerk
He also decided it would be a good idea to TOUCH me as he came up behind me. (I cannot fathom why anyone with a reasonable grasp of manners thinks it's okay to touch a stranger without permission).

Level 4: Asshole
I replied to his compliment with a stiff, "Thank you," and returned to my conversation with my friend. He then became offended and said sarcastically, "Sorry for interupting!" (Gee, beg your pardon, sir. I suppose I should have turned into a quivering pile of melting goo once I heard your suave pick up line).

Level 5: Habitual Loser
I then realized he probably misheard me and thought I said something much more vulgar than "Thank you." The fact that he would immediately assume that led me to believe he was used to such a reception.

I can't say I'm surprised.

Lassi Loves You!

I had a very long, busy week where I was running on about 5 hours of sleep each night in order to get everything accomplished. (I normally like at least 8 hours).

However, my precious few hours of sleep were interrupted by a neighbor in my apartment complex, who decided to have a very enthusiastic cell phone conversation outside my window. He was standing in the carport area and yelling, which was entirely unnecessary, given the echo effect of the location.

He was chattering in a foreign language I did not understand, except for the "Halleluuuu" sprinkled here and there.

As mad as I was, I could not help feeling it was very funny that he concluded the conversation by screaming, "Lassi love you! Lassi looooove you! Lassi loooooove youuuuuu'uuu'uuuuuuuu!" (Yes, he added in extra syllables I did not know existed).