Today’s been a pip. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on, but it seems like we’ve been saving up all of our Let’s Deal With Irritations chips for today. And so I’m turning into Ranty McRanterson, just for this post.
- Our e-mail was down for a good part of yesterday and then again this morning. I’d sent in a support request yesterday afternoon. When I looked at the “ticket history” this morning, though, it said that no one had even looked at the request. So I called the support call center. I was on hold for 40 minutes before they (“they” being either the support center or my cell provider) dropped my call. Oh, I was not pleased.
After I’d showered and had breakfast, I called again and was only on hold for about 20 minutes. And they found the problem and fixed it pretty quickly. Everything was blue skies and bunny rabbits again.
Until …
- First, a little background: A few weeks ago, around 9:30pm, our floor started to shake. I’m pretty sure we’re not on a fault line here. And even if we were, I don’t think earthquakes are accompanied by any sort of kickin’ guitar riffs. So after about 20 minutes, I went downstairs to ask the neighbors to turn down their stereo. The response wasn’t, “Sorry about that; we’ll turn it down.” Which was sort of what I’d expected. Instead, the girl said, “Oh, are you the one with the little girl? She was running around all morning, and it was really loud.”
I was a little irritated then, and I’ve been irritated a couple of times when they’ve cranked up the tunes since then. But today, I think steam actually came out my ears.
One of the downstairs neighbor dropped by this afternoon to say that Poppy “or your dogs or whatever” had been running around for two hours and it was disturbing him. He said he had talked to the property manager about it (I’m not sure when, and I don’t know why he didn’t come up here first) and she told him we were moving out soon. But, he said, he “just couldn’t take it anymore.” Rockford told him he was sorry, but there wasn’t much we could do about it, seeing as we live on the third floor in an apartment with wooden floors. And we have a toddler. To which he responded, “When I was little, I wasn’t allowed to run in the house.”
I’m glad we’ll be moving soon, because I really don’t know how to respond to such complaints. I’m thinking about suggesting to the property manager that they don’t rent this unit to anyone with children after we leave. I don’t know. What do you think? For now, I’m just chanting “Only two more weeks … two more weeks.”
- Rockford had a buy-one, get-one-free coupon for Starbucks that he tried to redeem today. The cashier said he couldn’t use it because he wasn’t ordering two of the same item. Rockford said, “You’re kidding me,” and the girl went to get her manager. “Can you deal with these people?” she asked. “I just can’t take this.”
We must be putting off some very strange and intolerable vibes today.
Get Poppy some tap shoes to run around in. =)
Oh my gosh! I am APPALLED at the level of humanity around you. Some people just suck and I’m sorry you have to deal with them. How rude…and seriously, the Starbucks comment was off the charts as well. The manager should have fired this girl for her blatant rudeness.
I agree with the tap shoes:) Or maybe some clogs!
That is seriously ridiculous about your neighbors complaining about your toddler! Amazing; however, I had a friend who encountered a similar situation involving an old lady in the apartment beneath her, but this friend had two toddler boys, which I am sure was a bit crazy! I think you should suggest to the property manager that they rent that apartment ONLY to people with toddlers (preferably boys) to make your neighbors’ lives a bit more difficult. That is probably not a very Christian response though.
Along those same lines, one of our next door neighbors allow their college-aged grandchildren to come and go as they please. They blare their music so loud that it shakes our windows and wakes Jackson up during nap time at least once every other week. When we ask them to turn it down, they either turn it up and pretend like they don’t see us there asking them to turn down the gangster rap music, or they turn it down for the length of time it takes for us to walk back to our house, then turn it up even louder. I just think that people like this and people like your neighbors will someday get payback for their attitudes towards children in the noisiest possible way!
Nothing worse than nasty neighbors – it’s a real test of serenity, isn’t it!
Poor customer service is the norm here in Britain – I envy your Starbucks experience.
Monday’s bound to get better.
Where are you going to live in two weeks?
I think it would be lovely if Poppy got to have a “going away” party with all her little friends, … say Saturday around 9AM….. so that they can still get a nap in after all the fun is had. Perhaps a rousing game of Red Rover would be good. 🙂
Seriously though, in the sweetest tone you can muster, should you have any reason to speak to the offending neighbor before you depart… express your concern for their auditory sensitivity and suggest that perhaps they would be happier on the top floor after you leave. “It’s generally so quiet up there, with the exception of the occasional loud music. But we’ve pointed that out to the Property Manager, so it shouldn’t be a problem for you.” (Insert BIG innocent smile here.) Smile alot and pretend not to notice the evil looks …..
(laughing…. ha ha ha ha….) How ’bout you and Rockford show Poppy how to “tipee toe” in the apartment and the two of you start running from place to place inside? I can only imagine the difference between the sound of Rockford and the sound of Poppy.
As for Starbucks….. with all the new locations, quality of service was bound to suffer.
Rockford is a pretty big guy. I say he just starts stomping people.