Monday, November 23, 2015

Vacancy

Ran into our now out-of-a-job maintenance man this morning.

“I’m really sorry about what happened to you”, says I.

“That’s what I get for giving my all”, said he.

Having worked in Corporate America, dealing with racist department heads and functionally insane bosses, I can identify with that statement. But, judging from my own experiences and how, in the end, it always worked out for me, I know it’s going to work out for him as well, so I said, “People can do things to inconvenience you, people can do things to hurt you, but it will work out in the end.”

“Well, right now, I’ve got to find a place to live.”

I’d already heard Nurse Ratched wanted him out of the complex, but feigned ignorance, “You don’t want to stay here?”

“I do, but xxx (Nurse Ratched), won’t let me. I was hoping to stay in the same unit, but she says I have to reapply and go on the waiting list.”

I had to laugh at this, because this management company has been scrambling to fill their many vacancies for over two and a half years. There hasn’t been a waiting list since they took over and ran so many long-time residents out.”

“So there’s a waiting list now? All the units are filled?” asked I.

“Well you know how it is”, says he. “It’s what she’s saying, and I’ve only got until the 20th of next month to get out.”

Later, on my way to the scale, I passed Nurse Ratched in the office hallway. Her boss wasn’t around, so all pretense of being friendly was gone. Just like before, she got that haughty look on her face, ignored and looked through me as though I didn’t exist.

Fine by me. Maybe next time she speaks when her boss is around I’ll have the gumption to blurt out, “Why do you only pretend to be friendly when your boss is around?”

At any rate, we’ll soon have a vacancy in the quad I hoped never to see. Our now out-of-a-job maintenance man has lived in that unit, worked on this property for 13 years. Once Nurse Ratched gets him out, she’ll probably move another of her relatives in. She’s already installed her mother in a unit.

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