Returning from the scrapbook store yesterday, we were both parking at the same time.
Entering the complex through the near gate, turning left into her spot, she has a big old truck on her left, the pole separating her car from mine on the right; consequently, she had a little work to do getting her car parked without hitting either the truck or the pole.
I, on the other hand had entered the complex through the far gate, because the near gate has difficulty reading my card. It’s easier to enter the far gate, drive all the way around the complex and make a right into my spot. This turning right has me sometimes pulling the car in just right – close to the pole, mindful of my mirror; sometimes I have to pull in, pull out, straighten and pull in again.
This was one of those times.
She noticed I’d had some difficulty parking, as did she and said, “I’m glad I’m not the only one.”
I replied, “I’m not good turning in from the right, trying to get as close as I can to the pole so as to free up space on the other side of me, but I can turn very well from the left. Only that near gate is so difficult to get in that I go all the way around.”
She found this interesting because she said it’s the opposite for her … she can turn very well from the right, it’s the left that gives her problems.
She went on to say she’d noticed how difficult the near gate is to open, that she has to jiggle her card around for a while. Then said, now that she knew the driveway went all the way around, she’d also be entering through the far gate because, “I don’t want to hit this truck or your car. You’re lucky you’re on the other side of the pole because I’ve already hit and taken my mirror out on the pole.”
What?!
“I told the office this parking spot is too tight for me and asked if I could have another. They told me No”.
She had a look on her face when she said, “They told me No”, which I read as a mixture of shell-shock and disgust. New neighbor obviously had her first dose of the wall which is Complex Manager Nurse Ratched.
That’s Nurse Ratched’s favorite word. No matter what the situation, what the request, it’s always “No”.
Doesn’t take long for new residents to figure out what’s up.
Though the new neighbor seems nice to me, not everyone in the quad is happy with her because she smokes. Not only does she smoke, she’s not following the rule to take smoking outside and completely off complex grounds.
I’m told by Maintenance Man, who lives next door to the new neighbor with his wife, that new neighbor sneak tokes in her unit, as also does his downstairs neighbor -- the woman who, over a year ago, moved into the unit vacated by the 95 year old when her family put her in residential care.
As a reminder, Maintenance Man’s downstairs neighbor is the woman who was hit by a car while crossing the street, called the office to say she was hospitalized and asked to have her upstairs neighbor, Maintenance Man, go in and take care of her cat until released.
Who did she get on the phone when she called and made that request?
Yep, you guessed it … she got Nurse Ratched who, instead of saying the usual “No”, said something to the effect of “Sure, Okay” then deliberately failed to communicate that message to Maintenance Man, leaving the cat to almost starve to death.
At any rate, there’s trouble now brewing across the quad because Maintenance Man says he and his wife can’t open their windows due to a smoker on his side and one downstairs.
I’m sure the downstairs corner unit isn’t too thrilled about the smoking situation either. The downstairs corner unit is the Nosey Neighbor. The woman who comes out on her patio to water plants -- when she sees people in the quad, in order to surreptitiously eavesdrop on the conversation.
Maintenance Man tells me he’s several times reported the situation to Nurse Ratched, requesting that she issue violations. He’s visibly frustrated that she just ignores him.
Maintenance Man is a cool character who’s been around the block a few times. With the complex since years before Nurse Ratched’s group took over, he has managed to survive her regime by staying cool and rolling with the punches -- adjusting to her decree that he no longer mingle with us at our events and is no longer allowed to speak to us residents during his working hours.
We all know how Nurse Ratched loves to issue lease violation notices, so the fact she’s ignoring him is because, having finally found something that rattles him, she now has an opportunity to mess him over. Maintenance Man, of all people, should have known not to ask Nurse Ratched for squat.
Hopefully the smoking, and Nurse Ratched’s ignoring his requests for violation notices, isn’t going to be the last straw for our favorite Maintenance Man.
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