The One About the Cranky Neighbor

Her words, not mine.

Friday the 13^th turned out to be an okay day. Sun was shining – for about 30 minutes; I beat everyone to the laundry room and was done before others began trickling in.

First to trickle in, as I was packing up dry laundry, was the new neighbor – the older lady who took the upstairs unit across the quad.

I greeted her with “Hey neighbor”.

Looking highly agitated, she greeted me with, “I’m so fed up with the office, so frustrated. I’m going to get an attorney, send a letter to the Attorney General, and I’m thinking of moving.”

“Oh no! … Why? … What’s wrong?”

Her upset stems from parking in the carport area.

She states the new Community Manager said “You can park wherever you like”. She did so and ended up in someone else’s assigned carport spot. Reporting being told she’d have to move her car to the office, she says she was then told by the Assistant Manager that the Community Manager had given her incorrect information -- that she can park wherever she likes on the property EXCEPT in the covered carport areas, as carports are specifically assigned and paid for monthly.

“You know they don’t like each other don’t you?”

“No, I didn’t realize that.”

“I can see it in their eyes.”

Interesting. My spidey sense never picked up any friction between the Community Manager and her Assistant. Friction between the former Community Manager (Nurse Ratched) and everyone, yes; but nothing between the new manager and anyone, least of all her assistant.

At any rate, new neighbor said she then requested a carport, and it took forever and several calls and visits to the office before being assigned a numbered space.

Problem is, another car is in that spot and never moves.

Since then, she says the office hasn’t been responding to her at all.

“I’ve worked in business and this is no way to run a business!”

I told her I was sorry she was having problems that, inasmuch as things have been going fairly well since the new Community Manager was put in place, the problems with the office now may stem from the fact it’s only the two of them, and the Community Manager has been sick with pneumonia, while the Assistant Manager has been off/on dealing with some unknown illness.

“I’m not buying that!” says she and went on to say she was already angry about all the paperwork she’d had to provide to get a unit in the complex, how the office had no legal right to intrude into her financial privacy to the extent they did, that she’d previously contacted the Attorney General about a parking situation at the university where she’d taught, yada yada yada.

I mentioned the monthly Management/Residents meeting. That if the parking situation is not resolved, she could take it up then.

That was a “no”. She feels an attorney and/or the Attorney General the way to go.

I mentioned having good service just sending an email to the office.

She says they never open email.

Asking if the girls were in the office today, I said “yes”, hoped they’d take care of her parking situation and suggested she request No 167 specifically -- the spot to the right of mine, because no one has parked there in all the years I’ve been here.

She made note of the number and said she’d check it out “If no one was parked there today”.

I’m beginning to get a picture here, form a somewhat negative opinion of the new neighbor.

Still mumbling about being frustrated, that the friends she’d spoken to and the son who’d moved her in were now also upset about the way she’s being treated, she laughingly said, “I didn’t mean to burden you with all this. That’s all you need, a cranky neighbor”.

So that’s going to be her moniker here on the blog – the cranky neighbor.

I hope my helpfulness in suggesting she park next to me doesn't come back to bite me in the butt.