Real Plumber, Part 2 AND BREAKING NEWS

Assistant Maintenance Guy kept his word and installed a new faucet this afternoon.

No more drip drip drip of the kitchen sink leaking.

I’d just returned from running errands all over town — gassing up the jeep, car wash, medical center for BP check (118/57), two stores in the mall to pick up anolon cookware to replace my beat-up pot and skillet, See’s Candy Store for a treat, craft store for fabric, Whew!!! ….. when there was his knock on the door.

"Parts came in yesterday but, if you’re busy, I can come back tomorrow".

"Nope. Let’s get er done", said I.

Real Plumber that he is — or as near to as they have on staff, it took a bit of time, but he did a good thorough job. A job Head Maintenance Guy would never have achieved because it would have been too much work for him.

Had I not requested a "real plumber", HMG would have returned over and over and over, tightened a nut here, a bolt there, and the leak would have continued forever.

After the job was done, as he packed up to go, he apologized for it taking so long.

"Not a problem" said I, "But I bet the complex water bill is going to go way down, because the leak had been going on for so long".

He laughed and said, "It won't make a difference. We've got worse problems going on".

Don't I know it since, in talking recently with the two residents previously mentioned with maintenance issues, I'd learned they're getting nowhere.

Upstairs Lady — the resident with the bad legs, said her two-months ago workorder about the handle falling off her oven door has still not been addressed.

She tried gluing the handle back on, it held for a bit, but it's once again handle less.

Di — the resident that had that problem with Meat Man’s son, reported moldy crud in her refrigerator even more months ago.

She says both Head Maintenance Guy AND Assistant Maintenance Guy checked it out, told her to disinfect the refrigerator with bleach.

She did so, but mold quickly reappeared on the inside walls, whereupon the guys told her to "not place food near the wall".

Seriously.

They told her to push refrigerated foods away from the walls, towards the middle of the shelf.

After she told me that, I remembered she had brought food to bingo back in March — chili and corn muffins.

Since no one reported a trip to the hospital shortly after, I guess the residents who ate freely of that are immune to mold.

In a sane world, a stove for Upstairs Lady and a refrigerator for Di would have taken precedence over repainting the patio railings and repaving the bottom of the jacuzzi, but management only cares about curb appeal, not what corporate and other outsiders can't see.

If I were Di, I’d buy my own refrigerator and tell management to cart that death machine away.

While at See’s, for chocolate to make more S’mores, I saw they’ve added color to their display.

This new limited-time treat is called "Birthday Cake", and is in honor of the founder Mary See’s birthday — and no, she’s not here to enjoy the honor as she passed away in 1939.

They do look like cute little birthday cakes.

My sensitive gut will only let me get away with Almond Buds and Milk Walnuts, so I can’t tell you what they taste like, but they must be amazing because I saw online where one woman said she "cried" when her store ran out and she couldn’t find anywhere else.

Last news of the day is, returning from running errands, retrieving packages from the jeep, a car pulled up behind mine.

It was Meat Man, who proceeded to blow kisses at me.

He is such a bad boy AND so funny that I couldn’t help but to burst out laughing. "You are just full of it" said I, through laughter. He smiled and proceeded to drive out of the complex.

BREAKING NEWS