Nothing much going on these days. I’m still trying to work
myself through recorded TV shows, while simultaneously working on that never
ending needlepoint project – the one I began back in February, catching up with
the scrapbooking, and counting down the days until I can pull the Christmas
decorations from the outside storage and deck the patio.
I’ve been waiting months for this time of year to come, not just
because I’m anxious to put up Christmas decorations, but because I need to get
to the storage bins, discard craft and costume materials, reorganize and, with
all the Christmas decorations in the way, I can’t easily do so.
One of the ladies in the complex months ago asked to have my old
needlepoint patterns. I know they’re in there, somewhere in one of the bins,
but won’t be able to look through the bins until after the 26th,
when decorations go out and up.
The storage project looks a little less daunting, minus the
three containers of scrapbooking supplies I’ve pulled out, but still will go
much easier once the Christmas stuff is out of the way.
My body is adjusting to the change in time and weather, so I’ve
not been out walking since the Halloween 5K and have barely been out of the
unit, except for grocery shopping, and a run through the Community Room to
check how many have signed up for the Thanksgiving Potluck. I even skipped the
daily Starbucks run a couple times.
Really missing my morning brew, I determined to head out for a
cup this morning after checking email. I booted up and saw there’s a huge controversy over
the Starbucks Christmas Cup. Evidently, some don’t feel the red cup is
Christmasy enough.
I can’t remember what last year’s Christmas Cup looked like, but
red works for me. In fact, any color cup works for me, so long as there’s coffee
inside.
At this point, so many of us are addicted to Starbucks that
there’s little chance of this movement to Boycott Starbucks, over the red cup, will
get very far.
I did notice, while at Starbucks, that the red theme is
consistent throughout – the pods, the packs and the whole bean blends are all
packaged in red. So aesthetically and feng shui speaking, the chi is balanced.
The seniors are off to the Casino today.
The sign-up sheet indicated only twelve, and two have been crossed
out. So I’m not sure if enough showed up to ensure continuation of the event.
Time will tell.
As for me, red cup in hand, I’m snug as a bug in a rug working
on scrapbooking photos of the Bacon Run.
Can you believe I actually found 12x12 bacon themed paper.
Nurse Ratched put on a show yesterday and brought ME into her
act.
I did try not to participate in the play, but she found a way to
give me a role yet and still.
In the office yesterday, working with the new Assistant Manager
who came on a few months ago, I was signing recertification paperwork.
I don’t know if all senior apartment building have to go through
this process. I’ve lived in three, but only the last two have gone “income
restricted” required recertification paperwork to verify eligibility. I’m
over the income limit, but was fortunate enough to be grandfathered in prior to
the conversion in both instances; in which case, I don’t understand why I have to go through the
process yet and still, but so be it.
At any rate, the new female Big Boss from Corporate was over in
the corner doing something, I was seated at the desk, across from the Assistant
Manager, when along comes Nurse Ratched.
In an attempt to demonstrate to the Big Boss what a wonderful
friendly person she is, Nurse Ratched paused by my side and greeted me … “Hello,
how are you?”
I pretended to be so engrossed in the paperwork that I did not
hear her, so she stood there for a second, then moved on.
Unfortunately, Nurse Ratched walked by again, just as paperwork
was finishing up, stopped directly in front of me and said, “I haven’t seen you
around for a while. Where have you been?”
Those are the most words she’s said to me in the entire four
years I’ve lived here.
Year 1, when her management company took over, I’d wave, she’d
look down her nose and ignore me.
The remainder of Year 1, I no longer waved. She ignored me, I
ignored her.
Year 2 through Year 3, she ignored me, I ignored her.
It’s just been this year, after her protector – the former male Big
Boss was let go, that she began making an effort to prove to Corporate she’s
much nicer than residents make her out to be that she began passing me, looking
me in the eye, and sometimes saying hello.
No lie … the first time she acknowledged my existence scared me.
Right away, I started thinking “Oh, oh. What’s going on? What’s she up to?”
So there I was yesterday, with the Assistant Manager and Big
Boss in the room trapped into playing a role in Nurse Ratched’s performance … “I
haven’t seen you around for a while. Where have you been?”
I froze.
Couldn’t even think.
Which is probably a good thing because, had I time to think, I
might have called her out on pretending to be friendly because her boss was
looking on.
I can be blunt like that, and usually am ... having once told a woman, "I don't want to play this game with you."
This time, when I unfroze, what came out was, “I’ve been round”.
I can’t tell you what was
said or done after that because I went blank.
It’s been bothering me since that I allowed her to use me.
A short stop by the Community Room yesterday found residents
fussing and fuming that here we were on Day 5 of the new month with no Monthly
Activity Calendar in sight. Two of the residents indicated they’d begun calling the office
on Day 2 about the calendar.
One of the resident indicated she’d just come from
questioning the office in person as to why no calendar.
The reason given was “problems with the printer”.
We all scoffed, because not one of us believed that story. Discussion
all around was, should it be true, there were alternatives … like having
printing done at Staples.
As a result of the squeaky wheel nagging by residents, we got greased
this morning with calendars posted to our doors.
Along about 9:30, I saw Maintenance Man coming up the stairs
with a stack of papers in his hands, which turned out to be the calendars.
Along with everything else he has to do, since he is now the ONLY maintenance
worker assigned to the complex, he has been tasked with posting Monthly Calendars
to 178 units.
God forbid Nurse Ratched gets off her lazy arse and handle the
postings or hire a temporary worker to do so.
At any rate, notice of the November 10 Casino and November 17
Thanksgiving Potluck have been brought to everyone’s attention. Still there’s
the problem of WHERE the sign-up sheet is located and there’s sure to be even
more backlash due to the late posting because, according to the calendar, an
organization came in on November 3rd to take a Needs Assessment of the
seniors.
No one knew.
The organization even came in offering a “Free Lunch” and raffle
for completing the survey.
No one knew, because the calendar was not issued until today,
November 6.
I don’t know what more I can say about the incompetence of this
management group. The high turnover has a lot to do with it, and the high
turnover is attributed to the way Nurse Ratched treats staff, residents, her
own incompetence, and yet she’s still here.
The squeaky wheels complaining about smokers got a little grease
in the calendar, as there’s an insert reminding smokers “Effect of Breach
and Right to Terminate Lease” if found to be smoking on “property grounds,
including inside apartments, patios, walkways, common areas, etc.”
We’ll see if that fixes Maintenance Man’s problem of being
sandwiched between two smokers, and complaints of other residents about violators.
There’s also a nod to squeaky wheel complaints about the fact
access to the Community Room is tied to the presence of office staff. The
Community Room is closed to residents on weekends because there is no office
staff on weekends.
We previously had a resident assigned to opening and closing up the Community Room, giving us access seven days a week. However, Nurse Ratched behavior towards him was such that, when he moved, no one else was willing to step in. Consequently, access was tied to office staff.
We didn't like being locked out on weekends, but adjusted to it.
THEN, office staff began taking an inordinate amount of time off
during weekdays for one reason or another.
We REALLY didn’t like that, but adjusted to it.
THEN, more recently, there were three weeks where office staff posted a notice they would “only
be available from 2:00 to 4:00 until further notice.”
This was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
There were so many squeaky wheel complaints to Corporate that
someone, probably Maintenance Man, has been tasked with unlocking the Community
Room doors allowing access to residents, according to an insert in the
calendar, from “8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every day of the week, Monday – Sunday.”
Oh, and by the way, the reason Corporate gave for office staff only being available from 2:00 to 4:00 was that "They're busy".
"Busy doing what?!" asked the squeaky wheels.
"Well, they have a lot of work to do, backlogged paperwork" says Corporate.
"Well, of course" said the squeaky wheels. "It's easy to be backlogged if you're out of the office all the time."
Thus, we now have access Monday - Sunday to hang out in the Community Room.
That’s a lot of grease. Going to make the seniors happy, but still pissed off about Monthly Calendars not being processed in a timely manner.
Still no Calendar of Events for the Month of November; however,
on the chance there might be something posted on the Activity Board, returning
to the complex after yesterday’s errands, I stopped by to check.
Sure enough, there’s a posting for a November 10 Casino Trip and
a November 17 Thanksgiving Celebration.
A lot of residents are going to miss both, if a Calendar of
Events is not distributed, because the presence of the Activity Board … tucked
away in the far corner of the Community Room’s Kitchen, is located where no more than a
handful of residents ever go, thus is unknown to most.
I’m not interested in the casino trip but, hopefully,
word-of-mouth will take the place of the Calendar of Events and fill up the casino
bound bus because, if a certain number of residents don’t go, the casino will
cancel the trips and the casino is the only away event the residents get to
enjoy.
Last year’s Thanksgiving Celebration, and the year before, were fully catered affairs.
This year, apparently not so much, as the sign-up sheet indicates
“Community Thanksgiving Potluck … We need side dishes”.
One can only assume
the deal this year is a semi-catered affair, with management providing turkey,
ham or both, residents providing side dishes.
I’ll miss the feast provided by the catering company management
employed in the past, including that delicious apple cider
they turned me onto, but a potluck is something and something is better than
nothing, so I’m in for deviled eggs.
On tap for today is needlepoint while catching up on television programs recorded by the DVR ... two/three weeks of Scandal, three weeks of How to Get Away with Murder, last week's Fargo, Blindspot, Gotham, Project Runway and Blacklist.
There's just so much to see this television season that I've gotten very far behind.
The new neighbor seems nice – the woman who moved in upstairs
across the quad in the corner unit; and, yes, I assumed correctly that the car parked
to my left with the Arizona plates is hers.
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.
Life looks to be really slow around here through the end of the
year. I’ve not seen a November Calendar of Events yet, but there’s not likely
anything of note except for possibly a Thanksgiving Celebration. So with no
upcoming 5Ks to prepare for, it’s back to normal life – slow walks around the
complex, needlepoint, scrapbooking.
At least, I hope its back to normal life. There’s still the issue
of life possibly being turned upside down once again, as it was the year I
relocated to Long Beach to help a relative out.
I’ve recovered emotionally from
the trauma of that experience, but am far from
recovering financially, and here it comes again with that relative moving into
the complex next door.
Meditating on the situation has brought up Jesus in the Garden
of Gethsemane, telling his disciples “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the
point of death.”
That’s how I felt during the Long Beach episode.
Going a little farther in the Garden, Jesus fell with his face
to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken
from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
That’s how I feel now.
After 22 Weeks of no sugar, the weight of what I have on my mind
right now sent me into self-medicating with a chocolate muffin yesterday.
Was it worth it?
Yes. It was pretty darn tasty and
didn’t upset my stomach.
Will I do it again?
Hopefully not, but no promises.
I’m to begin the lease renewal process this Friday, so there’s
the temptation to take this opportunity to flee the complex for another; but I
won’t in the understanding everything happens for a reason.
This may be a test to see if I’ve learned my lesson so, as a spiritual student, I’m willing to work myself through not as I will, but as the
Infinite All wills of me. Only this time, I've learned it really is true that no good deed goes unpunished; consequently, will never again put the needs of others ahead of my own needs, and I will not allow myself to become emotionally or financially involved in other people's problems ... problems arising out their own choices or the challenges not of their own choosing, but that which life has given them to work through.
So anyway, I’ve still not received the results of Saturday’s Halloween 5K,
but I was pleasantly surprised by a photo the race organizers took.
There are no actual mirrors involved, but look how close I was to overtaking the young woman in front of
me. I was really nipping at her heels, nearly overtaking and putting her into
last place.
