Show n Tell

Feedback on the Mother’s Day luncheon was that it was "okay". Residents were served big Jimmy John's sandwiches.

The only beef was that on the last Father’s Day, the women were told to remain seated while the men/Fathers were served first; but management did not make the men wait until the women were served at Tuesday’s Mother’s Day event.

Since this was not Activity Director’s event, but one of the events Manager is reluctantly required to arrange for the seniors by Corporate, I asked if she greeted them this time.

Not only did she not, she once again sent staff in to manage the event and "hid' in her office.

Manager really is uncomfortable with residents OR is her refusing to greet at the door, and sometimes refusing to attend events a statement of sorts?

I recall, when I was in the working world, I ascribed to the proverb about being discerning about who one breaks bread with.

If I didn't like or respect you, I'd not share a meal with you.

When the three witches, Attorneys Henrietta, Joyce, Jane, treated me like crap all year, but wanted to show how manganous they were on Secretaries Day by taking me to lunch, I made a statement by taking vacation Secretaries week every year of the three/four years I worked for them, so I didn’t have to eat with them and they were left looking shitfaced as the other attorneys and their secretaries celebrated.

Was I being petty?

You bet I was. I wasn’t going to play that hypocritical game with them, so they could pat themselves on the back thinking what great massas they were to their slave; and it felt good to know I was causing them embarrassment.

Would you believe, they didn’t catch on to being embarrassed and laughed at by others until the very last year I worked for them.

To put me in my place that year, they took the temp employee, hired to work my desk that week, to lunch on Secretaries Day.

Problem with that was, in the one week the temp worked for them, he saw through them, commended me upon my return with having left him a manual with such clear detailed instructions and my putting up with the witches for years.

He figured out why I'd taken vacation, laughted at the witches, just like everyone else, and that temp became one of my very best friends, and remains so to this day.

So, maybe Manager is ascribing to the same proverb, about breaking bread, for her own reasons.

Lots of movement here on the complex today — people moving out, others moving in, old faces disappearing, new faces appearing.

Talker knocked on the door last night and, when I opened, she was dancing/singing, announcing one of those moving out is her downstairs neighbor … our Karen character.

Our Karen Character

"Hold up" said I to Talker as she was dancing/singing, grabbed my phone, asked her to repeat what she was doing so I could tape it.

Of course, I didn’t tell her I was taping for the blog. I said it was a keepsake for her, sent the video to her to do with as she liked. She sent it to the Baker, other residents, and her family. All who got a good laugh.

I suppose Karen is moving out because, try as she did, she couldn’t force Talker to move by incessantly complaining about ordinary ever day noises one will hear when others are living upstairs, you living downstairs; and the office didn’t want to hear any more of Karen’s complaints.

Would be funny, if Karen moved to the same one-level complex as Red Light.

Returning from this morning’s workout, I ran into Miracle Man — the resident who, in his younger years, survived being shot on two different occasions, stabbed and firebombed.

He was looking visibly depressed and close to tears. I knew it’s because he’s losing his girlfriend — Ruthie, the woman being evicted because of bed bugs.

Ruthie has been telling others she bought a house nearby, because she doesn’t want to move too far away from Miracle Man.

Not likely she bought a house when she’s on SSI, that is unless she’s won the lottery, but Miracle Man tells me she hasn’t found a place yet, that she’s looking, has a place in mind, but it’s not yet locked in.

I’d assumed that inasmuch as she’s on SSI, the County was helping her to relocate, but research tells me, "No, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is not the same as county assistance. SSI is a federal program administered by the Social Security Administration, providing monthly cash benefits to individuals with limited income and resources who are blind, aged 65 or older, or have a disability. County assistance programs, on the other hand, are typically state and local programs that provide various forms of assistance, including cash benefits, to individuals who are unable to meet their basic needs".

Either way, Ruthie is not in the position to purchase a house. Rent maybe.

With the handcuffed woman still on my mind, I today researched the police blotter, the department’s website and the news for "Police activity 05/13/25 on Sierra in Fontana" and got nothing. So, I’m moving on from that.

We’ll just have to write it off as The Eighth Wonder of the World.

Happy Belated Mother’s Day

Logging into the laptop this morning, the first thing flashing across the screen was "Egg prices are plummeting".

I'd not describe it as "Plummeting", when I just yesterday noticed an 18-count carton of organic eggs dropped a lousy $1.00 — from $13.99 to $12.99, but it’s a start.

Mother’s Day has come and gone — my 58th, and it was awright.

I received the obligatory texts from the usual suspects — Twin 1, Twin 2, Granddaughter.

I feel bad for my twins. They always want to take me somewhere to eat, do something fun, buy me something, but my worsening gut issues precluded my going anywhere to eat, there’s no place I wanted to go, nothing I wanted to do, nothing I needed. All of which made a not fun Mother’s Day for my girls, as I was content doing laundry and housework.

I had the Laundry Room all to myself, the flowers in the area around the Laundry Room were in full bloom for Mother’s Day, so I enjoyed the peaceful setting.

Talker walked by, saw me doing laundry, came in to give me a Mother’s Day hug and a side of tea.

There’s a new woman in Dream Lover’s life, but it’s not what you think.

Evidently, Dream Lover has a new neighbor — a woman who has taken a dislike to him and demonstrates her dislike by, instead of taking her trash to the dumpster, tosses it in front of DL’s door.

That’s pretty extreme.

Of course, DL went to Manager over it, got the usual "I'll talk to her", but it's unclear as to whether Manager actually did, because the woman has tossed trash at his door more than once OR if the woman was spoken to and, not caring what Manager had to say, continues to trash DL's area.

I’ll have to see who this new neighbor is, determine if management has done it again …… brought in a resident who is not well in the head, or if DL made his usual play …… "I’m looking for a nice woman to spend time with" and she did not appreciate it. Is tossing her trash as if to say to DL that she can see through him and he’s trash.

This scares me a little about who we’ll next get in our quad, when TinTin’s vacant unit is leased out. I’m hoping our good Chi in the quad will attract someone nice, but you never know.

The Activity Calendar indicated, instead of today being Pizza Tuesday, it's a late celebration of Mother’s Day …… "Social: Mother’s Day Luncheon. Celebrate Mother’s Day with a community luncheon full of fun, connection and appreciation for all the amazing moms, grandmothers, Aunts, Sisters, Friends, mentors, etc."

I guess Great Grandmothers fall into the "etc" category, LOL.

I wasn’t planning on attending because I can’t eat whatever is being served; besides, I had an appointment with my Primary at the Main Medical Center — the first time I’ve been able to actually meet with my doctor, face to face, since 2019; and accomplished only because that RN I’d two-weeks ago interacted with by phone, when my BP recorded 173, sent a message to the doctor’s care team that she should see me. Otherwise, it would have taken three months to get an appointment.

I’m actually surprised my doctor hasn’t retired yet, as she’s about my age, maybe a few years younger.

She looks great though, hasn’t aged much — probably because her culture is one that the women do keep their beauty as they age. The men, not so much.

At any rate, she joked about watching her patients age with her, adjusted my BP medication, had her nurse give me a tetanus shot, ordered Lab work — which I’ll take care of later this week, or next week, at a different facility, because the Lab Section at the Main Medical Center was way too peopley for me.

On the way to the Med Center, the dash cam captured a woman, on the far side of middle-age, in handcuffs.

That's her white car blocking the lane.

Mother's Day only two days ago, and mom or grandma is in cuffs.

I’ve never in my life been handcuffed, not even for roleplay fun when I was married to the cop, and could not imagine what an older lady could have done to be removed from her car, in traffic, and handcuffed.

Curses, Foiled Again

Leaving the market yesterday, after popping in after that morning’s workout, I saw a bird seemingly having a bad day.

He flew away just as I ended taping.

This morning, Manager replied to my email about California Code, Civil Code - CIV § 1947.3 prohibiting landlords and their agents from requiring tenants to pay rent only by electronic means.

It likely took a day to reply because Corporate had to first look at the Code. Manager then had to work out a response after hearing back from them.

As I’d surmised ... that management was technically in compliance because checks and money orders were still being accepted by the office for now, that is exactly how the response was framed.

"We are fully aware of the code (not bloody likely), we comply with all local and state laws, and we are still accepting checks and money orders. You simply just have to personally deliver it to us in the office. However, we will not accept postdated checks."

Curses, foiled again; but it was worth a try.

At least management now knows they can never achieve the goal of one form of payment, that being Rent Café; that the office will have to continue accepting walk-in payments.

So maybe management will stop all the many methods they’d been trying to force us to Rent Café. Be happy with those of us who capitulated and be done with it.

In other happenings, I received an email for my auto insurer, the other day, indicating I needed to update my odometer reading.

I logged into the account, updated the reading on my Jeep Renegade to 19,466.

Not a lot of miles in 7 years‘ of ownership, but not unbelievable that someone could log in so few miles in seven years.

The insurer evidently didn’t buy it.

They mailed a document for me to sign, under penalty of perjury.

A little insulting, don’t you think, and not the first time.

I forget what I was driving back in the day when it happened, probably a Beetle, but it was before the internet, so such updating was by telephone.

When I read off the odometer reading to the agent at that time, she said, "If you’re not giving me an accurate reading, it could cause you to lose your insurance".

Pretty much called me a liar, assumed I was lying about my low mileage in order to get a discounted rate.

So, anyway, I filled out the form with a now odometer reading of 19,612 miles. The increase because of the day I had to drive from one end of town to another seeking a pharmacy that was open, then the following day having to drive to the main Medical Center.

At any rate, I’m going to lose it on my insurer if they communicate a problem with the difference between the mileage first reported a few weeks ago, and the mileage now being submitted.

Another interesting thing about the Jeep is that, when I last stopped into the air check station, the guy said my two front tires needed to be replaced — something about the wear patterns.

I’m no expert, but I looked at both tires and the thread looks fine to me.

With less than 20,000 miles on the odometer, I think I’m being hustled about the front tires needing to be replaced.

Pizza Tuesday

The meeting with Manager went okay; that is after she first tried to convince me the problem was at my bank …… "the bank paid with a card, rather than your account, you should contact the bank".

That was too ridiculous to even consider.

When she failed to convince me of that, she then offered to give me the telephone number of that third party vendor so I could work it out with them.

You push us into signing up for this crap, but then you want to wash your hands when there’s a problem with the crap you pushed on us?

Nope. I don't think so.

She yesterday indicated she’d find the problem, work me through the system, so that’s what we did.

It took half an hour — with my opening up my Rent Café account on her computer, her searching, finding where it had been set to card, removed and reset to bank account.

Setting to card might have been my mistake, but maybe not, because Manager tells me I’m not the only one to get charged $29.14 — could have been a glitch in the system that sent it to cards.

Manager said one resident stormed into her office highly irate. When Manager gave her the same spiel she tried to give me, "I told her to contact her bank or the third party", it further infuriated the resident. She yelled, screamed, stormed out, according to Manager.

Wish I knew who this Resident is, and I won’t be surprised if others come forward, as Manager said some didn't pay rent.

Did they not pay rent OR did they sign up for Rent Café and are caught in the glitch …… it didn't go through?

That nearly happened to me …… when I checked my account May 2, saw nothing withdrawn May 1 for Rent Café, I went into the portal, manually pushed buttons to make it go through.

There's the possibility others don't yet know, haven't checked their account.

Manager seemed unusually pleased with herself, when she said rent was considered late on the 5th, and some didn't pay. She actually shrugged her shoulders, and had a smurk on her face.

As to yelling, screaming …… you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I got Manager to solve the problem, and she did it willingly, nicely, after we got past the blame game.

Before leaving Manager’s office, I made one more pitch for return of the Rent Drop Box.

Manager says she was just as surprised as we were when the order came down from Corporate to get rid of the box. Evidently, there’d been a thieving incident at one of the other properties that was "really bad" involving a rent box being broken into to steal cash and someone being hurt.

"There’s no cash in the drop box", said I.

"Criminals don’t know that and besides, they want checks to whitewash, fill in, steal people’s identities. It’s a safety and security issue, for the protection of residents and us (office staff)".

Whatever.

That done, I popped into the Community Room as I’d seen "Mother’s Day Crafts" on the calendar.

Folks were just lining up for pizzas, so learning it would be half an hour before crafts began, I left, came back at the appointed time.

I’d barely sat down when I became aware the Other Wheelchair Lady was going off about someone she "couldn’t stand". I didn’t focus on what or who she was complaining about, but as she went on and on and on and on, it began to amuse me.

I started laughing, looked up from what I was doing, and she said, "I’m talking about you-know-who …… Manager".

So, just as I had experienced a session with Manager showing her good side, here Other Wheelchair Lady is bashing her to high hell.

I thought, Is this the one that yelled at Manager over Rent Café?.

I asked, "Are you pissed off about the Rent Café fee?"

"No", said she. It was something about an event I’d not attended. Manager made the residents line up outside while the room was being prepped. When the door was opened, Manager stood by the door as residents entered and "Didn’t say anything to any of us, no hello, no nothing as we passed by. And then, when she finds out we don’t like her, she starts crying".

Oh well.

Today’s Mother's Day craft was using modge podge to glue tiny little delicate flowers and greenery to glass vases/jars/photo frames.

Made by Greedy Grabby

Made by Hell on Wheels

Made by Jo, New Resident

Made by Me

Made by Talker
used too much glue but will dry clear

While we crafted, Name Dropper popped in to tell her friends in the room that she’s packing, her last day here is coming up.

"You’re moving?" asked I.

She answered in the affirmative.

"Where to …… back to Palm Springs?".

"No, Arizona".

"What’s in Arizona?".

She skillfully changed the subject, didn’t answer.

Hmmmmm?

Name Dropper lasted one year here, and it must have been a hard year, because she looks terrible. Aged considerably.

I’m guessing the loneliness and the drinking.

After returning to my unit, I got online, saw a reader — SoCalFifi, had commented to yesterday’s post …… "According to Mr. Google 'California Civil Code § 1947.3: prohibits landlords from requiring tenants to pay rent only by electronic means.' Maybe corporate needs to be reminded".

Holy Crapola! I took a look at the Code, saw it read "a landlord or a landlord's agent shall allow a tenant to pay rent and deposit of security by at least one form of payment that is neither cash nor electronic funds transfer".

Technically speaking, the fact that the office is still allowing residents to walk their payments into the office, might be considered the one form of payment that is neither cash nor electronic transfer. On the other hand, if the end goal is electronic funds transfer … Rent Café for all — like only electronic at Scary Mary's complex, the code says they can’t do that. They have to give us another option.

I began planning how I could surreptitiously get this information to Manager and Corporate — send copies of the code, making sure to leave no fingerprints, change my handwriting on the envelope, leave no DNA by licking the stamp, drive to a post office out of the area to drop the envelopes off.

But then I thought "screw it" and sent an email to Manager that Corporate will see.

"Thanks for your help this morning with Rent Café. I appreciate that removal of the rent drop box is for reasons of safety and security, but I’m wondering if this falls under a Civil Code which was just brought to my attention …… California Code, Civil Code - CIV § 1947.3, which indicates a landlord or a landlord's agent shall allow a tenant to pay rent and deposit of security by at least one form of payment that is neither cash nor electronic funds transfer. This might be something Corporate might want to look into and reconsider removing drop boxes. Thanks!"

Manager will see it first thing tomorrow morning, then we lay low and wait.

I’ll also make sure others are aware of this code.

Thanks again, SoCalFifi.

Happy Cinco de Mayo

We've had a lot of special days since first of the month — first there was Justin Timberlake Day (It’s gonna be Me/May), then May Day, followed by Star Wars Day (May the 4th) and now Cinco de Mayo.

But Wait … there’s more. Mother’s Day is coming, then Memorial Day.

I made ground turkey tamales week before last, still have a few in the freezer. So, after whipping up a quick Spanish Rice, I’m good to go on a meal appropriate for the day.

Due to driving all over town to pick up a prescription, this past weekend wasn’t much of a time off from the outside world.

Of course it rained on Sunday, the day I had to drive all the way to the Main Medical Center, and driving on the freeway in serious rain was terrifying. I equated it to driving through a giant car wash, even found myself singing a bar or two of that old song about working at the car wash from the movie Car Wash.

Once I arrived safe and sound at the exit, a few street miles from the medical center, I told myself no way was I taking the freeway back. So, after picking up the medication, I set the GPS to give turn-by-turn street directions home.

Of course there just had to be another glitch before I got hands on the medication … the pharmacy didn’t have the order.

After Saturday’s fiasco of driving from one end of town to another, finding pharmacies closed and now this, I began thinking …. is this all a warning? does the Universe not want me to take this medication?

I’d been at a level of discomfort for so long that I didn’t know how I could do without it, but turned out the missing order was not the work of the Universe blocking me. It was that the facility is so large that they have two pharmacies — the order went to the pharmacy in the hospital.

After I gave handsome pharmacy guy the sad tale of my previous day, he took pity on me. Instead of having to find my way to the pharmacy on the hospital side, pharmacy guy cancelled that order, had it processed where I was, and I was out and on my way within 10 minutes.

Taking the streets back, I ran into quite a lot of flashing yellow lights but was calm, patient, respected every one of them.

So, with the medication off my bucket list, I turned my attention to the high service fee, and sent an email to Manager asking that, because of the excessive nature of the fee, she consider reopening the rent drop box, as it’s convenient for us and less disruptive to office staff.

Bright and early this morning, she opened the email, replied having no awareness of the fee, would look into it, but that Corporate had ordered the removal of drop boxes at all of its properties.

The drop box is not coming back.

LATER: So. Manager’s investigation shows it’s something like what Scary Mary said, "If I pay with my credit card on the resident portal the fee is $38.00. But if I pay with my bank account the fee is only $3.89". Turns out the payment went to a credit card, thus the service fee of $29.14.

I did say registering for the online portal was way too complicated. Somehow, it’s connected to the card, instead of the account.

That tells you how complicated the portal is because, when I was in the working world, the secretaries and attorneys would call me to fix their computer problems before they called Tech Support.

I’ve a meeting with Manager tomorrow morning. She’s going to walk me through the process.

She thinks the fee is $3.89.

Sunday Sermon

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