More Growing Pains

I thought Albemarle, NC would be my worst apartment experience ever. Afterall, what could beat 5 nights in an extended stay and inital placement in an apartment that had old musty unmatched furniture and a pile of pills in a cup in the kitchen cabinet.

We have a contender in this move. First, they placed me in Hayward, CA but they switched my office, and my territory, one hour north. That translates to 1-1.5 hours commute every day each way. But it was a very nice spacious wonderful apartment in Hayward.

Then I lose my keys. Okay, I left them in the door- and my neighbor took them "for safety"- and then he kept them, without reporting it to anyone, for 2 days. I was kept busy rekeying my door and finding a club for my car. Okay, that was unusual and completely my fault.

I was unfortunate to be the only one not on vacation during the time my apartment placement problem came to light. My direct boss was on vacation so she couldn't confirm my territory. My housing lady was on vacation, so I couldn't work the lease. The apartment owner was on vacation, so they couldn't clear me for transferring to a sister apartment 1 hour north. So I've been doing the commute for a month.

Last Thursday, I received confirmation that I would be moved. Friday. Or maybe Monday or Tuesday. Well, it didn't happen Friday or Monday- but Tuesday morning I was told it was happening and Tuesday night I moved (Thanks Lisa!- she helped a lot). Last night I abandoned my spacious airy beautiful 857 sq foot 1 bedroom apartment and moved to a tiny 500 sq foot studio in Walnut Creek, CA.

After a restless night I finally rolled out of bed and decided to get an early head start on the day at 6am. I ran the shower- it never got hot. Not even warm. I turned the knob the other way and ran it ten more minutes. Nope. No hot water. I packed up a toiletry bag and headed south 1 hour to my old apartment to take a shower.

As soon as the new apartment office opened I called in the maintenance request and was alarmed to hear that I AM NOT ALLOWED TO PLACE REQUESTS!!!!! I'm not on the lease. I have to, instead, call the contract housing company that my company hires to arrange things and THEY have to call in the request. I asked them if they want me to do this in the even of a flooding toilet and was assured that emergencies could be called in directly. I let them know that the lack of hot water on a work day was indeed an emergency. They did not agree.

So I called the darn contract housing company who called my apartment complex. Let's see if I get hot water.

Good news is that the maintenance guy in Hayward is a very nice Mexican individual who appreciates my attempt to thank him in his native language. He did my walkthrough and said everything looked great. The main desk guy here was telling me I'd have to repaint all the little tack holes from my pictures-- but Jose said he'd take care of it "no problem". I like Jose. First decent guy out here. Amador Village apartments in Hayward has been a lovely place to live for the last month- I'm sad to leave it. But gas prices are too high for 3 hours of driving to and from my territory each day.

The nice thing about Home Health is that I have plenty of paperwork to complete today and only one patient on my caseload today. I've been able to deal with everything. I'll do my actual "work" for the paycheck tonight when I've settled down from this adventure. I'll call my patient in just a little bit to tell her I'll be there this afternoon. I could not have accomplished such a hectic situation with any other job.

A month of being unsettled. A month of not knowing when, or if, I'd be allowed to move. A month of a very long commute. Even I, Ms. Relaxed Easy Going Traveler, am feeling stressed and tired from the situation. My housing lady is stressed. My Rep is stressed. It's just gotta settle down after this, right?