A real wooden seat, a fake wooden floor—and two more residents out the front door

Yesterday morning, Josh the maintenance guy knocked on my door, holding two toilet seats.  He said “You were supposed to get one of these when they replaced the base of your toilet, can I come in?”

What a nice surprise.  I’d been meaning to replace the seat for over a month now, the left hinge was broken.  Josh had a plastic seat like the one I already had, and a larger wooden seat.  I opted for the wooden one. 

While he was installing it, I asked “Did you see the moving trucks here this Labor Day weekend?  It looked like someone was moving in, and two were moving out.  I think the ones going were Don on 5, and Mary on 1.”  Josh said “I don’t know names, I go by apartment numbers—do you mean #502 and #104?”

Er… yes, I guess so. 

He said “Both of their leases ended this month, Steiner told them they were done.  But they were told months in advance.”  My face got hot.  I said “That just happened to Rob—I mean the guy in 405 a couple weeks ago.  And now two more get the boot?  Man, that makes me nervous.”

Josh said “You have nothing to worry about, they like you—why do you think I’m here installing a new toilet seat?”   I said “Do you know why they were forced to move?” 

He said “Well… the guy on 5 was some type of hoarder.  A year ago when we were doing our yearly walk-thru, his bedroom had McDonald’s bags piled to the ceiling in one corner.  In another corner he had pizza boxes stacked to the ceiling.  I mean, his trash was sorted but it was still a lot of trash.  They gave him 30 days to clean it out, he did.  But this past April, the trash was back.”

I shook my head in disbelief.  (Disbelief someone would hoard literal garbage, and that Josh was even telling me.)  I asked “What about Mary on 1?”  Josh said “She cost the building real money.  Last year they had to repair the plumbing under her bathroom floor, she clogged it with those toilet wipes, those things don’t disintegrate.  She was warned not to flush them anymore, they sent a notice to all the tenants.” 

Yep, I said I remembered getting one.

Josh said “In May we had to contract professional plumbers, she flooded hers and her neighbor’s apartment when she backed up the main pipe on the bottom floor.  She was flushing stuff like chicken bones too.  They told her they wouldn’t be renewing her lease come September.”

I said I felt bad for both of them, and hoped they learned something.  I asked Josh if they found a new tenant for the empty unit on my floor yet.  He said not yet, they just completed replacing the flooring.  Did I know they’re doing that now?   

When a unit becomes available, they’re removing any carpeting, and covering the entire floor—kitchen and bathroom included—with wood laminate.

Here’s my own flooring—I have carpeting in the living room & bedroom, wood parquet in the dining room & linoleum tile in the kitchen and bathroom.

He said “Do you want to see the empty unit down the hall?”  DO I!  I yawned and said okay, sure… why not. 

I asked him if I could get a photo to send to my friend who’s looking for a new place.   (I don’t have a friend looking for a new place… but I do have a blog!)

I wanted to take more pics, but didn’t want to push my luck.  This flooring is throughout the entire apartment—livingroom, bedroom, kitchen, dining room.  Personally I don’t like it, but they removed all the wallplates to paint two walls a robin’s egg blue, which sounds nice.

I told Josh I’ll stick with my old-school flooring, thank you very much.  He said “This is for new tenants only… you should be glad you got a new toilet seat.”