Here is the text of the note I just left on the door to our building:
Please do not remove the tape from the door unless you are here to replace the lock!
When the door is locked, it often closes in such a way that it cannot be opened from the inside until someone unlocks it from the outside.
This door is the only exit from the building for the people in the basement apartments.
This, as you can imagine, is somewhat problematic.
What if there were a fire?
Think of the lawsuits.
A third repair call has been made about this issue, so hopefully we will all have a locking and opening door again very soon.
In the meantime, please leave the tape so that your basement neighbors can exit the building!
Thank you!
The restrained snarkiness and hysteria here doesn't hold a candle to the actual conversations I just had with two hapless answering service employees. Threats to call the fire department were made. I was a wonder of put-upon bitchiness.
But, really. We can't get out of our building. I mean, we can right now, but we can't count on it. And, annoying as I find it to be on my way to catch a train and have to run upstairs and knock on doors until someone is kind enough to let me walk through their place (see: yesterday, and thank you, kind rocker neighbor on the third floor, love the matching leopard-and-dark-red livingroom set, gotta go), what if there really was a fire or a medical emergency?
I know the tradition is that when you live in an apartment building, you must suffer endless waiting for repairs to get made, but this is one of those life- and lawsuit-threatening situations that just ought to get taken care of immediately if the world worked the way it should.
The one solace I can find here is that I get to write angry letters, and I excel at that. I am seriously a holy terror when I have something to complain about and someone to direct my complaint to. I am going to be such a good crazy old lady!
I'm off to look up the address of the Brookline Fire Department now. Tone of deep concern and endless patience, commence!
Posted by hilatron at July 5, 2003 01:03 PMJeezis! That's terrible.
Please do not get locked into your blazing inferno.
Posted by: Agent Court at July 5, 2003 03:35 PMI'll do my best. The Irritable Trustee With Undefinable Accent is supposed to come over at four, so we'll see him around six and I will register my dismay with icy stares and firm proclamations.
Posted by: Hilatron at July 5, 2003 03:59 PMi do hope you are writing said letters in crayon on butcher paper.
speaking of which, michelle wrote a letter to albert heijn (our grocery store) last week telling them that she had noticed they were making the bread smaller now but charging the same and they wrote back (in dutch) and were all like "nuh-uh, and anyway we price our bread by weight!" and there were no coupons or anything and that's what it's like not living in america.
Posted by: tree at July 5, 2003 05:21 PMBe careful with those angry letters. I recently had a multi-letter dispute with British Airways, and was so proud of myself for being so all up in it, but then stepped over the line and got a final reply that in so much customer service euphemism called me a nasty bitch and rescinded the "good will" voucher they had previously offered. So no children, the customer is not always right, and being the one who got screwed does not give you carte blanche to go apeshit. Even if they so totally deserve it it's not even funny.
Posted by: EV at July 5, 2003 05:37 PMI'm sorry to hear about your situation, but, damn, that's a funny note. I wonder if anyone else will get it?
Posted by: SJ at July 7, 2003 04:58 AM