Sunday, February 11, 2007

Singing the "I hate my apartment" blues

It was raining when I woke up this morning, so naturally I thought the dripping I heard was the rain. I went about my day--laundry, surfing the net for office furniture bargains, reading blogs--you know, the important stuff. Then, I went into the bathroom around 5:30ish, after the rain had been gone for most of the day, and heard dripping still. Huh? (imagine a dog tilting its head sideways)
I checked under the sink and lo and behold, there was a drip....more like a dribble...oh, hell, it was running like Niagara. I turned the water off under the sink which slowed it down to a dribble again, but not before the water ran downstairs into Maria Elena's kitchen again. Fortunately, Maria Elena isn't home so I got to deal with her lovely daughter, Jennifer, who is just as fed up with Frau Slumlord as I am. She called Frau first. I told Jen to tell her that I had turned off the water and put a bucket under the leak but she needed to send someone--preferably a certified plumber--out on Monday.

Frau called me just a few minutes ago and said, "what did you do?" What did I do? What didn't your so-called plumber do? I explained to her, patiently at first, that the leak is not in the faucet area, but rather coming from the pipes under the sink. After I made it clear to her that it is my bathroom that's leaking and not my kitchen (honestly, the woman owns the building. You'd think she'd know a little something about the floor plans.) I tried to make her understand that the leak is behind the under-sink cabinet.

Frau: But we put a brand new one on there.
Me: It doesn't look new. It looks like the same pipes that were here since the Eisenhower administration.
Frau: It's brand new! (loudly)
Me: I'm not talking about the faucets underneath. This problem is behind the cabinet.
Frau: Well, maybe you could wrap something around it and it will hold...(I stopped listening)
Me: LISTEN TO ME! This is not a quick fix job anymore. You need to bring in someone qualified. And you're going to have to remove this cabinet and get to the pipes behind them and into the wall. THAT is where the leak is originating.
Frau: (somewhat defeated) Well, I guess we'll see what it looks like tomorrow.
Me: And make sure the plumber doesn't use my towel again.
Frau: We had a flood.
Me: That's no excuse. A REAL plumber would have been prepared for that. It was disgusting and uncalled for.
Frau: We rinsed it out. (Is she actually trying to justify that?)

Just to be safe, I'm going to remove my towels and anything that plugs from the bathroom. Keep your fingers crossed for a relatively clean bathroom and a sink that works.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you need a posse?

Laurie Ann said...

I think Jennifer downstairs and I have it covered, but I'll let you know after I come home tonight.

dizzy von damn! said...

i think the posse sounds like a good idea.

and hide everything you can.

MonkeyGurrrrrl said...

Christ. And make sure you get the walls checked out for mold after she's done doing her damage. I'll volunteer for the posse, too!

carlita dee said...

You'd better remove those towels. And anything else absorbent -- makeup sponges, dish cloths, sanitary napkins...