Let's take a fun poll!
Q: What the hell should I do with my life?
(Note: Anything that involves moving to another country is currently not an option as I don't have a valid passport. )
A) Keep your current job. You don't like it and it's a lot of stress, but it pays well.
B) Go back to school! Sure you have no clue what you'd study and you'd just end up in a lot of debt, but at least you get to do something stimulating and rewarding.
C) Move to Mexico. The weather's nicer and your Spanish skills would get a much needed brush-up.
D) Quit your job, take the vacation you haven't had in 4 years, come back to town and work at a grocery store.
E) Waste away in an existential funk - who cares about you and your job? None of it means anything, anyway.
F) Pop out a couple kids. You'll be too busy to notice you're miserable and by the time you do it'll be too late anyway.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The wrong week to stop sniffin' glue.
So I had my weekly meeting with all my supervisors / over-seers / handlers today.
It's getting harder and harder for me to hide my sarcasm and control my facial expressions at these meetings.
For example, I am behind on some re-certification paperwork that needs to be done annually because it fell by the wayside in the process of getting rid of the old property manager and installing me. And because I am only here 24 hours a week and am still trying to figure out how to do this job. Also, I am trying to process paperwork for POTENTIAL residents first, as our occupancy is way down. Low occupancy looks bad to our investors and the city, and everyone else we are counting on for big bucks to bail the property out of debt.
Also also, huge amounts of my time have been wasted trying to sort out the whole "misappropriated funds" issue and various other problems created by the old property manager.
While brainstorming how I can catch up on said paperwork, my supervisor suggested I take the paperwork with me to the other job I do for the agency and do it there as overtime hours. OR, HOW ABOUT THIS: YOU COULD JUST GIVE ME MORE HOURS HERE, THEN YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY ME OVER TIME!
It became increasingly hard for me to not voice my displeasure when the executive director was going on and on about re-decorating the office. YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY ME TO BE HERE FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS A WEEK, WE CAN'T PAY ANY OF THE PROPERTY'S BILLS, BUT YOU WANT TO SPEND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS ON NEW OFFICE FURNITURE AND RE-PAINTING THE OFFICE.
My head hurts.
To top it off, the old property management company, who is still handling all of the accounting, applied half of all the current residents' security deposits to their accounts last week. This is to help them pay off their back balance, and I don't have a problem with it, but what I DO have a problem with is the company doing it before the tenants signed a consent form allowing them to do the transfer. The tenants all got a letter in the mail TODAY telling them to come to the office and sign a form if they wanted the money transferred to their account, not knowing it has all ready been done. Some of the tenants came into the office and DIDN'T want it done, so now the company has to transfer that money BACK off the tenants' accounts to their security deposit. WHY NOT JUST WAIT UNTIL AFTER WE SENT OUT THE LETTERS? IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS WORK, NOT TO MENTION , YOU KNOW, LEGAL.
Why did I stop drinking this month?
It's getting harder and harder for me to hide my sarcasm and control my facial expressions at these meetings.
For example, I am behind on some re-certification paperwork that needs to be done annually because it fell by the wayside in the process of getting rid of the old property manager and installing me. And because I am only here 24 hours a week and am still trying to figure out how to do this job. Also, I am trying to process paperwork for POTENTIAL residents first, as our occupancy is way down. Low occupancy looks bad to our investors and the city, and everyone else we are counting on for big bucks to bail the property out of debt.
Also also, huge amounts of my time have been wasted trying to sort out the whole "misappropriated funds" issue and various other problems created by the old property manager.
While brainstorming how I can catch up on said paperwork, my supervisor suggested I take the paperwork with me to the other job I do for the agency and do it there as overtime hours. OR, HOW ABOUT THIS: YOU COULD JUST GIVE ME MORE HOURS HERE, THEN YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO PAY ME OVER TIME!
It became increasingly hard for me to not voice my displeasure when the executive director was going on and on about re-decorating the office. YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY ME TO BE HERE FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS A WEEK, WE CAN'T PAY ANY OF THE PROPERTY'S BILLS, BUT YOU WANT TO SPEND HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS ON NEW OFFICE FURNITURE AND RE-PAINTING THE OFFICE.
My head hurts.
To top it off, the old property management company, who is still handling all of the accounting, applied half of all the current residents' security deposits to their accounts last week. This is to help them pay off their back balance, and I don't have a problem with it, but what I DO have a problem with is the company doing it before the tenants signed a consent form allowing them to do the transfer. The tenants all got a letter in the mail TODAY telling them to come to the office and sign a form if they wanted the money transferred to their account, not knowing it has all ready been done. Some of the tenants came into the office and DIDN'T want it done, so now the company has to transfer that money BACK off the tenants' accounts to their security deposit. WHY NOT JUST WAIT UNTIL AFTER WE SENT OUT THE LETTERS? IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS WORK, NOT TO MENTION , YOU KNOW, LEGAL.
Why did I stop drinking this month?
Saturday, June 16, 2007
R. Recommends
Funnyordie.com-
be sure to check out:
David Blaine Street Magic 2
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1050
David Blaine is dumb. Also, good camera work.
Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your S.U.V.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/222
A scathing song about people who stick magnetic ribbons on their gas-guzzling cars to the tune of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree". Not work appropriate!
Soup de Jour (by JoeyandDavid)
Anything by JoeyandDavid, actually.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3444
If I had the balls to quit my job and make web-movies, I like to think I would be JoeyandDavid.
be sure to check out:
David Blaine Street Magic 2
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1050
David Blaine is dumb. Also, good camera work.
Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your S.U.V.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/222
A scathing song about people who stick magnetic ribbons on their gas-guzzling cars to the tune of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree". Not work appropriate!
Soup de Jour (by JoeyandDavid)
Anything by JoeyandDavid, actually.
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3444
If I had the balls to quit my job and make web-movies, I like to think I would be JoeyandDavid.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Kids
I made mention before of the children who follow me around when I am walking the property. I sort of collect them as I go, so by the time I go from 1 end of the property to the other and back to my office I feel like a mother dog with a litter of pups hanging off of her.
These kids don't follow me around because I like kids or I invite them along, or because I am nice to them, they follow me around because they are STARVED for attention.
Saturdays here are the worst: if the parents work they have 1 of 2 choices: send their kids outside unsupervised and shut them out of the building until they get home, or leave them home alone in the apartment unsupervised. This is because they don't have jobs that pay them enough to be able to afford childcare.
The parents that don't work send their kids outside to play unsupervised so they can watch TV or do drugs or sleep off their hangover.
The kids are the only people here for whom I have any sympathy. What hope do they have for a better life? Right now they are young and impressionable- and all their little brains get is yelling, swearing, adult TV, and adult role models who don't work, commit crimes, do drugs, drop out of school, and have 3 kids by the age of 18. No wonder the cycle is so hard to break.
All these kids get is negative attention, so as soon as you say hello to 1 little kid playing on the hot asphalt on a Saturday afternoon you have a leech stuck to your leg for the rest of the day. In order to get any work done, I have to be strict with them. Which is hard, because all they want to do is "help" you. I will let them come into the office and help me with one thing (like "help me with this sign" which usually means they end up drawing a picture on the back of scrap paper while I make the sign) then I make them leave.
I took 1 little girl (we'll call her "Jane") to a neighborhood festival last weekend - it was 2 blocks away in a park and I was going in order to hand out fliers for the apartment complex. They had free food, live music, basketball games, and an art booth and bouncy house for kids. The festival was from noon - 5 pm, and after Jane bugged me all morning in the office I told Jane's mother about it and gave her a flier with the information, hoping they would go to the festival and Jane would leave me alone to get work done. But mom was too busy sitting in her new boyfriend's SUV in the parking lot listening to music to take her daughter there. Mom is unemployed, has used up her lifetime supply of public benefits (like welfare, etc.) and lives with HER mom.
I budgeted an hour of my day to go to the fair, so I told Jane I would take her with me when I went, the last hour of my work day. I told her to come back at 3 pm and we would go. Of course she spent the whole afternoon running to my office every 10 minutes asking "Is it 3 o'clock yet!?"
Finally it was, so I ask Jane's mom if I can drive us there, and she says sure. We drive to the festival, and after an hour of bouncy house, playground equipment, a free stuffed animal from the police department, and a sucker, I had to pry Jane away because she was having a great time and even ran into some of her friends from school. It was killing me to go. I told her to ask her mom to take her back, and drilled her on the location. She couldn't remember the street name to save her soul, and I knew her mom couldn't find it. The park is only 2 blocks away, close enough to walk, but not for a kid without an adult. She didn't get to go back, of course, and every time I have seen her since she asks "can we go to that fair again?"
Man, people suck.
Also - I don't care if you don't want to take care of kids, but if that's the case, then DON'T HAVE THEM. Birth control looks spendy now, but it's WAY cheaper than a kid, trust me.
These kids don't follow me around because I like kids or I invite them along, or because I am nice to them, they follow me around because they are STARVED for attention.
Saturdays here are the worst: if the parents work they have 1 of 2 choices: send their kids outside unsupervised and shut them out of the building until they get home, or leave them home alone in the apartment unsupervised. This is because they don't have jobs that pay them enough to be able to afford childcare.
The parents that don't work send their kids outside to play unsupervised so they can watch TV or do drugs or sleep off their hangover.
The kids are the only people here for whom I have any sympathy. What hope do they have for a better life? Right now they are young and impressionable- and all their little brains get is yelling, swearing, adult TV, and adult role models who don't work, commit crimes, do drugs, drop out of school, and have 3 kids by the age of 18. No wonder the cycle is so hard to break.
All these kids get is negative attention, so as soon as you say hello to 1 little kid playing on the hot asphalt on a Saturday afternoon you have a leech stuck to your leg for the rest of the day. In order to get any work done, I have to be strict with them. Which is hard, because all they want to do is "help" you. I will let them come into the office and help me with one thing (like "help me with this sign" which usually means they end up drawing a picture on the back of scrap paper while I make the sign) then I make them leave.
I took 1 little girl (we'll call her "Jane") to a neighborhood festival last weekend - it was 2 blocks away in a park and I was going in order to hand out fliers for the apartment complex. They had free food, live music, basketball games, and an art booth and bouncy house for kids. The festival was from noon - 5 pm, and after Jane bugged me all morning in the office I told Jane's mother about it and gave her a flier with the information, hoping they would go to the festival and Jane would leave me alone to get work done. But mom was too busy sitting in her new boyfriend's SUV in the parking lot listening to music to take her daughter there. Mom is unemployed, has used up her lifetime supply of public benefits (like welfare, etc.) and lives with HER mom.
I budgeted an hour of my day to go to the fair, so I told Jane I would take her with me when I went, the last hour of my work day. I told her to come back at 3 pm and we would go. Of course she spent the whole afternoon running to my office every 10 minutes asking "Is it 3 o'clock yet!?"
Finally it was, so I ask Jane's mom if I can drive us there, and she says sure. We drive to the festival, and after an hour of bouncy house, playground equipment, a free stuffed animal from the police department, and a sucker, I had to pry Jane away because she was having a great time and even ran into some of her friends from school. It was killing me to go. I told her to ask her mom to take her back, and drilled her on the location. She couldn't remember the street name to save her soul, and I knew her mom couldn't find it. The park is only 2 blocks away, close enough to walk, but not for a kid without an adult. She didn't get to go back, of course, and every time I have seen her since she asks "can we go to that fair again?"
Man, people suck.
Also - I don't care if you don't want to take care of kids, but if that's the case, then DON'T HAVE THEM. Birth control looks spendy now, but it's WAY cheaper than a kid, trust me.
Application frenzy
Not much new so far this week, which is refreshing. More tenants moving out, but for once I am collecting applications like crazy (5 today alone). I sent out a big mailing to all the social service agencies in town, which means they are referring people left and right.
This is good, but a lot of these people won't get approved for an apartment here due to our strict screening criteria. This is frustrating on one hand, because the applications take a huge amount of time to process, not to mention the time I spend showing apartments and helping people fill out the application. I tell people the screening criteria up front -hell, they get a copy of it- but of course if they don't meet it they don't tell you. I hate working on an application for 2 weeks to find out the person won't qualify. On the other hand, at least it gives me hope of renting an apartment, which I have only done ONCE my entire time here. Also, I got smart enough to not let people fill out the application until they bring me the money for it first. Live and learn.
Sometimes I want to tell the people referred from certain agencies to run for it. For example, if you are being referred from any sort of drug or prisoner rehabilitation program, this is probably not the neighborhood for you. Temptation is everywhere.
I have problems controlling my facial expressions. If someone says something I find offensive, don't agree with, or think is just plain stupid, it's very hard for me to keep that thought from expressing itself on my face. This is something that does not work to my advantage in professional situations, like meetings. Or in situations like this....
One of the women who came in to fill out an application today was referred by an organization that serves women who are dealing with domestic violence. She asked about adding people to the lease, "like a roommate". No problem I told her. They just need to come in and fill out an application and if we approve them we put them on the lease. "What about a boyfriend?" she asked. "Umm, same deal", I say.
My brain was telling my face to not make any sudden movements, but seriously, you're being referred to me from a domestic violence shelter and you're asking about adding your currently incarcerated but soon to be released abuser* onto your lease? Oy.
*my assumption. She didn't SAY her boyfriend was currently incarcerated, or that he was the one abusing her, but come on. She still had a black eye. Did she find a new non-abusive squeeze that fast? Miracles happen, but not in this neighborhood.
This is good, but a lot of these people won't get approved for an apartment here due to our strict screening criteria. This is frustrating on one hand, because the applications take a huge amount of time to process, not to mention the time I spend showing apartments and helping people fill out the application. I tell people the screening criteria up front -hell, they get a copy of it- but of course if they don't meet it they don't tell you. I hate working on an application for 2 weeks to find out the person won't qualify. On the other hand, at least it gives me hope of renting an apartment, which I have only done ONCE my entire time here. Also, I got smart enough to not let people fill out the application until they bring me the money for it first. Live and learn.
Sometimes I want to tell the people referred from certain agencies to run for it. For example, if you are being referred from any sort of drug or prisoner rehabilitation program, this is probably not the neighborhood for you. Temptation is everywhere.
I have problems controlling my facial expressions. If someone says something I find offensive, don't agree with, or think is just plain stupid, it's very hard for me to keep that thought from expressing itself on my face. This is something that does not work to my advantage in professional situations, like meetings. Or in situations like this....
One of the women who came in to fill out an application today was referred by an organization that serves women who are dealing with domestic violence. She asked about adding people to the lease, "like a roommate". No problem I told her. They just need to come in and fill out an application and if we approve them we put them on the lease. "What about a boyfriend?" she asked. "Umm, same deal", I say.
My brain was telling my face to not make any sudden movements, but seriously, you're being referred to me from a domestic violence shelter and you're asking about adding your currently incarcerated but soon to be released abuser* onto your lease? Oy.
*my assumption. She didn't SAY her boyfriend was currently incarcerated, or that he was the one abusing her, but come on. She still had a black eye. Did she find a new non-abusive squeeze that fast? Miracles happen, but not in this neighborhood.
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