This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 25 years here in a weekly blog post.
The maintenance guy was in my apartment "fixing" my stove. One burner didn't work at all and one burner gets red hot *too hot* even on low. There's just one temperature for that burner and it seems to be stuck on "my coils can melt lava" and I tried telling the maintenance guy this. But he doesn't speak much English and chose to ignore what I said when he turned that burner on and it "Worked".
I'm tempted to take a hammer to the damn thing so it doesn't work at all and call him back out to "fix" it again. I hate calling maintenance out to my apartment.
A couple of weeks ago I took a walk with Falcor down to the end of the street one of the days where it was overcast and cloudy and a bit cooler out because of it. I spotted these flowers in the grass and caught a picture of them. No idea what they are.
On Friday morning my daughter noticed that water was dripping from my AC unit on the inside of my apartment and right onto the electrical outlet. She put some paper towels up there to catch the water because that could cause a fire. So I had to put in another maintenance request and he came out right away. Then this dumb a$$ proceeds to tell me that I need to turn the AC off for 2 hours because the condenser is frozen and it needs to thaw and dry out and that's where all the water is coming from.
It is 110F/43C and NO I will not be turning the AC off for two hours. My husband was an AC technician so I know that if the condenser was frozen the coils would have white frost on them and would be frozen and it wouldn't be blowing cool air. I'm not an idiot. Do your damn job and fix it. So I said no, to get some tape and seal where it's leaking on the inside, right on top of the electrical outlet so it drips through the hole on the outside of the unit like it's supposed to. But he wanted to argue with me until I got a little loud and then he just stopped and said, "Ok, I'll go get tape." LOL
He went and got some tape, taped it up, and I was hoping that would be the end of it...
Whenever he's done with a maintenance job he has to take a picture of it and send it to the office. He did nothing to take a picture of!
The very next day on Saturday I had to call maintenance out again for the dripping A/C. When I went out early in the morning I saw a different maintenance guy on property so I told him that I put in a maintenance request and what for. He said they hadn't sent it to him yet but he would be right over. I was hoping this guy would come and not Juan from the day before. So it was a different guy this time who seemed to know what he was doing.
He took a wet vac and sucked the water out, cleaned the coils, blew out the pan the water drips on, in case there there was sludge blocking the hole to the outside where it's supposed to drip out. Then he used a different tape to tape it back up. Hopefully this finally helps.
Oh and he had to use my step ladder because he said someone (most likely the homeless people) broke into the maintenance shop and stole all the ladders.
The high this week was 110F/43C
The low this week was 89F/31C
So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell Life! Be sure to come back next week for more
I really hope the second guy has fixed your AC. And hiss and spit at the others.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be fixed now. It's no longer leaking.
DeleteIt's absurd to have a maintenance guy who speaks so little English that he can't understand the problems he's supposed to fix. Sooner or later he'll make a really dangerous mistake.
ReplyDeleteThat's weird that homeless people would steal ladders -- they're big and awkward to carry around, and probably don't have much resale value. Maybe they're hoping to camp out on people's roofs and not be noticed.
It's so hard to explain to him what's wrong. He talks into his phone to translate anything and just ignores you when he doesn't want to deal with it. I think the homeless steal the stuff to sell. They stole painting supplies to sell back to the maintenance guy but he wouldn't buy it and it made the homeless guy really mad.
DeleteThat is some strange lack-of--maintenance dude!
ReplyDeleteAt least it's finally fixed now.
DeleteI really wish I was handy
ReplyDeleteSo do I.
DeleteLike you, I know enough about appliance maintenance and repair to know when I'm being scammed. It's frustrating. The second guy sounds like he knew what he was doing by sucking out the water and cleaning the coils. I suppose it's cheaper for the apartment owners to keep sending out repairmen than it is to replace your faulty appliances.
ReplyDeleteMy AC is only 3 years old so it shouldn't need to be replaced but the first guy just didn't know what he was doing.
DeleteI hope your run of maintenance issues is over for now.
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental
I sure hope so too.
DeleteI'll bet dollars to donuts a search of Ancestry would show your stove maintenance guy and your first A/C repair man are somehow related to our Head Maintenance Guy.
ReplyDeleteMy stove guy and the first AC guy was the same guy, Juan. There are only two maintenance guys that work here Juan and Paul. Paul seems more competent. I swear some maintenance guys are just dumb. My late husband used to work here as maintenance and he was called all the time because he knew what he was doing.
DeleteI could imagine living in your neck of woods with out AC
ReplyDeleteIt's just not doable.
DeleteI wouldn't have let the guy get away with telling me to shut the air off for 2 hours in that heat either! What a jerk. Those flowers are beautiful! Queen Anne's Lace, if I'm not mistaken. Have a great week and stay cool, Mary!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Now that I know the other guy works on Saturdays, that's when I'll be putting in work orders. lol
DeleteWow, quite a saga. I hope your air conditioning is now working okay.
ReplyDeleteIt's working good now and no dripping.
DeleteAt least with them fixer guys you at least have daily visitors for a little chit chat LOL Wish they would at least send you some hot ones. I have very hot internet guys, divine to look at.
ReplyDeleteNot much chit chatting with Juan though because he doesn't speak any English. lol
DeleteThat maintenance guy is not very smart. They should get rid of him. Hope your problem is now solved. Stay cool!
ReplyDeleteIt did finally get solved.
DeleteToo hot without an AC!
ReplyDeleteGood thing I decided not to turn it off like he wanted, it wasn't needed.
DeleteWow, being without AC even for 2 hours in those temperatures would be brutal. That's hot weather you're having. A low of 89, we occasionally get that hot.
ReplyDeleteThere was no way I was turning it off. At least Paul knew what he was doing.
DeleteI have been on vacation and just catching up. I believe those flowers are Queen Anne's lace. We have them all over here.
ReplyDelete