Wild Strawberries

I have this resident who is kind of off. He's always nice, but just really different. I actually leased him an apartment when he lived at a different property I worked at and then again where I am now so I've known this guy forever. Well he just came in to talk about rent and some other things and I'm talking to him. Now, I'm not really as interested in talking to residents as some people - Joe for instance, will talk to anybody for an hour. Soups did the same thing. He really cared about his residents. Not that I don't...I want them to be happy and healthy, but I don't really want to hear about it. I know that makes me sound like a bad person. So you should know that I listen and nod and smile and laugh at their stories because I know they might just need to talk to somebody. Now the point of all that back story is to make you understand that when this guy was talking, I was mostly just nodding along. He's a sweet guy, but just talks about odd stuff. So I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed his story. We were talking about pets because he had to pay a pet fee and he asked if I liked dogs or cats and I told him I had a dog. He asked what kind and I told him she's a mutt, and that we're not really sure what she is. He thinks mutts are the best. He's had some purebreds and they were stupid or mean, but always had good luck with mutts. I agreed. Then he starts telling this story about how lucky he was to live on a farm growing up. They had cats, but they were mean. He's since grown to love cats and their cat is now a member of the family. They would have paid more than the $200 pet fee for her. Anyway, he grew up on a farm in southern Indiana and there was a railroad track at the back of their property. He's telling me how there was a big, what he called an impasse, leading out to this railroad track. He's telling me how it was pure Indiana prairie out there. He just loved it. And out on this prairie, these wild strawberries grew. Wild strawberries, he says, are just the absolute sweetest strawberries you've ever tasted. And that's like a mutt. They are a little wild, but just the sweetest.

I thought that was the neatest analogy. I had never heard anyone compare a dog to a wild strawberry, and I thought, 'That is Tilly'. She is wild, but the sweetest dog. Now you should know, when he started talking about the railroad track and the prairie, I had no idea where he was going with this story and I was floored when be brought it back to the dog thing. This may be why I was so impressed with it. I totally didn't see it coming. Regardless, I'm just glad I was paying attention in between nods and smiles.

Happy Fall from Tilly!

I think this is as close as I'm gonna get to dressing Tilly up for Halloween, as cute as that would be! :-) I haven't posted pictures of her in a while so I thought you'd all be interested in seeing how beautiful she's gotten. She's just about a year old. I think she was born around the first of October, although nobody's 100% sure. She was about 3 1/2 months old when I got her according to the vet who spayed her. Anyway, she's calming down a little bit, but still causes trouble occasionally. You should know that in the time it took me to write this blog, the stuffed jack-o-lantern has been destroyed.

It's Tuesday, right?

I know it's Wednesday and I'm sorry. I was sick yesterday and didn't do much of anything. I still have a touch of a fever, but I have to go to work because the owners are coming and Joey just won't know what to do if I'm not there. :-) So I'm toughing it out.

It's almost Halloween and this is the most thought I've given it so far. I'm not real big on dressing up and I clearly don't have any plans so I'm just not worrying about it. Maybe something will come up, maybe it won't. Whatev. My fall back is always the animal ears. Oh and I have those awesome hippy pants that I made last year (that's right, made). OK, now I kind of want to do somthing. :-) There wasn't a lot of photographic evidence of those pants last year so I'd like to wear them again. On that note, if anybody is doing anything or wants to do anything, let me know. There is a volleyball match that night so I could just go to Lafayette for that and avoid the whole "what to do?" fiasco. I kind of want to dress Tilly up. Maybe I'll make her a hippy outfit to match mine! How cute would that be?!? Or lame, but whatever.

Throw me a bone!

I'm making a real effort to write more. I've gone to more of a quantity over quality approach, and am posting more shorter entries. I feel like this is working for me and we're getting some entertaining stuff. It's not all brilliant, but it doesn't have to be because I'm writing so much more. It's a lot less pressure which I love. The problem is that I'm not getting any feedback. You all know there is a place for comments. If you don't feel comfortable posting so publicly, feel free to shoot me an email or a text. I would just like to know somebody is reading besides Ashlee.

Now that that's out of the way. Not a lot of other news. We went and visited Lindsay last weekend. It was fun. So good to see Lindsay! And nice to have a couple days off. Also, my dad just called to invite me down to Florida in December (Don't freak out, Ash! Call me and I'll fill you in) I am so excited and think I might actually be able to get off work and make it happen. The beach is just what I need! Also a good motivator to lose some weight. I'm feeling fat. Especially after finding a picture from 4 years ago when I was so cute. And we're getting a tanning bed in the clubhouse for residents (i.e. me) to use for free. So hopefully by Dec. 16 I'll be skinny AND tan. It doesn't get much better than that! OK, I'm gonna go color my hair. Maybe leave a comment. Let me know you're out there.

Red Devil Volleyball

So as predicted I am tired, but I am writing because it is Tuesday. Despite my predjudice to all things north of 96th street, I made the journey to Fishers High School to see Fish coach the Richmond Red Devils. I'll share the highlights.

NOTE: I just started writing my blog based on the notes that I made while (intently)watching the match, but decided that the notes were better than the long version so I'm just posting the notes.

1. Tall-ass camera (as described by Kyle that is apparently drug around to all matches)
2. Dean Knapp - Scarred me for life (JV coach for Richmond and younger brother of a girl I used to play with. He once held me under water for so long I thought I was going to die)
3. Jarett Habel - Ultimate Frisbee (Asst. coach at Fishers and a former Purdue manager. The only real conversation we ever had was about ultimate frisbee)
4. Wish I'd had my camera (to document Fish coaching)
5. How does Fish's hair affect his coaching??
6. Fishers is fancy (it cost $5 to get in and they had amazing concessions), but the gym is so 2000 - very dated.
7. A few people might think I'm a college scout. I knew I should have worn a shirt from an obscure university that might actually be recruiting at that match (ex. U of I, Rose Hulman)
8. Sideout cheer - it's been a while since I've gotten to hear one of those...for real...from real high school volleyball players.
9. WTF is up with 3 out of 5? It's just too long for a high school match.
10. I was completely disappointed by the absence of Magic Passing Bands on either team in the gym.

All in all, it was good volleyball and a good time. Richmond lost in three games, but they were good games. It was very entertaining. And it was good to see Fish. That's all for now.

Shondell Out.

Awww...

This may be more appropriate as a facebook share, but it's really sweet. No need to watch if you don't love dogs.

People I Deal with at Work, Part 1: The Residents

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary (me having time to write this blog while at work), my job is not boring. I admit I spend a lot of time complaining about it, but it does provide me with plenty of interesting stories. Many of these I don't share for fear of annoying people who won't find them funny because you weren't there. No offense to the teachers out there...I love you all, but you know how teachers are always telling you stories about the kids in their class?? This is what I'm trying to avoid. In small doses, that is fine, but I just really don't care that much about the kids in their class. If I'm going to hear kid stories I'd like them to at least be YOUR kids. I can deal with that. I digress, and I really mean no offense and I'm going to feel bad if people stop telling me "kid at school" stories because I'll think you read this and were offended so keep them coming! Back to me. While my job is similar to many other jobs in a lot of ways - I work in an office, I sit at a desk and play on the computer all day - it is also unique in the fact that many of the people I'm working with from day to day live here. This is what differentiates selling apartments from any other sales job. You work hard and kiss ass to make the sale, but then instead of taking your product and leaving never to be heard from again, they move in! This means anything you promised them better be true because they will call you on it because they live here! Now that you get it, I will be profiling a few of the residents that I get to deal with.

1. The Buddy - This guy thinks he's my buddy. He pops in all the time just to say hi because we're buddies. He comments on my outfits - "All black today, huh?" Uh, yeah, apparently. And when he has a service request, he's cool about it. No big deal, but my tub's clogged so just whenever. Or I need a new furnace filter, but don't worry about installing it tell the guys they can just drop it off and I'll do it. This is all well and good until something doesn't get done or they get a letter that they owe money. Then it's all "I've been really understanding, but..." Just be straight up with me. Nobody asked you to put your own filter in. It doesn't make a difference to me. The worst is if something really bad happens in their apartment (ex. mold, break-in, etc) because then they never leave. They're here all day every day. But for the most part, this guy's not so bad. Moving on...

2. The Contractor - This guy is a contractor or works for a contractor or used to be a contractor or his brother's a contractor or her dad's a contractor or they just think they're a contractor. This person does a couple of different things. First, they want to see the apartment before they move in, which is fine if it's ready, but sometimes its not ready until they want to move in because they needed it right away and still want to be picky. But they don't care if it's not ready. At least that's what they think until they get in there and it's dirty and smells like cooking grease because everything looks worse when it smells like cooking grease. Trust me. So before they move in they already have a list of stuff they expect done before they move in. Most of which would have been done and the rest they wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the stupid grease. This, by the way, is why we don't show apartments before they're officially ready. (These people sometimes sneak in when they're laying carpet or something) Then the worst is if something breaks in their apartment because no matter how we fix it or who fixes it, they know somebody who would have done a better job. Or they were watching the people work and they didn't do this right or that. These people can be nice in person, but have the potential to be completely annoying if anything ever goes wrong in their apartment. Oh, and they also know all the building codes, OSHA laws, health department numbers and can and will tell us what we are doing wrong and threaten to call and report us if it is not corrected.

3. The Screamer - These people yell about anything and everything. They yell at me, they yell at their kids, they yell at their husband, or their neighbor. It doesn't matter what the issue is, but it can be resolved through screaming. These are the same people who post their complaints on apartmentratings.com. That's like virtual screaming. Most of these people hate me, but some of them come in and apologize after the screaming only to turn around and do it again the next day. They also pass this along to their children. As I was leaving the complex last night for dinner, I passed four teenagers yelling at each other while a police officer sorted it out. While I probably should have stopped to be sure everything was OK...I just kept driving. The worst thing about these people is that they are perfectly pleasant when they lease the apartment. The screaming doesn't start until after they move in.

4. The Partyer - This one's not as bad as it sounds. These guys know what they're doing. They throw parties every weekend and nobody complains because they invite everyone. It's genius, really. Everyone loves these guys. They're just so cool. The police occasionally get called, probably by the new guy who hasn't gotten his invite yet, but these guys sweet talk the cops and the party rages on. These guys don't complain, they pay their rent on time and generally spend all the time they aren't partying being careful to stay under the radar. I like these guys. I can sleep through anything so as long as I'm not getting phone calls (which I'm not - it's still amazing to me because these parties get loud and can encompass the entire street), I don't care.

5. The Ghost - This is the last type of resident I'm going to talk about and definitely my favorite. This is the resident you never see and never hear from. Their rent is always magically in the drop box on the 1st, but they never call the office, never stop by, aren't loud, don't get complaints, don't even come out to walk their dog until nobody else is around. It's as if they don't exist.

This is part one of a four part series on the people I deal with at work.

I'm tired of being alone so hurry up and get here...

Tuesdays...

I would like to apologize for the error in communication. When I said I would write at least every Tuesday, my intention was to have at least one new post a week so if you checked once a week you would always have at least one new something to read. Going forward, I will be sure that there is something new posted on Tuesday even if I post three new things in the week prior. I hope this clears things up, Soups and Pooh!