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So, my bf and a few guys that live with us and various other people use our garage to work on their cars and store things (the ones who live in apartments mostly). They pay us for the time, space, and tools they use, so in a sense, they are our customers.
Only recently have we gotten back full range of everything. The other day, when it was finally warm out, we all went outside pretty early to get stuff picked up and organized. Our one roommate had is car parked in the driveway, with a little bit hanging over in the backyard, no big deal. He had piled all the parts he needed to fix and put back in next to the car in the yard, with a tarp over everything just in case it rained. My bf's truck was parked next to it, waiting its turn to be fixed, while his other car, a college sports car in a sense, was in the garage, getting worked on. They had to leave to go to school. Not long after, our other roommate left for work on his crotch rocket. Myself and our resident old guy (a friend of mine's dad who is staying with us until he get enough money to go back to Florida) were still cleaning and what not. He went inside real quick, so I continue to clean up the backyard. I'm throwing away trash that had appeared after the snow melted. Out of no where, an older lady who lives behind us (who has apparently had "problems" with us before) pops up and just starts ragging on me.
Summary of her long winded speech: "You tell that greasy bastard (roomie with the rocket) to not rev that engine up so much!I'm tired of listening to it! Your house looks like trash, the grass is disgusting, this yard is filthy! I work my butt off to keep my house looking nice and your house just makes this neighborhood look like the ghetto! All the other neighbors hate you as well and I'm going to call the city council if this doesn't change!"
I'm just standing there, my hand halfway to the trashcan, with trash in hand, just...speechless. When she finally stops screeching, I politely (very politely) explain things to her about our situation and what not. I apologize profusely, making it sound like I'm a mom apologizing for her children or something. I played it good
Surprisingly, she deflates.
"Oh it's ok sweetie, I'm not blaming you. Thank you for being so nice about this, but really, can you talk them about this..." and she starts in on the condescending tone once more before she leaves.
Ok, here's the deal: it's a rented property with a dick landlord. He does not let us do ANYTHING to the house without his permission. The dick thing though, is that when we ask him, he never lets us do what we want, or what we need for that matter. Our grass is dying, he won't let us lay sod or grass seed. Our electrical is screwed up (breakers keep blowing for no reason), he won't let us hire an electrician to fix it, even if we pay for it ourselves. Our basement floods, he won't let us put a sump-pump in. If we do anything without asking, he has threatened to take our deposit away. My roommates are all car techs. They have cars that need fixing with little room. You can't see our backyard from the street or anywhere else, unless you are literally IN the backyard, so it's not like it's bothering anyone. The reving? He has to do that to start it. I give him credit, he keeps it as quiet as he possibly can until he hits the highway and when he gets home at 2 in the morning, which is to say pretty damn quiet for a bike. And, yeah, thanks for pretty much calling us trash. It's the first warm day that we are able to get out and try and make the house look better and you're going to yell at me because our landlord is a dick and call our house trash? This is the same lady who called the fire department on us twice on St. Patty's Day last year, saying that we were trying to catch her garage on fire. Our bonfire was to city specs, we were cooking on it, and it was no where near her garage. The fire guys told us our fire was legal and left both times.
And our other neighbors? The old couple right next door actually told us to keep the noise up! They were so used to those sounds when their son lived at home, that when he left, they had a hard time sleeping. When they moved in, they were having a blast talking to our roomie about his bikes and his quad. The two across the street? Come over and hang out all the time. If they have a problem, they come tell us so we can fix it, which we do. The other houses around us are empty and for sale, so what neighbors have problems with us? This lady is mean, two faced, and a little bit crazy. I would love to see the look on her face when the city council guys come around and find out everyone in the neighborhood loves us! It shall be epic!
Only recently have we gotten back full range of everything. The other day, when it was finally warm out, we all went outside pretty early to get stuff picked up and organized. Our one roommate had is car parked in the driveway, with a little bit hanging over in the backyard, no big deal. He had piled all the parts he needed to fix and put back in next to the car in the yard, with a tarp over everything just in case it rained. My bf's truck was parked next to it, waiting its turn to be fixed, while his other car, a college sports car in a sense, was in the garage, getting worked on. They had to leave to go to school. Not long after, our other roommate left for work on his crotch rocket. Myself and our resident old guy (a friend of mine's dad who is staying with us until he get enough money to go back to Florida) were still cleaning and what not. He went inside real quick, so I continue to clean up the backyard. I'm throwing away trash that had appeared after the snow melted. Out of no where, an older lady who lives behind us (who has apparently had "problems" with us before) pops up and just starts ragging on me.
Summary of her long winded speech: "You tell that greasy bastard (roomie with the rocket) to not rev that engine up so much!I'm tired of listening to it! Your house looks like trash, the grass is disgusting, this yard is filthy! I work my butt off to keep my house looking nice and your house just makes this neighborhood look like the ghetto! All the other neighbors hate you as well and I'm going to call the city council if this doesn't change!"
I'm just standing there, my hand halfway to the trashcan, with trash in hand, just...speechless. When she finally stops screeching, I politely (very politely) explain things to her about our situation and what not. I apologize profusely, making it sound like I'm a mom apologizing for her children or something. I played it good
Surprisingly, she deflates."Oh it's ok sweetie, I'm not blaming you. Thank you for being so nice about this, but really, can you talk them about this..." and she starts in on the condescending tone once more before she leaves.
Ok, here's the deal: it's a rented property with a dick landlord. He does not let us do ANYTHING to the house without his permission. The dick thing though, is that when we ask him, he never lets us do what we want, or what we need for that matter. Our grass is dying, he won't let us lay sod or grass seed. Our electrical is screwed up (breakers keep blowing for no reason), he won't let us hire an electrician to fix it, even if we pay for it ourselves. Our basement floods, he won't let us put a sump-pump in. If we do anything without asking, he has threatened to take our deposit away. My roommates are all car techs. They have cars that need fixing with little room. You can't see our backyard from the street or anywhere else, unless you are literally IN the backyard, so it's not like it's bothering anyone. The reving? He has to do that to start it. I give him credit, he keeps it as quiet as he possibly can until he hits the highway and when he gets home at 2 in the morning, which is to say pretty damn quiet for a bike. And, yeah, thanks for pretty much calling us trash. It's the first warm day that we are able to get out and try and make the house look better and you're going to yell at me because our landlord is a dick and call our house trash? This is the same lady who called the fire department on us twice on St. Patty's Day last year, saying that we were trying to catch her garage on fire. Our bonfire was to city specs, we were cooking on it, and it was no where near her garage. The fire guys told us our fire was legal and left both times.
And our other neighbors? The old couple right next door actually told us to keep the noise up! They were so used to those sounds when their son lived at home, that when he left, they had a hard time sleeping. When they moved in, they were having a blast talking to our roomie about his bikes and his quad. The two across the street? Come over and hang out all the time. If they have a problem, they come tell us so we can fix it, which we do. The other houses around us are empty and for sale, so what neighbors have problems with us? This lady is mean, two faced, and a little bit crazy. I would love to see the look on her face when the city council guys come around and find out everyone in the neighborhood loves us! It shall be epic!
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