I have been trying to sell my house in VA... we all know that. I have the Beasties... not conducive to selling a house. My choices were to take the beasties in and out of the house every time someone wanted to look at it, as well as removing all Beastie paraphernalia from the house (some people won't buy a house that an animal has lived in). Quite frankly, the effort it would take would make me crazy and set my poor little Beasties right off their feed. Well, Boy Beastie would have food issues, Girl Beastie can and will eat anything any time anywhere. Whatever.
Long and short of it, the dogs and I have removed to my Mama's house. I have some friends who need money and they agreed to watch the house, collect the mail, keep the yard clear of trash, and clean the house once a week (dust, wipe counters and flush toilets - maybe an hour). For this I would pay them $20 a week, in advance. They would call or text me when I got bills so that I could pay them. How hard is that?
When I went up after Thanksgiving everything looked pretty okay. Not perfect but good enough. I paid them extra money before I left to rake the yard. This was the first week of December.
I called them on Friday a week ago to let them know that the house was being shown on Saturday and ask if they could get the house done Friday instead of Saturday.
"Sure, what do you want me to do abut the leaves?" he said.
"Why are there leaves still in the yard?" I asked.
"Well, I ran out of bags." he said.
Let me stop here because the rest of the conversation just pisses me of beyond beyond. Really, it make me crazier than a squirrel whose lost his nuts. Suffice to say that, in the FIVE WEEKS since they had been paid they had not contacted me to say that they ran out of bags. They had not contacted me to say they needed anything. They had managed to rake the front yard and left the back yard nasty. Pissed does not cover it. I bet the damn leaves are still in my yard.
So, I texted them today and asked if any of my bills were there as I know my gas, water, and sanitation bills are coming up. Oh, they texted back... "We are sure they are due, we'll call when we get home." So, they call. I have two of them... water and gas. They give me the totals and the due dates.
"The gas was due on the 10th?!?" I yelped.
"Yeah, that's what is says" she replied.
"I thought you were supposed to text me or call when bills got in?" I queried.
She was silent. I guess she could tell I was pissed.
Anyway, after a few second I said "I will be up on Wednesday, see you then." and hung up. I couldn't get out anything else calmly and politely. See, they might pay their bills late or in part and they might have their power, water, phone, cable, whatever cut off but I don't. I pay bills when they come in, in full. I understand being poor, I was poor for a very long time. We aren't rich, we are comfortable and I budget well. Bills always get paid before fun is had.. that is just the way I operate.
See, I don't want to yell at them. I don't want acrimony. I just want to get back the keys to my house, hire someone else to do the work, pack out my stuff and leave again with no fuss no muss.
They have been pretty good friends to me right up until this. Now I have to wonder if they were ever really my friends.
I think not.
Sigh. I hate it when things like this happen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment