An Awful Week With a Good Ending

Yay for Fridays... I definitely think they are the BEST days of the week!  I haven't had a chance to write this week... I've been a little preoccupied and very stressed.  Here's why...

Before I start with what happened this week, let me briefly explain the headaches that we have had to deal with since we have lived here.  We have to pay for covered parking.  The day we moved in, I was double assigned to a spot that belonged to someone else.  The other tenant probably would have had me towed had he not pulled up while I was still at my car.  That was headache #1.  We were also told that since our spots were a little ways from our apartment, we would be put on a waiting list to move closer... well that doesn't exist.

Next, we found out someone was moving who had a spot right out front.  Scott called a month before they were moving and was given the ok to park there starting October 1st.  Well, the girl never wrote that down, so when it came time to start parking there, there was another tenant who wanted the spot.  After much arguing, we got the spot.  That was headache #2.

Now there are also a bunch of small issues that we have had to deal with, but I'm not going to go into detail about it.  Now for the biggest headache of them all... headache #3.

Wednesday morning I woke up, got ready for work and was excited about my 1st day with my new hair cut!  So I was in a good mood.  Scott leaves before I do, so I locked up the apartment, went down to my car and got in.  I noticed a note on my windshield.  I looked around and didn't see anything like that on anyone else's car.  I had thought it was an advertisement.  Here's a picture of what was put on my car (click on it to make it bigger if the writing is too small):

Now, I read it about 3 times before it really hit me.  This guy is telling me that I need to start paying him $50 or else, he will take actions into his own hands.  Now what actions are they?  Typically if someone was in your spot, you have them towed.  But based off of this  note... is that ALL he would do?  I really kind of got scared.  Someone went through the trouble of typing up this note and putting it on my car.  Did they really think the spot was theirs?  Or is it a scam of someone trying to make money... and what if I didn't pay?

Since it was before the office opened, I had to suck it up and dwell on it.  I didn't know what to do.  I called Scott immediately and told him.  Of course he was mad.  To try to make a long story short, one of the idiots in the office had assigned the spot to this guy even though it was assigned to me already.  Well obviously we got to keep it, but now this guy was really mad and I didn't know what he was capable of... vandalizing my car, approaching me when I got home, having my car towed.  That evening when Scott and I got home, he saw the guy walk by my car and just look it up and down and he looked ANGRY.  We called the courtesy officer (we were told that we would have to wait until the office was closed to call -- which we later found out wasn't true... I wanted to call asap, but the girl in the leasing office told me she didn't have a way to contact him).  I left a message for him and within a minute or two, the cop car pulled up to my car.  He sat out there for a while before getting out of the car, and even then it was still several minutes before he came up to our apartment.  Apparently, the other guy had called at the same time to have my car towed!  When the officer came up, I explained the situation to him.  The office had not told him of any of it.  Luckily he believed me (I'm sure the note helped my case), called and left a message with the other guy and pretty much told him if he tried to contact me again, then he was going to consider it harrassment.  In a way I felt bad for the guy because he had a right to be angry.  However, you don't handle a situation like that.

To my knowledge at that point, the office had only left him a message as well as the officer.  No direct conversation had been made, so I was still very concerned that I would wake up the next morning to a bashed in window, slashed tires, keyed car... I didn't know.  While I felt better after talking to the officer, I was still very nervous and uneasy.  By now, I had a knot in my stomach and I just felt sick.

The next morning my car was ok, and I went to work.  Scott called the manager and told her that we wanted to come by and speak with her regarding this issue along with other issues we have had (listed above and then some).  I was preparing for a fight and ready to tell her we would be contacting the management company.  Unfortunately, I had to go the whole day with this on my mind and was mad the whole day.

At 4:30 yesterday, Scott and I walked in.  She was very nice and we went in her office and closed the door.  I had complaints about a specific leasing agent that I wanted to talk to her about also, so it was nice she closed the door.  We were in there for an hour.  She was soooo helpful.  She without question moved my car to a garage.  Garages are $75.  Scott's spot is $25, and our storage unit is $40.  Starting December 1st for the remainder of the time that we live here, we get all of that for free... Garage, covered space, and storage!  I was so happy with how she responded.  I wasn't expecting all of that.  We were going to at least ask for something with what we have gone through, but she offered all of that to us before we even asked.  I wasn't expecting to get a garage either!

While we were in the office, the guy finally called her back (she still had not made direct contact with him, only left voicemails).  She told him that she took it as a threat and that it scared me.  He thought it was a guy parking there and he told her that it was supposed to be taken with a little "sarcasm".  I'm sorry, there is nothing sarcastic about that letter.  Anyway, the manager talked with him, and he then realized that what he did was way wrong and he actually wanted to apologize to me.  She told him she would tell me he was sorry.

SO, today is a much better day.  This week has truly been stressful.  Scott was such a huge help with everything though.  He was prepared to get ugly with the manager if things weren't going the way they should have.  Luckily all is well now and my car is safe and sound in a garage.

My advice to anyone living in an apartment.  Get documentation of everything that you are paying for.  The parking is an extra thing that isn't included in the lease.  The manager had no problem putting all of it in writing.  She gave me a letter stating that we get all of that for free and included the garage number, storage number and parking number.  Now if something happens, we can go up there with our letter to prove otherwise.  Since my name had been erased from the log, it would have been hard to prove if she hadn't remembered that it was in fact supposed to be mine.

This weekend we are off to College Station.  Saturday we are doing Thanksgiving with Scott's Nana and then we are planning on going out with friends Saturday night:)  I miss my little house down there, so it will be so fun to go back and stay in the country(its on land right by the Brazos River) for the weekend.  Lily will love it.  I'll take pictures and post next week.  Sorry this post was so long.  A lot of people asked what happened and I thought this was the easiest way to respond.

 Have a wonderful day:)