Sunday, April 05, 2009

Parade of Homes--Everett Style


I've been working as a leasing consultant at our apartment complex for about four months now. It's a good job, pays OK, and the best thing about it is once my workday is over, I don't have to think about it anymore (unlike teaching or owning a business which require constant thought and effort). I enjoy interacting with our residents and meeting new people.

A few weeks ago we did our annual all-apartment inspections to make sure there were no major maintenance issues that have gone unnoticed or unmentioned. I was excited to go inside each apartment and see how people have decided to decorate their little homes. It was going to be like the Parade of Homes, or something. Well, it didn't quite turn out the way I had imagined...and how really could it have been? We're just in small apartments where all the walls are white and the floor plans and appliances are basically the same. Yes, there were some with nice furniture, but I was surprised how sloppy and messy many people are! Also it was interesting to smell how different each apartment and each floor was. For a few I had to hold my breath because it either smelled like tobacco or alcohol, or even worse, cat litter. One apartment was so bad that we ended up kicking the guy out: there was poo from his cat, vomit in the bathroom, and junk and trash all over the apartment. In another, we could hardly walk because the counters and floors were piled up with trash with a narrow path throughout the apartment. We had to ask them to clean it up so we could come back and do the maintenance checks.

Something I have realized since working here is just how grateful I am that I haven't ever done anything stupid to screw up my life. We get so many people applying that have evictions, really bad credit, or criminal issues in their past that keep them from getting approved. Being dumb and irresponsible will follow you and limit your options for basically your whole life, and it's pretty much impossible to get stuff like that off your record. So everyone out there in blog-land, be smart and play it safe. Like the hymn says, "Keep the commandments, in this there is safety and peace."

One more thing I've realized since working at my job is that I have no self-control. OK, really I've known that for a long time, but it's still a problem I'm trying to overcome. I figured that since I would no longer be working at the bakery regularly that I would lose a few pounds since I wouldn't be surrounded by so many tasty treats. Well, now every time I drop Sam off at the bakery with Chris, I grab all my old favorite treats. And then I go to work, and there is a candy jar that sits on my desk, and a plate of cookies near the front door. I can't help myself! The candy isn't even my favorite stuff (until recently when our manager bought some of the Reese's Easter candies...I'm in big trouble!), and the cookies are dry and hard--nothing compared to our Great Harvest cookies! Yet I still eat them. If it's in front of me, I eat it. For dinner the other night we had tacos, and I accidentally put on way too much hot sauce. It was killing me, but I ate it all anyway because it was in front of me! I think the reason I've never in my life been offered drugs, alcohol, or tobacco is because if I tried it, I wouldn't be able to resist it. Ah jeeze, I have a problem!

So there you have it: a pretty random update about me and my job. Stay tuned to an update about our bakery!

No comments: