West Run Landfill
WELCOME TO THE LANDFILL
“So how did your move in go?” A text from Sade’s FORMER roommate. Sade’s reply: “You’ve GOT to be kidding!” Stay tuned. This is a goodie. At the Health Department getting shots at the moment. You think I’m kidding? Just wait.
Okay...the bit about being at the health department for shots, was a bit of poetic embellishment, but once you hear the story, you will understand the reference.
So it's move-in day at the Apartments just outside Morgantown home base for West Virginia University. I had paid over a thousand dollars for August Rent, Security Deposit (for Sade), Security Deposit (for her pet cat), August Rent (for her pet cat), Renter's Insurance . So check in at the desk at 9:00 AM sharp went well, we got the keys to the apartment and to her bedroomin the four BR unit.
We drove up, up, up, to the highest hill and the #20 Building. Her room assignment was #204 so only one flight of steps, and with six large plastic tubs, a 48 inch TV, a rug, a foam matress, a tapestry, a white board, a coffee maker, a rack of shoes (24 pair) plants, backpacks and other assorted paraphernalia the professional appliance dolley came in handy. I piled three (3) of the heaviest tubs (full of cement blocks, rocks, etc. ) on the dolley and through the door, down the hall, and up, up, up 16 steps, pulling, lugging, pulling lugging, step...by step...by step. "WAIT! Dad..." Sade hollers half way up the stairs, but no stopping now. At the top she informs me...."204 in actually on the ground floor." I let her carry the three tubs back DOWN the stairs.
And here is where things went REALLY wrong. Sade opened the door to her apartment walked in, and just as promptly walked back out. "That place is disgusting and it stinks!" So I walk in. Oh...MY..GOD! there was stuff all over the place. There wasn't a clear surface, on the dining room table, the kitchen counters, the couches, the FLOOR. Suitcases, garbage bags, empty soda cans, paper towel rolls (photos to follow) and the place stunk. To high heaven. Like a garbage dump. We carried all the bins into the apartment and into her room, but my disgust and my temper was rising by the moment.
I grabbed hold of the maintenance man who gave Sade the key to her room, apparently they had just changed locks in many of the bedrooms and she needed a new one. I told him this place was completely unsatisfactory. He told me they would put in a work order to have the place cleaned. I told him he would need more than a mop and bucket for this mess. I wanted a new unit. He said they were at 95% occupancy, slim chance of that, but I made it clear in my New York State of mind that I wanted one of the 5%. He left promising to return in 10-15 minutes. 30 minutes later with no sign of him, I saw another maintenance guy on a golf cart and followed him in the basement. He turned out to be the Head of Maintenance and I asked him to follow me to 204. He did. One look and one sniff, and he assured me he would get the property manager right away.
He returned in ten minutes with the Property Manager and when I told her where things were at, and how I had paid over a thousand dollars for a clean move-in ready apartment for my daughter and her roommate from back home in Maryland, not a landfill. She stood in the hallway and I strongly encouraged her to step inside, I wanted her to get the FULL picture of why I was acting like a madman. She stopped at the kitchen. "Oh, no, you need to look IN the kitchen," I insisted (where the dirty dishes in the sink and on the stove and the leaking garbage bags on the kitchen floor).
She was convinced . "I have two options for you both to keep you together,"she said. "One we can clean the apartment." I asked her if the maintenance crews had hazmat suits. They did not. I asked if they had a contract for Serv- Pro, you know the ones who clean up after fires, floods, and murder scenes. No again. So option two: We could get a new apartment right next to the clubhouse, where the shuttle bus stops to every 15 minutes to campus.
I told Coletta to take Sade and Katie (her friend from Pre-School back home) and Katie's mom and go take care of finding the new unit with the property manager , and I would remove all the tubs, and backpacks etc. from the landfill...er apartment, and put them back on the truck to move to the unit. I carried all 8 crates myself. Adrenaline has an amazing effect on your muscles and all.
They knocked on the door with the managed and the young lady who answered the door was one of two roommates they would join (Katie and Sade). She was most welcoming and the place was immaculate. All's well that ends well.
I was just completely stupefied that anyone, knowing that two more roomates were moving in on, well MOVE-IN day, an event hailed across campus with notices and emails to current tenants, how they would not clean like crazy to make a good impression. But to leave a place trashed like this, and then LEAVE? I had to do something to indicate my displeasure. My first thought was to find a can of spray paint and write YOU ARE DISGUSTING PIGS! across the living room wall, but finding none, settled on this: On the front door was a cute little sign that read something about "Welcome All Happy Bunnies" or some such shit. Not "PIGS PRESENT: BEWARE!" So... I removed it from its place on the front door, and laid in on top of the dirty dishes in the sink. Just to let them know we were there.
The new unit was on the third (3rd) floor meaning one flight up, one flight being equal to 16 steps. I lost count on how many times I went UP those 16 steps and DOWN those 16 steps, but after the last dump...this was a pleasure.