The search goes on.
For a new tenant.
But first: Direct TV
My favorite company to hate and they deserve it. I stand on my evaluation of this company as continuing to have the worst customer service on the face of this planet. They have not improved in their customer service since they made all of those announcements last year about it - after losing millions of customers because of it.
Regardless. They came out and replaced the dish, the lines that go to the dish and the switch. Whatever the switch thing is called, it is a block where all the lines from the house go into it and the 2 lines from the satellite dish go into it. It needs electricity for whatever it does.
Saturday, I noticed several channels were not working and "searching for satellite signal". I called Direct TV and made an appointment. No biggies on hurrying, it's only some channels, not all of them, I can live without them until they come and fix it. This morning, George (one of my tenants) called me and told me that it was all out, none of the channels are working. Although he said he had called me to prepare before I got home and found nothing working, I knew better. I can live without TV at all. The internet a different story, but TV I can take it or leave it. I have some favorite shows, don't get me wrong, but nothing that makes me have to have it.
Well, when I found that out, I started making calls. Hard to do while working, but I was able to make the calls without sacrificing work at the same time. It's called multi-tasking and I"m pretty good at it.
I knew I would get loads and loads of BS - and I certainly wasn't let down on that issue. I won't go into all the details, it will take too long and I don't feel like writing that much. On finally calling their headquarters and getting to someone who said no-one was available to come out today, I then asked for her manager. She didn't want to but I am very persuasive, read: I'm not going away and you are going to have to deal with me on my terms.
Her manager gets on the phone and tells me the same thing. It became quickly obvious that they weren't actually doing anything, they were just looking at the appointments available and reciting to me that the local department where I live didn't have anything available. They were not calling them and asking them - at all - if they could squeeze it in somewhere. So I told this lady flatly, after listening to her repetitive tribe for a while - that "you are completely useless". Yes, I insulted her. This isn't customer service. I call it customer disservice, or more like customer dissing. You will not question them, they are the final authority and that is that.
This went on for a while, when she finally started talking in logic instead of dictation, then we had a discussion and then she got off the line and made her phone call or email or whatever she did and yes, when I came home from work today at around 5:00 pm, there was a Direct TV van sitting in front of my house and the man had already finished the repair. I thanked him profusely for doing that and freely admitted that I am the - person - that made life miserable for headquarters and everyone else. He said no problem and I replied that I wouldn't do that to him, anyway, thanks for coming out. Turns out that he had a 45 minute drive from the place he was at to my house and that he was at the end of his work day when he was called by his general manager to come out and fix the problem.
But, it took me 2 hours to get that done. Otherwise, no TV here until tomorrow afternoon. So, I got some money taken off my bill but I intend on reserving this latest episode with this company for when my current, free movie channels expire, which is very soon.
Back to Gilbert, the tenant that tried to leave in the middle of the night and - dunno why, really amazing that he started acting that way because I have had a good relationship with him all the way up until now.
He crawled out the window the other night in order to, apparently, not have to "deal" with anything. But, I wouldn't have said anything further to him at that point, anyway and I was remaining congenial with him. But, we did have a short conversation - very short - and it was basically that he was leaving, would be out by the first.
So, I talked to other tenants about it, they said if I wanted, they would call me if he showed up to remove the rest of his things, to which I readily agreed. Yup, I got a call from Lynnette today - he's here, wanted to let you know, do you want me to do anything? Yup, hand the phone to him, I want to talk to him.
But, I remained cordial and "nice". If a person is intent on moving out - even without giving any kind of notice at all and owing money - then they are going to do it and there is nothing I can do to stop it. More importantly, nothing I should do to stop it. They are leaving for a reason and whatever that reason is, my place doesn't work for them anymore, I am good with that and let's move on. I told him I would like if we parted on good terms and not turn it into something - bad. He agreed and we discussed a few things before I asked him: are you still going to give me the money you promised? Yes, he replied. Fine, you can leave it with Lynnette.
So yes, it was a pleasant surprise - surprise, yes - to find that he had left the money he had promised. He owes more than that, but I know I am not going to get it out of him and I am going to let the rest of it go. I won't necessarily tell him that, but I am not going to ask for any more. He has stated he owes me a couple hundred more, which is fine, but he's hurting and getting as much as I did out of this situation today was, actually, a very good ending for me.
I'm tired. Tenancy issues can be draining. I have to have the income, period. It's a non-negotiable deal for me. I have talked to 3 people so far on the phone about the room and will keep on talking as replies come in off my Craigslist ad until someone takes the room. I had a long conversation with another truck driver who is looking for a room and though it sounded okay, something better might come along.
And that's that. It's a little before my bedtime but I am exhausted.
ben
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