Friday, April 07, 2006

A HUD dud

As I have mentioned before, we live in (federal) public housing, which is operated by HUD (Housing and Urban Development) standards. ...For the most part...
One of the requirements of our tenure is that we must be inspected by our housing manager twice each year, to ensure we are living in and maintaining a safe, clean environment. Our first inspection was this past Tuesday. Our manager, "Doris," came into our place with a chip on her shoulder for reasons unbeknownst to us, and quickly looked for anything to fault us on. (Now, keep in mind that prior to our moving in, Doris did a walk-through with us, noting any and all problems or short-comings before we took up residence.) The tenants before us had installed an odd extension wire for the dryer outlet, which was not affixed to or within the laundry room wall, and Doris had documented that. However, on Tuesday, she acted as if she had never before seen the outlet configuration the way it was.
"Aye-yi-yi! You can't have this like this. It has to be attached to the wall!" she jabbed. My wife (Mish-mash mousse) reminded her that she had viewed this before, and that it was maintenance's responsibility to fix it.
Doris: "They might not be able to fix this, and if they can't they'll take your dryer."
MMM: "They can't take MY dryer!"
D, defiantly: "Well, your husband's going to have to affix this to the wall." MMM: "Wait. You're telling me maintenance can't do it, but my husband, who's NOT an electrician, can??"
D: "It's easy. Just get some T-hooks (What the hey are those?) and put them through the wire."
MMM: Put a hook through a wire? Are you insane?
D, dumbfounded: "Well, turn off all the electricity first!"
MMM, resigned: "Well, where exactly should he mount it?"
D, grabbing the outlet box: "Right here, next to the washer drain." MMM: "We're not gonna do that! You've got free-flowing water right there!!!
D, after a brief, pseudo-thoughtful pause: "...Oh, yeah, I guess that probably wouldn't be too good there..."

Yeah, a housing manager who A) doesn't have a clue; B) offers "expert" advise on matters she knows nothing about; and C) expects her tenants to take care of everything while she takes responsibility for nothing.
LOOOOOOOO-SER!!!

3 comments:

Perpetual Chocoholic said...

I'm starting to wonder if there are actually many normal people out there.....at least that work for government agencies.

Shadowspun said...

LOL, I lived in subsidized housing once. That is perfectly normal!

benning said...

Your Gubmint at work!