The Electricians were here today....

 

It was 11:30, and the electricians left the apartment, with an appointment to come again next Monday for the next round of headaches.  But things didn't go as bad as expected, as moving a couple of things resulted in a better apartment.

But first....

RQS and I usually get up around 10:30 when she's here.  Today, both of us were up around 7:30, so that we could be showered and dressed by 9:00 am.  The electricians were waiting outside at 9:00 am sharp, and had turned off all the power in the apartment by 9:05 - not giving RQS a chance to get acclimated to anything.  (She made the minor mistake of opening the refrigerator door once to get milk for her coffee, and this was the only time I got slightly upset - no power meant no refrigeration, and I didn't want the contents of the refrigerator to get warm.)  By 9:15, I was moving both boxes and furniture, so that the electricians could rewire the outlets and switches.

What was being done, you may be asking - and why?

When these apartments were built, virtually all the interior wiring was aluminum based.  Over the years, it was shown that aluminum wiring could cause a fire, and that special connectors had to be used, so that the wiring in our buildings wouldn't be a fire hazard.  Although it is a low risk, our bank required that we do this work in order to get our mortgage refinanced.  This is for good reason.  A fire in a building adjacent to our complex may have been caused by wiring issues. So we chose this month to deal with this issue.

I knew that this would be a headache for many of us, and I made sure that people knew that many of the seniors living here may need help moving things out of the way.  (I did, and I still have most of my body mass and muscle strength.)  So, when the electricians started work on the refrigerator and stove circuits, both appliances had to be moved out of the way.  (The area behind the refrigerator is quite grungy, and I'll hate it if I ever need to clean the linoleum back there.)  Once done, the refrigerator was pushed back into place, and voila!, the refrigerator was now level.  I no longer have to play games to take care of this.  Instead, I now have to figure out why the door won't close completely.  (But that's another story for another day.)  

Midway through the work, the owner of the electrical company came by, and I made sure to compliment the two fellows who worked on the place.  However, the boss wondered why these fellows didn't turn on the AC once the breaker box was serviced, only leaving circuits meant to be dead as dead.  (I wondered why as well, as it was as warm in here as in the NYC subway today.)  Within 90 minutes, at least 10 outlets and 6 light switches were rewired.  Only 3 outlets are left, and they will be done on 2 different days.

Once the 2 guys left, it was time to relax before taking RQS to the train station.  Although I still had a lot to do at the end of the day, I no longer worry about how disruptive this work would prove to be....

The saga of water that flowed wrong - so far.

 

On New Year's Eve, RQS overfilled my tub, and water ended up flowing onto the ceiling of the apartment below me.  Although I'm pretty sure I know both cause and way to prevent this from happening in the future, I did the safe thing and reported this to the co-op management company, and asked for someone to investigate.  With a statement from the co-op saying what damages I may need to take care of, I could then go to my insurance company and file a claim under my policy.  This should be a no-brainer, and something that should be taken care of with a minimal amount of fuss on my end.  But things aren't as simple as they seem.

Both my downstairs neighbor and I reported the problem to the managing agent over the weekend, and we expected return phone calls (or emails) that next Tuesday.  All I got was crickets.  I figured that by Thursday I'd need to write again and ask for an update - which I got.  Finally some information!  The site representative was in contact with our plumber and would look to set up a date for an inspection.  I was bothered by this.  The same plumber was here that Tuesday morning, I was here that Tuesday morning, and my neighbor was here that Tuesday morning.  There was no excuse for not asking the plumber to spend a few extra minutes to come to our two apartments and determining the root cause of the problem.

The following Tuesday, we held a co-op board meeting.  As much as I can't talk about many things that happened in the meeting, I can say that I brought up my concerns to the site representative.  And he told me that he already scheduled an inspection of the two apartments' plumbing on Friday at 8:30 am.  What if either of us was planning on being away?  The site representative should have checked with the apartment residents before committing to a date and time.

As you can guess, I am annoyed.  From the time that the problem was detected to the time the apartments were inspected would almost be two weeks.  You can easily see why I want this site representative replaced as soon as possible.

"Bored" Meeting

 

Once every month (excepting Summer), my Co-Op board meets to discuss issues before it.  Tonight, was this month's board meeting, and as usual, minutes were taken and hours were lost. Although I can't go into any detail, I can say that we were frustrated coming into the meeting, as we'd get a series of excuses from one person as to why things haven't yet been taken care of.  

It seems like we have the same basic problem every month.  Under the first management company, our goal was to find out where we were financially and move forward from there.  With the second management company, our goal was to keep up to date with things and not let someone return us to the position we were in with the first company. And now, with the third company, the problem is holding one person's feet to the fire, so that things get done when we need them done.

Sadly, problems like those we have are common with cooperatives/condominiums and their management companies.  It takes an alert board to keep a management company in line.  But how many people have what it takes to do this?  I don't.  Thankfully, the president of our co-op does, and I will help her keep this complex on track until a new generation of people are ready to take on the mantle of running this place.

- - - - - -

Right now, I attend board meetings as Mario.  But after this Spring's public meeting, I plan to attend more of them as Marian.  This will give me more time during the week to live life as my authentic self. Even if I spend much of my time with RQS as Mario, I have found that I need to get out as Marian to live a balanced life.  I can only imagine what it will be like when I attend my first public board meeting as Marian....