Sizzle Says

Volume

I have a tenant that reminds me of all my passive aggressive ex-boyfriends combined.

It goes without saying but let me say it anyhow- he really pushes my buttons. I try to be professional and compassionate. He is struggling with health issues which combined with his medications exacerbate what I find to be his normal proclivity towards being a drama queen. Most days he’s harmless and we go about our business but then something shifts and when it does? It’s like a torrential down-pouring of shit and I am without an umbrella.

He plays his music loud. REALLY LOUD.  As in I am standing on the corner outside the building and I can hear it. As in I knocked on his door one night for three minutes straight and he could not hear me until I yelled his name. The music was that loud. No one else in the building has a consistent noise problem. There really is no need to play music so loudly that it can be heard from the street. Not if you are a singer or you had a bad day or you really love the song. You live in an apartment building and there are rules and neighbors.

Right now I am trying to rent the apartment above him. This is by far the hardest apartment I have had to rent in my year of being an apartment manager- and it’s a sweet, one bedroom, corner unit with great light. I had one guy come look at it who works from home. That will absolutely not work. I need someone who is not home a lot and who owns a lot of rugs to block out sounds. And see? I’m going out of my way to try to mediate a situation that hasn’t even happened yet because history is doomed to repeat itself where this tenant is concerned. I’ve been trying to work out the noise issues between both apartments since I moved in and frankly, it’s exhausting. There are 28 units in this building and only two have this on-going drama that I have to mediate.

It is ridiculous.

I am fed up.

Oh! But there is more. . . He does things like- uses his own money to buy flowers for the entryway. In most circumstances this would be seen as nice except he’ll take them away when he’s pissed off about something. Like this week he is mad that he is being written up for his outrageously loud music, so, gone are the flowers.

Folks, this is what we call passive aggressive behavior. (Exhibit A)

He leaves me these messages that go on and on and on to the point that 75% of them are cut off because he’s over the allotted time limit. I don’t know from day to day if he will be pleasant or a bitchy. In his messages he will go on about some pleasantry or other and then slip in barbs. Like the message I received last night which had a few doozies. Apparently when we were looking in his file the other day he saw that there were greeting cards in there. He sometimes leaves thank you cards which I think is really sweet. I am personally a fan of mail and after displaying them for a time, I tuck them away in a keepsake box. He assumed that the cards in the file were from him to me and in his message asked me to rip them up, not put them in a file and stated he would not be giving me cards anymore. (Exhibit B)

That really puts the ass in assume, doesn’t it?

The kicker? Those were cards he gave to the former managers that were in the file when I took over. But yeah, don’t bother asking me that or anything. So he takes away his nicety because I have somehow wronged him. Again.

Here’s the thing: I don’t give a shit if he puts flowers in the entryway or gives me a thank you card. Sure, it’s lovely but NO ONE ASKED HIM TO DO IT so he does not get to lord it over me like he went out of his way to be nice. That is not being nice! That is being passive aggressive!

It is making me aaaaaaaannnnnnnnggggggggrrrrrryyyy.

It is not the end of the world that he has to turn his music down to a respectable level and abide by the rules that every other tenant does. If I let him get away with it, then other people will think it is okay. This is a quiet building and I want to keep it that way.
I am not an un-compassionate person but just because someone is sick or home all day does not mean you get special rules to live by in my book. My job is to ensure ALL tenants of my building are happy renters, not one who wants special treatment.