samwrites:

NEED HELP

A little more info on my cryptic post from earlier. This is long, and I’m sorry, but bear with me?

Last Thursday, 7/13/17, I discovered my ceiling was leaking. I put in a report at 9:57 p.m. with my apartment’s emergency maintenance (I have an email from the request, which was filed online). Never got a response. I went to the office the next morning, and asked them to send someone to look at my ceiling, which had bubbled overnight (the first photo). A maintenance person came, looked at my ceiling, went upstairs, and I never heard from them again, but the issue was marked as resolved online. At 10:40, when I had to leave for work, I went over and asked about it, and I was told they would be working on it.

The ceiling was still leaking that night. I put in another request at 11:36 p.m. No answer. I went to the office the next morning and demanded someone come look at my ceiling. The person working said someone would be over soon. I asked them to please send someone by noon (it was around 10 a.m.), as I had plans that day and I couldn’t give them permission to enter my apartment out of fear they would let my cat out (she had spent the entire previous day cooped up in my room because I was under the impression people would be coming into my apartment to fix the problem). That seemed like a fair request to me. The person agreed to send someone. I went back to my apartment.

Noon came. And went. No maintenance. I went to talk to the office person again. She said 45 minutes, he was wrapping up another problem. Okay. I went back to my apartment.

1 p.m. came. And went. The issue was marked as resolved online at 1:11 p.m. despite me never seeing a maintenance person. I re-opened it. I went back to the office at 1:30ish. She said 20 minutes, he was dealing with another emergency. I demanded to know why my leaking ceiling wasn’t an emergency and pointed out that I had reported this the night before and had been ignored, so I should have been a priority first thing in the morning. She said 20 minutes. I told her I had to go. She said he would come around tomorrow, then.

Sunday. No word from maintenance all day. My ceiling is steadily dripping and I’m switching out towels trying to keep things dry. I wait like an idiot and finally put it in another emergency request at 8:41 p.m., and another at 9:52 p.m. Someone finally came a little after ten. He looked at my ceiling and said he would be back in the morning.

Monday morning, around after three a.m.., I wake up to my ceiling caving and hitting the floor (the last three pictures). I was sleeping and not hurt. My cat, luckily, was not under the ceiling at the time. I found her under my bed, probably hiding from the loud noise. She was not hurt. I called emergency maintenance, rightfully flipping out, at 3:29 a.m. The maintenance guy came half an hour later, looked at my ceiling, said there was nothing he could do, and left.

I went to my office at about 9:40 this morning, Monday, July 17, 2017, and was told this is my fault for not allowing them to enter when I wasn’t home, despite the numerous requests I submitted when I was home and the countless opportunities they had to look at this problem and fix it. I was then told I “needed to chill” because I was getting angry. The woman in the office was yelling, and I was yelling, and I didn’t appreciate being told to chill.

Maintenance is here, as I’m writing this, cleaning up the mess. There’s no word on when the gaping hole in my ceiling will be fixed. 

I’m looking into pursuing legal action, but right now the important thing is I can’t stay in this apartment. I don’t know what was leaking, I don’t know if it’s still leaking, and I don’t know if the leak is going to spread. I don’t know when they’re going to fix my ceiling, or when they’re going to look into the leaking. I can’t let my cat out of my bedroom, which is entirely unfair to her, and after the treatment I received from the office, I would rather leave.

If I can work it out with my current job, I have an escape plan. I was moving next month to Missouri anyways to be with my fiancee, but this might have sped up the process a little. I’m going to talk to my managers today once maintenance is done in my place, and hopefully we can work something out (I was going to work remotely when I moved in August, but we thought we had more time to go through process of shifting me to remote status. I don’t think we have the time. I’m hoping we can still work things out).

The problem, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is money. I thought I had more time to save, but I’m up against a wall now. I know this is asking a lot, and I know no one really has the money to go around but… if you have an extra dollar or two, consider buying my books. Become a patron on my Patreon. Donate to my PayPal if you don’t want to become a patron. Signal boost this, please. Every little bit helps and I’m at the end of my rope right now. I can’t live like this, and I can’t make my cat live like this, and it’s pretty clear my apartment complex doesn’t care.

Thank you for your time.

LInk to my books: http://samwrites.tumblr.com/gms
My Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samrawson
My PayPal: slrawson13@gmail.com

did you get the police involved to document the case? Prosecutors have purview over slum lord cases I think, which would mean you wouldn’t have to pay.