Picking up from yesterday –
After everything *finally* went through, I had my meeting to sign the papers. It was an intense atmosphere. My broker warned me the management guy was a character, and my goodness was he right.
First off, my broker wasn’t allowed to come in with me. No one was. In the waiting room, I saw a daughter and her mom – who was the co-signer(!), and they didn’t let the mom go in… which didn’t make any sense to me.
When I walked in the room, the guy had papers strewn all about his desk – just everywhere. And everyone seemed so afraid of him.
As we were signing the lease, I asked if I could paint. At first he said sure, then he asked me what color. I said red. Then he went on a monologue about how red was such a dumb and terrible choice.
And it’s like, “Okay, well, I just asked you if I’m allowed. I don’t need your opinions on how I’m gonna decorate my apartment. Let me or don’t, but don’t be a jerk about it, please?”
Then he took about a trillion phone calls. (I think maybe actually more like 5.) He was just unbelievably rude. I was so ready to walk out (if I weren’t so exhausted and desperate for a place).
And then… the one thing I didn’t like the most about the apartment was the yellow-y gross looking sink. So, I asked if I could glaze that. He said maybe. Then no. Then he asked why and what it looked like. I opened my phone to get a picture, and he basically yelled at me, “No phone calls in here. And you can’t text your broker in here!”
By that point I was boiling about the way this man was treating me. I told him I was just getting a picture. To his credit, when he saw it, he said, “Oh, yeah. That doesn’t look good at all. Okay, we’ll get you a new sink.” And he wrote that as a lease addendum.
Also, on these little lease addendums, he kept writing stuff *after* I’d signed, but when I tried to add some little clarifying language before he signed (right in front of him and in the open), I got yelled at (again).
I am so not good at being in the true total position of weakness. It’s when I get flustered, and sometimes mean… and sometimes stupid. And there was definitely a part of me that wanted to be stupid, and toss over my chair and march out and said, “I do not want to live in a place you own.
But ultimately, I did want to live in the biggest studio I found, that’s rent stabilized(!), really close to work… So I swallowed my pride, signed the papers, and walked out like a normal person.
It wasn’t dramatic or fun… but I have a pretty nice place to live, and I suppose that’s kind of all that matters… *sigh* gaaaaah being a super grown-up…