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August 05, 2002
Getting better...
I just got off the phone with a thoroughly unpleasant gentleman -- he called wanting to know if we owned a particular book. No problem; I looked it up, and found that we have ordered it, but it hasn't arrived yet. He wanted to read it, and couldn't seem to grasp the fact that he can't come in and get it, because we don't have it yet. (Well, what he actually wanted was for someone to mail the book to his local library, which we can't do anyway -- what he'd need to do is ask his local library to do an interlibrary loan for the book, if they don't have it.) Every suggestion I made to him was shot down with a nasty remark -- at one point he snapped "I am being sarcastic with you because I have asked several people about this book, and I haven't gotten a single intelligent response." Grrr. I said "Well, all I can tell you is that we do not own the book you want, and suggest that you ask your local library to get it for you. I'm sorry if that isn't an intelligent enough answer for you. Have a nice day." I hate, hate, hate people who ask a question, and then get nasty when they don't get the answer they want. I especially hate being told that I'm stupid because I gave an honest answer, instead of telling this gentleman just what he wanted to hear. Rat bastard.
Anyway. I'm in a good mood anyway, because I found a roommate! Hurrah! No more worrying about impending homelessness! I showed the apartment to a guy yesterday, and he said he'd take it, right on the spot. I had to call the woman who'd looked at it last week, because she hadn't made a decision yet -- she still hadn't, as of yesterday, so I told her I really couldn't wait any longer, and that I was renting the room to someone else. She was fine with it -- I think she wanted a place closer to where she works, anyway. The guy who's moving in seems nice -- he's got furniture, which is good, as I have very little. He has a cat, so Smoke is going to have to get used to not being the only cat in the house. She'll be thoroughly pissed off for a while, I'm sure, but she'll get used to it.
Also, my mom took some steps in dealing with her creepy neighbor. Thursday, after work, she called the police and asked them to send an officer over so she could show him how the bushes were cut under her windows. The officer who came by was very nice (and cute, too, according to Mom). He looked at the bushes, and listened to my mom's account of what's been going on, and talked to Mom's nice downstairs neighbor -- she explained how she'd seen Creepy Neighbor hiding in the bushes by my mom's front porch. The officer then went and spoke to Creepy Neighbor, who wanted to have a meeting with my mom. With the officer mediating, she told Creepy Neighbor in no uncertain terms that she doesn't appreciate him spying on her, that she's very upset about what he's done to the bushes, and she's sick and tired of him watching her every move. He first said he wasn't spying on her, and that he just liked trimming the bushes (but couldn't explain why he only trimmed the bushes on my mom's side of the house). Then he started talking about how he's been watching her for a long time, and he watches her every day, and that he "has to keep an eye on her." The cop told him to knock it off, and he apologized and said he would... last time, the police contact scared him off for a while. Let's hope that this time he knocks it off for good.
Posted by Mary Ellen at August 5, 2002 10:21 AM