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lizbeeLast week, I got an email from my real estate agent notifying me of a routine inspection.
"That's odd," I thought, and shot back a response pointing out that they had conducted a routine inspection just last month, and legislation states they have to be at least six months apart.
Late Friday afternoon, I had a call from my property manager. She was quite puzzled, she said, because they had no memory of such an inspection, and did I know who had conducted it.
Well, no, I said, but he was mid-thirties, white, dark hair, bit of a paunch, average height. He wasn't from my regular office, but the larger one in the next suburb.
"Oh," she said, "that office wouldn't be conducting our inspections. I'm the only one authorised to do that for your property."
And then there was an awkward silence as we both realised that a strange man had had unauthorised access to my flat.
The man did give me a business card, which I've lost, and I also spoke to him on the phone, so I've emailed his number to my property manager.
But then I entered a PARANOIA SPIRAL, because weird things have been happening in my flat lately. I came home from work to find a used tea bag sitting in a cup, which is a thing I never, ever do. Various kitchen utensils have gone missing.
Now, realistically, I knew that it's very unlikely that there's a local serial killer breaking into my flat to steal random kitchen utensils and one Twinings Earl Grey tea bag. There's probably just a guy about my age who works for the neighbouring real estate agent, who is about to find himself in a world of trouble with a middle-aged lady named Doris.
But I shared my story with my friends, who, while pointing out that it is VERY unlikely that I'm being stalked by a tea obsessive who really just needed my tongs, two plastic spoons and a small cheese grater, linked me to various motion-activated security apps for MacBooks.
But, you know, I'm a single lady living alone in a neighbourhood which people keep telling me is dangerous (I've yet to see any actual evidence of this myself, mind, unless you count the presence of people who are not white, which I don't). So I was feeling a tiny bit paranoid.
Until, later that evening, I heard an odd noise in the kitchenette. And there was the cat, caught in the act as he knocked a wooden spoon down the side of my oven. I checked, and there, wedged between the oven and the wall, were all my missing utensils. I've never been so glad to see a pair of tongs!
IN CONCLUSION:
"That's odd," I thought, and shot back a response pointing out that they had conducted a routine inspection just last month, and legislation states they have to be at least six months apart.
Late Friday afternoon, I had a call from my property manager. She was quite puzzled, she said, because they had no memory of such an inspection, and did I know who had conducted it.
Well, no, I said, but he was mid-thirties, white, dark hair, bit of a paunch, average height. He wasn't from my regular office, but the larger one in the next suburb.
"Oh," she said, "that office wouldn't be conducting our inspections. I'm the only one authorised to do that for your property."
And then there was an awkward silence as we both realised that a strange man had had unauthorised access to my flat.
The man did give me a business card, which I've lost, and I also spoke to him on the phone, so I've emailed his number to my property manager.
But then I entered a PARANOIA SPIRAL, because weird things have been happening in my flat lately. I came home from work to find a used tea bag sitting in a cup, which is a thing I never, ever do. Various kitchen utensils have gone missing.
Now, realistically, I knew that it's very unlikely that there's a local serial killer breaking into my flat to steal random kitchen utensils and one Twinings Earl Grey tea bag. There's probably just a guy about my age who works for the neighbouring real estate agent, who is about to find himself in a world of trouble with a middle-aged lady named Doris.
But I shared my story with my friends, who, while pointing out that it is VERY unlikely that I'm being stalked by a tea obsessive who really just needed my tongs, two plastic spoons and a small cheese grater, linked me to various motion-activated security apps for MacBooks.
But, you know, I'm a single lady living alone in a neighbourhood which people keep telling me is dangerous (I've yet to see any actual evidence of this myself, mind, unless you count the presence of people who are not white, which I don't). So I was feeling a tiny bit paranoid.
Until, later that evening, I heard an odd noise in the kitchenette. And there was the cat, caught in the act as he knocked a wooden spoon down the side of my oven. I checked, and there, wedged between the oven and the wall, were all my missing utensils. I've never been so glad to see a pair of tongs!
IN CONCLUSION:
- my cat is a jerk
- all these years I thought he wasn't one of those cats who knocks things off high places, and it turns out I've been wrong
- I probably just left that tea bag in the cup for some reason, even though I can't see how -- I mean, I also think I'm compulsive about rinsing bowls after I've used them, and a quick look at my dirty dishes says that's a lie
- I am probably not going to be murdered in my bed
- except possibly by the cat
- if my property manager can't sort out the mystery of who conducted that inspection last month, I'm still going to ask them to change the locks
- and maybe while I'm at it, I'll ask if I can put up a shelf in the bathroom, all the storage space in this place is for tall people, and it's a problem
no subject
Date: 2016-05-29 01:45 am (UTC)I am not a minimalist. Mason thinks I should be, to the point where I can no longer put my glasses case or my phone on top of the bedside table. Luckily he only knocks things of the shelf under it when he really wants attention.
I hope your property manager figures out what the other guy was doing.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-29 01:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-29 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-29 06:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-29 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-05-29 09:31 pm (UTC)my cat is a jerk
But you already knew that. ;-)