Workaday World XXXVI

I just got a frantic phone call at work from my landlord. They're removing the radiators from all of the apartments in my building and installing new baseboard heating vents. Last week Wednesday, I got a voicemail that said they would do my apartment today, Monday. Perfect! I'd have the weekend to move all of the furniture away from the walls and get the place organized for the workers.

Thursday morning, at about 8 a.m., one of my landlords knocks on my door and starts to key in. I had just gotten up and was getting ready for the day, so I answered the door groggily in my boxers and T-shirt. I said I thought they were going to come Monday. She said that they were hoping to remove the radiators that day. I said that I'd rather they wait until I was gone for the day -- or until Monday as they'd requested initially. I hadn't had a chance to get my apartment sorted.

So yesterday, I rearranged my apartment, moving most everything away from the walls, piling stuff in the center of the apartment, and only having to leave one small corner cluttered because of my numerous books and records. I left a note this morning saying that if they couldn't do what they needed to do, they should do the bedroom first, as much as they could in the living room, and then tonight, I'd move stuff out of the living room to open more space.

Anyway, back to that phone call. My landlord just called me at work saying that the workers needed everything moved away from the walls immediately. I said that I'd done as much as I could yesterday and left a note saying that if they needed me to move more stuff around, I'd do so tonight. I said that if they did the bedroom first, I could clear out the living room tonight. My landlord said that they'd already finished the bedroom -- it only takes 20 minutes to do what they need to do -- and they needed the other room cleaned up immediately.

I asked him what he would suggest. Did he want me to come home from work? If it only takes them 20 minutes, couldn't they let me rearrange things tonight? Then he said that the first thing they said when they entered my apartment was that it was a fire hazard. And that when this was all over with, I'd have to do something about that. I said that I'd begun paring down on my books and records and that I'd keep clearing the place out. It's quite a hassle when your landlord doesn't provide any storage space in the building.

So that's the end of my weekend -- and my Monday morning so far. It is such a hassle to have to move everything away from the walls for a new heating system when the old radiators worked just fine. It is also irritating that if it only takes 20 minutes, they couldn't have finished the work tomorrow. Did my landlord call me seeking assistance -- or just to yell at me? I shudder to think what my place will look like when I get home tonight. I feel bad about my landlord having to move stuff around. And I'm nervous about how they'll relate to me in the future if my place is, in fact, a "fire hazard." I do have a lot of books and records, but a fire hazard?

In any event, I listed about 30 Mack Bolan, Destroyer, Deathlands, Stony Man, and other Gold Eagle men's adventure novels for sale in Amazon Marketplace this morning. Thus begins the Big Book Purge of 2003.