Un-Maintenance Men and the Gnawing Problem

You have all read how I have made light of my "rodent" problem at my townhouse. Well, since this has been going on for almost a month now (that's when we first let them know we were hearing critters in the rafters) it has really gotten annoying and ridiculous.

The gnawing and scratching has gotten more frequent and louder, meaning whatever is up there is definately making a nice little pad for himself. I actually had to sleep onthe couch last night because it was so loud and sounded as if it would poke thru my ceiling at any minute to tell me how he was coming along with his new home! My roomate had a similar experience in her room about a week ago where she went down to sleep on the couch to get away from it.

Our "guest" seems to be making use of the entire crawl space because one night he is keeping my roomate in the next room awake, and the next night he is over my room keeping me up. We have been calling and stopping over to get the Maintenance people to come take a look (like they were supposed to 3 weeks ago or more!).

You would not believe the runaround I have gotten from these people! Not only the management but the so called "Maintenance Men" as well.

We have had many things fixed or replaced and I am convinced I could have done the jobs better, faster and more completely than any of them did! Just because you are a man and carry tools, does not mean you are a Maintenance Man! Conversely, just because I am a woman does not mean I am stupid when it comes to stereotypically male things like plumbing, drywalling, painting, mechanical things and rodents! I am a Rennaissance Woman, as are my sisters and sister-in laws (not PieHole tho!) and we can do pretty much anything. Because of this, it's very frustrating when people treat me like a "dumb young girl".

Seriously, I even told them that I grew up in a very rural area ( ie: I am a country girl) and I know what I am hearing and what to look for and they still try to make me feel like the stupid female. I actually argued with the guy when they finally came to inspect on Tuesday! He tried to tell me that there is no reason for them (rodents) to come in becasue there we have hickory trees with tons of food outside for them! I laughed at him and said "Yeah, they may be well fed, but that has nothing to do with the fact that when it's cold at night they are looking for a warm place to nest!" They are such IDIOTS! I actually had to ask them if they found animal droppings or any entry holes up there b/c I really don't think they know what they were looking for! I even asked it they had surveyed the outside as well as the roof area for any entry holes like they were supposed to do 3 weeks ago, but they hadn't.

One of them said he would loan his cat to us. I answered "Well, you'd have to stick him up in the crawl space for a night and see if he catches it, because the rodent is in the attic not the house." DUH!!!! Then I added that if they saw us with a cat they would charge us a pet deposit and that was all we needed!! Carolyn (my roomate) laughed, they chuckled, but I could tell it wasn't really registering (like everything else).

Why have they been so slow? The excuse of the day? That 2 maintenance guys have quit recently...as if that makes a difference to me! I don't care if you guys are dying of the black plague! GET YOUR ASSES UP THERE AND KILL THAT LITTLE FUCKER!

Excuse my expletive but I am powerful mad (just like Johnny Rio from Enchanted Forest Water Safari!). SO mad in fact that I even was close to going up into the crawl space attic area last night and crushing his little skull with my bare hands. I am not normally a "skull crushing" kind of chick, but when you annoy me and kick me out of my comfy bed after midnight so I am tired all the next day, I tend to re-evaluate my plan of action! (Chris and Lisa, if you are reading this, that sounded like something Chris would say and has said!! ha!)

We all have problems like this from time to time. I remember feeling so frustrated for Wiccachicky when she was battling Home Depot (or was it Lowe's) to get them to finish a job at her house. She finally got everything resolved, but what a headache it muct have been for months trying to get them to do their job! People amaze me. I bet my complex's management wouldn't deal with rodents disrupting their sleep for weeks on end!

They are coming in to place traps and poison tonight. I would rather have it out than dead in there stinking up my apartment, tho I guess I have no choice right now. If the place starts stinkin' of rotting rodent corpse, they will be heading up there to remove it. Otherwise my next step is calling a pest control place and having them bill the complex!

The gloves are off people! They better fix this situation or die trying!