Monday, March 12, 2007

The Renter, An Update

Frankly, I'm a little worried about The Renter.

If you'll recall before we left for RT07, I was a little worried about the status of my home. For at least the first five or six days I was stressed in the back of my mind. It didn't help that those first few days of the trip were spent with family, some of whom I don't prefer to spend time with. I was plagued with present-time stress as well as back-of-my-mind stress.

When we were in Virginia, I gave my brother a call to see how it was going and in the background it sounded like a party. Of course I told myself that that wasn't a big deal because he always knows enough to keep the party in the basement so that is absolutely fine. But at the same time it just added more worry to my mind.

The next day, we made it to South Carolina and I had internet for the first time in days. I emailed my brother to check on the cats and mentioned that he should have The Renter give me a call so I could hear how they were. Yeah, it was a lame excuse, but I didn't have her phone number and needed to ease my mind by at least speaking with her. He responded back to me the next day and in a few short sentences, made everything ok again.

"I have come to realize that The Renter is a lot dumber than I ever could have imagined. I let her borrow the car to go to a job interview and needless to say I had to go find the car across town 8 hours later. Hopefully she gets her crap together and doesn't have to stay too long. The cats are fine. They run around at night like always and I make sure they have food and water. I am missing the leftovers and real food. I have pulled a few things out of the freezer, but it is all freezer-burnt and crappy. I ate it anyways.....................miss y'all and decent intelligent conversation. "


All he had to do was assure me that he wasn't a big fan of her either and I was completely at ease. Plus, it was nice to hear that I was missed, even if only for my cooking!

Since we returned I had a talk with her about That Night and she apologized all over the place as I expected her to do. I also had to remind her not to use our shower stuff, ("I have my own," she insisted, but we have still found caps open and bottles moved around) as well as discussing where everyone hangs their towels.

"We need to figure out where you're going to hang your towel," I tell her.

"OK," she sounds rather confused as to why it matters.

"Cuz you keep using mine," I try to keep the irritation out of my voice.

"Oh yeah! I forget mine in my room sometimes and then I don't remember until I'm in the shower," she blurts out quickly.

"Right...well, that's pretty gross actually, and there's a hook right on the door so you can leave a towel in the bathroom all the time so you don't forget anymore," I don't want to be patronizing, but this seems pretty self-explanatory to me.

Seriously! Who uses someone else's bath towel!? Not to mention the enormous mascara eyeballs that have been found on my husband's yellow towel. I'm pretty sure they don't belong to him.

Frankly, at the moment I'm a little worried about The Renter.

Last Sunday she left hurriedly late in the evening to head back to Tennessee to be with her family for the funeral of a friend. She paid me for the week as she was on her way out the door, which I thought was nicely respectful. The Renter expected to be back by Friday sometime as she has only been at her job for a couple weeks and couldn't be away for too long.

It's been over a week now with no word from her. We cleaned out her trash last week as she throws empty food containers away in her room rather than in the kitchen trash or putting it outside, and it was beginning to smell a bit in there. (The Renter has a problem with common sense.)

I may have to call her today to get an estimate for when she'll be back. It's hard to imagine someone leaving a brand new job for such a long time. We're assuming she is getting her car fixed so she can drive it back here.

She had been hitching rides wherever she went, and that's fine so long as you are considerate of those from whom you hitch. Along with the situation regarding my brother's car, The Renter had a tendency to still be up in her room for quite a long period of time after a friend had arrived to pick her up. Whether she was just getting ready or unaware that they were in the driveway, I don't know, but it seems to show either a lack of appreciation or an excessive amount of, well, blondness. (No offense, blond friends!)

I suppose her saga will continue in its strange vein for some time as there is no definite date of moving out. At least my car payment is paid so I can't say there isn't a plus side in all of this.

8 comments:

sarah cool said...

Dude. Totally weird and obnoxious.

Mascara eyeballs... I laughed so hard at that phrase. I wash my face SO THOROUGHLY every night, and I STILL get mascara on my towels. I need to start using eye makeup remover, I think...

Using someone else's towel IS GROSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Sometimes I don't even like drying my hands on someone else's hand towels (I might be a little neurotic, though).

Anne, I hearby promise you that I will NOT use your towel in Chicago.

Speaking of....... I wonder if we should bring towels?? I will email Mark and ask him what he prefers. I'm planning on doing a load of laundry before we leave, so I could always just toss their towels in, too.

Jean said...

just shaking head.
I do hope she's ok though....

Hillary said...

It's amazing what we take for granted, hey? Like using you OWN towels! Ew!

We've had our share of crazy houseguests at my parent's place. They had language students for 11 years, so they had the intro to the house rules honed to a pretty specific list. Like, close the shower curtain when you have a shower. That was definitely an add on after a crazy wet and wild show one of the students had. (Granted, some places don't use shower curtains, so they might not have been used to it).

Your renter jsut sounds a wee tad out of it, though. Is she there indefinitely, or just for a set time? (ie, is there a date you can count down to?)

Jen said...

I have to admit that I am not really very surprised. When you posted that you were getting a renter, I sort of winced, because many renters are just like yours. I hope you will be back to just you and your sweetie soon.

Talena said...

I don't even like it when my husband borrows my towel, let alone a stranger! Eeeewww!

I've had bad experiences with dumb renters. Unfortunately, she is my cousin (much wiser now, too.) Her (underage!) boyfriend stole my car to escape a court date for stealing a motorcycle, picked up a friend, got high, then completely totalled my car during a high-speed chase with the police through the Rocky Mountains. Kinda makes me wonder how people with that little intelligence live so long.

(Hmm, something tells me that I told you that before. Am I repeating myself, now?)

Anyhoo, hope you get the situation resolved well for you, and soon!

Unknown said...

Sarah, we probably should...just to be sure. And thank you..I don't think I can handle anyone else using my towel!

Jean, I know. I shake my head every day. By the by, she did arrive last night. I never heard her come in so that's impressive, but her shoes showed up in the front hall and there was telltale makeup all over the bathroom counter as usual...

Unfortunately, Hillary, there's not really a date. I'm going to be asking her soon because when we first agreed to it I told my brother to tell her a month or two. So yeah, a conversation will be happening there soon.

Thanks Jen. Me too. :) I try to be hospitable and think, "Man, we have this huge house with extra rooms, we should be using it," but I often end up regretting it too.

SQ--that is a crazy story! At least it makes ME feel better aboutmy crazy renter! Thanks! :)

Frannie Farmer said...

Ugh. I can't imagine having a renter! 4 disrespectful daughter is enough got me!!! And even they know better than to use MaaMaa's towel! Blech ...

Buffy said...

One of these days we must get together and compre Renter stories.