From: joannee@sco.COM (Joanne Eglash)
Subject: Pain
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 20:35:48 GMT


I feel like I just had the original Weekend from Hell. 

I spent most of it crying. 


I rent a studio apartment that actually is part of a larger building
that has a business in front.  The business owner, Nina, rents the whole
building from a landlord, and then she subrents the studio part to me.


For about a week, I noticed that there was a leak from the toilet in
my bathroom, and it started to get worse, making me worry about the
already warped lineoleum around it.  So, on Wednesday, I
said to Nina, "The lineoleum in
the bathroom was warped and buckled when I moved in, and it's been
getting increasingly warped throughout the year. It looks as if
it got cracked when the earthquake happened, or maybe water leaking
up, but it's definitely getting worse. I am keeping it as dry as
possible, but I wanted to let you know before it gets worse."

Nina said she would call the landlord and let me know he said. 
On Thursday, she left a message on my machine that she had not heard from
him.  On Friday, I did not hear from her. Meanwhile, my little kitten
was playing around the dirty water and had started to sneeze. I was
worried about the kitten, and I called the vet, who said he would keep
her without any charge until the situation was resolved.  I took the
kitten in .

 On Saturday, I went to Nina in person, and I asked what was happening.
I mentioned that I had taken my kitten to the vet, because I was worried
about the situation with the water and also, when someone came to repair
it, that she might get out.  Nina said she would call the landlord again.
Shortly after I left, I heard Nina's assistant, Tracy, commenting loudly,

"That girl is so stupid. That is really lame. Why doesn't she
call the landlord herself?  And that is idiotic and cruel to keep the
kitten crated up at the vet, as well as a waste of money."

And Nina replied: "You're right.  She should call the landlord herself, 
and that is idiotic and cruel to make the kitten stay at the vet's."

I just burst into tears. It hurt so much to be called those names. 
"idiotic...cruel...stupid..." -- it just brought up all these things
my father had called me throughout my childhood when he was angry at me.
It really hurt. 

And I didn't even have the number of the landlord so I could call
him!  I wanted to justify myself to Tracy and Nina, but I felt that 
I was hurting too much to even express how much pain they had caused to
me emotionally.  

Although I later telephoned Nina and (a) requested the phone number
of the landlord, and (b) informed her I could quite clearly hear the
exchanges between her assistant and her, I feel very depressed. I don't
want to be cruel to the kitten; I really wanted what was best for her. 

I stayed away all day on Saturday. I had volunteered to help with a 
"children's circus" at the library -- ironically, I was assigned to help
the children walk on an imaginary tightrope. And emotionally, I felt like
I was on a tightrope, smiling and encouraging the children on the outside
and weeping on the inside.  I went straight from the library to a meeting...
and I cried my way through it. 

When I got in on Saturday night,
there was a message on my machine from Nina, saying that 
she had hired a handyman to come out and fix the leaky valve on the toilet. 
She reported that "Ike" had said the water damage had been occurring for years,
and to keep an eye on it and call if I saw more leakage, but it
was probably not worth tearing up the floor and taking out the
toilet for. 

Well, now I want to move, but I'm really worried about the money situation.
I paid a $500 deposit, plus my last month's rent. So if I give notice on
September 1, I have to stay there for the month of September because it's
already paid for.  And what if she keeps my entire $500 cleaning deposit,
even if I clean the whole place, because she says the water damage was
my fault????

Do I have any legal protection????

Help!

Joanne