edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Elizabeth Culmer ([personal profile] edenfalling) wrote2023-10-06 08:14 pm

mostly griping about work

Stuff that happened today:

1. I tried to clean a gross sticky patch on a bookcase in one of our vacant apartments. I was, shall we say, partially successful? I don't know what on earth that patch is composed of, but tomorrow I'm going to try again, this time with Goo Gone, steel wool, and some rubber gloves.

2. Yesterday we were contacted multiple times by a postdoctoral researcher who needed housing for themself, their spouse, and their child for 3 months. My coworker Mr. Geniality gave them a tour of our handful of vacant apartments that are approved for two adult inhabitants under City of Ithaca regulations, but they didn't like either building or the general noise of the Ithaca Commons. They did like our building on South Hill, but we don't have any vacant apartments there that are large enough to legally house a family of three.

So we assumed they would go look elsewhere, but then this morning the postdoc emailed to say that actually they DID want one of the apartments in the building they disliked and which they'd explicitly said was not a good environment for their child.

So Mr. Geniality wrote back to say okay, here's the rent, please send me the following three pieces of information so I can write your lease.

Meanwhile I hurried down to unstage the apartment in question and move all the staging materials down the hall to a different vacant unit.

And then crickets. For seven hours, when this had been put to us as an urgent situation where they needed to get the keys and move in ASAP.

Finally at 5:30, the postdoc replied to Mr. Geniality's email to say they'd signed a lease somewhere else.

Honestly this is just as well -- they would clearly not have been happy in any of our buildings and we don't need 3 months of unhappy tenants. But I'm still annoyed that I had to break down a whole apartment staging for no real purpose.

3. I am currently reading Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen, because sometimes it's interesting to read scholarly work about one's own identity.

4. It has been SO HUMID in Ithaca, and yet no hard, cleansing rain. We do have showers predicted for tonight and Saturday morning, and I really hope they materialize.
senmut: modern style black canary on right in front of modern style deathstroke (Default)

[personal profile] senmut 2023-10-07 12:38 am (UTC)(link)
HUGS for irritating days/
redwolf: (tank girl)

[personal profile] redwolf 2023-10-07 10:38 am (UTC)(link)
With as annoying as the run around you got from prospective tenants was, I am so happy they went elsewhere. They would have been an ongoing nightmare.

If you can get your hands on it, try straight eucalyptus oil on sticky stains. I haven't tried it, but orange oil may have similar results as it is the base of a lot of goo removal products. You could always go nuclear with acetone, but there's a strong likelihood of it destroying any surface finish.
redwolf: (Default)

[personal profile] redwolf 2023-10-11 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
Eucalyptus oil is locally available in the supermarket, but also pharmacies and health food stores. I'd go the 50ml size from the pharmacy over the tiny 10ml aromatherapy bottles. I use a dab on a paper towel rather than pouring it on, so a little goes a long way, but aromatherapy pricing is madness.

Side bonus is that everything will smell of eucalyptus and you may attract koalas.