Stories from a fulltime cabbie...life & times
Don't bother wiping your feet.
Published on July 29, 2004 By Cab Driver In Life Journals
Don't worry about wiping your feet.

As I sit at the 7th gate of hell, it becomes obvious why I hate it here. The carpet was probably a solid color at one time, but that was before the previous tennant's pets and children were obviously left unsupervised for long periods of time. These children had time to eventually cover every wall. It is a wainscot for a kindergarten classroom with animal shit added to the carpeting for comfort. Carpet is so absorbent, just like a towel, if not better.


"Don't worry about that spill, the carpet will soak it right up. I don't know how I ever made it without carpet to collect all of my dirt for me. It's amazing!"


The previous tenant was one of the landlords' daughters, so general cleanliness must not really concern them. Thier house is spotless. I don't know how the daughter of a spotless landlord could have so few housecleaning ethics. Yes, this is unethical housekeeping. I honestly think the Good Housekeeping Court should fine her.
The icing on the cake - She left the refrigerator and freezer full of food when she had the power turned off. If you have never smelled a rotting corpse, as I have had the pleasure of doing, this is a close second. It sat for two weeks. It was almost a month ago that we cleaned it out, three times, even used some bleach, and the baking soda is just starting to do the trick. Four boxes of that stuff works pretty good! Suffice to say, it was foul! Two of the fish in her aquarium actually survived a month without power.
We (my roommate and I) are in the process of painting her bedroom pink. And when I say 'pink', I mean PINK. After having cleaned numerous unidentified paint-repelling substances from the walls and ceiling. The pink takes your mind off of the original double-hung window that is about to fall out of the wall. Or the adjacent window which for a short time until the gutters were cleaned, helped to remove the new paint below itself. Not to mention leak through the dining room ceiling. Speaking of leaks, the window below that one, had a steady strem of water pouring from the top of it onto my roommates box of high school photography projects. I managed to save them - only a few drops on a portfolio cover - and find a trashcan to collect the water. In a 15 minute downpour, I collected about 3 gallons of rainwater. Which, if you'll follow me, brings us to the kitchen. Please don't turn on that light switch, since the rainwater is pouring out of the light fixture. I feel like the three stooges did the plumbing.

Comments
on Jul 29, 2004
Oooh - be careful! The house a friend was renting just burnt down as a result of an electrical fire caused by water running through light switches and fittings. Suffice to say she was much happier when her belongings we more than a pile of ash!

As for the rest of the house - I believe I may have lived here at some point. Are there unidentified smells in differents parts of the house and stains that you can't look at for fear of figuring out what they really are?

Good luck with the painting!
on Jul 29, 2004
Yuck, I wish you luck making this place livable. Actually the Magic Eraser by Mr. clean is really great for getting gunk off of walls, even crayon etc. Oh I feel like Martha passing that tidbit on. Magic Erasers - it's a good thing - lol!
on Jul 30, 2004
That would be a YES on the smells stains! haha

Thank you for the well wishes and tip. My sister also mentioned the magic eraser, but it would take me until next year. We are just priming over most of the artwork, which seems to be working out pretty well, because we will be repainting the entire house. We are credited for time worked in a rent reduction. So living with the daughter of the landlords has it's advantages.
CD