Vicissitudes and Victories

Repairs

My roommates and I have a leaky shower. One day my roommate Phillip was in the shower and we heard dripping downstairs. We saw water coming out of the roof and we stopped using the shower. We immediately called our landlord, and she came to check out the problem. She was grateful that we noticed the problem before it did any significant damage. She told us not to use the shower and promised that she would get a plumber here as soon as possible. It has now been over a week and we still haven't heard anything from the plumber. Even more sad is the fact that we haven't heard from our landlady. My roommate Andrew emailed her a week after our initial call, and she responded that it would get fixed soon, but it has been several days since that communication, initiated by us mind you, as well. For this whole time, all of us have had to share my roommate's shower. He is kind of a germ-a-phobe and really dislikes this, but knows that it is part of the roommate experience.

My dilemma is: How nice is too nice? I know that the Lord will never punish us for being charitable, but how much responsibility do I have to try and help my landlord fill her responsibilities? Tonight I wrote her a genial, but urgent letter. I think if nothing happens tomorrow my other roommate is planning on writing a letter that will be not nearly as nice. It is just frustrating when you are paying for a service that you are not receiving. That is just bad business. So where do you draw the line? Patience is a virtue, but it doesn't mean letting someone step all over you. It just means that we should treat others like we want to be treated ourselves. So I wrote my nice letter, and I hope my landlady responds quickly. I don't want the cycle of trust broken.

posted by Joel @ 11:36 PM