Our heat is broken for the second time this winter. We noticed it yesterday morning, and, after fiddling with the thermostat for some time we decided it was time to call in the experts. Some of you may recall the last time that our heat was broken. It took a week for it to get fixed--with Joe (our amazing maintenance man, and friend) coming up, giving it a temporary fix and us waiting patiently for the real fix to come. Finally, one day, the real fix came. Supposedly our thermostat was replaced. While it looked exactly like the old one (with the same paint splatters, etc.) they said they changed it, it was working, and who are we to complain. Until today, when we decided the 5 degree drop in temperature down to 58 degrees warranted some questions. So I wrote a note to them indicating that we had, indeed, turned the thermostat on (something they had asked us repeatedly the last time this ordeal happened) and that our pilot light was also on. On my way up to the main office I ran into Joe and told him that our heat was out again. He called our property manager and told her and she said we already fixed their heat once. Yes, they did. Yes it is broken again. They sent Joe up to look at it and he immediately asked me why they hadn't changed the thermostat. I told him they said they did and he said that most of the time they lie about what they do to save money. He called the property manager again to let her know our pilot light was on and the temperature in our apartment was 58 degrees. She told him to come get the thermometer to check and make sure. Apparently, Joe told me, they don't fix the heater until it gets to a certain temperature in the apartment (Really?--I wanted to ask, how about Mike the Landlord comes and lives in our apartment and then we'll see how cold it has to get before they fix the heat). He brought the thermometer back up. It read 73 degrees. Both Joe and I agreed that even if it wasn't 58 it certainly felt cooler than 73. He left and said he would try to have them come up and feel the temperature in the apartment. I could tell that he was as frustrated as I was at the way our apartment complex was being run. How upset he was that people (not just us) were getting taken advantage of. I could see it in his eyes and in the worry on his face. But he can't do anything...this all happened 3 hours ago. My guess is that Luke and I will have to be much colder before anything gets done.
The whole time the ordeal was happening it was going through my mind you get what you pay for. This is the way I grew up and I am extremely grateful for what I had and where I am today. Many times Luke and I have speculated how lucky we are that we graduated with no student loans, that we have wonderful parents who can and will help us out whenever we need them to. And yet I can't help thinking about how the mentality of you get what you pay for is a distinct luxury of the middle to upper-class population. People who have two options and choose the cheaper should expect cheap quality. But what about the people who can't afford to have two options? The people who live in NorthWood Gardens because that's what's affordable, not because they want to save money in order to spend it elsewhere. The people who can't afford to "go green" by shopping at the ever-so-trendy Whole Foods. The people who eat at McDonald's every day because they can eat for $2.00. Or who eat Ramen Noodles because they are $1.75 for a 12-pack. Health food, unfortunately, is also for those who have money.
It's ironic, Luke speculated the other day after another frustrating trip to the grocery store, that even though money doesn't grow on trees, fruit does--and yet we are still forced to choose between fruit and vegetables because we can't afford both...and Luke probably makes more money than most of the people we know from our complex.
Joe was telling me today about his mother trying to figure out her taxes. They apparently were done wrong, and now she's having a lot of trouble figuring out how to fix it. She went to the place where she had them done and they wanted to charge her even more money for them to fix their own mistake. It wasn't until this story that I thought about how ironic it was that Timothy Geithner just got approved to be the Secretary of the Treasury. I really didn't think it was that big of a deal...but it made me wonder what will happen to Joe's mom if she can't get it fixed.
There's all this talk about how it would be wrong to give people back more money than they paid out in taxes. I wonder if the people who are talking can afford both fruit and vegetables...
There are some days I desperately wish that socialism worked. Most days, actually.
I wonder what it is that causes us to think that we get what we work for and those who have nothing obviously just didn't work as hard we we did. In everyday life we can see extreme injustices where this obviously isn't true...where those who have did not necessarily work harder than the have-nots...and yet I still fall prey to these selfish and hoarding thoughts often.
Why is it human nature to exalt some and to oppress others? Why can some sins be erased while others hold people in bondage forever? Why do some people consistently and methodically get taken advantage of?
And what can be done...
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