Apartment maintenance, all by my lonesome. I got this job a year and a half ago, and it has been testing my thin layer of sanity ever since. I will quit as soon as I can, but I am trying to buy my first house, so I need to stay with it for a bit.
I told them when I applied, that I had never done that kind of work before. The ad mentioned they needed someone with painting experience, and I had been doing some of that. I did part-time custodial work while schooling full-time. "We can train you," says the Boss. Sure. My training consists of calling for help when I don't know what to do. As a result, I spend two hours doing half-hour jobs, and I don't do them that well. Of course, common things I'm getting better at. I am the toilet master.
My first day on the job, I go to this apartment complex, seven buildings, 48 units in all. The guy I'm working with tells one of the residents that I will be THE maintenance guy for the whole property. This is news to me. I guess they must have told me I'd be on call, but of course I didn't know I would be the only maintenance guy. At least I can share it half the time with some guys at another property. A few months into the job, the Bossman tells me I should leave my company cell phone on while I'm driving to and fro, just in case. Just a few months ago, after working there for over a year, I am informed that I ought to be leaving the phone on ALL THE TIME. What? Like I want to lug around that giant, rubber-armored Motorola all the time. I could have just started using it for my personal cell phone - that would serve 'em right. Instead, I had the calls forwarded to my personal cell phone. They're pretty good, though, about limiting emergencies to actual emergencies.
Oh, and then there's the fact that the property has no money to buy equipment, as we have had only 75% occupancy in the past, and we still have 8 empty apartments out of 48. No one wants to put in any money (like to hire someone else part-time to help out) until the place starts pulling in more rent, but how can we make any more rent when I can't get any of the vacants turned over? Takes me months, sometimes, to get an apartment ready.
Oh, the best part. Old, upper-middle class women, these are big, "luxury" apartments - mostly old folks, Jewish part of town, but with some blacks and a lot of white goyim. My goodness, these people complain about everything! OK, most of them don't complain that much, but some call twice a week. And every problem is the end of the world. They whine, as if I'm not going to help them unless they are near death. Just tell me what the problem is, and I'll try to fix it, whine to somebody else, (like on an internet forum). On the bright side, most of them love me (they just hate my boss), some are really good folks, and I collect about 300 bucks every Christmas, from Jews and Gentiles alike.
This post could be much longer, but I will stop. Gotta get up early to drive the wife way into work tomorrow, as my truck's transmission needs a rebuild, and we are sharing the Buick. Without a truck, of course, the job is a little harder.