Paint is like Duct Tape...

Again I've been ignoring my blog because of all the activity surrounding my recent move. Well, tomorrow is officially our final day in our town home and what a nightmare the cleaning process has been.

Seriously, where did we get so much shit? We found things we hadn't seen in over a year.

As I cleaned, I learned an important lesson. Paint is like duct tape, it can apparently fix anything.

As I was scrubbing the baseboards and counter tops, like a good resident would do before moving, I discovered that everything was actually getting dirtier as I scrubbed. How can this be you ask?

After looking at my sponge, I found the answer. Paint.

Apparently instead of cleaning the apartment when the previous resident(s) moved out it was actually easier to PAINT OVER THE DIRT! The more I scrubbed, the more paint I was actually removing from the cabinets, baseboards, counter tops (yes, they painted the counter tops) and grout. Off with the paint came the dirt from who knows how long ago.

I thought I may throw up. But, instead I continued to peel away at the layers and decided that our place is now cleaner than the day we moved in.

Let's just see how our checkout goes tomorrow...

i must be high...

Or my expectations are. Is it so wrong to just want things a certain way because that's the way you want them and the way that they should be? Is it so wrong to expect people to do their jobs, what they are PAID to do? Everyone wants a gold star for something these days and quite frankly very few actually go above and beyond do deserve one.

For example, take my server the other day. I ordered soup and salad. Easy right? Well, one would think but living in Virginia where there is no such thing as customer service, it doesn't come as any surprise that he'd manage to screw it up. Not only did he screw it up, but he got pissed when I asked him to bring me what I had actually ordered. After that little stomp and pout performance that he put on, he managed to leave empty dishes on the table for the next 45 minutes as well.

Or my apartment maintenance. I had a leak in my heater two weeks ago. Simple fix? Maybe. Did it end up to be? No. A gigantic hole was left in my wall for a week because apparently you can't fix a leak and patch a wall at the same time. Five days later, the hole is supposed to be repaired. Fine. I was looking forward to going home to see my newly repaired wall and was instead the recipient of a rage filled phone call because our sliding glass door has been left wide open for hours and it's literally 14 degrees outside. The house is no longer 70 degrees but rather 40 with the heater running full blast trying to keep up.

Apparently, it's a good idea to let paint dry in a ventilated area no matter what the temperature. The response from the maintenance department when we called to complain? "I'm sorry, they didn't know the cold air would come into the house". Are you kidding me??? It sounds like a more thorough hiring process is in order on that one. Can't wait to see that bill next month.

(Note: This also doesn't go into how they painted over the screws to the heating unit so now it can't be opened to change the filter.)

(Or how they didn't even use the right paint color or let the spackling paste dry before they painted over it)

Is it really asking too much to get the service that you are actually paying for? Are people really so jaded to poor service that they expect nothing less? I just can't get past expecting that everyone do what they're supposed to and do it right.

I'm not looking for perfection, just a little effort now and again. Though everyone tells me to, I'm just not ready to lower my expectations and I dont' think I should have to.