The Secret Life of Doormen & Contractors: The murky world of luxe Manhattan Coops

My new url is secretlivesofdoormen.com. Secretlife Please visit. Back to the title:
Oh you can’t? Watch me. I knew he meant it in as “make it up” but liked the headline. I had errands to do this morning, in my post manic pre real recovery haze.

I was told that the doorman who was caught doing the act in the laundry room, told me my tip wasn’t large enough while sneezing on me, forced an old man to give him money, finally went too far. He was caught in a person’s apartment urinating on the floor after having done other vile and gross things. He was finally fired.

The other doormen are scared that we will stop trusting them. We know who to trust and who not to.

Our super is a good man who lost close family members in 9/11 and was new then. I’m the girl who lost her mother the next month and just wanted to be left alone….

My super had first begun making unannounced visits the prior summer when I actually worked in an office not here. I could tell and complained to him. He couldn’t understand why I wanted notice on an non emergency basis. I explained and told him in light of the prior supers perversions he should be on best behavior.

I began free lancing that fall and had many floods beginning around Christmas. I wanted him here without notice when the floods happened but thought he could give me fifteen minutes notice for the rest of the work. He couldn’t. He continued to come in whenever he felt like. There were many mornings I had migraines–get them instead of crying. My Mom had just died. 9/11 had happened. I need space and got none. I was actually getting assignments and often had to be out at night, would write when I came home, and kind of love sleeping. Had a lot of cable problems too. Between the super and the cable company I felt as though I were under siege and forced to live a 9-5 life. Which is hard when you get home at Midnight and have an early AM deadline.

True I had three floods caused by old pipes bursting but…

I finally complained to the managing agent–our building’s staff and daily minutia is run by an outside firm and the unannounced visits stopped. I would trust this super with my life. But it’s the principle. You only go into a person’s apartment without permission in an emergency. Is that hard to understand?

Yes when the person is a single female who works at home. In the building they call him “old school” and expect me to understand that he can’t respect me as much just because I’m single and work at home. However, I have a strange charm, and keep things between us, so he does respect me, and is actually helping with the renovation. Want any boxes?

The super really comes to life when talking about pipes and floods. I have learned that my bedroom–part of the old kitchen and maids room has many pipes under the floor. This isn’t a good thing as until they found and capped them they could be prone to flooding. They also make it very hard to put new flooring on. The part that has the most–pipes covered with newspapers–was where the old soaking tub was. It’s now a cute entry hall.

A two bedroom two bath is now for sale for twice what I could get. It’s maintenance or monthly charges are about $250 more than mine. That is so unfair.

I just got my first 07 tax form. From the building. Though my monthly expenses went up over 40%, the building owes less in mortgages and I can deduct less. I guess that’s good for selling.

I can’t wait to move so I can set my own sleeping hours

And I will have money to spend on other things besides apartment costs, health insurance, food and other luxuries.

My one political statement in this blog. Health insurance shouldn’t be a luxury.