Things Sometimes Work Out
Yesterday was a pretty good day, as far as regular days go. I got stuck at work late, but it worked out well because Swedish Girl called and wanted to meet up for dinner and drinks. That saved me a whole lot of time and miles since I hadn’t gone home yet. There’s something pretty cool about having your wife buy you a beer, too. While sitting at the bar and telling Swedish Girl about the trials and tribulations of my day, I mentioned how it’s not always easy to please everyone, specifically your friends and family. I, much like most of you, try, but do not always succeed. I rattled off a short list of people in need of pleasing and the things I had to try to do to keep them happy.
The list, as usual, included Cool Jesus. Aside from How I Met Your Mother on Monday nights, Thursday is the only TV night I care about. I had to head home, watch My Name is Earl and The Office, and then burn rubber to a local coffee house to watch my friend’s band. He would have been bummed out if I hadn’t shown up, knowing how close I live to the venue. Well, I raced home to find out that Earl and Office were reruns, so I raced back out and caught my friend’s band along with a mutual friend of ours. So, things worked out and I managed to make two people happy.
Earlier in the day, I found out that my landlord is going on a month-long vacation. This is excellent timing for a somewhat complicated reason. See, the smoke detector in my apartment does not work, but it’s not battery-operated. It’s hard-wired into the building. Also, my apartment doesn’t have a carbon monoxide detector, which is now against the law in Massachusetts. I brought this to my landlord’s attention in September and, despite his promises, he never provided them. He eventually said that I could buy them and subtract them from my October rent.
Push came to shove and I never did get around to buying the smoke and CO detectors. My landlord even called me (I have never had so much phone time with a landlord in all my life) and said that I lost my chance. He said the offer was no longer valid. Just as I was about to lay into him, he said, “Gotcha! Just kidding, Brian! I got you good!” The guy is insane. I had to tell him that I actually bought the detectors, but was so used to writing out the rent check for the same amount, that I forgot to subtract the cost. He pressed me further, asking how much they cost (because he had already instructed me to not buy “the fancy ones”) and I told him they were about $20 each. I hope this is accurate.
I plan on picking up the two detectors tonight, subtracting them from the rent check on Tuesday, and giving the rent check to his brother on Wednesday. Since my landlord won’t be back for a month, hopefully he won’t ask why the detectors I bought in September have receipts dated October. Things just work out sometimes.
