Whew, just got off phone with the LL. Told him the boys suggested $405 (a $10 increase per week rather than $20). Was expecting a little fight and being me got all nervous and worked up, had to write down what I was gonna say and prepared my counter arguments. I caught me out, saying “did you expect me to whine?” Guess my relief was that evident. Thank god it wasn’t face to face. woopee! Feel like I’ve won a battle. Also said we could have the new agreement and rate start from January thus delaying the increase till next year.
I just hate having dramas relating to housing – maybe it’s because I’ve moved so many times in the last few years. Once you’ve had to uproot a few times in succession I guess you stop caring and it gets easier to move, but I really have reached that threshold where I want to stay put despite the cons. I dislike getting in touch with the LL to settle our utility bills and (thank gosh we don’t share the phone, and that water comes quarterly) prefer to let them build up for a few months, seeing as he uses so little. I even hate contacting the property manager about repairs. I’m not sure why. Feels like I’m inconveniencing them or somethign even though it’s what they get paid for and it’s why we are tenants, not owners.
It was pretty guts to have our water bill double on us this last quarter though. Turns out there’s a sneaky leak somewhere, possibly under the house. We had to pay the bill, in full, of course, before the due date or get hit with late fees. Hopefully Metrowater will refund us some of it (apparently they do if you follow their process, which I did forward on to the LL…) but not all. Which is fair enough, seeing as the leak isn’t their fault. But it’s not ours either. Nor the LL’s. Who should pay in that case? We haven’t been using all that extra water. It’s a tricky one. No one ideally would. If we weren’t paying for water at all then it would all be up to the LL, but seeing as we split it it gets a bit murky. Of course he could be a nice guy and foot all the extra charges, but how likely is that?
It’s been a super busy day with a new opportunity for me at work. Going in early Friday morning (when I was planning to hit the darkroom and catch up on my sorely neglected photography). Starting next week and then through the summer, which combined with my usual stuff will give me Mon-Fri work. YAY!!!!!
Exam week throws a bit of a spanner into the works. Also the fact that I’m also continuing my usual hours in online through study week, giving me virtually no time at all to study. Ah stress, stress, why do these things all come at once! But I consider myself lucky to have this chance, considering the way things are. I’m really surprised they had something like this to offer me. Still, someone’s leaving and I’m filling her gap for a few months, and I’m cheap laboru compared to what I’m sure they paid her.
Just looking over the latest union rates, I notice that OCAs’ wages are at the same rates as journos. Which I find odd. I’m not saying we don’t do a lot,; we work hard for our money and it’s an often thankless job. But I’ve always thought of journalism as being one rung up, seeing as you generally need a qualification. I assumed I’d go up a step if I’m lucky enough to score an editorial job later on (and I would, but one step up is not much at all). What was nice I thought was a clause saying we OCAs could apply for online editorial jobs and be considered, and we would be trained shoudl we succeed in getting such a position.
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