The humble side of town...

I heard a phrase today that I have decided to use from now on to describe the apartments in the area formely known as the hood. "The humble side of town." Sounds better eh?

Today began the long task of roach treatments. Roaches were fleeing everywhere, running for their lives! It still gives me the heeby geebies. We went into, yet, another vacant apartment today, and I am not joking when I tell you that there were literaly spiders covering every square inch of the entire ceiling in the 1000 square foot apartment. I gave up counting at 52. And this, coupled with the 24 roaches I counted in the bathroom alone, wandering around gave me one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Good pest control.

We have begun to align our forces creating strategic aliances with several of the residents, especially the property gossips, in order to obtain information on numerous residents that we suspect of foul play. The best alliances are with kids. You be suprised at how far a $1.00 toy will go and how much information it can gain you. Last week we raided the dollar store and came out with $127.48 of bribery. These can also be good to give away during apartment showings. Get in good with the kids, and you are home free! Parents want their kids to be happy, and when they are happy on your property, you're the applications come in!

One apartment community we sprayed today has eight apartments with, at last count, 56 residents all Samoan, and all related. We have almost their entire extended family living within the confines of these walls. Which is amazing not just due to the sheer number of them, but also the sheer size. When each person averages 300 pounds, 1000 square feet does not go a long way. They are so cramped in there, it is no wonder they all have holes in the walls from all of the fighting. And, they are just not small holes, I can fit my entire body through these holes if I want to. And, I love how they try and hide them behind the sheets hanging on the wall--nice cover. One apartment is so bad, we have to replace three doors, and use an entire piece of sheetrock just to do the repairs.

As I walk these apartments and get to know each resident, it continually amazes me how people live and what conditions they subject themselves to, some out of desperation, some out of addictions. Those that are the addicts don't keep me up at night, however, the kids that are living in these situations and are subjected not only to these living conditions, but also to their parents addictions, makes me understand even further why our kids in society are so screwed up. I went into an apartment of a crack addict today, she has three kids. The oldest daughter, no more than 20, has become a crack addict herself. The middle son, a senior in high school, has just come back to live with his mom because of "issues" with the dad. Can only imagine what those are. Anyway, he seems to have his act together as well as can be expected. He wants to become a cosmetologist. Everytime I see him, he is watching his little brother, who appears to be about 7. He is always on the phone with his friends, yet never seems to be able to see them because he is always watching his brother, doing the laundry, washing dishes. Very sad. All while his mom is in the back getting high with his sister. Can you imagine what it would be like for the little one if he was not there? Their house is so filthy, there is old food lying out, roaches crawling all over it and the countertops. And, the mom is standing in the middle of this mess yelling at us and telling us she does live like a pig. Her house is normally clean. She'll spray for the roaches herself...don't worry. Yeah right! Just like she takes care of the rest of her life...

This my friends, is the humble side of town.