Hoops and Baskets

Well, I learned yesterday that my furniture and stuff won't be arriving until Thursday. [Groan] I'm really not sleeping all that well on the inflatable mattress. Last night, I kept waking up and checking the clock (my cell phone) to see if it was close to time to get up. First time I remember wishing the night would go faster. (Generally, I LOVE to sleep.)

Everything about this move has been, to say in a positive light, an adventure. (Jumping through hoops and discovering there's no floor after the hoop feels more like it.) One such hoop: getting the key to my apartment.

I called the building manager -- let's just call her V -- the week before my arrival, asking if I would be able to pick up the key when I arrived on Sunday. No...since the management office isn't open on Sundays, that wouldn't work. I asked if I could have a friend pick it up (one of my new coworkers, an extremely nice and helpful girl, lives close by), and V said yes, I would just need to have a notarized letter sent to the main office and fax her a copy. I did that, sending the notarized letter by FedEx to ensure it arrived.

Saturday comes, and I get a call from my coworker-friend, letting me know they didn't "have the key ready." (whatever that means) Seems she was told by V that it was V's mistake and that she was now trying to bend the rules by letting the "super" give me the key on Sunday. My coworker-friend told me to "get New-York on her," meaning give her attitude if she didn't come through.

When I arrived on Sunday, as previously posted (below), everyone in the building seemed to know I was from Texas and was waiting for me. Yesterday, I finally met V, an intense, slightly frazzled NY- or NJ-accented woman, who apologized profusely for the mix-up. At this point, she's bending over backwards for me to do whatever she can to make my life better. Then, she said, "I have a little something for you to apologize." And she comes back from around the corner with a HUGE basket of food and goodies! It includes cookies, juice, jelly, snack bars, fruit, pasta & sauce, bread, cheese, and some plastic ware. All this, and I didn't even have to "get NY."