"don't you worry, baby, don't you worry..." Steve Miller Band, 'The Joker'

The Joker

I seriously need some assertiveness training.

I rent a large, beautiful purple house from a couple whose daughter I had in class two years ago. They're nice people, and although I wouldn't say we're friends, we're amiable. I always turn in my rent before the due date. They always respond to problems quickly. It's worked nicely for the past year and a half. And my rent is pretty cheap for as much room as I have, and besides the scary, trashy neighbors, I'm happy with it.

Now, I'm in Ohio (oh, no, school system, have I revealed too much?!), and it's early October, so it's bordering on chilly. I don't need a winter coat yet, but I'm wearing long sleeves, and if I went out after dark, I'd need some sort of jacket. There's a bite to the air. The house was built in the mid-1800's, and it's drafty. So I know that I'm going to need my heat sometime soon, even if it's just to make sure the house can stay around 65.

Early last week, I turned on my heat when I got up in the morning. I had just showered, so my hair was wet, and I was cold, so I thought I'd flip it on for a minute. Nothing happened. I played with the thermostat for a minute, and then I remember that last year, when I went to turn on the heat for the first time, it didn't work. The pilot light was off, and when I called the landlord, it took him a day or so to turn it on, because it was weird kind and needed something ordered in order for it to work. So I sent a text message to the landlord's wife and asked her to have her husband come over and look at the furnace, since it wasn't working again. She responded that she would, and I took the kid to the sitter and went to work.

The landlord didn't come by that day, or the next. I sent another text, and she said she would remind him again. Still nothing. It was getting a little warmer, but I had heard that we were going to take a cold dip that weekend, so I was hoping to get the heat fixed. I supposed he was busy, but it was the HEAT. I had a 3 year old child. I needed it to work, just in case.

Yesterday (Friday), I took my rent over to their house. As I handed it over to the wife, she said "Has Barry (her husband) been over yet?" I answered that he had not, and she frowned. "I will remind him," she said. I thanked her. However, he didn't come over last night.

This morning, at 8, I sent her another text. I reminded her that I had a 3 year old, and I absolutely needed the heat to work. She said he would be over today. It's now almost 4 in the afternoon, and he has not been by. It's getting chilly in here. Yes, we can bundle up, and we'll make it. Yes, I could go and buy a space heater of some kind. But that's not the point. They manage ONE house. It's been SIX days. All he has to do is drive the ONE block to my house, walk down the basement stairs, and look at the furnace.

So what do I do? Do I call her? I hate to be the annoying person who bugs them. Do I just wait and see if he shows up? Do I bundle the kid and I up and whine to them tomorrow? I know my ex-husband would go and bang on their door and be an asshole to them, but I really don't want to get on their bad side. We have a good relationship. But I think it's rude to go that long without fixing the damn furnace. It's cold, and it's going to get more cold.

I hate being the adult.

UPDATE: First, I called my friend Dave, who lives a few minutes away. I wanted to check with him that it was actually cold. He agreed that it was, and that I wasn't a whiny bitch for complaining about the furnace (although, he mentioned, I was a whiny bitch for other reason). So I called and left a plaintive message on my landlord's phone. The wife texted and said her husband would be over at 5. At 4:45, he and his son showed up. He checked to make sure I had the thermostat turned on right (do I look THAT dumb?). It was - surprise! Then they went downstairs to look. The pilot light was on, so something else was messed up. He said he'd have to call someone else and they'd be over "soon". I asked him how soon "soon" was, and he said "asap". I said, "well, it's a good thing it's not December" and he said "well, if it was, you'd be at the top of the list". So I guess I'm at the bottom of the list. Cold.