a neighbourly update

so, my superintendent has returned from her four-month vacation.

i ran into her in the hallway on monday and expressed my joy at her return – seriously, i almost tackled her. i also asked whether she would be staying on or returning to colombia and, thankfully, she said, “oh no, i’m staying here. i need to be here.”

PHEW.

i was on my way out at the time, and she was dealing with some workmen, so we didn’t chat at length and i didn’t get a chance to ask her for the scoop on what’s happening in the unit next to mine.

if you recall, i panicked when i first realized that omar, the creep from the 10th floor, had moved in. then i was curious when i discovered the weirdo who used to live next door was still living there, too. and, a few days later, it seemed like there might actually be three people living there – omar, the weird guy, and a woman of indeterminate origin.

yesterday, i got home from a screening and had a message on my voicemail. it was from my super, and it was simply, “hello vickie. can you give me a call when you get in?”

so i did.

my super wanted to know if i’d had any problems with my neighbours... whether they’d been causing any disturbances or the like. i said no, but that i wondered what, exactly, was going on over there.

and what she told me was surprising – both because the situation is as bizarre and troublesome as i’d initially suspected.

seems omar, the creep from the 10th floor, had actually been evicted (!) from the building back in january because he hadn’t paid his rent in months. not all that shocking, given that every time i’d see him he would talk about being unemployed. i was correct in assessing the nature of his “lady friends” and learned that the belligerent one who’d threatened to kill the super was actually someone omar had bailed out of jail. apparently, he’d shared that and other stories with my super after said violent-vestibule incident.

anyway, the weirdo from next door – whom my super haaaaaates – offered to take omar in, lord knows why, and now the two are roommates in a one-bedroom apartment.

only...

my super said she has no idea how one person can live in the weirdo’s apartment, let alone two, because... he’s a hoarder! she didn’t use that exact term, but she said the apartment is filled wall-to-wall with boxes and bags of the stuff he “collects”... that there’s almost no furniture and certainly no room for a bed or a couch. i half wonder if omar is the latest addition to this growing “collection.”

when i told her about the construction-like sounds i’d heard through the walls months ago, she suspected that the weirdo – with whom she’s had numerous run-ins over the years – might actually have been building a wall or some kind of room-addition-type-thing. she expressed her profound desire to have him evicted, but he’s careful to tread carefully right up to the limits of what he can do as a tenant while still remaining within the rules. he knows exactly what he can get away with and puts his toes to that line without crossing it.

my super told me these two guys are “the worst tenants” she’s had in this building in the 20 years she’s run it, and now they’re living in the same apartment.

right next door to me.

i’m happy to report that, knock on wood, i haven’t had any problems with omar or the weirdo since the move-in happened. save for the incessant opening and closing (slamming, actually) of their front door, and the occasional leering elevator ride, they’ve been relatively quiet and scarce.

and it’s a huge relief to know that the super is not only on the case, but that she’s actively looking to get them both out so that she can move a good tenant in.