Saturday, February 25, 2006

Memoirs... Our first apartment

Our first apartment had an apartment supervisor named Mrs. Bell. She was a short little lady, I'd say in her seventies, very small with tiny feet. She lived on the second floor. This woman was very meticulous in enforcing apartment rules. "No pets, and no letting any friends' pets in here! No Christmas trees! Christmas trees are a fire hazard!" We had some Christmas lights up which she spotted, and she was very concerned they may burn the place down.

Whenever we'd get a package and we were not home, Mrs. Bell would hold it for us. She'd leave this message on our answering machine, (imagine your best old lady voice) "Geooorge, I got a package for ya!" Then later she'd come to our door with it, with her signature "shave and a haircut" knock. I'd open the door and get a lecture because I didn't say, "Who is it?!" You always have to say "Who is it?" You can never be too careful!

My most memorable conversation with Mrs. Bell is this...

Mrs. Bell: Yesterday afternoon a girl down the hall tried to KILL herself! She slit her wrists!

Me: Really? That's TERRIBLE!

Mrs. Bell: I know! She got blood all over the CARPET! Now I have to call the cleaners!

9 comments:

Big Al said...

Awww, she just wants a friend! Did you bake her any cookies?

Jenn said...

better yet, make her a gift basket of...cleaners.

great quote on my blog...SOO true.

Unknown said...

What a hilarious little old woman?! hehe

She's tough on the outside, but I bet she's a softie at heart. Baking her cookies is a good idea, but be prepared for a lecture on that, too! ;) Gotta love 'em old ladies!

Michael K. Althouse said...

I can understand your concern! I know how hard it is to get blood out of carpets. ;'}

~Mike

Jenn said...

big al, We gave her a box of Swiss Colony chocolates for Christmas. She took them without saying thank you. (not sure what that meant)

jennybee aka Emma, I don't think she'd have gone near that blood with any cleaner. She hired somebody.

Cinthia, she gave us a few good laughs.

Mr. Althouse, I'll bet it doesn't clean off easy. Basically the message was, "if you're going to kill yourself, please don't do it on the carpet!" (that should have been in the contract we signed).

SusiebadoozieQzee, I have never seen that movie. Is it an old one? We could have made a sitcom out of our time there with Mrs. Bell!

Sarah said...

You have the most interesting things happen to you!

Bar L. said...

No - tell me she didn't say that!!! It sounds like a sit-com scene!


I love your stories. I am glad I am not the only one with weird stories to tell, people think I'm making them up sometimes!

Michelle said...

Bake her Cookies??? OMG, no way, she sounds like "Nurse Ratchett" LOL! Yikes!! Wow, it sounds like something out of a movie.....horror movie! I'm so glad you're not there any more!

Jenn said...

Sarah, I suppose. :)

bar bar a, yes, I think if we're all actually living in our own little sitcoms. Truth is stranger than fiction.

michelle, my first thought from big al's comment was that he must not have read the entire post! She was not scary, not a Nurse Ratchett. Just an odd little old lady and we often got a good laugh about her.