Sunday morning I slept in, sort of. And read a bunch of New Moon. And had a kind of long chat with my mom, and told her about the whole thing.
A girl came by to check out Courtney's apartment; she decided to move in, which meant I could stay there a maximum of one more night. And keeping my stuff at her house was not really an option either.
We went to church at 1pm. Church was pretty good,
except people would ask me if I was new, and it was like "um, I don't know. I signed a contract here, so technically I'm in the ward, but I got kicked out because my landlord is mentally...not all there, so I'm looking for something else, so I don't really know if I'm staying in the ward or what...it just depends on where I can find something. But I would
like to stay in the ward, because it seems great, and it's so so close to campus..." And that's just awkward and confusing. But whatever.
I went to the new-people meeting, but I didn't fill out a new-person card. I talked to a member of the Bishopric, and let him know the situation. And warned him about the house, which is in their ward boundaries. Gave him Jeff's name and phone number, and the address, and gave him my name and phone number as well. (As an aside, the man from the Bishopric looks strikingly similar to my mission president.)
A girl in the ward offered to let me put my stuff in her garage while I'm between places. This was actually a very very helpful offer because Courtney was getting her new roommate, and she lives up a bunch of narrow stairs. I told the girl thank you thank you, and that I maybe would take her up on the offer. We exchanged phone numbers and stuff.
Courtney's (and maybe my) ward has a housing specialist, so I called her. [She actually emailed me back yesterday. She emailed everyone a list of stuff that's available. The very first thing on the list is Jeff's stupid house. OH! There's a picture, too. I wonder if I could download it and post it on here...? (NOTE: It's in .docx format, which my work computer doesn't recognize. Too bad.)]
While we waited for the train home, I called my boss and let her know about the situation. She confirmed that I'm out of PTO, and said she hoped that I would be able to come down to Provo to work in the office, but knew that I probably couldn't. She said we'd get through it and do what we can about it. I'm already on attendance probation at work, from back when I had a 3 hour commute to work (each way). I was sleep deprived and I was late too many times. So my attendance is supposed to be perfect right now. I'd been using PTO, but now that I'm out of that, I
really needed to not have to move again. She was good about it, anyway, though. (PS, if I lose my job because of Jeff, I will be very, very angry.)
By the time we got home from church, I had a reply to an email I'd sent someone on Craigslist. I called and made an appointment to see the house that evening. It seemed like it would work! And if it did, hopefully I could sign right away, and just move my stuff in, instead of moving it into the girls' garage. I called Jess and Mitch, and asked them if they could come up to Salt Lake and help me move, either into the new house or into the garage. They said they would come. I planned to meet them right after I checked out the house.
Carlos came by to pick up a dresser that he had left at Courtney's house. Apparently he went to pick up his bed from the house, and when he talked about deposits with Jeff, Jeff told him "You know what you did. I'll have to think about it." (Whaaaat...)
Courtney gave me a key to her apartment since she was going to Provo with a friend and she wasn't sure if she was coming back that night. She also let me borrow an umbrella since it was
pouring rain.
The house was perfect. It was in an okay location (though not nearly as close). It was very cute inside. The living room and kitchen were massive. The bedroom was kinda small, but cute, and perfect for me. The price was fine. They said I would have to pretend I didn't live there if the landlord came, because they were only able to have more people if they were related to the people who already lived there. (Which is kinda funny because it was a big house and everyone had their own rooms...) I said no problem! The girl who showed me the house was way nice, so the roommate situation looked good. I asked about when I could sign.
The girl said it was first come, first served, and that a couple had wanted to see it a few days before, but that the girls were not available to show the house then. So they had been promised first pick, but she said that if they didn't want it, I could sign for it. But, basically, it was an engaged couple. She needed to have an apartment because her parents would want to think she had her own apartment. But really, she would just be putting her stuff there, and she would be living with her guy. So since they were fine with the price (obviously), and since she wasn't actually going to be living there, I couldn't think of any reason why they wouldn't take it. Sigh. Too bad. She said they'd let me know, though, so I thanked her and left.
I called and let the girls know I would be bringing stuff by.
I met Jess and Mitch at the house. I was totally nervous! Jess and I walked up to the door as Mitch parked, and as I went to unlock the door, I could see Jeff sitting on the couch in the living room. When he heard me opening the door, he sprang up off of the couch and left the living room.
We loaded up our first load of stuff. And took it to the girls' house. They were super nice and helped unload, which made moving way fast and easy. (This was especially nice because of the rain.) We told them there would be one more (smaller!) load, which we planned to bring in like 15 minutes.
We went back and loaded up the rest of my stuff. And then we needed to give Jeff my keys and (hopefully!) get my deposit back. SO nervous about that. We hoped that he would cooperate, and planned to call the police if he caused any problems.
We filed downstairs, and Mitch knocked on Jeff's door. The light was on, but we weren't sure if he was in there or not. Mitch told him to please come out so that we could talk. Nothing. Mitch knocked some more. Nothing. Mitch told him that if he didn't come out, we would call the police, and wouldn't it just be easier for everyone if we didn't have to do that? Nothing.
So I called the police. The dispatch lady was very clear with me that the police would not help me get my deposit back, but said that they could come to "keep the peace" if I wanted. I said "yes, please," and she said she would send someone. The front door was open and we went and sat on the couch to wait for the officer. I tried calling Jeff, and I left a message saying would he please meet us at the house? I needed to return my keys. Nothing.
We wondered what would happen when the police came. We worried a little that Jeff would stay in his room, or not be home, and they would come and then just leave right away.
A bit later, I got a call from the officer who had talked with me on Saturday. He said he saw the call and that he would be the one coming. Great.
The police arrived. We discussed the situation a little bit more, but not a lot, because I'd already told him. They reminded me that they were not going to help me get my deposit back. I asked their permission to steal the mini-fridge and microwave from my bedroom, and they said I couldn't. (Jess suggested I take the TV, too.) We went back downstairs; they were going to try knocking, though we all knew that he might not even be there.
The police knocked. And they were awesome at it. THUD THUD THUD "THIS IS THE POLICE, JEFF." THUD THUD THUD. "YOU NEED TO COME OUT SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT THIS." (or something like that) THUD THUD THUD.
AND THEN! Right behind me I heard Jeff unlocking the back door! It was like a surprise attack from behind. "He's coming in the back door!" I told the police.
We all went back upstairs, and the police greeted Jeff when he got the door open. They asked him if there was somewhere they could talk. Jeff invited them outside. The officers said no, it's raining, and suggested they meet in the living room. Jeff said that would be okay.
The police told Jess and I we should wait outside, so we went out to the car. Mitch hung out in my room or the front entryway, or something. Apparently, they asked him if he had any weapons, and they patted him down. Awesome.
I don't know what all they talked about, but after several minutes, they invited me back in. They wanted my keys. (That was the whole point of having them there; I had to give my keys back so that I wasn't charged for them, but I was suuuuper uncomfortable having any interaction with him.) The police took my keys and handed them to him. I heard the tail-end of their conversation. "Jeff, what you're doing is illegal. I would strongly advise you to..." etc. And Jeff would say something about how we all have to get along in the apartment. Carlos had disrupted things, and that had ruined the harmony of the house, and so we all had to go. And the police were like "that's your problem, but if you have signed contracts you can't make people leave."
Oh, and another fun thing he said was he said that he had called me to "tell me how things were." I was like !! (shock!) "Whaaaat!?! You didn't 'tell me how things were'! You told me you would throw my things on the street if they weren't gone the morning of the first!"
I asked about my deposit, and Jeff told me he had already fulfilled the contract. He said on the contract he had agreed to have high speed internet installed and that he'd done that. I said, that's not what a deposit is for. (And anyway, what good is high speed internet if he kicks me out two days after it's set up?!) He said it cost $400, so I couldn't have my deposit back. And then he started saying he'd already said I could have it back. I need to have a man call him on the 15th, and then I can have it. But not me, because he doesn't want to talk to a girl about it. He needs some time to get it from his other business. And he started saying something else and the police told him to zip his lips. And they started concluding things.
The police reminded him that what he was doing was illegal, and that it didn't matter if he was getting along with everyone, that our contracts meant that he couldn't kick us out. And Jeff like, interrupted again, and the police told him to shut up, that they were the ones doing the talking. They said some other stuff, and they gave him my keys, and said that we were done.
And we left. We headed towards the girls' house, and they called asking if we were still coming. I said we were, and we got there like a minute later. We unloaded the rest of my stuff.
We went back to Courtney's to pick up my work computer, and the box of my important documents, and my blankets, and my foodstuffs, and I left the key and a note on the whiteboard thanking her. And I got in the car and rode back to Draper, to Jess' in laws' house. Again. We told the excellent story, and everyone went to bed. (Except me, since I had work.)
Anyhow, Carlos has been texting me this week; we're waiting to see if he actually does return our deposits on the 15th. And then if not, we'll get as many of us together as we can (hopefully us, plus Courtney and another girl), and sue him in small claims court. Hopefully he'll just return our deposits, though, because that would be easier for everyone.
The End. (Well, sort of, anyway.)
The other orange boy. Getting a bath, which he wanted none of. Also, Kiki.
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