Just when you thought it was safe...

[sanpaku_backup]

I had more or less figgered the landlady would not have the guts to call or write back or anything. After the days when she probably received our letter passed, I let down my guard a little.

So when Mrs. Sanpaku told me she'd called today-- while she was out-- we were both filled with a certain thrilling dread. It was nothing more than to say that she was sending a letter that we would get in a week.

So I figure we must have drawn blood. Unless she somehow has short-circuited the laws I have discovered about the landlord-client relationship-- which includes all kinds of things like interest on the deposit, the need for rights to be in the lease, and various other things like that. Which is possible. I worry about it. But I go over it in my mind and it seems unlikely.

So what is there to talk about? What's in it for her? If she was smart, she would just call a lawyer and wait for the subpoena. But otherwise, logically, there are really only two things she could call to say. One is to rant and scream-- possible, but not likely, and in any case just upsetting rather than a real problem. The other is to negotiate, which I am perfectly amenable to. I keep telling myself this. But it's this huge shoe waiting to drop. I had distanced myself from this mess by this weekend but now I am back in war mode.

To clarify the point raised a couple of weeks ago: is this worth it? Certainly Mrs. Sanpaku doesn't think so. The more we talk about it the more terrified she is that somehow the landlady will a) go to the secret conclave of all landlords and tell our current landlord how bad we are, so we'll be evicted from here, or b) will threaten to do all kinds of awful things, including concocting thousands of dollars of damage we did to the house.

I tell her that a) is absurd and b) is too. The landlady can't say we damaged the property more than she already listed in her letter. I can hear her in court-- "yes judge, I uh... forgot that they destroyed the north wall... in that first letter... just slipped my mind until I got their letter..." So from my perspective she can't get any more from us legally, while we have pretty much nothing to lose except the pittance she "returned" of the deposit.

I have thought this over a thousand times and it still keeps coming up in my head. I would not let some random burglar steal $625 from me in my house without fighting. Why should I allow the landlady to do the same thing? And here I have what I think is a pretty good legal case, and nothing to lose except small claims court filing costs.

But I would be lying if I said I didn't share some of the agita. Being screwed over in money-- it just hits me very deep. When I was in Israel, as a teenager, I got cheated once by a jeweler. I bought this ring for myself and when the guy came back from "resizing" it all the gold on it was gone, it was a piece of crap. And of course I'd already given him 30 bucks. It made me so mad that I literally was screaming with rage in the streets. My girlfriend at the time broke down crying because she'd never seen me like that. And the relationship was never the same afterwards.

I am no saint, but I think most people who meet me act like I am a well-natured person who tires to be nice to everyone. Some have gone so far as to imply that as a sucker I am in perpetual danger in this world. I am the person who falls for the practical jokes, who believes every ruse he hears. The idea that I am unable to take care of myself has accordingly haunted my whole life.

I also have a very vulnerable spot toward any kind of callousness. I really can't believe people act like they do. I was listening to a convicted bank robber on NPR the other day; he was explaining that he got a thrill from it because he brought a little bit of terror to the people he robbed and showed them what the world was really like. For whatever reason, at base I find myself caught between expecting that life will be more or less manageable, and the fear that at any moment the bottom will drop out. If you look at what happens to people all the time-- they get sick, they lose their jobs, and so on-- I couldn't handle one tenth of that kind of thing! Mrs. Sanpaku is much like me in that respect. Her response to the landlady's actions is, "why bother fighting-- it was totally predictable that she'd do that-- and we'll never win."

So it's this combination of fatalism and complacency that breeds the terror. But of course it also breeds that desire for revenge or at least a cosmic evening of the scales that lurks in the hearts of all doormat people everywhere. So while it might be unpleasant to sue her and that unpleasantness might last for a while, I have the feeling these days that I will feel worse, for much longer, if I don't stand up for myself.

ETC.

Nothing much is happening otherwise, anyways.

Comments

Eine Kleine Klarification

[(Anonymous)]

For the record, I am NOT "terrified ... that somehow the landlady will ... go to the secret conclave of all landlords and tell our current landlord how bad we are, so we'll be evicted from here." I am, instead, terrified that she may still have our current landlord's phone number from the reference verification process. Dialing up that number and speaking a few choice words would be a very easy way for her to make life very difficult for us.

My additional misgivings relate more to posible legal ramifications than the concoction of additional damages. In her message, she spoke very cautiously and deliberately, with a keen awareness that she was being recorded. Also, she took care not to reveal what the letter was about. I think she ran straight to a lawyer, who promptly armed her with every dirty trick in the book.

For the record, my dear, we both know that I'm hoping I'm wrong and you're right (as you usually are!) Time will tell.

- "Mrs. Sanpaku"

Re: Eine Kleine Klarification

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

You think a woman who can't get it together to fix a leaky bathtub for 6 months is going to have our current landlord's phone number around? I'd be amazed if she has receipts from the "damage" we caused, let alone the landlord's phone number. In any event, a) our current landlord wants our money; b) it's very, very hard to evict someone for no reason under the law-- indeed, probably impossible; c) you give her too much credit.

And that's the end of that chapter.

hi

[ex-bjorn905.livejournal.com]

and good luck with all that you two.