June 24 09
A Random Encounter
About a year ago we had an incident with some people from upstairs who wanted underground parking in our building for their second Benz. They had contacted Strata council for the names of residents who weren’t currently using their spaces, and gotten our phone number. My fiancé received a call from them, telling him that because we didn’t have a car they were going to use our spot. We explained that we liked to keep it empty for visitors or the odd time we rented a car on the weekend. He asked them not to park there, and informed them that if we changed out minds, it wouldn’t be free. They rebutted by threatening to call our landlord if we didn’t hand over our space, claiming that, as renters, we were not allowed to charge for it, or even have any say over it. We made it clear that we had every right to our own space, and that we were paying for it in our rent. We also told them that calling our landlord wouldn’t help their situation, because we were allowed to rent it out if we wanted, and were not about to give it up to some pushy neighbours (um, we didn’t quite word it that way, but that was the message). They were furious. And they came knocking on our door. But we didn’t give in to them, and finally they gave up on us. In September I bought a car, and the issue was resolved.
Earlier this spring we put in an offer on a really funky condo downtown. Our only problem with the place was that it didn’t come with a parking space, and I would have to shell out $200 a month to park my car in a back ally notoriously known for break-ins, drug addicts, and 2am urinations. With this in mind, our offer was low, and we didn’t get the place. Oh well.
The other night we were coming home from a walk, and there was our neighbour from upstairs. She was dressed in a bathrobe and was scrambling to pick up a few items she’d dropped while trying to let herself into the building. We held the door open for her. “Oh thank you!” She said. “And I’m SO sorry your condo purchase fell through!”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, you put in an offer on my condo! Yes, I owned that condo. And I’m SO sorry you didn’t get it and someone else did! I’m REALLY sorry.” She smiled. Did I catch a whiff of insincerity? “Oh, don’t hold the elevator for me, I’m waiting for my husband! I’m so sorry about the condo! Bye!”
We got into the elevator and just looked at each other, shaking our heads. “Seriously, what were the chances of that happening,” I said.
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