Friday, October 16, 2020

What a beautiful day

 Last weekend had a cooking mishap at my house.  I baked my lovely squash, but in the process a baking dish exploded. What a mess.


That was only the beginning of it. There was glass in the tray underneath, and all over the squash, which was baking upside down. I cleaned off the squash and ate them this week. 

I sent the picture of the mess to the park manager, who will no longer admit people to her office. Having no answer, I sent the picture to the park super. No answer.

The park super is grumpy past description. He really is not the ideal superintendent at any time. His sidekick quit and went to another facility maintenance job we hear he really likes. So now the super takes care of three parks alone, and his temper flies wherever.

I heard nothing all week, but no matter. I can bake a potato in the microwave. By yesterday I decided I would just use an oven full of glass. My mouth was set on mac and cheese!

There was a bang, bang, bang on my door this morning. I  invited the super in, and he came with my doorbell in his hand. He yelled "Why didn't you answer the bell?" and I said probably because it needs a battery and I can't pull the case off.

Then he looked in the oven, and all hell broke loose. He boiled it down to my problem. I stood my ground. He left, went to his truck and came back with a small vacuum, not powerful enough to inhale Pyrex pieces. 

It was a long job, lots of yelling. Enough said; he finally finished and left me to clean the inside before the racks went back. When the door closed, I cried like an old fool.  In the end I had to call my neighbor to come put the racks back in because I wasn't strong enough to push them in

Cathy came and slipped the racks in, easy peasy. Like butter. Those racks have been upside down for a year and a half, always difficult to pull out to access whatever was baking.

I took a package to the post office, stopped at the dollar store and bought a teeny weeny battery for the doorbell, that now rings. The sun is shining.


The cat has yet to recover from all the yelling this morning. He is not pleased that I went outside to admire the sunshine. He might be less pleased to know there is a frost warning. Laura is coming on Sunday, to take down my plants.


And there will be mac and cheese for supper! The nice crumb topping is Laura's tip. From the toaster crumb tray.



47 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear you to deal with an unsavory human, Joanne. Not cool at all. Thanks goodness for your lovely neighbor. Your mac and cheese looks amazing. Hope it turned out well.

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  2. I'm so sorry you had to deal with such a nasty human who was no help to you at all. He should have respect for the elderly people who he is supposed to help. Hearing your story reminds me of my late mom's last super. He was useless. He didn't yell and had only his girlfriend to help him but he never did one thing. My mom had to call the Fire Department to come and disconnect her stove because she felt it was unsafe and the super refused to change it. So for years I had to cook our Christmas dinner in a counter top roaster. Anyway this is about you, not my situation and I'm very sorry you had to go through that today. I hope a yummy mac and cheese helped console you and cute Toby too. The flowers are beautiful and your sky looks like a summer sky.

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  3. What a dreadful man...how can he be employed when he has no respect for the residents, let alone a lady getting along in years.

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  4. Your super is just a jerk, on so many fronts. Sorry about the exploding pan, that sounds gruesome. I dropped a glass on the tile kitchen floor last week, that was pretty terrible, I'm still finding tiny bits of glass fairly far from the original disaster. Your flowers look great, so does your sky.

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  5. I agree with the cat on the issue of the super. What a grudging man. As if it's such a big deal to help with broken glass. Anyway, good you got it done. And the doorbell fixed. Best of all, mac and cheese, great comfort food. I like the idea of the crumbs on top, too. I've noted that.

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  6. Oh that super makes me so mad! I would say he should be reported but from what you said it probably would not do any good. Cleaning up glass is such a pain especially since the small pieces are difficult to see. Poor Toby, it's scary enough to a cat to have a strange man come in but one that is yelling is really awful!

    I'm glad you finally got your mac & cheese and I hope your weekend is much better than recent days!

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  7. OH GEE!!! What a horrible, heartless excuse for a human being your manager is! I’m so sorry, Joanne. Anyway, I’m glad it got cleaned up and you got your lovely mac and cheese for dinner.

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  8. P.S. I really like your mask in the sidebar.

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  9. For heaven's sake! Isn't there anyone you can report that super to? That is inexcusable. Ps exploding Pyrex is a 'thing'. Google it.

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  10. The toaster crumb tray- Brilliant!!! I think that man is likely constipated, what a diagreeable toot! I am sorry, you do not need that sort of BS.

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  11. Your super sure spreads joy around.

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  12. Glass is a pain to clean up. You have to make sure you get all the little pieces. The super sounds like the super from hell.

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  13. That park superintendent should be fired, the miserable grumpy bastard.

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  14. He sure isn't a winner ! Glad you got it all sorted at the end... Laura's crumb suggestion is a winner!!

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  15. Can you report the super to anyone? Totally uncalled for with how you were treated. You are paying rent there, thus you are supporting his salary. Poor customer service. Glad though you were able to eventually make Mac and Cheese again in the oven!

    betty

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  16. That super needs some attitude adjustment. Could you perhaps buy one of those wire barbecue cleaner brushes to clean the oven in case an explosion happens again?
    Hooray for Cathy, but I did get a giggle form your upside down oven racks.
    Toby is looking lovely.

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  17. Your mandvils are always so beautiful. Here they do not bloom.

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  18. Your neighbour Cathy is a treasure, I recall she has helped you previously. I can't agree you cried like an old fool, you cried because that man was beastly to you.
    Alphie

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  19. Glass sometimes does shatter. We had a drinking glass explode in the kitchen earlier this year. It was simply standing there, untouched, when we heard a kind of clink and then it just went - glass everywhere.

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  20. I would like to have a word with your maintenance man.

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  21. Joanne - crying in situations like that is good for us. He was beastly and I would guess nobody likes him. That's his problem and he probably knows it. Thanks goodness for Cathy - and that man an cheese sounds and looks perfect.

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  22. Well, one does not wish ill upon anyone, but if that kindly super were to trip and break a leg, have a branch fall on his head, make intimate contact with COVID, develop permanent impotence.......something like that. Just sayin'.

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  23. It sounds like your maintenance man is unhappy and takes it out on everyone else. Some people are just like that. How he chooses to act is his fault, not yours. I'm glad you were able to turn the day around into a good day. Cathy is a gem!

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  24. It had to be quite hard to be treated like that. Ugh. I have, in the last few years, been able to look at nasty people with a question in my mind: "I wonder what awful thing was done to them, to make them need to be this way?" It never excuses appalling behavior, we are all responsible for our own. It helps me, though, from taking things so personally, which is really hard to do when it's directed at you!

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  25. Nope. That man will not do. Just reading about him and his behavior and yelling made my stomach hurt. I am so sorry. Of course, he may have problems we will never know but that doesn't excuse him.
    Your mac and cheese look fit for a queen. Which you are. And which you should be treated like.

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  26. What an asshole. I hope you gave him what for right back. I'm used to Bill the plumber now but the first couple of times we went head to head, him telling me I couldn't do what I wanted to do and me telling him that yes I could what I wanted to do and did get the pedestal sink he said was a bad idea exactly where I wanted it instead of where he tried to put it. hopefully the oven shelves will be easier to handle now that they are right side up.

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  27. Dear Gawd he sounds like an awful human being. I would be in tears as well. Nothing was your fault and he made it so. We have an alkie super but he is never abusive. He just hides from us and emerges for those who give him the odd tip (me).

    I'm glad it was all sorted finally for you.

    XO
    WWW

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  28. What a mean ol' grump of a superintendent. I understand that sometimes glass dishes explode seemingly for no reason, but it's "glass fatigue." They just get old and cranky and past retirement age. BTW, I was delighted to learn that you, too, had a resident toad. I see them as a sign that we are doing the right thing with our yards, meaning "as little as possible."

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  29. I have a real problem with people, who's job is to provide a service that I ultimately pay for, raising their voice to me about anything. Call that man's boss next. He's in the wrong job. But glad your day turned out well. Angry tears are good - primal screaming works also.

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  30. To hear this jerk made you cry makes me hopping mad. Message me his name and the name/address of his supervisor and I'll write a letter about elder abuse. Damn!

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  31. How upsetting and infuriating to get yelled at when it wasn't your fault and he should have been doing HIS JOB! I'm so sorry that you had to deal with such a bitter and unpleasant person. That mac and cheese looks delicious. I'm glad that the rest of the day was positive.

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  32. Obviously the man is a jerk... but one must think how awful to be him as his life must be miserable. Do I dare ask if he was masked when he came in? But glad to hear that both your oven and your doorbell is now fixed.

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  33. That superintendent sounds like a real... (insert your favorite dirty name). What say I come to visit and we go egg his house?

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  34. What a horrible person to yell at you like that. It makes me want to use a few obscene words but I’ll rise above that.

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  35. That guy is a grumpy old s.o.b. Shame on him for being so nasty to you. I'd like to get my hands on him and give him the Junebug stare.

    Love,
    Janie

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  36. Ghastly maintenance man. How dare him! Totally unacceptable. Can you have Laura or Cathy write a letter to his boss outlining his behavior toward you and the fact he made you cry? This might get some results. Either he learns to behave or he is replaced. (You can deny knowing anything about the letter.)

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  37. Please say you are not getting weaker by the day Joanne? He is not a nice man, meanwhile a good old cry is so healing, strength to fight another day and enjoy the mac’n’cheese, a food to soothe...

    LXX

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  38. Inadequate little man! One can only hope that his ulcer plays him up for the rest of the week.
    Meanwhile what really matters is that you're carrying on looking after yourself, making delicious meals every day and enjoying life.

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  39. How did I miss this? I am so sorry. Some days tears are toxins which NEED to be shed.

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  40. What a grump your superintendent is! I'd quit tipping him and if he asked why he wasn't getting tips anymore, just let him know you don't tip people who are rude and uncaring like he's been to you.

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  41. It sounds like your superintendent has trouble dealing with people. He is definitely in the wrong job. I am so sorry that he upset you so. That he did not complete the job and left you to finish was cruel. I hope karma comes to him.

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  42. Funny how some people get picked for a job they're temperamentally quite unsuited to. What's biting him, I wonder?

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  43. I was heartened to see the mac-n-cheese in a tidy oven, but very sorry to read what it took to get you there. Mr. Supe sounds like an A-class jerk.

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  44. Both the oven and the mac and cheese look grand. The guardians of your place all are too grumpy for me. Wish they could be more normal. No one should be yelling at you.

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  45. If he yells when he has to do his job tell him there are plenty others that could do it better. What a bully.

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  46. A blogging friend directed me to your post. I just recently posted about the very same thing happening! It is here, if you'd like to read it. https://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2020/11/as-if-we-needed-something-else-to-worry.html

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