Thursday I planned to sign my lease. I was in meetings all day. I checked my phone at 3:30 PM to find a fairly frantic message from my leasing agent. When I called her back, I was told that my original apartment had been flooded (pipe burst, shot hole in wall) and they were moving me to a different one.

I checked the new one out; it was fine, so I signed my lease. Of course, I had already set up utilities and my renter’s insurance. The insurance and cable? No problem changing those. The electric? Whole other story. First, they were closed from Friday until today. Then, when I called, the person I spoke to wanted to transfer me to someone to talk about my flood damage. He said, “Will that be OK?” I answered, “No. I just want to switch my service address.”

We got that done, and he informed me that there was a $15 connection fee. I told him I’d already paid that. I was told that was for the previous apartment, and they had to charge me another $15, there was no way to waive it. I told him I wanted to speak to a supervisor, and suddenly he could waive it.

Also this weekend, Aquamama picked up my washer. (She needed one, and I had one to sell.) Orion is very upset that the washer is gone. He keeps going to where it was and crying. He has never done laundry, so I don’t understand the sudden need.