andrew61

Confessions of a Slacker
2020-08-25 14:11:36 (UTC)

Still at the motel.

It's been twenty-five days now, and I've pretty much maxed out the one remaining credit card I still had room on.

It's been almost impossible to find an affordable room to rent. Too many fake ads and scammers out there, and as for the legitimate ads, it's been slim pickings and too much competition.

I looked at one near downtown Lakewood that I liked. The location would be perfect for me -- I could walk to virtually everything -- and the room was semi-furnished, with a small futon bed and a TV set. It also had a small private patio directly off the room. I said I was definitely interested and was prepared to put the money down then and there, but he said there were more prospective tenants to see, and then he would decide. Well, it's been a week now and I haven't heard from him, so I'm assuming he chose someone else.

There was another place I looked at that same day, this one in Parma. A divorced guy in his 40s renting out the entire second floor of his 1950s-era cape cod. 800 square feet of space, more than I really need. This one I'd have to furnish myself -- I'd get probably a futon mattress and a TV to start. He works nights and has a three-year-old son who would be staying with him two days a week. I gave him references, but again, he had other people to see, and he hasn't gotten back to me.

But now it looks like a Facebook friend of mine, named Ron and also living in Parma, is going to save the day. He said I could stay with him "for awhile". He was a friend of a friend whom I hadn't met in person until this past Sunday when he came by, picked me up, and took me to his condo to see the place. It's very nice, and it looks like I'll be moving in there if neither of the other two contact me by this evening.

But geez, I've been here at the motel nearly a month now and have run up bills of nearly $1,600 which I can't afford.

Someone has to pay. What Jim and Joe did to me is called "self help eviction" in legal terms, and is against the law. I'm seriously considering suing them, hopefully to recoup my lodging costs at minimum. I've suffered financially from what they did -- and my finances were already very shaky before this -- not to mention the mental and emotional distress.

Suing might mean losing the friendship of someone I've known for 38 years, but that'll just have to be what it is. I feel a very grave wrong was done to me which I never deserved.




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