This particular part of our story started back in October of 2017. At the time I was working at PNC Bank and had what most would call a fairly decent job. The pay was enough, the benefits were good, and I truly liked what I did. There was a growing issue, though, and that issue was the ability to work remotely. Many PNC employees work full time as remote workers, and although that would have been ideal for everyone involved, I was never given that opportunity. I still don’t understand why I was never given that opportunity, the functions of my job didn’t require me to be anywhere in particular. The people I interacted with most often were spread across the country and when I was able to work from home a few days a week I did more and had fewer interruptions. I’m sure you're asking why that situation wouldn’t work, my managers asked, and that’s a very fair question. The reason that the situation didn’t work was the rigidity of the schedule PNC was imposing. I had to be in the office on very set days and times, simply because they said so. Now, you’re probably thinking most jobs require that, and they do, which is part of the reason we are in the situation we are in...although more companies are adopting policies that allow their employees to work how and where they want, the competition for those positions is pretty fierce. Back to our story… I’m not one who is too much into titles, I’ve been with Kaitlin for ten years now and don’t ever see life without her so to make it easier for everyone else to understand I call her my fiancee. Anyway, Kaitlin suffers from severe anxiety and also has asthma. Unless you suffer from severe anxiety, you will never truly understand what it does. I still don’t, and I’ve been in Kaitlin’s presence for most of the ten years we’ve been together. The one thing I do know is that the combination of anxiety and asthma create a vicious circle and often make the other worse. Despite her anxiety and asthma, Kaitlin leads a normal life. I’ve told her she’s one of the strongest people I’ve ever known and that I probably couldn’t do what she does with those problems. Another curious thing about anxiety is how it comes and goes for apparently no reason. The months prior to July 2017 had been pretty good, I was working my days at home and days in the office and there were no issues. Then, the anxiety decided to come back and come back pretty intensely. Kaitlin only needs two things to fight her anxiety, and that is, a stable and safe place to call her own and to not be alone. There were multiple times between July and October that I worked from home when I was supposed to be in the office and eventually PNC started to have an issue with that. I explained to many people, many times, the situation Kaitlin and I were in, but it never seemed to matter. I explained that things are very random and although I was still willing and able to work in the office a couple of days a week, I simply couldn’t tell them which days those would be in advance, but that didn’t matter either. I took my problem to HR, I took my problem all the way up the ladder to the CEO, but nobody in the bank seemed to care. I had to be in the office on the days they said, no matter what. Eventually, it came down to choosing between Kaitlin and PNC, and I chose Kaitlin. I resigned my position at PNC in October of 2017.
After resigning, things were still good. The Pennsylvania Unemployment Commission agreed that I was justified in leaving and had explored every option I could to keep my job and awarded unemployment. During that time I was searching for jobs that would allow me to work how I needed while also exploring my writing interests. Eventually, though, the unemployment ran out, and I used all of my savings. The writing was helping. It just wasn’t paying all of the bills.
In November I was behind enough in my rent that the Landlord started eviction proceedings. Family helped us out then. I had started working at Target. It wasn’t ideal, but I was only a mile away from home and things were looking up and the anxiety wasn’t an issue. I was still doing writing and looking for remote work. I had learned a lot in the year I had been exploring both of those and realized mistakes I made in the beginning and realized why the competition was fierce for those jobs and how to handle that competition. As I said, things were finally looking up and we were close to having a good life again. Then, on November 30, that all changed.
The water had been turned off because of all of the financial struggles, and service was being restored on November 30. I was at work when they came to restore the service and Kaitlin was alone in the apartment. As you probably know, when the water is turned back on, it isn’t a quiet thing. Kaitlin heard the water and was going around to open the faucets to let the air out of the pipes. She was in the living room area, in a state of undress, when a maintenance person knocked on the door and without hesitation, opened it, saying, “Maintenance.” Kaitlin made her presence known to the maintenance worker, he thanked her for letting him know but he remained at the doorway with the door open. After dressing, she went to answer the door. The maintenance worker in question was chuckling and said, “I always knock, then open the door and say maintenance. It’s OK though, because I don’t look.” His words were bad enough, but his physical actions made everything much worse. He was standing too close. She couldn’t exactly describe the look on his face, creepy was the only word she could use and he was looking her over. I have seen this maintenance person around, he is a big guy and Kaitlin is all of 5’2”. I heard the term ‘toxic masculinity’ prior to that day, but never truly understood it until then.
When I got home from work that evening I immediately wrote to the landlord to inform them of the incident and the very indecent behavior of the employee. Several days went by and I didn’t get a response, so I contacted the Better Business Bureau. The management company did respond to the BBB, but over the course of several communications, they ignored the maintenance worker’s behavior and never really gave a clear answer on anything else. That wasn’t the first incident with him, a few weeks earlier, he was delivering notices to the apartments and was rude to and practically threw a notice at Kaitlin. I complained then, but management just excused his behavior.
After the incident on November 30, Kaitlin’s anxiety is possibly as bad as it has ever been. Up until then, this was a safe place for her, but that maintenance worker took the safe feeling from her. Now, hearing anyone in the hall outside of our door sets her on edge. The gentleman who lives above us is elderly and uses a wheelchair, the noises from that are frequent, set her on edge, and interfere with sleep. To someone with anxiety, to Kaitlin, those noises could be someone randomly coming into the apartment. Nobody should have to be on edge that much. The kitchen and bathroom faucet leak, the shower doesn’t work right, and there is water damage to one of the walls due to a leak from the apartment above. Most people would just call maintenance to have these things fixed, but that isn’t an option when the person coming to fix them could cause an anxiety attack. I moved into this apartment a little over three years ago, one of the main reasons I picked here is because it is a secured building. I never imagined having to worry about someone with complete access to the building and the apartment being a cause for concern.
As it stands today, I am no longer working at Target and am relying on writing and other meager online tasks for money. I’ve recently discovered more resources for finding remote jobs and have been applying to more jobs than ever...just this morning I received responses from two employers who want to take my application further.
I wanted to say one more thing… Earlier I mentioned communications through the BBB regarding the incident with the maintenance person here. Throughout those communications, I noticed that management’s tone seemed to indicate me being behind in my rent had something to do with my pushing the issue. They made a point to mention that the reason the water was off was probably because of non-payment and even sent the BBB my private payment history without my authorization. My financial situation and potentially being evicted have nothing to with that matter. Even if I am forced to leave this apartment, I will continue to pursue the incident with the maintenance person. People need to learn that it isn’t OK to allow that type of behavior and when it happens, it needs to be addressed quickly and thoroughly. Unfortunately, management lost their opportunity to address it quickly, but addressing thoroughly will happen.
Everything that has happened over the past year or so has led us to a crossroads. We will be homeless after tomorrow unless we come up with money for the rent. It will also delay finding a place where Kaitlin can feel safe and secure and just extend the stress and anxiety. Much of my time is taken up by spending countless hours trying to do anything I can for even a few dollars for food and other necessities. Having the burden of rent and other things lifted will give me the time to find and apply for more remote jobs if the two I mentioned earlier don’t pan out. It will give me time to work on writing jobs that pay more. Most importantly, it will relieve a great deal of stress for both of us which will help in so many ways. Things are so close to getting better once again and I just need a little bit of help and time to keep them on that track so they actually stay better this time.
I am asking for whatever help you can give and for you to share this wherever you can. Think of it this way, all I need is for 500 people to each give me a dollar. Right now there is barely even enough money for food, and March rent will be due very soon. If we have to leave we will need to rent a truck and find somewhere to store stuff, so anything you give is going to be a big help no matter what the outcome is.
Paying it forward...
After resigning, things were still good. The Pennsylvania Unemployment Commission agreed that I was justified in leaving and had explored every option I could to keep my job and awarded unemployment. During that time I was searching for jobs that would allow me to work how I needed while also exploring my writing interests. Eventually, though, the unemployment ran out, and I used all of my savings. The writing was helping. It just wasn’t paying all of the bills.
In November I was behind enough in my rent that the Landlord started eviction proceedings. Family helped us out then. I had started working at Target. It wasn’t ideal, but I was only a mile away from home and things were looking up and the anxiety wasn’t an issue. I was still doing writing and looking for remote work. I had learned a lot in the year I had been exploring both of those and realized mistakes I made in the beginning and realized why the competition was fierce for those jobs and how to handle that competition. As I said, things were finally looking up and we were close to having a good life again. Then, on November 30, that all changed.
The water had been turned off because of all of the financial struggles, and service was being restored on November 30. I was at work when they came to restore the service and Kaitlin was alone in the apartment. As you probably know, when the water is turned back on, it isn’t a quiet thing. Kaitlin heard the water and was going around to open the faucets to let the air out of the pipes. She was in the living room area, in a state of undress, when a maintenance person knocked on the door and without hesitation, opened it, saying, “Maintenance.” Kaitlin made her presence known to the maintenance worker, he thanked her for letting him know but he remained at the doorway with the door open. After dressing, she went to answer the door. The maintenance worker in question was chuckling and said, “I always knock, then open the door and say maintenance. It’s OK though, because I don’t look.” His words were bad enough, but his physical actions made everything much worse. He was standing too close. She couldn’t exactly describe the look on his face, creepy was the only word she could use and he was looking her over. I have seen this maintenance person around, he is a big guy and Kaitlin is all of 5’2”. I heard the term ‘toxic masculinity’ prior to that day, but never truly understood it until then.
When I got home from work that evening I immediately wrote to the landlord to inform them of the incident and the very indecent behavior of the employee. Several days went by and I didn’t get a response, so I contacted the Better Business Bureau. The management company did respond to the BBB, but over the course of several communications, they ignored the maintenance worker’s behavior and never really gave a clear answer on anything else. That wasn’t the first incident with him, a few weeks earlier, he was delivering notices to the apartments and was rude to and practically threw a notice at Kaitlin. I complained then, but management just excused his behavior.
After the incident on November 30, Kaitlin’s anxiety is possibly as bad as it has ever been. Up until then, this was a safe place for her, but that maintenance worker took the safe feeling from her. Now, hearing anyone in the hall outside of our door sets her on edge. The gentleman who lives above us is elderly and uses a wheelchair, the noises from that are frequent, set her on edge, and interfere with sleep. To someone with anxiety, to Kaitlin, those noises could be someone randomly coming into the apartment. Nobody should have to be on edge that much. The kitchen and bathroom faucet leak, the shower doesn’t work right, and there is water damage to one of the walls due to a leak from the apartment above. Most people would just call maintenance to have these things fixed, but that isn’t an option when the person coming to fix them could cause an anxiety attack. I moved into this apartment a little over three years ago, one of the main reasons I picked here is because it is a secured building. I never imagined having to worry about someone with complete access to the building and the apartment being a cause for concern.
As it stands today, I am no longer working at Target and am relying on writing and other meager online tasks for money. I’ve recently discovered more resources for finding remote jobs and have been applying to more jobs than ever...just this morning I received responses from two employers who want to take my application further.
I wanted to say one more thing… Earlier I mentioned communications through the BBB regarding the incident with the maintenance person here. Throughout those communications, I noticed that management’s tone seemed to indicate me being behind in my rent had something to do with my pushing the issue. They made a point to mention that the reason the water was off was probably because of non-payment and even sent the BBB my private payment history without my authorization. My financial situation and potentially being evicted have nothing to with that matter. Even if I am forced to leave this apartment, I will continue to pursue the incident with the maintenance person. People need to learn that it isn’t OK to allow that type of behavior and when it happens, it needs to be addressed quickly and thoroughly. Unfortunately, management lost their opportunity to address it quickly, but addressing thoroughly will happen.
Everything that has happened over the past year or so has led us to a crossroads. We will be homeless after tomorrow unless we come up with money for the rent. It will also delay finding a place where Kaitlin can feel safe and secure and just extend the stress and anxiety. Much of my time is taken up by spending countless hours trying to do anything I can for even a few dollars for food and other necessities. Having the burden of rent and other things lifted will give me the time to find and apply for more remote jobs if the two I mentioned earlier don’t pan out. It will give me time to work on writing jobs that pay more. Most importantly, it will relieve a great deal of stress for both of us which will help in so many ways. Things are so close to getting better once again and I just need a little bit of help and time to keep them on that track so they actually stay better this time.
I am asking for whatever help you can give and for you to share this wherever you can. Think of it this way, all I need is for 500 people to each give me a dollar. Right now there is barely even enough money for food, and March rent will be due very soon. If we have to leave we will need to rent a truck and find somewhere to store stuff, so anything you give is going to be a big help no matter what the outcome is.
Paying it forward...