Thursday, April 17, 2014

How To Be Laid Off By Your Landlord


It's bad enough that one day in December 2012, I got a phone call from the radio station where I worked for more than ten years, saying that I've been laid off, effective immediately. I wasn't even allowed to go back to get my stuff. I had to call someone to help me get back my Jimmy Kimmel Live cup.

It's even worse that I have been trying for nearly 18 months to get a new job, and have failed at every turn...probably because I'm too old or have too much real job experience to dump me at a fast-food job.

Now, I get a notice from my landlord that I have to leave my apartment within 60 days, because he can.
I got a "termination of tenancy", saying I have to move out within 60 days. I asked the project manager why I had to go. She would only tell me that since I have a month-to-month lease, I can be evicted with 60 days notice.
If I still had a job, I would be upset. I would be scrambling to find a new place.
However, I am unemployed, and at the edge of homelessness. Thus, it would be pointless to fight the termination notice. I would be evicted anyway because I'll soon run out of money.

Oh, and I did ask if they can send me to another apartment within the number of complexes the company owns. The manager said she could not. It's best for me to leave.

So, after living at my apartment for eight years, being the perfect tenant, paying my bill at the first of the month, I am being told to get lost. Just like that.

Now, anything can still happen between now and June 15th, but I don't see how. Trying to reclaim my life, without any help from anyone, has been difficult. I still haven't succeeded because the world doesn't care. It's treating me as if I failed by not being Steve Jobs or some executive. It looks at me with suspicion. How come I don't have a job, or even try? Even if I am trying, how come I haven't gotten a job? Am I just like a drug addict? Those worthless piles of humanity sleeping in the streets?

Because I have to leave within 60 days, that means no buying new furniture, or clothes, or DVDs or groceries. I have to think about what I have to donate to the Salvation Army or Goodwill. I have to figure out how to store my essentials while I move to my new home under the Highway 50 overpass.

I will be 55 in a couple of months. I haven't had a birthday party in nearly 40 yrs. I want to get some appreciation for reaching 55, rather than rejection from the world.

I just want to know one thing:  who did I insult, upset, or anger that led me to the prospect of getting permanent homelessness when I reach 55? Whoever it was, I apologize.
So, can I have a decent life now?

1 comment:

Andrew Bald said...

I feel you. It’s quite difficult to think about anything else, knowing that you’re going to be homeless soon. But looking at the bright side of things, you use it as a way to start fresh. Sixty days is long enough for you to prepare. I hope you find a new home soon.

Andrew Bald