Adulthood…… It is something that we all have to one day enter but also something you really can’t prepare for. In my eyes I completed the journey to adulthood perfectly; I got through high school with out any major hiccups, went to college and excelled (tooting my own horn), got in and out in four years. Just as fast as I could walk across the stage, life kicked me in the face making me realize that this was something that I wasn’t quite prepared for. It all happened so fast that I really didn’t know how to handle it. The stresses of life immediately started to way down on me.
Now before I get into the details of the incident, allow me to set the scene for you. I am three months out of college and in Pittsburgh working at a summer camp, which (at this point) has become my regular gig. While I’m there working I am looking for a place to permanently move to with my friend from college --- we'll just call him Tim. After about 3 weeks of searching we find a house that we know without a shadow of doubt that was exactly what we wanted; needed. We fill out an application and all she, our prospective landlord, needs to move in was our financial deposit.
The Landlord for the house was a woman named Rose, or at least that’s what she told us --- but I digress. Her name was Rose and she asked us for check of eight hundred and ninety-five dollars to put in an application for the available house. I write the check out because Tim had yet to receive his first paycheck from his job. We, however, start the preparations for moving in. About a week after I sent out the deposit to Rose, I realized that I was not prepared to move out on my own. I came to this conclusion mostly because I did not do the needed preparation for getting my own place as I should have. I had money saved but when I factored in getting my own furniture and everything else I needed for the house I knew that I simply was not ready for the move. I informed Tim that I would not be able to stay in Pittsburgh during the year and planned on moving back to Philadelphia to get on my "feet." I called Rose to let her know and get my iniital application fee back, because yet again it has only been a week. Rose tells me that she would cash the check that I sent her and take out a fee and send me back what she thought I should get. Now as you can imagine I was beyond pissed. One, because she wasn’t giving me all my money and two, because she couldn’t explain to me why I was getting hit with a fee. So I did what any early 20 year old would do. I called my parents because maybe they knew something that I did not. This was, after all, my first time renting a property. I called my mother who we all know (if you don't know --- check out the H.B.I.C blog. Yep, that’s her) and told her about the situation. My mother wanting to seek out clarity called Rose who was very dismissive towards her. She passed the torch to my father and Rose then hung up on my father. At this point of time I am frustrated because I’m out of almost nine hundred dollars. While I was making yet another trip to the bank to attempt to cancel the certified check I get a lengthy message, from Rose. The message stated that she was going to hold the check until she found another tenant for the house. Now this message was also sent to my mother and father. Very soon after Rose's text I receive another message in response to what Rose has sent. This text message was was addressed to Shoshanna. Shoshanna? Who is Shoshanna? I see this and think maybe my mom autocorrect was on and something happened with that. Little did I know that the mama bear had done a background check on Rose and found out that she was using her middle name when dealing with tenants. The message that my mom sent was sharper than a knife, included Roses real name, real address (and apartment number) and a few subtle and not so subtle instructions about my money. So not to incriminate the woman who bore me (who is obviously willing to do hard time) I will not go into great detail. I will, however, disclose that Rose (or is it Shoshanna) immediately told my parents and I that she would return my check in a week; which she did - without a penalty fee.
I thought this story would be good for my first blog/short story because it was the first time that I attempted to reach out into the world. When I did I had to go back to my parents for help. It made me realize that just because I want to be completely independent does not mean that I should not get guidance from the adults that have already (long long ago) completed the EARLY STAGES of adulthood. At first I thought adulthood was a solo act, but after this experience I realized that part of being an adult was being able to reasonably use your resources to make the right decision the first time.
Now before I get into the details of the incident, allow me to set the scene for you. I am three months out of college and in Pittsburgh working at a summer camp, which (at this point) has become my regular gig. While I’m there working I am looking for a place to permanently move to with my friend from college --- we'll just call him Tim. After about 3 weeks of searching we find a house that we know without a shadow of doubt that was exactly what we wanted; needed. We fill out an application and all she, our prospective landlord, needs to move in was our financial deposit.
The Landlord for the house was a woman named Rose, or at least that’s what she told us --- but I digress. Her name was Rose and she asked us for check of eight hundred and ninety-five dollars to put in an application for the available house. I write the check out because Tim had yet to receive his first paycheck from his job. We, however, start the preparations for moving in. About a week after I sent out the deposit to Rose, I realized that I was not prepared to move out on my own. I came to this conclusion mostly because I did not do the needed preparation for getting my own place as I should have. I had money saved but when I factored in getting my own furniture and everything else I needed for the house I knew that I simply was not ready for the move. I informed Tim that I would not be able to stay in Pittsburgh during the year and planned on moving back to Philadelphia to get on my "feet." I called Rose to let her know and get my iniital application fee back, because yet again it has only been a week. Rose tells me that she would cash the check that I sent her and take out a fee and send me back what she thought I should get. Now as you can imagine I was beyond pissed. One, because she wasn’t giving me all my money and two, because she couldn’t explain to me why I was getting hit with a fee. So I did what any early 20 year old would do. I called my parents because maybe they knew something that I did not. This was, after all, my first time renting a property. I called my mother who we all know (if you don't know --- check out the H.B.I.C blog. Yep, that’s her) and told her about the situation. My mother wanting to seek out clarity called Rose who was very dismissive towards her. She passed the torch to my father and Rose then hung up on my father. At this point of time I am frustrated because I’m out of almost nine hundred dollars. While I was making yet another trip to the bank to attempt to cancel the certified check I get a lengthy message, from Rose. The message stated that she was going to hold the check until she found another tenant for the house. Now this message was also sent to my mother and father. Very soon after Rose's text I receive another message in response to what Rose has sent. This text message was was addressed to Shoshanna. Shoshanna? Who is Shoshanna? I see this and think maybe my mom autocorrect was on and something happened with that. Little did I know that the mama bear had done a background check on Rose and found out that she was using her middle name when dealing with tenants. The message that my mom sent was sharper than a knife, included Roses real name, real address (and apartment number) and a few subtle and not so subtle instructions about my money. So not to incriminate the woman who bore me (who is obviously willing to do hard time) I will not go into great detail. I will, however, disclose that Rose (or is it Shoshanna) immediately told my parents and I that she would return my check in a week; which she did - without a penalty fee.
I thought this story would be good for my first blog/short story because it was the first time that I attempted to reach out into the world. When I did I had to go back to my parents for help. It made me realize that just because I want to be completely independent does not mean that I should not get guidance from the adults that have already (long long ago) completed the EARLY STAGES of adulthood. At first I thought adulthood was a solo act, but after this experience I realized that part of being an adult was being able to reasonably use your resources to make the right decision the first time.