Comments on: My Building Has Genovese Syndrome

By: Bill Gates

Bill Gates — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 16:13:17 +0000

Cleanliness is next to Godliness!

By: Dave Simon

Dave Simon — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Good on ya, Mike. People will keep putting it off until someone does it.

Your only mistake is posting on your website that you did it. Now they’ll EXPECT you to do it whenever there is a mess. ;)

I’m in favor of the signs that say “Your mom doesn’t live here, clean up after yourself.” It never works, but at least it’s kind of funny.

By the way, it isn’t right for you to say your neighbor is hot and then not post a pic. Is it?

By: Russell Arsenault

Russell Arsenault — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My hero! Please come by my place next week to vacuum all the hair from my neighbours cats.

Thanks,

russell

By: Collin Yeadon

Collin Yeadon — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Oh, come on Mike! Admit it! You made the mess didn’t you? Don’t lie to me son! I saw you! I SAW YOU!!! YOOU DID IT!!!!!!! WHHHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYY DOOOONNN’TTT YOUUU JUST ADDMITT ITTTTTTT!!!!!!!????

DAMN IT MR. D!

Actually that is quite funny, and until recently I would have felt your frustration and no doubt I would have decided to clean it up by the second time I had to pass it (figuring maybe I would get lucky and the person was just on their way to grab a broom).

Now days, as I have put myself back into the world of collecting paychecks instead of collecting clients, I find my views changing. I know for a fact I would have passed by the mess for days making sure to curse under my breath each time I caught a wiff of the potent white cleaning powder.

I actually feel guilty even though it’s not my mess, not my building and not in the same state as me just because I know I would have done nothing to clean the mess.

Although, in my defense, I would have cleaned it had I caused it.

By: Chad Edge

Chad Edge — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been considering how to create a point of contact with my neighbors (I live in Belltown). The problem I’ve had for the last year and a half is my neighbors (don’t know which of the 24) can’t seem to get paper vs. everything else in the world down right.

Think “One of these things is not like the other…” and you’ll understand.

We have a paper dumpbin on our ground floor – it’s next to the trash chute. Now, this dumpbin is a handy place (close to the mailboxes) to dump junk mail, leftover newspapers. Paper products. There’s even two handy signs that say “paper only” and “Please, use this bin for PAPER only.” Pretty clear, no?

No. No, no no no no. Every damn day (when I have trash) I find it difficult to get the trash door open because someone has loaded the area around the paper dumpbin with plastic bottles, car tires, computers (!), litterati…

I’ve been thinking of making a simple illustrated guide, one targeted to pre-k kids, that shows the difference between plastic, paper, nuclear material, etc. Perhaps some cute saturday morning funhouse character, guiding the residents (with minimal words; literacy apparently fails my neighbors)… can you smell my frustration?

renting == fun.

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Isn’t that what strata fees are for? The woman in the crew who cleans our building is in the elevator daily, on her hands and knees scrubbing.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sounds like some of your neighbors have visited the same public restrooms that I have. Not only can they not find a vaccum, they can’t find flushers either.

By: kareem

kareem — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sounds like you need to talk to your condo board about getting a cleaning crew that actually does some cleaning every so often…

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Too funny! It sounds a lot like my building – but my neighbor isn’t hot?

Can I borrow yours?

By: Seth Thomas Rasmussen

Seth Thomas Rasmussen — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I wouldn't worry about the shopping carts. My guess is the people that have to round them up cherish all the extra time it could possibly take away from doing something like straightening an entire aisle of diapers, paper towels and toilet paper. Especially when they get those little cart-herder-mobiles. I mean, come on.. plz.

By: Dave Metcalf

Dave Metcalf — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This reminds me of one of my biggest pet peeves: people that don’t return their shopping carts in the supermarket parking lot – no matter how close they are!
But that’s karma: I was a punk kid that did all the things that now bug the living sh!t out of me.

By: Joe Blake

Joe Blake — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Quite the conundrum…

By: Daniel David

Daniel David — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

You should invest in an appartment with keyed private elevator access. Problem solved.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

amydot: Interesting analogy… and probably true.

Simon: True. SEP is probably a better diagnosis than Genovese Syndrome. Forgot all about that book!

John D.: That’s a very astute observation, regarding the context of where the spill occurred. It certainly matters. However, there is indeed a power plug right by the elevator and it took me like 20 seconds to vacuum the spill up with my conventional vacuum cleaner.

Dave S.: I would post a picture of said hot neighbor if I had a still. As of now, I only have video footage from the spy-cam I drilled through our wall. Putting it online would be kind of a bandwidth hog.

By: Matthew Anderson

Matthew Anderson — Tue, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Since you’ve already dealt with the carpet, why not adding some fresh, new wallpaper to the inside of the elevator while you’re at it? I’m thinking of something bright and colorful, like pictures of the actual detergent perp, recovered from the elevator security camera ;)