I went to the leasing office to get my lease renewed. I wanted to renew it for only 6 months because I don’t know if I’ll be in the same city after that. My contract with the current client expires Oct. end. So, this lady at the front desk wanted to know why I only wanna renew my lease for 6 months and not 12 months. It took me 5 minutes to make her understand that. Then she told me that if I renew for 12 months, I get 1 month’s rent free. Also, since I work for XXX company as a contractor, I can be on their “preferred client” program which lets me get out of the lease by giving a 30 day notice. So, suppose my contract gets over in Oct (and the lease gets over next March 2010), I can still get out without paying any penalty in Oct as long as I give a 30 day notice. And I get to pay the same rent. Renewing the lease for 6 months only required me to pay $50 extra per month. I need to go back tomorrow with a copy of my paystub so that they can run a credit check again and add me to the “preferred client” program. All of that is good. What got me really mad is that she was trying to tell me that EVERYONE in St. Louis pays his/her water+trash bills. Supposedly, she had some sort of a research document handy. I told her that I have friends who don’t and that the leasing company pays for it. She almost fought with me. After a long day, the last time I want to do is fight with a leasing agent in the front office. I chose not to fight back and let it pass. I get 1 month’s rent free anyway. Yes, that’s the prize I get for choosing not to fight back with her, I guess.

While I was talking to this woman, this other leasing agent tries to butt in and asks me “oh so you are a contractor”, “yeah you can just get a letter from your company, doesn’t have to be on the client letterhead blah blah”, “so your visa status is _______”. I don’t know why I responded to all these questions. I gave her a pointed look, but I wanted to really tell her “how are these questions related to my lease renewal?”

These people at the front desk remind me of those who hold positions in menial govt. jobs. This is the only way they feel like they are in power! I still feel disgusted thinking about it. And oh, she asked me to drop my paystub in the “dropbox”. As if I’m gonna do that when it has my SSN#. And I told her that! Her response: Fair enough.