There are days

When living in this city drives me absolutely batty.

Today is one of those days.

(Oh, and sorry I've fallen off the earth... work and life have been crazy busy, and I just haven't felt inclined to write much in my few down moments.)

It has to do with the much-dreaded NYC apartment search. Fact is, our cute but tiny (sub-500sq foot) pad has gotten a bit too tight for comfort... that, and our management company sucks. Clearly I never expected to love them -- but these guys are without a doubt the most singularly, absurdly unprofessional people I have ever had to deal with, and I'm tired of forking over my hard-earned money to them every month.

So with my apologies to those of you who didn't come here to hear me rant, I'm going to test the powers of the internet in the hopes that an enterprising Googler will stumble upon this and save him/herself a good deal of headaches.

Sassouni Management is the most unpleasant, untrustworthy and lazy operation I have ever encountered. Every interaction with Ambi, the woman who works there, immediately turns into a fight -- even if all you're asking for is to have your lease renewal in writing. Of course, you have no other choice but to deal with her. So she lies to your face (refusing certain rights and obligations clearly spelled out in NYC housing law), hangs up on you and if you actually go to their offices she will walk out the door when you're in mid-sentence. She responds to requests only when you threaten legal action.

This attitude translates into the management of the building, of course. The super is lazy and unreliable. He doesn't keep appointments and flat-out refuses simple jobs. The renovations are shabby and the common areas are filthy; when the concrete entryway got dirty he put down a carpet instead of sweeping, and when that carpet got dirty he just flipped it over. He painted the basement/laundry room and just stopped about a foot above the floor. He leaves old appliances -- stoves, A/C units, cabinets -- sitting in the narrow hallway for weeks at a time, creating a very real fire hazard.

(I could go on... seriously, you can't make this stuff up.)

To top it all off, now that I'm moving Sassouni has enlisted brokers to show the apartment (they only thing they've ever moved quickly on -- I got the first call two days after I gave them notice that we were vacating). Of course I don't trust them in my apartment alone, so I asked them to hold an open house.

As of 1pm this afternoon, Ray of the Broadway Group has managed to make, and then break with less than 2-hours' notice, three open house appointments. He complained that his potential clients bail on him or that he can't them to return his calls. Well guess what, buddy -- that's not my problem! This is your job, not mine.

I'm so sick of it all, and apparently so are others. If you're looking for a place, stay far, far away.

Back to our regular (happier) scheduled programming soon, I hope...