Moving on (Pt. 6)

Seattle is biting my butt all the way to the end.

Because there aren’t enough tranquilizers in the world (human or animal) to get me to drive 900 miles with a crying cat in my car, I arranged to board Pele for the time my household goods are being packed & picked up, as well as the three more days until I take possession of my new apartment.

Understand, I’m paying handsomely for the service.

Plan (confirmed) was to take Pele to an animal hospital yesterday, between 0700 & 0900 to drop her off. There would be a vet tech there during that time (& then later in the afternoon) to receive her. I was to call her mobile number when I got there & she’d come out & let us in.

So imagine my reaction when I arrived as planned, at 0700, to find no one there. In fact, Ashley was in Yakima, a four-hour drive from Seattle. & whoever was taking her place wasn’t due to be there until 0830. So they had a different plan from the one I’d confirmed with the pet shipping service.

At first Ashley didn’t seem to feel any sense of urgency, but she did persevere & eventually someone drifted in about 0745. My confidence wasn’t raised much, however, when she seemed surprised when I handed over Pele’s health certificate. “Do we take this?”

Uh, yeah—else how do the airlines know she’s certified healthy & able to travel?

Well, okay, done—only losing me about 30 minutes in a day that was supposed to be devoted to de-staging & organizing my stuff for the packers today.

I had this well in progress when my agent called to tell me someone wanted to show the house between 1300 & 1430, which is kind of a long window. Er, okay—but you did understand that the house is no longer going to look as staged? & I have a lot of work to do to prep for the packers? I did mention this several times over the past week.

Then she called a bit later to say someone else wanted to show between 1130 & 1230, but “you don’t have to leave until they get there.”

Good thing, because they never showed.

Actually I’m not entirely happy with my agent—we had a second showing on Saturday & the showing agent had said there might be an offer. My realtor hasn’t followed up, nor has she done so with a couple of other agents who indicated more than passing interest in the place.

&, when I said that the place will need a cleaning on Wednesday, after my possessions are out of here, her response was, “Don’t you have a vacuum cleaner?”

Well, yeah—which will be packed & on its way to San José.

Oh.

By contrast, my agent in Virginia made the process of selling my house painless--he managed everything, including repairs, negotiating with contractors, communications with my tenants. I really wish he could be managing this process.

She suggested she might be able to get her cleaner to do it—however, this is the woman who was supposed to have come out to give my place a thorough cleaning back in June, for putting it on the market. Aside from being the yackiest woman I’ve ever met (a five-minute conversation went on for 23), she seemed looking for the main chance. She said she charges $20/hour; then later in the conversation, it grew to $20-$25/hour.

Oooookay. But then when the Saturday came for her to show up, I got a call from her right around the appointed time saying that she was running late. Instead of being there at 1345, she might not be there until around 1800. “But I don’t mind staying late until the job is done.”

Well, I do. I rescheduled for the next day, but once again got a call from her saying she’d be late. I told her to forget it & spent a few hours doing it myself. She obviously doesn’t understand the concept of customer service.

So when Jenny said she might get this flake to come out, my first thought was, this needs to be done immediately after I move out; this woman has no sense of urgency. Plus, Jenny told me she charges $15/hour—so her $20-$25/hour quoted in June was just her shot at opportunism.

Then, Jenny said that it turns out the cleaner is “afraid of going into Seattle”.

Well, then why would you suggest her if she’s already shown herself to be a flake, & she’s “afraid” of Seattle. Mine can’t be the first vacated house on the market needing cleaning—don’t agents have connections with services for this? All it needs is vacuuming, dusting & cleaning the mirrors.

I’m meeting my agent this evening; I’ll see what we can nail down. But, this being Seattle, I have low expectations & I’m sure they’ll be met.