7 In One Blow...

I was sitting here in front of my computer thinking about a young, brash Mickey Mouse. In the 1939 short "Brave Little Tailor," he is sent to combat a giant that has been terrorizing village after village. Promised the hand of the lovely Princess Minnie if he accomplishes this task, he heads off in search of the villain. Armed with only needle, thread and a pair of shearing scissors, young Mickey does battle with the giant, eventually victorious in what becomes a battle of wits, and the town is saved.

Why am I talking about this?

Because I feel like I've been killing 7 in one blow... I have had a severe mouse problem for the majority of the summer. Once the residents moved out and it was just me in the building, all the mice from every corner of this residence hall tried to invade me. At one point I was catching 2 to 3 mice a day. My total stands at 23, and that doesn't count the dead babies I've scooped up in the hallway outside my apartment or the one I found rotting under my sink. 23 mice. The frustration is unimaginable. My apartment is a little cluttered but it's not dirty. I don't keep food just any old where. And I was a brave little tailor. I had no access to poison. I just had to keep setting out traps...and more traps...and more traps. And using my wits to discover their path. But in the end, my wits were enough. I am victorious, or so it seems.

But wait, hey Raymond, why must you talk about this in your professional blog? Don't you have a personal blog in which to discuss this? Actually, yes I do, but I find this to be a professional matter for this reason. Recently I've discovered an initiative, not yet solidified or officially announced, to actually tax the Directors based on the assessed values of their apartments.

Yes, let that digest.

This apartment, that they force me to live in, which represents the largest reason why I'm already underpaid, is going to be taxed. If this passes then I will have to pay to live here, in a place in which I HAVE to live in order to do the job they've hired me to do.

The apartment, where I have already killed 23 mice in just over a month. The apartment that has the problems with gnats and drain flies every single summer. The apartment that I share with the ants no matter how many cracks I find and seal. The apartment that is directly connected to the hallway above me, that sees trash and debris fall down every other day. The apartment where the A/C does little to cool, filled with castoff furniture that they said was temporary.

Someone wants to tax that. I find this to be unacceptable for many reasons. The first is that...I probably wouldn't live here if I didn't have to. Gentrification has raised the value of the property around here, but at least the new buildings are nice. My apartment...not as much. I wouldn't pay what it would cost to live in an apartment this size in this area based on what I'm getting.

I cannot be taxed to live in a piece of crap apartment. One where when I ask for an exterminator, it takes them two weeks to get around to sending one over. An exterminator who just puts down more of the glue traps I already had, and then leaves. This is an apartment where I had to buy my own air conditioner because the central air here is always weak...when it works.

This school is slowly losing its mind.

Legal Note: Opinions in this post are my own and not representative of the university I work for or the people I work under. All suppositions, presumptions, theories, hypotheses, etc. are my own. This blog is for entertainment purposes only, blah blah blah. There are purposely no names included in this post, and I have revealed nothing that violates either general expectations of privacy or the University confidentiality agreement, which, actually... I never signed anyway. All of that is to say...don't be trying to sue me.