Unbreakable Currents

Chapter 5

I got to the condo and stopped in the open doorway, surprised at the sight before me. There was minimal furniture in the living space. A large U-shaped black desk sat in center of the room and a chair.

Hmm, what's going on here?

I entered further to see if I could find my maintenance staff and went down the hallway where I assumed a bedroom would be. The bedroom had no bed in it, only a brown leather couch with a coffee table sitting in front of it.

After a day like today I should have expected it could only get worse. Clearly someone was using this apartment for business. Union Management had specific guidelines in their leases forbidding the use of dwellings for business purposes without management's permission. You could work from home but you had to actually live there, too. Clearly no one lived here. This was someone's office space.

I heard voices coming from the bathroom on the other side of the condo. I walked back down the hall and saw all three of my maintenance men working on a toilet. At least all of them were here so I wouldn't have to have this conversation three different times.

I greeted them smiling. Although I was fuming, I didn't want them to suspect anything was wrong. "Hey guys, how is everything going?"

Caleb, the maintenance supervisor, looked up at me. "Good! This toilet was leaking into the condo below and we were just tightening it up. How's your second day going?"

I wanted to inquire why he thought it took three people to tighten a toilet bolt but thought better of it. I didn't want to get off on the wrong foot. "Its going good, thanks. So, who's condo is this? There doesn't appear to be any furniture and they are obviously using the space as an office, which is a violation of their lease."

Caleb stood up from the toilet. He was a good-looking older man with buzzed dark brown hair and a brown beard that had a few grays popping through. I would have guessed he was around forty-five.

"Not sure. I have only been here one other time for a work order. The guy was here but started screaming to whoever he was talking to on the phone, so I got my crap done and left. The lady below called in the work order so I only have her name. I knocked on the door and no one was here. Since it's a leak and an emergency, I just wanted to get it fixed so her ceiling isn't totally damaged from water. Whoever it is, this place has got one hell of a view."

It was hard not to notice. Most of the condos had unobstructed views of the Gulf of Mexico but on the 10th floor the water felt like it was right outside your window. You had to look down to see anything else. The blue water was crystal clear and beautiful, and only a football field's length from the complex. I had heard that some residents say they can see dolphins from their balconies in the mornings.

"Amazing view aside, I need to figure out who lives here so I can send them an eviction letter."

I saw the worry move across his face. "Can you wait until we get out of here before you do anything? I don't want the guy to take it out on us. Like I said, he seemed like a asshole on that phone call. I don't need that today. We should be done in about 30 minutes."

I gave him a reassuring nod. "Sure thing. I'll go research whose name is on the lease and send the letter later on today. I'll leave you to it."

I turned to walk away, then remembered why I actually came to find them in the first place. I twisted around and yelled back, "Hey Caleb, before you leave please come see me in my office. Just some budget stuff."

"No problem." His reply was muffled but I knew he would come to talk to me. My other two maintenance men, Steve and Jim, hadn't even acknowledged my existence. They must be dicks, too.

I went back to my office and pulled up our property software and decided to research who could be running a business out of their home. I entered the condo number and stared at the name. Nicholas F.

Well, that makes zero sense.

My first thought was who didn't put in the full last name? My next was that this had to have been the asshole resident from earlier today, the one Sabrina referred to as Nick. And the one I can't seem to get off of my mind. I knew he acted like he owned the place but rules are rules.

The bottom line was you couldn't use a place of residence for just business purposes and from the look of his condo, he wasn't doing a whole lot of living there. I could imagine a swanky mansion on the beach for that guy.

"I will like kicking him down a notch" I said to myself, starting to sweat. The old manager may have known about this violation and did nothing about it but this was my complex now. I was going to kick his ass out.

I accomplished a lot in my last few hours of work for the day. I met with Caleb when he was done with the leaking toilet and we figured out the budget. He promised me he would spend more money on buying parts to fix the air conditioners if they were salvageable. I sent our plan of action over to Sally so she could send it to the cranky investors.

I delivered the eviction letter before leaving and I was anticipating Nick would have a breakdown. I didn't want him storming in my office and throwing a tantrum but I had to admit I was a little excited at the thought of seeing him again.  Although unprofessional, the thought of picturing him naked could turn a crap situation of him yelling at me into a positive. I could roll with that and accepted this day as a win for me across the board.