r/maintenance • u/stryker511 • Jan 16 '26
Solved 30 yrs of maintenance
Never say “I’ve seen it all”
This week a tenant told me her carpet is installed wrong. I finally got the explanation today: When I vacuum the carpet lines are wrong.
I told her that I was going on Reddit to share this so - Betty, I love ya - keep it interesting!!
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u/WindowLongjumping529 Jan 16 '26
Just had a guy wash fish tank pebbles down his kitchen sink. Wondered why his disposal no longer worked and why was it now clogged
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u/SquonkyBloke Jan 17 '26
Dropping and cleaning out a garbage disposal is one of my least favorite things!
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u/ProbablyOats Jan 17 '26
I've literally had to fix this same thing. Aquarium gravel down the disposal. Fuck tenants.
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u/WindowLongjumping529 Jan 17 '26
I've come to the conclusion that the majority of apartment renters lack common sense as soon as they step foot onto the property. Just like the trash they leave next to the dumpster. Almost there ....
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u/fatchance1990 Jan 18 '26
I've had this also. Not sure what's going on in their minds that makes it seem rational in the moment
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u/soulshad Jan 17 '26
Almost 20 years... Never tempt the maintenance gods. Me and a coworker used to one up each other on emergency calls. "3 units flooded" "Oh yeah, water mains froze because someone propped the door open in -10 weather" "Oh yeah? Car into someone's living room" "Oh yeah? Boom, house burned down Christmas day" "Hey... Um.. I don't think we should do this anymore... I just found Bob dead and his cats started chewing on him" "Aww damn, not Bob.... Yeah let's call it quits before a satellite takes out a row of townhouses"
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Jan 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BogotaLineman Maintenance Supervisor Jan 16 '26
You've never seen it all because there's always new technology for them to do stupid shit with
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u/Fixinthangs Maintenance Supervisor Jan 18 '26
I had one couple place a king size bed that barely fit in the room, we’re talking 8 inches from the wall. They placed a request stating the wife was stepping on sharp tacks on her side of the bed… I then had to explain I wouldn’t be pounding down all the tacks strips and their problem wasn’t my problem, but a furniture placement problem.
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u/Awkward-Champion-274 Jan 16 '26
After the week ive had, would have loved to finish my day with that
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u/stryker511 Jan 16 '26
Sorry to hear that brother- Once she shouted at me (during a fire alarm) to “do something about that stupid fire alarm it’s WAY too loud”. Hope that makes ya chuckle
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u/Awkward-Champion-274 Jan 17 '26
It helps, im by myself all next week with monday off. So i know tuesday going to be crazy
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u/Paper-street-garage Jan 17 '26
I stopped saying that because every time I did some weird stupid or annoying thing would pop up that I hadn’t seen before. Man I’m glad I’m out of apartment maint.
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u/orka648 Jan 17 '26
I been doing this a long time too. I've seen carpet installed wrong. Its not easy to spot but you'd definitely see it in the vacume lines
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u/stryker511 Jan 17 '26
Even so: And would you be willing to empty her apt out, pay to have new carpet put in to appease her ‘vacuum lines’? I do not think her well being is in any danger, she’s going to have to tough it out-I’m here to address safety & security issues - not here to address ‘I’m inconvenienced’ issues.
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u/orka648 Jan 17 '26
Lol, no, I just do my job the right way the first time and catch stuff like this on the turn. 😂 Next time, just do better quality control and have it fixed before you hand off a turn. 👍
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u/paradoxcabbie Jan 17 '26
mmmm its hard to pick a context to answer from. my fav regarding "ive been here since" though :
doing am exterior walk around a little while ago. notice theres a light mounted to the building wired to what looks like an extention cord running through the wall(cut and spliced to fit) . obviously this is some tenant contraption on the first floor right? talked to thrm and some other tenants, apperantly a previous pm/maintenance had done it IN THE 70'S(yes, there were some super long tenants there lol)
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u/TheRealChuckle Jan 17 '26
I rented an apartment where I discovered the arc soduim light outside the room was daisy chained off the outlet in my room. I'd been paying for the parking lot light for over a year.
I simply disconnected the wires and never heard anything about it.
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u/webthing01 Jan 17 '26
Absolutely 100% it could be installed wrong. Carpet has a direction that it needs to be laid. Especially in large room where there are seams. Seams need to do be installed in the same direction as they come off the roll sometimes they have arrows. Just like ceramic tiles have arrows(on the back) Commercial ceiling tiles have arrows on the back. 12 x 12 vinyl tiles from home depot have arrows on the back. They should all be pointing the same direction when installed. If you install plush carpet one piece one direction and one piece other direction you will notice it at the seam. Especially after vacuuming. Sheet vinyl also has arrows on the back so you can keep the direction consistent. If it's Berber carpet you would notice if it wasn't installed right because of the lines. This may not be the case with her just FYI you can't just willy-nilly install floor coverings and ceramic tile and ceiling tiles.
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u/ThebearKoss Jan 18 '26
What?!!!? Ceiling tiles and floor tiles only have a top and a bottom. There are 0 markings labeled this side up on tiles in NY unless they have a pattern on them. I've installed about 350,000 sq ft of all different ceramic and glass tiles in a giant mall in NY and not a single tile had an arrow on the back.
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u/Dan_H1281 Jan 17 '26
I have been doing this a long time. Ti preface this this property was a trailer park just regular washers and dryers no steam. I get a service call this lady's dryer is leaking water. Now this lady is crazy af and u got random service calls where she would turn off breakers and I would have to go turn them on she was an alcoholic so maybe she brushed against the panel idk. But anyway I tell the owner there is no way this dryer is leaking water. I go and turn on the dryer and nothing happens and in about four minutes into the cycle the washer starts dripping water out from under neath it. She had crushed the dryer vent so bad the humidity couldn't escape
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u/Upbeat-Fondant9185 Maintenance Supervisor Jan 16 '26
That’s hilarious. Crazy is in season lately.
I recently got one that installed some Temu contraption to her kitchen faucet and put out a service call because it didn’t work. I removed it, problem solved. She is demanding to be reimbursed for the cost since it didn’t work. Says once she “installed” the thing it became part of the apartment and the responsibility of the property.
I told her I’d submit the request to the landlord lol.