Hypothetical Question

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Let's say you have a dream apartment, just a 2-minute walk to the Davis Square T, in a building that is run exceptionally well and is everything you could ever want in a home.

Now let's say the fire alarm goes off about once a month, for no apparent reason. You hear from your neighbors, usually it's during the day while you're at work. You have no doubt the management does what it can to fix the problem.

Now let's say you've been away for three weeks, not getting any sleep and walking a lot. And you get back, you have a stress fracture, and all you want is a consistent 8-hour block of sleep, at least, to rest and catch up and beat jet lag. And the fire alarm goes off one morning at 3:30 AM. And the next at 6:00 AM.

Who would you kill?What would you do? Write a firm letter demanding rent back? Move? What?

Comments

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Not to suggest that being woken up isn't a hassle, but if you start calling building inspectors, threatening the landlord, and withholding money, you're apt to have a larger problem than a fire alarm going off.

I would suggest a polite phone call to the landlord. Cover the basics: is he aware of the problem? Does he understand that it's making it very difficult to sleep, and that you -really- just want a good night's sleep? Does he understand how frequently this occurs?

In my experience, most folks are reasonable given an argument that they can empathize with, and unreasonable if they feel defensive and distanced from you. The other posters' suggestions make sense two or three steps down the line, but it doesn't sound like this problem is quite there yet.

Good luck!

[xjustquietx.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Yes, I definitely do want to be as amicable as possible, despite how angry I get when I am first woken up.

[julishka.livejournal.com]

i had a hardwired smoke alarm go off repeatedly one night at my old building (crappy landlord). in the past, random alarms were caused literally by a spider sitting on the sensor. a few thwacks and out it crawled. the last time however, it was finally all the humidity that must have shorted out something in a different detector in the back. i called the firedepartment twice (once to respond to the alarm, the second time to have them back to disconnect the thing cause it wouldn't turn off and they found nothing wrong). said they'd contact the landlord. never knew if they did - never saw the landlord fix anything & i moved out of there asap that year. my guess involved either the squirrels or mice in the crawlspace snacking on the tasty wires.

anyway, just thought you might want to hear that you're not alone, and sometimes the alarm has just become a spider's home. :p