Living In The Rafters
A Day In The Life...
One of our residents called the office upset because she kept hearing a cat meowing behind the walls of her apartment.
We sent our maintenance man, Phil over to check out the situation. He was in her home for nearly fifteen minutes, tapping on the sheetrock and calling out softly for the feline. Phil also put his ear up to the walls but could hear nothing, so he apologized to our distraught resident, requesting she call him back if she heard the sounds again.
The next day, we had a repeat performance, so Phil returned to the apartment. This time, he heard the cat’s cries but instead of the walls, the sounds seemed to be coming from above the kitchen ceiling.
Ever the resourceful one, Phil grabbed his ladder and cut a small hole in the ceiling. Likely spooked by the noise, the mysterious animal grew quiet.
Phil and the resident waited for a while to see if the cat might start crying again, but there was only silence. After a few minutes, the resident handed him a dish of cat food which Phil poked up into the opening before leaving the apartment.
A Ghostly Find
The cat finally appeared to the resident later that night and she was able to slowly coax it down into her kitchen with more food. The poor, starving thing had somehow climbed three stories up through the framing and sheetrock to hang around above this woman’s ceiling.
Happily, she ended up keeping the cat and naming him Ghost. We had no idea how the animal had come to live behind the walls or how long he’d been trapped there, but all of us were thrilled that Ghost had finally found his forever home.
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From the book "I Have a Complex, But I'm Managing It!", stories from property managers compiled by Monica E. Simmons.
Monica E. Simmons, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for JDC Enterprises, LLC, has worked in the multi-family industry in several different capacities since 1987. She is a published author whose books include; I Have A Complex, But I’m Managing It!, It Happened in The Hill Country, 30-Love and it's sequel, Match Point.
Contact her at: Monica@TheVendorGuide.com
