The Hoarding Part I

FORWARD

The title of the above book is entirely appropriate for the posts to come in this blog I've created. There is nothing more shocking than what the average human is capable of when pushed to their limits either by internal or external forces.

I am a resident property manager for a low/middle income apartment complex in a rural small town of Ohio. Although surrounded by expensive property and the best school in the state, here we sit in the middle of it all. I've done my best to better the complex and remove the trouble and trash I found when I came here but it's hard work and there is always more to do. In this position, I run into just about every type of person there is. From the bottom to beneath the bottom, I've met them and I intend to share the stories and experiences I go through on a common basis.

I really wish sometimes I had no idea the things I'm about to tell and in some cases (if I ever learn how to use Hello and the other crap to upload pics to my blog) pictures of the example of true life people and the horrors they call life.

We will start lite and begin with the people I like to call "The Hoarders".

For some psychological reason, some people either by compulsion or sheer laziness, feel a bizarre need to fill their homes with endless amount of belongings and/or trash. You would be shocked to know just who these people are. They are your neighbors, your preachers, your teachers, they can be anyone and they live in a way that most of us couldn't tolerate for more than an hour much less than daily, weekly and a lifetime.

Apartment #614 - I met this specific couple as they happened to live in my building. The man often was dressed in a nice suit and happened to be a deacon in his church. He was always polite and pleasant. I had less dealings with his wife but she too was pleasant whenever we spoke.

I always noticed while I was walking my dog that they had quite a few boxes in their small bedroom because they had no curtain up and the boxes could be seen clearly from outside even though on an upper floor. I never gave it much thought since many people moved from houses and do not have a lot of space. It wasn't until the man living there offered to sell me a television he had. I was interested and he invited me to come take a look at the item.

Before I continue, I must preempt by saying, "If your landlord, even a nice one, was coming to your home, wouldn't you straighten the house up a little?" I would.

I knocked on the door with my partner at my side. Little did I know that on the other side of this door was a horror of which is seldom seen in what should be considered a home. (Damn, I wish I had taken pictures!!)

I heard the words, "Come in" shouted from behind the door. I opened the door was immediately taken aback. My eyes tried to focus on something that resembled a living space but I couldn't find anything. I was hit with the smell of cat litter, cat shit and cat urine.

I looked down and saw three big gray square tubs. They looked like super-sized litter boxes. There were three. In the first two, they were entirely full of litter dusted cat turds. In the third, litter and a few turds. At once I understood what they were doing. Instead of cleaning and emptying the litter box appropriately, they would just buy a new box to place all the clumps and turds into. As if that weren't lazy in itself, they just left the turds in the box, not even with a cover on them. This was MONTHS worth of cat shit. That wasn't the worst part of it though. The cat shit and cat litter was not only in the box. It had found it's way all over the surrounding carpet much of it ground in. I barely knew where to step without being contaminated by it.

Picture this. This is two feet from their living room door between what were meant to be a dining area and living room. It was basically right in the middle of everything. They hadn't even had the good sense to place it in a corner.

At this point I was at a loss for words and didn't know what to do. The landlord in me was about to flip out and evict these people without recourse. At the same time, I was 'off the clock' and considered a 'visitor', so I didn't jump on the guy.

He was in the corner sitting at a computer desk playing on the internet I assumed. He welcomed us with a smile as if he wasn't sitting in such a mess. The cat shit was only the beginning. I looked over what should have been a living room and every single surface was covered with something. There was clothing, newspapers, trash, every single spot I looked at. In the middle of the living 'area' was a coffee table. The table appeared to be the main eating area for the couple and it was very plain to see. The table was covered with leftover food, plates and drinking cups. But it was so much more than that simple. There were STACKS of plate and pizza boxes, etc. It looked as if they just bought new dinnerware when they had dirtied the one before it and kept doing it.

It must've been plain that I was scoping the damages and he spoke up saying, "We will have all of this cleaned up when we move at the end of the month", thus saving me from evicting him. I responded, "I know you will because this is a lot to clean up".

As if this weren't enough, he went ahead with showing me the TV which just happened to be in the master bedroom. It was a wreck with boxes and piles of clothing everywhere without a space to spare. We had to climb over piles just to get to the TV. It wasn't a good TV and I just wasn't interested. I told him, "It's not big enough for what I want. Thanks for showing it to me though" and then I made my way out of the room quickly with my partner almost running towards the door. I remarked, "Man, I sure hope you don't leave this mess here when you leave". He again assured me he wouldn't.

Me and Rick (my partner) were out of there fast but not before I peeked into the kitchen over my shoulder as I exited. It was disgusting with dishes piled a foot high on the counter. I could only imagine what the rest looked like and was half glad I didn't know for these scenes would stick with me for some time.

Rick and I looked at each other as soon as we walked out with amazement on both our faces. We hurriedly ran down the stairs and into our own apartment and immediately we started talking about what we had just seen. Both of us were absolutely shocked that two people could live in such a place without dying from disease, depression or both. We just didn't understand how and why people would allow such a thing to happen in their midst. It makes no sense at all. How could people work and come home to something like that as a home without suffering severe depression and constant illnesses. There was no way either of them could come home and enjoy their home or each other in that mess. In one way I feel sorry for them that they could allow it to become that bad or that they would be satisfied with it, in another way I feel they get what they deserve in the sense they did nothing to help it be better and one last feeling in the possibility it effected them not in the least. Perhaps they were on a different plane of perspective and such cleanliness ideas were not important to them. Who could ever know?

The people DID move out at the end of the month and just as they said they would, the mess was gone upon vacating. It wasn't spotless and I had to put new carpet in because the new tenants had cat allergies. Other than that it was as if they had never been there.

It turns out as a side note that this couple, as nice as they were and as filthy as they were, were also being investigate by the local police force for possible theft and other fraud and con jobs. I didn't get to the bottom of just what they were have supposed to have done but it wouldn't surprise me.

What a slice of life and it was just the first of many more to come in my following reports on the Apartment Dwelling Tribe of people in SouthWest Ohio. I look forward to your comments. I also plan to include pictures in future posts whenever the occasion arises.

End.