過去一星期內兩次被鎖在門外，花了我$170元大洋開鎖。非常痛心。
話說我剛從紐約回到DC時，在房間門口才赫然發現房間門被由內往外鎖了。這十分懸疑，因為房間門沒有鑰匙，所以我出門時從不關房間門，更不會鎖 房間門。在一陣敲敲打打之後，由於已近半夜，Bennington(我的公寓)沒有工人在，只好找鎖匠開門。鎖匠花了兩秒鐘開門，要價$85。
這就算了。不管為什麼我的房間門會被鎖起來，至少這不是Bennington的責任。
星期六我出門忘了帶公寓鑰匙，回家時已是PM 4:40分。我跟Front desk要我家的備用鑰匙，那個死女人居然不給我備用鑰匙！她說因為已經過了PM 4:30，manager都已經下班了，她不能給我鑰匙。我氣得手腳發抖。不幸兩位室友一在波士頓一在台灣，最後只好又找鎖匠。又是$85元大洋。
回到家看當初簽的契約，也沒看到哪裏寫 office hour之後就不能拿鑰匙了。話說回來，備用鑰匙不就是在office hour之後，大家想回家的時候用的嗎？哪有人會在office hour回家的？總之又讓我不禁對美國管理的低素質低效率大聲罵一次幹。
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以下是我的complaint letter:
To whom it may concern,
I am a resident of Bennington apartment. This is a complaint of the poor service of the front desk. Yesterday, 2006/01/07, at roughly PM 4:40, I asked the front desk to provide me the spare key of my apartment. I had used the spare key once before. The lady at the front desk, whose name I don't know, refused. She told me that there is a policy that after office hour (which ends at PM 4:30 on Saturdays), when the managers are off-duty, she cannot give me the spare key. Eventually the only thing the lady can do is to give me numbers of the locksmith. I had to call the locksmith to enter my apartment, at the cost of $85 (receipt provided upon request).
First, I failed to find that policy on my contract. The only relevant agreement I found was on p.4 of the Resident Service Directory "Who hasn't found themselves locked out of their apartment, usually with six bags of groceries in hand and a phone ringing inside? If it happens to you, we'll be glad to give you a key, though we'll need to see some proper identification first...." The language suggests a strong willingness to provide the spare key. In fact, the language suggests a scene NOT during office hours. Nothing in the text mentioned that the spare key is only provided during office hours.
Second, assuming such policy does exist, then what's the point of having a spare key? Residents usually do not need a spare key until AFTER office hours. They need to WORK during office hours. They usually go home AFTER office hours. The front desk is supposed to exist to serve residents to their convenience. But the purpose of the assumed policy provides convenience only to the administration, not to the residents. I doubt how many residents expect that they can only get their spare keys during office hours.
Assuming such internal policy exists, I would withdraw my complaint to the lady at the front desk, who was merely strictly obeying the policy, and not doing anything else.
Unless there is any evidence that shows the "office hours" policy was agreed upon, I request a reimbursement of my $85 payment. Reciept provided upon request.
麥可青蛙
