I've lived in Northborough for the past year. It's been mostly enjoyable. Northborough is a nice town. The place I live in is quiet.
Nevertheless, there have been some nagging annoyances in my time here:
1) The driveway slopes uphill, which made for a tough 2013-14 winter that put me at odds with my landlord after one snowstorm in particular.
2) When I first moved in, my landlord insisted on being paid rent in cash. I tolerated this for awhile, up until the point when he became erratic about when he'd swing by to pick up the rent, leaving me with a giant wad of cash in my wallet that I wasn't comfortable carrying around or finding a secure place to stash. Also, in addition to my full-time job I also have a super-secret part-time job, as well as an active social life. When you tell me, "Hey I'll swing by on Friday," and then you don't show up on Friday, you'll most likely be chasing me around for days.
I finally drew the line and sent him a text:
"I'm happy to attach a check to my bedroom door. But if you insist on being paid in cash then you work around my schedule, not the other way around."
3) As part of my super-secret part-time job I accumulate a lot of boxes, many of which end up going to the town transfer station. This never sat well with my landlord, because it left him with extra trash to take with him to the dump (though I discussed it with him prior to moving in and somehow it wasn't a problem then). He told me to take the empty boxes somewhere else. In return, I asked him to explain to me where else he expected me to take them.
I never got a response from him.
4) A couple of weeks back my landlord approached one of my roommates about dropping our rent $20 a month, but then making us pay for heat and plowing in the winter. I'm not stupid. This means he's actually raising the rent.
Anyway, you can see where this is headed.
I felt compelled to start looking around. I saw at a couple of places that were cozy, but for one reason or another (rent, neighborhood) not a good fit. Then I saw a third place that fit most of the criteria I was seeking. So I put down a security deposit. I'll be leaving Northborough at the end of the month.
This past Friday my landlord swung by to collect rent. As is now my custom, I left a check attached to my bedroom door. But I figured I'd be there to have this conversation with him.
He must've walked out on the porch first and seen the boxes, because I heard "What the FUCK," followed by him flinging the front door open and screaming at me.
"I FUCKING TOLD YOU NOT TO LEAVE THOSE FUCKING BOXES OUT HERE! FIND ANOTHER FUCKING PLACE TO GET RID OF THEM!"
Which led to me firing right back at him. A lot of profanity and yelling was ensued. One of my roommates uncomfortably followed us around the house as the exchange continued, apparently worried this would escalate. After a minute or two I realized what I really needed to say.
"I wouldn't obsess about those boxes too much if I were you, because I'm moving at the end of the month anyway," I said.
Part of me is mad at myself that I stooped to his level with the yelling and the profanity. That said, he went out of his way to be confrontational with me. I don't deserve to be spoken to like that and I'm not going to tolerate it.
I've moved a lot of times in my life, and they "Hey, I'm moving out," conversation with the landlord has never been as spectacularly melodramatic as this one. But it's over and done with now and at least it's off my chest.
The ironic part about it is, my landlord stormed out of the house without grabbing my rent check.
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