Kenmore Apartments

“Hey, Steve.”

“Hey, Naomi. How are ya?”

The conversation was mundane, as usual. Naomi had lived in the same apartment complex for the past three years, and Steve was the maintenance man that worked on her apartment building. It felt like there was something broken every day these days, but what can you expect from a cheap-ish apartment in New York City? 

“I’m tired, as always. Any news on when the leak in my apartment is going to be fixed?”

“Sorry, no clue. You know the management won’t pay for it unless they have to - leak’s not big enough to matter to them yet.”

“Ugh. Can they at least reimburse me for the large bucket I had to buy to catch the water?” 

Steve and Naomi both laughed at this. They knew it was laughable, but Naomi was only partly kidding. 

“I guess I’ll see ya tomorrow, huh?” Naomi joked, though she was sure she probably would. 

“Without a doubt. I got a laundry list of stuff to do and no one else to help. Shit, you’d think they would give me a room for free for all the trouble I go through for this building.”

“Free is all the rooms are worth - they should be paying me to live here.”

Naomi waved goodbye and went on her way. When she got into her apartment, she dropped her purse on the kitchen counter and sighed loudly. It echoed off the walls in the quiet. 

She went to the bathroom and stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked like a hot mess. Her long brunette hair, usually in a high ponytail, had sagged and fallen partially out of the hair tie. Her makeup was smudged near the corners of her eyes, from all of the moments throughout the day where she’d forgotten she was wearing any and accidentally rubbed at it. Her lipstick was nearly gone, with only a light red stain on her lips. 

After a messy day at work, all she had wanted to do was cry. But she wouldn’t let herself do it at work. Nor had she let herself cry on the subway home. She wouldn’t cry in front of Steve either, even though he was the closest thing she had to a friend these days. 

So now, as Naomi stared at herself in the mirror, she broke down. She let it all out, ugly tears and snot and all. She thought of the way her horrible boss had yelled at her in front of her client. She thought about how the client had then proceeded to condescend her as if she wasn’t the expert in the room on marketing plans. She recalled the way the client stormed out when she corrected him for the fifth time. And how her boss, despite knowing how difficult the client had been for everyone, berated her in front of all of her coworkers. 

After all of the trauma, she was sure she couldn’t go back. She didn’t want to go back, either. All she wanted to do was lay in bed for a few weeks. 

When she was finally done feeling all of her feelings, she took a moment to wash her makeup off. She didn’t want to deal with that in the morning. She trudged into her bedroom, careful to avoid the bucket full of water in the living room. As she passed the bucket, she made a mental note to empty it before she went to bed. 

In her room, she took out her laptop and sat at her small desk with it. She opened her email, and was unsurprised to see an email from her boss telling her how badly she fucked up this time. The words “there won’t be another warning” caught her attention, and the anger in her reached the surface. After two lost clients in all the years she’d been there, now there were to be consequences? She was sure her boss was just being sexist. 

She clicked the reply button on the email: 

Mr. Adams,

I will not be showing up to work tomorrow, or any other day after that. Your behavior in the office today was unacceptable as a person and as a supervisor, and I do not wish to work for someone who has no respect for his employees. I quit. 

Respectfully,

Naomi Estrada

As soon as Naomi hit send, she felt relief. In the next second, she felt panic. Holy shit, she panicked. I just quit my job.

She knew that the coming days would be hard, but she had a plan to occupy her time until she could find a new job.

-------

“Mornin’, Steve,” Naomi said gleefully.

“Mornin’, Naomi,” Steve replied, giving her a strange look. He noticed she was in sweatpants and a ratty T-shirt instead of her usual work attire. “What’s got you so chipper this morning?”

“Well, Steve, last night I quit my job!” She grinned at him maniacally. He looked concerned for her wellbeing. 

“And that’s cause for celebration, I take it?” 

“Sure is!” 

“So, what are ya gonna do today? If you’re not going to work, that is?” 

“I thought I’d help you out! Since you said you had a ton of stuff to get done. If you don’t mind, that is,” she eyed him with a pleading look. It was clear she really needed something to do. He obliged. 

“I could actually use a hand. Some of these things are a two-man - sorry, two-person - job. I’ve been puttin’ ‘em off because I wasn’t so sure I could do them on my own.” 

“Perfect, I’m ready to do anything.”

“You sure? They’re kind of dirty jobs - plumbing and pipes and all that.”

“Absolutely! Show me the way.”

------

A week later, Naomi and Steve had knocked out nearly all of his original to-do list and half of the new maintenance requests. They were waiting on parts for some, and others the building management just wouldn’t pay for. 

“You’re going to put me out of a job, Nay-Nay! You do half this shit faster than I can count to ten. I wish you were here all the time to help me. My job would be way easier with a partner, and I wouldn’t have to talk to myself like I normally do to get through the day,” Steve was getting sentimental and a little teary at the thought. He hadn’t had anyone to regularly talk to at his job in years. With no coworkers, he’d gotten used to the loneliness, but it still wasn’t easy. 

“About that…” Naomi started, but didn’t continue.

“Yeah?” Steve prompted. 

“I was wondering… do you think they’d give me a job? I need to make rent, and obviously I’m not going to be able to get by on savings forever. I really like working with you, Steve. Could you ask if they might be willing?”

Steve thought he was going to cry. He liked working with Naomi, too.

“Of course I will. I would love that. In fact, I’ll call right now. Maybe they’ll hire ya on the spot.”

Soon, Steve was talking to his bosses. He ran his hand through his raven-black hair as he paced the apartment’s small lobby area. His large frame took up most of the space, and Naomi chuckled thinking about how his pacing looked ridiculous with so little room in there. He was mostly just spinning in circles as he talked.

“Uh huh. Yes, she’s great. She can fill out the paperwork next week if you say yes. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. No, no felonies.” He looked at her where she sat on some nearby stairs, covered the phone speaker with his hand, and whispered “no felonies, right?” She shook her head and whispered a “no” back, and he nodded his head at her. “Okay, sure. Yep. I will let her know.”

When he hung up, he walked towards her and stood in front of her. He stuck out his hand for a handshake. She reluctantly, confusedly took his hand. He shook her hand.

“Welcome aboard the Kenmore Apartment Facilities and Maintenance Crew.”