I have a mouse trapped in my closet.

Last night, at around 9:00, I saw a mouse scurry across my bedroom floor. It ran into my linen closet, and I trapped it by placing a sheet across the crevice between the door and the floor.

They've had a problem here with residents who hoard, and although it presents a health and safety hazard for the other residents, naturally, as is invariably the case, they've refused to deal with it. One of the hoarders died recently, and as the family has been cleaning out the apartment (where were they when their elderly parent was hoarding?), mice who had taken up residence in the garbage have been scattering throughout the building.

So I called the answering service, and as is par for the course in this facility, they refused to help me. This is something else that goes on here regularly. The answering service is horrendous. Firstly, they habitually avoid answering the phone. (I experienced this myself a couple of months ago, during a weekend in which the temperature reached 15 below at night. I tried repeatedly to reach them, to lodge a noise complaint - but what if there had been an emergency involving an elderly resident? What if the heat had stopped working, or the pipes had burst?) When they do answer, they habitually refuse to take messages. Last night, the woman I spoke to actually agreed to take a message (she must be new), but she refused to page the on-call maintenance person. It's 4:52am; I've been up since 3:00, listening to the mouse trying to escape.

The management has been asked repeatedly to replace the answering service, but they refuse to do so. They rationalize away all complaints about them. I'm not surprised; they have an affinity for them. They all simply refuse to do their jobs.

Update 9:53am: A couple of the maintenance guys came and trapped the mouse for me. Thank God for the maintenance staff. They're the only ones around here who genuinely try to help the residents.