OF PIPES AND PIGEONS: MY LIFE AS A SUPER

摘要

Apartment superintendent—me? I never failed to get a laugh when I told people I was the super. I'm five-foot-three, friendly, and female. I don't fit the conventional image of someone who fixes pipes and unclogs drains— someone like Schneider, the macho character with a hip-hugging tool belt played by Pat Harrington on the 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time. Nonetheless, for a $100 break on my $675-a-month studio apartment, I collected rents, washed windows, vacuumed carpets, and supervised plumbers and roofers for five years. I baited traps and disposed of putrefying mice, squirrels, and even a pigeon. And I learned a lot about human relations and the economics—direct and indirect—of providing housing in the city.