Constructing the Obvious

Construction begins...

This is the picture, taken today, of the living room floor.  As you can see to the right, the floor is coming away from the wall.  This was the beginning of the problem.  

Below you can see the joists which are causing the problem.  Basically they are rotting away causing the floor to sink.  So this is what they are working on presently.  This amounts to tearing it all up, hoping the whole thing doesn't cave in.  

But these problems are "real" problems.  The floor is in fact sinking.  The beams are indeed rotting.  This is an emergency project that needs to be done.  The next logical step would be clearly no one can occupy this apartment in its condition.  I side track a bit because let's get real.  Two of the three people could in fact live in the apartment.  They simply would not have use of the living room or the bathroom.  

There is a bathroom across the hall so that problem is settled.  There is one person who cannot use their room, me.  And this is not due to aesthetics.  Frankly, I don't care if it looked the same way as it does now (see below) but I am not wanted because they need to gut the room and tear down the wall and I would simply get in the way.  Which brings me to my startling issue at the moment.  

One roommate has been somewhat Queenish, needing to move because she wouldn't just put up plastic to keep the dust out of her room.  And arguably, she has a lot of studying to do so the other apartment is a more viable option.  The other, more adapt to conflict, had finally had enough, breaking down.  

Here is where I am faced with the first "real" dilemma in this whole ordeal.  What on earth am I supposed to do at this point?  I am the roommate.  I have known this person for a little over 2 months.  We aren't friends and we aren't enemies. She doesn't really know much about me.  If I go in for the comforting hug am I violating any rules?  Does this take me from roommate to friend?  Do I want to cross that bridge?  What is the roommate etiquette for these situations?  I ended up tapping her shoulder in a WWI grandfatherly way like you see on TV, not committing to any clear position.

My sympathetic side was saying comfort this poor distraught thing.  My logical side was saying this is New York!  We live in an 1890 apartment in Brooklyn.   Then my pragmatic side kicked in.  I didn't offer any words of encouragement nor allowed any time for chit chat.  I acted.  I told her we were moving her stuff in.  She briefly attempted interrupting me, likely to insist that I not have to sleep in the living room, (not a strategy Presidential hopefuls) so I cut off the attempt and started bringing her things over and moving mine out.  

The result is that your author is sitting on his mattress on the floor in the living room.  Is it an inconvenience?  You bet your Sarah Palin gosh darn ants it is.  But what are my options?  I could deal with the inequities and who knows what comes after that.  I could have a debate about who should be where.  Or we can just get through this nonsense.  I thought it would be simple. After day 5, I have a feeling this is just the beginning.  

So I will just have to get used to the cat attacking me in the middle of the night, being awakened by two people stomping across the hardwood floors, forgetting what privacy feels like, unlocking the other apartment every morning at 8 am, locking the apartment when I get home, dealing with the construction crew, dealing with the manager, and pretending like I am not 27 years old and that magically my back has turned into that of a youthful boy of 8.  Why? Because that is the pragmatic thing to do.  And someone has to be a pragmatic adult here seeing as how our landlord and super won't.  Until that changes let's keep things civil.  I guess New York isn't as tough as I thought it was.