All for a table.

Okay, so y'all may recall me talking about the fact that we got our security deposit refunded, except for $40 that they said was deducted because we left a table on our front porch that they had to dispose of. Okay, we didn't leave a table. We only have one table, and we have it with us. We don't even have a coffee table. So, I called the rental agency, and asked them if they could please describe the table that was left behind, because I was really at a loss as to what they were talking about.

Turns out, no one from the rental agency can remember anything about the table--not what type of table it was, not what material it was made out of, nothing. Rental girl says she'll call me back. In the meantime, I talk to some landlord friends of mine, who tell me that if a tenant leaves personal property behind when moving out, the landlord is required to notify the tenant of the personal property, and then the tenant has 8 days to come pick it up. If they don't, and the item is worth less than $500, then the company can destroy the property. So basically, even if we HAD left a table, the company would have had to have given us the opportunity to pick it up rather than just charging us $40 for disposing of it.

I called the company back to tell them this. Rental girl asks to put me on hold. She then gets back on the line and tells me that actually, it was only the LEAF of a table, and since it was such a small thing, she wasn't required to notify us. By this point, I was ticked. It was really starting to feel like I was getting scammed. We didn't leave a stupid table leaf either . We had Thanksgiving at our new house, and we used every one of our stupid table leaves.

I told rental girl that actually, I believed that they had to notify me regardless of the value of the property--it's only when it comes to the agency's ability to DISPOSE of the item that the vaule matters, and that furthermore, if it was of such inconsequential value that they felt comfortable disposing it without contacting me first, then SURELY it didn't cost $40 to dispose of. Then I cited a few relevant Oregon laws on the subject. Rental girl got all surly and said she'd have to call me back.

A few minutes later, I got a call asking if they should mail the check, or if I'd like to pick it up. That's right, don't mess with the law nerd biatch. So, I picked it up, and we used our additional $40 to go have pizza with Ryan and Renee (who I'm excited to report has started a blog of her own!) . Then J and I went to Wally World to pick out a couple of movies--Tomb Raider for J and Ghost Town for me. Good times.

I know, it was only $40. But seriously, when I started to feel like I was being scammed, and then thought about all the people who had already probably been scammed and didn't know their own rights as a tenant, it made me really mad, and I knew that I couldn't just let it go.