Paradise lost, found at On 50

I’ve moved two times in the past two weeks – once from Tallahassee to Tampa, and then again from one On 50 apartment to another.

As detailed in Wednesday’s Oracle, On 50 failed to deliver luxury apartments to students, despite promises to the contrary.

After driving for four hours and waiting to check in for another three, I expected my apartment to be the perfect “student’s paradise,” as one leasing agent called it.

On 50 advertised beautifully renovated apartments, complete with flat-screen, high-definition TVs – hence my horror at the pandemonium present upon entering said “paradise.” Four workers were still painting an appliance-free kitchen; handfuls of cigarette butts littered every sink and shower; the balcony door was missing a screen and a functioning lock; the toilet was not anchored to the floor correctly, and it nearly toppled over after every use.

On the verge of tears, I searched for a solution – anything to keep from trekking back to Tallahassee that day.

Six hours later, I managed to move into the rickety apartment under the pretense that On 50’s contracted disaster relief team would tend to repairs the following week.

It turns out that On 50 found it easier to relocate my roommates and I than fix a toilet, a leak and a lock.

On 50 also promised to send a moving company to the apartment. These movers broke the alleged appointment – strange conduct for complex employees who wanted to move boxes even less than my roommates and I did.

To add insult to injury, the employee moving my boxes was flat-out rude. He complained about how much stuff I had and (incorrectly) assumed that I couldn’t understand Spanish swear words.

At this point, I was about to break my lease. After all, I’d been promised a paradise, and when that fell through, professional movers, but I’d received something closer to “hell” and three careless boors.

The only positive in the whole ordeal was that a sympathetic manager lessened the discomfort.

She personally helped my roommates and I move to the new apartment, and even called her friends to help.

After two of my possessions were severely damaged by Cranky Employee No.1, she brought in a corporate manager, who promised that both items would be replaced as soon as possible.

It was this one inkling of know-how in an overwhelmingly negative situation that kept me positive about my living arrangements and the competence of On 50’s management. And it was the knowledge that there is kindness and willingness somewhere in the On 50 leasing office that kept me from moving a third time this month – to another complex altogether.

Jacyln DeVore is a junior majoring in mass communications.