Yesterday I was chatting with my husband, and some how the conversation came around to a scary post I read on Chicks blog (Monday, November 27, 2006). I was doing my best to remember all the details and to convey just how scary it was. (Ladies it'll give you shivers!) The story made my husband remember something creepy that happened to me a long time ago. It's not nearly as bad as Chicks but it scared me pretty bad at the time.
CCB and I were living in an apartment complex in Northglenn Colorado. That morning CCB had to leave town for his job and needed to get an early start on his trip. After I kissed him good bye and watched him disappear out of the front doors, I locked the door, slid the chain into place. and pushed a small blanket into place in front of the door to keep the draft out. I had to work that morning so I went to jump into the shower. I wasn't in the shower for very long when I thought I heard the door. Thinking CCB had forgotten something I toweled off and ran to the door. This is where it got scary. The bottom lock was undone and and the blanket I placed in front of the door was pushed away as far as the chain lock would let the door swing.
Someone had tried to enter my apartment. Whoever that someone was either picked the lock or had a key! Other residents of the apartments had told me stories about how they believed the maintenance men were entering their apartments when they weren't home but I didn't put much stock in the stories till that day. I didn't know whether someone had watched CCB leave and thought the place was empty or whether they saw him leave and knew I was alone. It still gives me the heebie jeebies. We didn't have any maintenance requests in so there was no reason for them to enter. Not to mention it was too early in the morning for them to start work anyway. The head maintenance man lived on the fourth floor of my building and his door faced mine. It would have been easy for him to watch my husband leave without detection.
Of course this happened shortly after CCB left so I couldn't get a hold of him till he reached his destination.(This was in the olden days before cell phones.) So I spent the next several days being scared poopless! That morning before I left for work I put a small piece of tape at the bottom of the door. I figured that would be an indicator of whether someone entered my apartment while I was at work. I talked one of my friends into staying with me until CCB returned and thankfully the rest of the week was uneventful, but I couldn't wait till my husband was back in there with me.
9 comments:
That is scary & Chick's was totally unnerving.
Not to make light of it (but I use humor as a defense coping mechanism), remember the Brady Bunch option of sprinkling baby powder on the floor also to see foot prints.
I think the apartment manager at my place comes in sometimes too when I am out & it used to really bug me. Some of the women insist their panties go missing from time to time. They move out pretty quickly afterwards. There is way too much sickness out there. I'm glad you no longer live there.
People who you don't know in your home when you aren't there is, in itself a pretty weird thing.
Steve~
That would have freaked the living daylights out of me. I guess there was no way of proving it *was* the maintenance guy (although he is prime suspect being a keyholder) so you couldn't have reported him to his superiors and got him fired.
Rat in a cat- Thank you. I heard the same thing about panties when I lived there too! They were also stolen from the dryers.
Steven- I know! My inlaws used to tell me to just go in and wait for them if they hadn't returned to their house yet. I could never do it!
Ann-Looking back I don't know why I didn't report it to the office. Today I would!
That's really scary. Glad you had the chain lock on..
that freaks me out! For a while when my hubby would leave for work he would unintentionally not close the door all the way and we had to have a talk about that b/c if someone tried, they would just have to push our front door open and they would be in!
Glad nothing bad happened to you OGO!
We have an alarm system and even though it's nothing major it really gives me that extra piece of mind!
I hate that we all have these 'what if' scary stories...but they are better than the horrible stories that don't end in 'what if'.
I'm so glad whoever it was backed off...but I'm sorry they left you having to be scared.
ewww!
Unfortunately chain locks will only stop lurkers, anyone really looking for trouble could easily kick a chainlocked door in. Best to put up a deadbolt when you move into a new place and if it's got a deadbolt change the cylinder yourself.(you must of course, give a copy of your key to your landlord). Mother always said "Locks are made for honest people". Now that's scary.
My daughter and her husband lived in Northglenn for two years.
My guess is that it was the maintance man. I would have gone to the apartment management and told them what happened so that they could have questioned the maintance man. He may have been doing this to other people who live in the complex. One way or the other the incident needed to be reported. Glad you weren't hurt....Sacry!!!
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