Right as I was getting ready to graduate from college, I put out job applications all over the country.
I was in-debt and desperate to start making a paycheck.
I was thrilled to get offered a job in my field at fairly decent pay. This position required me to relocate from the northeast to the midwest, and I was given very little time to move. I packed up my belongings, loaded up my car and made the drive as quickly as possible. I chose an apartment from Craig’s List without seeing it or meeting my roommate in advance. I was desperate and the cost of the rent was affordable. I quickly realized that my roommate Bruce wasn’t overly motivated. He spent the majority of his time sitting on the couch, watching every type of sports, snacking on potato chips and drinking beer. He tended to leave dirty dishes, cups and socks all over the place. He often dropped wet towels on the floor and played his guitar in the middle of the night. However, Bruce was the only one who could get our ancient heating system to operate. We had a boiler in the basement and radiators installed in each room. Those radiators would hiss whenever they started up and got dangerously hot to the touch but provided a tremendous amount of heat. Even with especially long and cold winter weather, the boiler heating system was quite energy efficient and kept our utility bills reasonable. Every once in a while, the boiler would simply quit working. I tried messing with, called the landlord and watched as a licensed HVAC contractor failed to fix it. Bruce then showed up with a screwdriver, tapped it against the boiler a few times and the heater started right up.