Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Today's Adventure

Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2005 2:26 PM
To: jweeks@cambridgema.gov; lhsu@cambridgema.gov;
hyngvason@cambridgema.gov; ggarber@cambridgema.gov;
mayor@cambridgema.gov
Subject: wet paint in Kendall Sq.

TO:
Michael Sullivan, Mayor of Cambridge
Greg Garber, Superintendent of Parks and Urban Forestry, Cambridge
Department of Public Works
Jason Weeks, Executive Director, Cambridge Arts Council
Hafthor Yngvason, Director of Public Art
Lillian Hsu, Public Art Administrator

As an MIT employee, I appreciate and regularly use the parks around MIT during my lunch hour. However, today I had a horrible experience at the "galaxy" sculpture in Kendall Square.



I sat on one of the silver benches that surround the sculpture, not realizing that the bench was recently re-painted. There were absolutely no signs indicating, "wet paint." I wore black dress pants to work today, and I walked away with silver stripes all over my back side.

Go ahead, laugh. It's OK.

However, when you are finished laughing, please contact me about how this happened in the first place, and how you can ensure that it will never happen again. My contact information is listed below. I also expect to be reimbursed for the cost of replacing my pants, and would appreciate a swift reimbursement.

Thank you,

P.S. For proof, I have attached a charming photo of my striped rear end.
--


** UPDATE **
Additionally, I just discovered paint all over my Dansko clogs. Please contact me about prompt reimbursement.

5 comments:

Kathy said...

OMG, that is awful! And are you now walking around the workplace and heading home with silver and black striped clothing! Oh, I would be so pissed.

I hope someone reimburses you soon.

nina beana said...

my question is---did you really send this? and if not, then you should! with pictures attached, of course! thank you for making me laugh this morning.

ps-
i'm fine, just having a bit of a funk...see blog for details. need something fun to look forward to? any ideas?

FemiKnitMafia said...

Yes, I did sent this email with photos attached. I got a lightening fast response from the Cambridge Public Works Department which steered me to the responsible party - Boston Properties. When I called Boston Properties, the man who answered the phone argued with me, asserting that the paint was dry at 7:30am when he checked it. I assured him that it was not dry at 12:30pm, but still he argued. It doesn't matter because the property manager at Boston Properties replied to my email from his Blackberry and promised to call when he was back in his office on Wed. Stay tuned...

Stacy said...

This entry and the one before this (where you got a bit of "revenge" on the T), have proven to me that I love my blog community. The blogs I read on a daily basis make me laugh and cry and make me pissed off. They have really become an important part of my day.

I'm so sorry about your pants, Mafia, but I'm glad you can laugh about it and share it with us.

Don't you hate arguing with contractors? I've been doing that a lot the past couple of days and it's no fun. I hope you get reimbursed very soon.

happyspider said...

i havent laughed so much in days! am so glad you sent this!
(laughing with you not at you)
:)