I’m moving into a new apartment next week. After months of saving through my regular job and some extra income on the side, I finally managed to get a place that I’m excited about. I’ve been trying to be really careful and responsible because the rental market here is brutal and I don’t want any problems.
Anyway, while dropping off a few things today, I decided to test the shower. I adjusted the shower head a bit to check the water pressure, but it came loose in my hand. In the process of trying to screw it back properly, it slipped out of my hands, fell straight onto the ceramic floor, and cracked hard.
Now the shower head leaks badly, and basically doesn’t work at all. Total mess. I panicked because technically the move-in isn’t even finalized yet, and I really didn’t want to start by admitting I already broke something.
My plan was to quietly text the handyman who works in the building and see if he could fix it before anyone noticed. But because I had just been texting my landlord yesterday about confirming rent, his chat was right at the top. In my rush, I clicked the wrong conversation and sent: “Hey, I broke the shower head trying to fix it myself. Can you help?”
As soon as I hit send, I realized the mistake. I tried sending a follow-up message to downplay it, but the landlord already replied with, “We’ll have to assess the damages before you move in.”
Now I’m worried they might back out of the lease or slap me with a plumbing bill before I even officially move in. All because I didn’t double-check the chat before sending one panicked text.
TL;DR: Tried adjusting the shower head at my new apartment, dropped it, broke it, and accidentally messaged my landlord instead of the handyman. Now they know I damaged it and might charge me before I even move in.
Comments
You dont think the handyman will quietly text the landlord what happened lol !!!! He’s gotta order a new piece who gonna pay for that?
We were moving into a house that had been sectioned off into apartments a few years ago. We were in a similar situation and quite desperate to find a place as even finding something back then in the area was near impossible let alone something we could afford.
We showed up before the owner to meet and sign the lease and look at the place. The place had 4 large windows arranged like a bay window but all separated. We literally got close enough to the window to look inside, barely touching it, and it caved in and landed inside on the floor.
Went back our our vehicle and waited for the landlord to arrive. Acted as though we had no idea about the window situation….. In truth it wasn’t really our fault. Doesn’t sound to me like this is your fault either. What were you supposed to do, call the handyman just to put the shower head back on?
Don’t take responsibility for it. Keep this in mind when dealing with LL’s in the future. Say “It broke” not “I broke” from the sounds of it, it was already broken when you were testing it and thus not your fault. Actually that’s good advice for life. Don’t admit fault unless you have to.
Next time just say the head fell off by itself and cracked the tile, or that you found it on the broken tile.
No need to say you dropped it cause u dunno how they’d react
Generally I keep things like this to myself and swing on over to Home Depot or Walmart and just buy the thing.
I’ve fixed many little things over the years to try my best to fly under the radar.
Unless you’ve got a real, real problem like water leak, or an appliance goes out. Keep it to yourself.
I always swap the showerheads when I move in. That way the landlord gets the same crap showerhead in the same condition they started with and I get to live with a reasonable deluge showerhead with a sprayer hose to wash the dogs.
Most places install the cheapest most gawdawful $5-10 economy showerhead. Economy showerheads are dirt cheap and easily replaced. They usually only last 2-3 years before becoming encrusted with scale. I wouldn’t worry about it, but it is embarassing.
Don’t say you broke it because you didn’t. I was adjusting the shower head to my height and it fell off. That’s it. It’s not your place to diagnose, just say what happened. They aren’t supposed to fall off like that.
No idea what kind of shower head they used, but you can easily buy one for ~$20. They are usually very easy to replace.
You’ve got to learn to use the passive voice. “The showerhead is broke, can you help?”