The Ice Queen

Last week, when Joey and I first got to the apartment complex, we had to check in at the leasing office because Ryan and I had a bunch of paperwork to sign and things to do before we could get the keys. We got into town about 45 minutes before Ryan (since he was driving the U-HAUL) so I went in to introduce myself and see what I could do to get started. As I walked into the office I saw an older blonde woman sitting at a desk. In my friendliest voice I introduced myself, “HI, are you Andrea? I believe my husband Ryan has been emailing you back and forth all week about an apartment here? I’m Melissa”. She responded with a very cold “hello” and gave me a ‘what do you want’ look. I explained that Ryan was following behind but I’d like to get started so we could get in and start unpacking asap. She asked if I wanted to sign some paperwork now or wait until Ryan arrived. I said I’d wait for Ryan. She got up to go make a copy of my driver’s license, gave me a pen and said something to the effect of “just go ahead and sign it now”. Hmmm, ok. I thought maybe it was just me who noticed that she wasn’t super friendly, but as we walked out I asked Joey if she seemed rude and he said “WHO, the Ice Queen back there??” I guess I wasn’t the only one who noticed. She gave me some instructions – go here, do that, sign this, etc. and we were off.

We returned an hour later with Ryan and proceeded to sign a million different forms. Ryan went in and spoke with her while I called AT&T to set up internet/cable. He came out and told me I needed to go in and sign the paperwork and he stayed outside to finish up the phone call. The Ice Queen briefly described each page and had me initial and sign. When she got to the one about potential hazardous chemicals in and around the property that could cause birth defects or other problems I made a joke: “Oh, the stuff that’s going to make me sterile?” She replied flatly: “Read the form”. Later, she was talking about what can and cannot go out on the balcony and I asked if we could have plants. Expressionless, she looked at me and just said “nice ones”. At this point I thought it was pretty funny so I laughed it off and Ryan came in to finish signing paperwork. There were no more ice cold remarks after that…just small talk. When we walked out, Ryan said “she was really nice to me”. Of course she was…

The other day, Ryan told me he was going to go down to give the ice queen something and it made me smile. I love that the name stuck J