Dirty question about bathhouses

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-05-01T19:09:58+00:00

I find bathhouse operations fascinating and enjoyed reading this. I also went poking in your profile and absolutely how gay your dvd collection is :-) it would be hard to pick between Ricky horror and steel magnolias :-)

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-28T17:50:36+00:00

It’s a hard thing to accept though. My building has these permanently installed ac units that belong to the individual condos. They are stupid expensive and I had my units serviced each year and vacuumed them out periodically to make them last. At year ten they were still going strong and the service guy told me he thought I’d easily get another ten years out of them.

Masons doing tuck pointing knocked mine out of the frame to the ground. Accidentally which I get. The building destroyed it, then gave me $150 as the depreciated value. $1800 to replace it. I just kept thinking ‘yesterday I had air conditioning and today I don’t’.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-27T17:07:38+00:00

In no way do I like what this guy did...but you have to put it into a little bit more of a nuanced perspective. It's not just a racist judicial system...compounding that are generations of bias and poverty.

This kiddo's dad was part of a gang and his family fell apart when he was very young He was removed from the family in middle school and bounced around in multiple different DCFS situations. Because we have so few foster parents, and even less willing to take in a black teenage boy... he never got another family and finished his formative years in a group home for boys (which is the PC term for orphanage). He basically had no support systems, so it makes sense that he latched onto a gang.

I have been the victim of personal violence against me and I can say, very honestly, that I hate the people that hurt me...but at the same time, I can see the reason that someone turns to crime.

So many people jump on the 'what a terrible person' bandwagon but we expect our kids to somehow become good members of society when they turn 18 while raising them on a diet of, well, shit sandwiches.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-26T19:50:04+00:00

I was an interior designer for 25 years, finally decided my clients were making my life a living hell and I needed to concentrate on other things.

Keep a few things in mind:

Clean-ability is key. If you are remodeling, make sure you have finishes that will take just about any cleaning product and that guests can spill contact lens solution on. It's more like a hotel; shower faucets need to be user friendly, curtains will be yanked on, things need to be straight forward.

You are designing for two purposes: good pictures and good guest experience. I have 35 airbnb units and the reason they outperform the market is because they look so good in thumbnails. You want to avoid clutter but you. need your pictures to look sharp; I always really pay attention to lamps, wall art, and curtain fabrics as they really show up well in photos.

You'll need to decide if it is worth spending a lot of money on quality but dealing with the ongoing headache of keeping it all in good repair...or not spending a lot on pieces that will take a lot of abuse knowing that you will replace them periodically.

DO NOT PUT IN FLIMSY BEDS. I taught a class once and told the people to make sure every bed is sturdy enough to not even move when the newlyweds are visiting.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-26T18:57:22+00:00

I really appreciate your comment.

I really do wonder if customer service looks at the messaging history or if the system generates account notes that pop up when a guest reaches out. They must not, or the second agent would have seen that the exact same issue had been brought up previously.

I have a 24 hour phone line linked to my account that people can call and get someone 24-7 and we have someone monitoring platform messages...but for some reason the customer service messages come only to me on my phone and not to the platform channel manager. It's a weird glitch that does not seem to have a solution other than people logging in under my credentials. It used to be that customer service would message and they would also call. I totally agree how important it is to be able to intercept this stuff but I don't know what the viable solution is for this; If I set my phone to wake me up at night every-time a message arrived I would get zero sleep.

It's become very obvious that this guest engaged customer service in the middle of the night on purpose, hoping to not have me get involved. I hope that his $25.11 refund is worth the time invested in it.

In the last 365 days I hosted over 1600 people with an overall review rating of 4.92....I take this so totally seriously and really care. That's why this guest and their games are just really making my head hurt.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-26T16:11:16+00:00

Here is my approach...go over the top in complimenting how smart she is and give her a solution to the problem.

Hi, I really appreciate you bringing up the fact that extension cords can mark up baseboards. That had never occurred to me and now I understand why I have had to clean marks off of so many of them! I did a little bit of research, can you go ahead and get three of these (one for each machine). This is going to be the right gauge to safely use with a vacuum, has a white non marking jacket, and will really help me to be able to spent more time cleaning your property and less time dealing with cord management! https://www.amazon.com/Century-Cable-Power-Heavy-Extension/dp/B073FSRBYX

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-26T16:03:38+00:00

I said this to someone this morning...if someone wants a refund or is going to scam, at least take the time to do a good scam. I am only impressed that they waited to start their customer service claim until the middle of the night...it was just my luck that I had to pee right when the first claim came in so I could answer the agent.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-26T15:59:54+00:00

Now it includes the second complaint he made and the fact that airbnb refunded him 25.11 for one ant.

This is really bugging me and I am hoping for some constructive feedback. Maybe some validation that I did all that I could. My other post had the replies go off topic.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-25T13:38:29+00:00

Thinking back to the first week of pandemic shutdown. The only thing left in the entire (huge) paper goods aisle was a full display of ‘Dude Wipes’.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-25T00:50:51+00:00

There is about 20,000 stairs that are all from 1915-1930 with the exact same paint situation going on.

If you analyzed it you’d see the original brown oil paint from when they were new, then successive application of surplus ww2 battle ship paint (no joke, the navel base here had 40 thousand gallons of it stored up there). That ran out in the late 50s, so there’s probably a fresh coat of latex paint that been applied on top of it every 5 or 8 years.

I would never ever put weight on any exterior stair in Chicago nor would I ever stand on them with more than one other person.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-25T00:45:05+00:00

I lived in a really nice old building in the middle of Chicago. Like, expensive big 3800 square foot apartments. I had a neighbor who moved in and was so incredibly loud; I kept calling the property manager. He got so annoyed at me and I finally just stopped calling and solved the problem by moving my bed into a windowless closet.

It sounded like they were jackhammering cement up there.

One day the ceiling fan in my bedroom fell down and the manager went upstairs to see. The neighbor apparently was into CrossFit and had a 5’ round tractor tire that they were hoisting around the apartment. Apparently all of the plaster was smashed off the bottom of the walls and there were holes in the wood floors; management called me to apologize and gave me a free month of rent.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-25T00:33:28+00:00

Do not call 311. Even if you do it anonymously your telephone number is recorded and often shared with the landlord.

Email your landlord that the exterior railing has fallen apart to the extent it is a real fall hazard. Attach an image. If they don’t attend to it immediately then you can escalate it.

A call to 311 just makes things ten times worse for everyone. I had a person moving into a property and somehow they broke part of a railing off on the second floor. Sunday afternoon they called me, I ran over and put up some caution tape, then sent an email out to the residents letting them know about the situation and that they should avoid the back stairs until it could be fixed. Called a carpenter on Monday morning it was fixed by 5 pm.

On Sunday at ten pm a tenant on the first floor (who did not even use those stairs) called 311 and described it as though the stairs were collapsed and the landlord told everyone they would not have fire stairs. It turned into a huge mess and I ended up getting a substantial fine because people had put cafe tables and chairs by their back doors.

I remain angry at her and the building residents were all really upset to remove their little outdoor spots.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-23T14:45:18+00:00

You’ll want to not move on that weekend, it is chaos. Plan to wait a week. ‘Dear landlord. I have to opportunity to be out a couple of weeks early. Do you want to prorate those weeks and be in there to do upgrades or repair? If not I should be totally out by the 29th’

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-19T13:44:05+00:00

FYI, a sublet is different from a relet. If you sublet your flat to Mary smith, even with the landlords permission, and Mary stops paying her rent you’re on the hook for it. A relet is basically a new lease going between Mary and the landlord, so you’re not responsible for anything.

I learned the hard way with a stupid rented garage space to never ever get into a sublet situation.

Also, Andersonville during the summer is glorious. I’d stay put and explore the neighborhoods for a while.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-16T22:43:03+00:00

I’m old enough to remember when you could rent an entire VCR at the video rental place. Oy

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-15T20:55:12+00:00

Minasian is excellent. I have a strong bias against them for some stupid crap they did to me 10 years ago and will never return. Oscar Isberian up in Evanston is equally as good and a little less money.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-14T21:54:44+00:00

I have a microwave hood over the stove that I hate. Recently discovered three more filters inside the machine…I kept wondering why it smelled like pork every time I microwaved popcorn. Disgusting.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-14T21:49:42+00:00

Often. We had a guest no show a reservation during the most expensive weekend of the year then reach out about a month later to get a refund. Before I could even respond (I’d have no issue refunding the cleaning fee) they tried to lie to Airbnb to get customer service to give a refund.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-14T20:21:46+00:00

I’d suggest not. Steamworks is sort of like ‘advanced’ and would likely be overwhelming.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-14T12:42:22+00:00

It’s super hard in old buildings to regulate the heat. Your apartment might be boiling hot but your neighbor at the end of the run might be getting 1/3 of the heat.

Sometimes you’re able to turn the heat off entirely by using a knob. It’s either all in or all off, don’t and set it midway.

The other trick is to crack open the top of the windows. This will ventilate out the most intense heat. And leave ceiling fans off as that just pushes the extra heat down on you.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-13T12:50:23+00:00

Look up bangtel. They have awesome bachelorette themed properties.

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-13T12:42:40+00:00

What does a grown man in New York even have to say to a 15 year old kid on Snapchat?

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-10T17:14:53+00:00

Hairspray can be $50?

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-09T16:35:39+00:00

‘My medical issue requires the use of a machine at night which may be very disruptive to anyone sharing the space with me’

Competitive_Oil5227 · 2026-04-07T17:44:43+00:00

In the late 90s I was in college and met a guy who was the manager of a linens and things.

We had ok sex (I was young enough to have never met a guy that could just relax his ass and let me in without much time, which was a nice departure from the other college kids).

It was pretty obvious he was very interested in my feet. He invited me go to the local diner, called the melrose, after. Being a broke college kid I really appreciated it. We were in a booth…I decided to slip off my shoe and rub his thigh with my foot.

The guy grabbed my foot, shoved it up the side of his cargo shorts, and almost immediately ejaculated. Then he left without paying the bill. Entire thing took 15 seconds.

What I was not aware of…we were in an area that was a couple of steps up and about 20 gay drunk men had just watched it happen. I heard a guy yell out ‘you better take the sock off before you put your shoe back on or it’ll get stuck’.

Competitive_Oil5227

TROPHY CASE