If you talk to anyone who has ever lived in New York,
you'll come away with one fact: finding a place to
live in this city sucks. I thought I'd hit it pretty
lucky when I found my current place, a studio sublet
in Cobble Hill, one of the nicest neighborhoods in
Brooklyn. It was convenient to my job and to my girlfriend's
house, the rent was reasonable by New York standards
(i.e. ridiculous by any other standards on Earth)
and I was ready to move in. That was back in September
of last year. Since then, there's been a snag. The
woman who I am subleasing from seems completely incapable
of moving her stuff out. I don't know what her problem
is, but she's had over 150 days to get rid of her
hippie nonsense so I can have the apartment, but I'm
still living amidst piles of boxes of garbage. I have
gone from being patient and easygoing, to leaving
gentle reminders with the rent, to full-out angry
messages on her voice mail. Nothing works. Occasionally
she will come by and box some stuff up, but it never
leaves the apartment. I have six months left on the
sublease. What
do I do?