利田小子

上周六上iSIS查了房租，发现6月15日要交484刀的房租，这是整套公寓的房租。我傻眼了。室友暑假不在这住，他虽然搬进来，但没check in。难道暑假这几个月我得付全部的房租，因为我自己一个人住？而且，搬家前收到的邮件说新房租是从7月1日开始算的，这之前按原来房子的租金算，应该是216.5刀。这些变成484刀，无法接受，这样的话暑假我就得多交484刀，242变484，6-15-8.15两个月，俺还想着攒点钱出去玩或者寄回家。暑假买车的计划定了下来，这笔预算也放在那不能动，所以只能靠着剩下的一点钱还有未发的工资。如果多交四百多刀，虽不至于让自己饿死，但影响到了俺原来的打算。这收费有点莫名奇妙，跟我当初搬家时预想的完全不同，忍不住了，就发邮件问Jardine Office，内容如下：

Hi,

I am a resident of Jardine. I just tranferred from a traditional unfurnished two bedroom apartment to a renovated unfurnished two bedroom apartment. I think the new rent will start from July 1st and  my current rent for a traditional two bedroom will remain until that time. Is this right? I checked my iSIS and found that I was charged  $484 from June 15th for Jardine housing. Does this mean that I start to pay the new rent from June 15th, rather than July 1st? Another problem is about my roommate. I already have a roommate, but he won’t check in until August 18th. Do I have to pay the full rent for the apartment before he checks in? I think I only need to pay my portion, that is, half of the rent for the apartment. Look forward to your reply.

Thanks,
Huang Zhu

周末Jardine不上班，只能等着。周一早起就收到了回复，内容如下：

Your iSIS account was adjusted to reflect that June rent is your half of the new rental rate. You should owe $242.00 for June, as you transferred to the new apartment already. You will only be charged your half of the rent, regardless when your roommate decides to move in. His agreement begins 7/1/2010, so he will be charged for July rent, even if he does not move in until August 18.

We apologize for the confusion, however your account has been corrected, and you will only be charged your portion of rent for the apartment.

虚惊一场，幸亏自己发现了并发邮件询问，不然这钱交了也白交。两个疑问都解开了。首先，暑假期间我只需要付我那一部分的房租；其次，我的新房租不是从7月1日开始算，应该是从6月1日开始，这和我当初收到的邮件内容不一样。我认了，看来没捡到便宜。
从这件事明白了个道理，在美国这个国家，如果你觉得有些事不合理或者不对劲，就要去argue，不管结果如何。如果像在国内时那样，事事都默默接受，都默认，吃亏的是自己。