The leasing office wished me a happy birthday. I have been trying to get a maintenance ticket opened for 3 weeks.

My birthday is March 12th. The automated birthday email arrived at 8:07 AM sharp. It had my name spelled correctly, which is more than the maintenance system can say. It offered a coupon for a free coffee at the "resident lounge," which I had forgotten existed because I've been trying to get my window fixed for 22 days and my brain has been elsewhere.

The birthday email had nice formatting. Sans-serif font, a little illustration of balloons, a sentence wishing me "a wonderful day filled with joy." The reply-to address was do-not-reply@residenthappy.com.

My maintenance ticket, filed February 18th, says "Do not reply to this email. For status updates, log into the resident portal." I have logged into the resident portal. The ticket says "In Progress" and has said "In Progress" for 22 days. The window in question is in the bedroom. It doesn't fully close. It closes to about 85%. It has been 40-something degrees at night.

I have sent 3 follow-up emails. I have called twice. I have visited the leasing office once. The leasing office person told me it was "on the schedule." She said that 9 days ago.

The birthday email was enthusiastic and timely. The maintenance system is neither of these things. I think about this a lot.