Senior complex property manager’s favorite part of job? Tenants
Carol Bryson, 63, is a kid on the block when compared to most of her neighbors. After retiring with 29 years as a psychiatric nurse, she dabbled as a house painter, scale clerk and airplane parts builder, finally finding her niche as property manager for a senior complex.
Bryson and her faithful companion, Joey the Yorkshire terrier, cheerfully great tenants daily in a bright office between wings of the Hayden housing unit. Much more than just a property manager, she functions as bookkeeper, cook, counselor, gardener, janitor, housekeeper, negotiator, taxi driver, emergency response person and “Jackie of All Trades” to serve the seniors she treats as family.
What is your job title? “Property manager of two senior apartment complexes.”
How long have you been doing this? “In 1997 (I think) I was hired by MaryAnn Prescott of Whitewater Creek to lease-up a new addition to their family complex. This was to last for four or five months, I stayed two years.”
How did you choose this line of work? “I don’t think I chose it. The opportunity was offered, I was recuperating from surgery and was bored to death and I needed to see what being a lease-up agent was about. It was one of my better decisions in life. I managed the family complex for two years then transferred over to the new senior complex and that is when the job stopped being a job!”
Are you paid: (a) well; (b) more than you are worth; (c) slave wages, (d) could be better? “I hope my bosses don’t read this part. I’m paid well, get an apartment and live 20 steps from my office. I can take Joey, my Yorkie, to work with me, pretty much set my own hours and do my own thing.”
What is the best thing about your job? “Without a doubt – my tenants. Seniors are the best! They have wisdom and experience and appreciate every thing. I have learned so much from them in the last six years.”
What is the worst thing about your job? “When one of my tenants gets their wings. That’s the worst.”
Do you plan on doing this job (a) until retirement; (b) until something better comes along? “Until I retire.”
Do you have any on-the-job funny stories? “Many, many funny stories. Like the one about my tenant who threw away an important document and I discovered him in the Dumpster sorting through trash. Or the lady tenant I caught coming out of the gentleman’s apartment at 5:30 in the morning. That was a “you GO girl” moment! Or the time a tenant forgot to put his car in reverse and drove into his neighbor’s front door and totally destroyed the Handicap Parking sign. No one was hurt, but it took us three days to get the lady inside out from under her bed.”
Any bad experiences? “The death of a tenant. Not so much for the person that gets their wings as it is for those left behind, wondering if they might be next.”
If there was a movie made about you and your job, what actor should play you? “I think either Phyllis Diller or Granny (Irene Ryan) on the “Beverly Hillbillies” should play my part. I think I am a combination of both those actors, except the company won’t let me carry a scatter gun!”