To Formally Kvetch or Not to Formally Kvetch

It's in the fifties today here in Brooklyn, and the subways are running (yippee!). Thanks everyone for your sympathy about our cold apartment. You're right, it's illegal for the apartment to be kept that cold during the day. I could call 311. But we've had this problem in years past, and usually it works for me to just sweet talk my 80-odd year old Italian landlord rather than file a complaint. Usually he'll fix it then reset it next year when he has the heat turned back on for the winter. I can't tell whether he just forgets or whether he's hoping we've forgotten. It's just that this year I've been too busy-slash-lazy to actually talk to him or really do anything but whine about how cold I am.

As an aside... it is important to assert your rights. I do have to say, though, that if there's anything being in law school has told me about these kinds of problems (by which I mean relatively minor issues, not safety hazards, discrimination, etc.) it's that it's better not to file a formal complaint if you can possibly avoid it. Even though 311 is anonymous, our building is small enough and our landlord around enough that odds are he'd figure it out. We're very lucky to have some kind of relationship with our landlord so that we can usually work things out informally. Because after you file the complaint and the problem is fixed, you still have to depend on the guy to help you out, and if he likes you he'll go out of his way to do it. If you've sicked the city on him, he won't. My two cents.

Or in the spirit of my friend Ms. Rachel, who insists nosewarmers are the key to whole-body warmth, I could just knit him a nosewarmer as a subtle hint.