Two Things To Fix

The elevator has been out in my building for going on three months now, and while I appreciate the owner showing concern for my cardiac health by forcing me to use the stairs every day, it is getting kind of old. I know it costs a lot to fix an elevator, but there are unavoidable expenses when you're a landlord, and this is one of them.
   And then there are expenses incurred that are completely avoidable, if, as a landlord, you'd just fixed the first problem.
   To wit: another tenant moved out this weekend, a third-floor tenant. Seeing as how there was no elevator in service, the tenants had to muscle their belongings down three flights of stairs. This meant rolling a dolly loaded with a couple hundred pounds of stuff down the stairs - thump, thump, thump - over and over again. This, of course, chewed up the stairs. Not that it's any fault of the tenants', they were just moving out. Probably because the elevator doesn't work.
   So now, by having put off fixing the first thing, now the building owner has two things to fix.
   Isn't this a lesson most of us learned when we were in middle school? If you let a problem go too long, it generates new problems. Why does it seem the people who should know this the most practice it the least?
   Let's see how long she takes to fix the stairs now.