Months ago, Jack came to me with his dilemma: he had a tenant who was a month late on his rent. Jack had given him ample time to make good. In fact, as Jack had explained, they had talked the previous Thursday, and the tenant said he would let him know what was going in two days--the previous Saturday. And, not to worry.
It was now Wednesday when Jack and I were chatting. Jack had tried to call the tenant but wasn't getting any response. And, more to the point of our conversation, Jack was curious what I thought.
What I felt was a mixture of pity and astonishment of how naive Jack happened to be. What I thought was the tenant had communicated loud and clear. I told the later to Jack and left the former to myself.
During the whole Harold/Haroldine issue last month, I called Jack to keep him apprised. His attitude was to talk with them as reasonable people. He wanted to work something out with them and see if we could come to some sort of peaceful existence--even if that meant they left. Jack was willing to refund the security deposit in exchange for keys.
As we talked, I felt ashamed for being so hard-core. Here was Jack, willing to work something through so that we would have a win-win situation. Me? I was ready to serve their butts and kick them out on the street. My shame was washed away ten minutes later when I talked to Ms. Shirley who snapped at me for not sympathizing with her level of poverty.
Truth be told, there are people I would (and have) willingly worked with when money was tight. Ms. Robin hasn't paid me on time in months. Mrs. Sherwood could pay the rent late and I wouldn't blink. But there are others--the ones who have jaded me--who are directly responsible for the calluses on my heartstrings. These are the Mr. Smiths and the Ms. Kathys of the world. Because of them, any excuse is lame. Because of them, I no longer believe.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
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1 comment:
You do still believe. It's just that now your belief is tempered with a healthy dose of skepticism. That's a good thing to have when you're a landlord. You have the ability to react with your brain rather than your heart. Maybe it would make you feel better on one level to boot Ms. Kathy out in the winter....but then you'd have a vacant house on your hands with no income at all (late or otherwise) and at the mercy of any vandals, freezing pipes or neighbors who just might have a fictitious score to settle (Mr. Smith). You made the absolute right decision. Jack, on the other hand, is still making decisions based upon HIS personal situation. In my opinion he is still caught up in the fiefdom mentality and that causes him to be too lenient with the serfs. He'll learn.
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