Tidings of Comfort and Warmth

I don't care who you are or how long you might have rented from me. I happen to know if I get a call at 7 p.m. on a Sunday night from a tenant, it will be not good news. This past Sunday was no exception.

Ms. Angie called me Sunday night, yes at 7 p.m. After carefully asking me how my Christmas was and sweetly inquiring about my health, the health of my family and the weather, she got down to business. It was 27 degrees in Birmingham, she had no heat and was darn unhappy about it.

I hate calls like this. Mainly because I have to say the very logical thing: there is not much I can do on the Sunday of Christmas weekend. So, she was stuck. And cold.

I did give her a quick pep talk (with a smattering of "bless your heart... I am so sorry to hear this" thrown in) that absolutely did nothing to make matters better. I also told her to call my HVAC guy in the morning and quickly gave her a couple of phone numbers. My last directive was if my guy didn't work out, find someone immediately in the morning and have them show up on her doorstep. And, by the way, whomever goes out must call me for authorization. I wouldn't be excited to find out the furnace had been replaced and I was on the hook.

I don't blame Ms. Angie for calling again Monday morning before 6 a.m. After all, it is difficult to think with frozen your brain cells. When she asked if we were the same time as her, I just replied with a dull "no" and left it at that.

What Ms. Angie wanted was the name and numbers of the repair guy that I had already given her the night before at a much more reasonable hour. I suspect this was my punishment for not waving my magic landlord wand and making her home toasty warm. My bad.

One of the really great nice parts about what I do is that I have set up decent relationships with my vendors. When I say, "Please bill me." They do. I have credibility with them.

My HVAC guy was also kind enough to patiently explain how the flux capacitor was broken and needed more dilithium crystals. And, as it turns out, he just happens to have a few extra dilithium crystals in his truck.

So now Ms. Angie has heat. And it didn't cost too much money or good will.