Training the Nontrainable

Last October, I was dithering about what to do about Ms. Kathy. You see, her lease was going to be up Feb. 3, 2011. She lives in a really cute, but really small home in the very desirable community of Moody. But, because her home is so small and it has one bathroom, it isn't as easy to rent out as most.

And, there is this pesky issue of Mr. Smith--the former tenant and Alabama's biggest deadbeat--living across the street at his father in law's home.

What I was ruminating about last October was did I want to give Ms. Kathy her walking papers or did I want to allow our dysfunctional relationship to fester until the the sun burned out. Ms. Kathy at the time was making this a no-brainer.

Ms. Kathy, since she moved in, has been a difficult tenant in the sense that she doesn't pay on time and has tons of excuses. That is what one gets when one puts in a tenant with iffy credit. Which I did--two years ago. And, I knew it at the time.

To her credit, although more of a drama queen than I prefer, Ms. Kathy is clean and keeps the house up. She grew up in the neighborhood. And, her sister moved into the home right next door. So, she has a vested interest in where she lives.

If she paid, I wouldn't think twice about her. And, all of Ms. Kathy's fine attributes didn't stop her from once writing me and explaining the reason she wasn't paying the rent that month was because her brother was in jail for some sort of really bad thing and she needed the money to bail him out. After all, he didn't deserve to be punished for his his really bad thing.

Last autumn, I was at the end of my rope with her. I was fantasizing about not being under-capitalized and finding someone to add another bathroom to that home. I was thinking about what it would be like to just have two consecutive months of someone living in this home who actually paid the rent and didn't give me continual grief.

Then one day, Ms. Kathy wrote me about some dilemma or other she was having and would it be ok to make an exception this one time about the whole rent thing?? Of course, she never calls to ask. Though Ms. Kathy is clean and likes her neighborhood, she is not courageous when it comes to talking to me, adult-to-adult. What she didn't realize is that in person I am relatively shy, tend to talk too fast and slur my words when I am flustered. Ms. Kathy flusters me. Essentially, I am a lot more effective as communicator when I am typing than when I am speaking.

But, she chose to write me. So, I let her have it.

Somewhere floating in cyberspace is some sort of eloquent Pulitzer Prize-winning guilt trip I laid on her. I either said it outright, or I inferred enough (without telling her I was looking forward to her moving soon) that I managed to finally get my point across. And, I meant every word of it.

What I got back was two consecutive e-mails with apologies.

And, ever since then rent has come in on time. Without hassles. And, without drama.