How To Get On My Bad Side

One of the many hats I wear is that of property manager for the storage units owned by The Boss Man.  I have managed these since 2002.  In the beginning, I fell for every story given to me.  And I got burned.  Repeatedly.  So after 10 years of experience, I have no pity for tenants that are behind in their rent.  And I can usually tell whether they are going to be hard to get $$ from just by talking to them on the phone.

However, I am pretty laid back.  As long as you have your payment to me before I send the following month's bill, I don't apply late charges.  This gives people about an extra 10 days to get the payment to me.  When you are 30 days past due, the collection letters start.  Each gets increasingly nasty until you get the one that comes via certified mail telling you that the contents of your unit will be disposed of if payment is not received within 10 days.  This whole process usually takes about 6 months.  So by the time this is all said and done, you will have received about 6-7 bills and 3 collection letters.  Each with instructions of where and how to pay your bill.

I said all that to tell you about one tenant in particular.  She was late paying and had received the first collection letter.  She called me crying and told me that 'everything I own is in that unit-I just got out of the hospital-I just moved to Chicago' blah, blah, blah.  Whatever.  I have not disposed of your junk.  Pay your bill.  Easy peasy.

So needless to say, she did not send the payment she promised and collection letter #2 was sent.  She called me crying and told me that 'everything I own is in that unit-I just got out of the hospital-I just moved to Chicago' blah, blah, blah.  [I guess I wasn't supposed to remember that this was the same batch of nonsense from last month.]  Whatever.  I have not disposed of your junk.  Pay your bill.  Easy peasy.

So needless to say, she did not send the payment she promised and collection letter #3 was sent.  Via certified mail.  The one talking of 'disposal of contents' and 'collection agency' etc.

Which brings us to Saturday morning.  Yes, Saturday morning.  10am.  On a holiday weekend.

I received a call from a number that I did not recognize so I let it go to voicemail.  10 minutes later, my phone rings again.  Same number.  I let it go to voicemail again.  And then, I called to retrieve the messages. It was this tenant, crying and saying 'everything I own is in that unit-I just got out of the hospital-I just moved to Chicago' blah, blah, blah.  [I guess I wasn't supposed to remember that this was the third month in a row for this excuse.]  Whatever.  I have not disposed of your junk.  Pay your bill.  Easy peasy.

Before I got off the phone with voicemail, the phone rang again from a different number I did not recognize.  I assumed it was her calling from a different phone and let it go to voicemail.  Not wanting to talk with her but wanting to put a stop to the madness, I sent a text with payment instructions.  Then I called voicemail.  The second number was her boyfriend who was going to pay her bill.  I ignored his call assuming that she would take care of whatever it was that he wanted.

Then he called again.  And again.  And again so I finally answered.  He wanted to know her unit number so he could put it on the check.  Seriously?  You call me for this?  On a Saturday morning?  On a holiday weekend??

I was less than friendly when I explained that I was NOT in the office.  His response?  He was not happy either about having to do this on a holiday weekend.  He was on his boat off the coast of Florida and he was having to go ALL the way in to shore to mail this payment.  And that is my fault how exactly?!?

I almost lost it on him.  But I took a deep breath and just ended the phone call.

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, I received a call.  Yep, you guessed it.  Her.  Again.  Crying.  She was calling to see if I had gotten the check because 'everything I own is in that unit-I just got out of the hospital-I just moved to Chicago' blah, blah, blah.  OMG!

I'm thinking about paying her to get her junk  OUT of my storage units!!