Cancer Schmancer

I've had to deal with all kinds of excuses when a tenant doesn't have rent. From rent getting lost in the mail to "my cat peed on it so I had to buy a new money order", I've heard many of them. Carver has given me a new one... sort of.

Carver is the downstairs tenant of property Beta, and is my longest term tenant. He's an incredibly good handyman and is resourceful, knowing alot of good deals that he lets me in on when he hears them. Due to his pay schedule, I let him pay on the 15th of the month, rather than the first. He called me and said he's going to have to pay rent on the 24th rather than the 15th. He told me that he had to flip the bill for his girlfriend, Linda's, medical bills as she was diagnosed with liver cancer last month. From what he told me, I think she's in between stage 3 and 4. So she doesn't have much chance.

I lost alot of respect for Carver today. I would have rather he told me that his dog ate the rent and he had to make the dog shit out the money then dryclean it and have it to me by the 24th. I absolutely despise it when people use their illness or the illness of others as a reason to postpone their responsibilities. When I was sick I didn't have anyone, didn't want anyone around me. The treatments left me dizzy and I would still make it back to Smalltown to work. I paid my bills, I took (some) medication and, most importantly, I never told anyone. I didn't want to hear sympathy or ridiculous "words of encouragement" that would make me wonder why I was staying alive in the first place. And I especially didn't want to use it as an excuse not to do something. I have got to get rid of these people.

Carver, in my mind, would have been better off just telling me that it was...

Hmm. I just read what I'm writing and I think I'm angry for the wrong reason. I have my own issues when it comes to the way people handle cancer, and I probably tried to place it erroneously on Carver. He did the right thing by telling me in advance that he was going to be late with rent. That's all. He's a good tenant of two and a half years that has done what I've asked him and does maintains property Beta very well.

I told him that it would be fine, and I'll have to live with having a three digit bank account for the next few days. Rita agreed to pay for half the expenses of the roof (1200), in two weeks. Both units of property Chi should be rented out by then (2500). I get paid from both jobs (1000) next Friday, then an extra 300 the following Friday. With Carver's rent (535), I should reach my target of 4k by the end of the month.

I let Carver slide a little due to the things he does that save me money. The expenses of cancer treatment are not cheap, I know this for sure. I'm not gonna let my personal feelings about the way people deal with cancer get in the way of the best tenant/landlord relationship I've ever had. Making things personal is the way many small businesses fail.