Hahahahahaha!! I’m really content right now and I’m laughing at life in general. I’m laughing because my bank account right now is at $7,177.43. Despite Sha not paying me my $1050 yet, the purchase of my new Android phone, making minor car repairs and going over my food budget by $40, I will STILL reach my quota of 7k for September!
Yesterday, the downstairs tenant of property Beta, Carver, called me up. He said that his girlfriend, Linda, is “going fast”, which means that she probably has another month before the cancer kills her. Carver thanked me profusely for working with him through the late rents and the payment agreement, and hated himself for putting me in a bind. So Carver decided to take money out of his 401k to pay off the payment agreement, plus the rents for October and November in advance! He said that he wanted to make sure that I was taken care of first before any of his bills because he wanted to show his gratitude.
You know, I’ve known that there was something wrong with me ever since I was a kid. I couldn’t connect with anybody or anything, so I had to pretend a lot. I had to pretend that I liked people that I didn’t like. I had to pretend that I didn’t hear things that I heard. I had to pretend to hate things that I really didn’t hate. I was afraid of what I’d become if I accepted the fact that I feel no real emotional connection to anyone or anything, so I just put on a smile and pretended. I did this for so long that it kind of stuck with me and it’s become second nature. Carver has no idea how close I was to throwing him out, and he really believes that I care about him and his situation. Because of this, he made sure that I was paid in advance and helped me reach my quota for September.
The truth is that Carver never really had me in a bind, but this is proof that personal feelings don’t belong in business. I could have complained to him that he was holding my mortgage up. I could have reminded him of his responsibilities to make sure rent is paid on time. I could have threatened him with eviction. But I didn’t. There’s no point in going through all the drama. Sha likes to yell at his tenants and threaten them and all that, but I never see it as being necessary. I’m a landlord and I have tenants. Everybody knows their role. The tenants are supposed to be the ones that have the emotions. I’m supposed to make business decisions (payment agreement for Carver) based on factual data (income and payment history) and risk assessment.
If it’s a decision that the tenant doesn’t like, they will call and yell and scream and threaten to sue for this or that. I simply stick with my affable personality and wish them the best, like I did with my old tenant Laurie from property Chi. She put me through Hell, yet she probably thinks that I’m the nicest guy in the world. (She probably has no idea that I kept all of her personal information and plan to screw her over once I have the time.) It’s good business to keep personal feelings out and, in the case of Carver, being the pretender paid off huge.
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