The Landlord Magazine | Page 12

OVERLY DRAMATIC? Am I being harsh and overly dramatic? That's a fair argument. One could argue I'm throwing a hissy fit over an issue that's trivial and which, ultimately took a couple of minutes to resolve. So what if he required help with setting the boiler programmer, even though the instruction book was with in grabbing distance? Big deal. Ok, so perhaps you're not convinced, maybe I need to regurgitate another example that's contributed to the demise of my humanity and charitable nature. “My safety has been compromised”, she said with conviction and urgency. I was startled and assumed the worst, while simultaneously wondering how hard this ordeal was going to collide with my shrinking wallet (my addictions don't fund themselves). Naturally, that's the default reaction for every landlord that receives a frantic phone call from a tenant. Phone calls from tenants are rarely inexpensive; tenants don't break radio silence to serve good news unless they're clinically insane or being held at gunpoint. I did the decent thing and remained patient, allowing her heart rate to normalise, so she could begin to explain the catalyst of her trauma. Apparently the back garden's gate had partially fallen off its hinges, which meant any Tom, Dick and Harry could stroll into the garden and peep through the kitchen window to gormlessly perve over her mopping the floor and wiping down the surfaces, or whatever domesticated duty she fulfils in there. In reality, the odds of that happening were virtually zero, she was as appetising as a garden gnome, but I went along with the possibility, and continued to lift her spirits (because that's my job). I quickly hopped into my car, made the 20 minute j