Little Old Lady, Big Old Problems
It's funny. It's sad. It's true.
A little old lady applied to rent from us about two years ago. She had lived in the same place for many years but was having problems with her neighbors and Landlord. She seemed a smidge paranoid but it's hard to tell with someone in their late 80's and she had the fire of a 30-year-old so we took a chance.
About a month after moving in, reality set in. My handyman of 16 years gave her a brand new faucet and she accused him of stealing things from her (he took the broken faucet). She continued to accuse him for months until I finally told her to clam up and never talk to me about it again.
She found some spiders in her apartment and complained they were crawling on her pillow and biting her face. She insisted they were Brown Recluse even though I shared news articles from an expert that shows they cannot live here. She brought me an envelope with the bodies of multiple dead spiders so I could see for myself. They were Hobo Spiders, yet she insists to this day.
She couldn't push the laundry room door open because it's too heavy.
The neighbors left laundry in the washer for six days (they didn't).
Someone is walking around in the empty apartment above.
An outlet was having problems so we installed a new one but she complained it didn't work. I went over, plugged in a fan, and it worked fine. Turns out she wasn't strong enough to plug things in.
A neighbor lady (86 years old) scratched her car. Stole her special extension cord. Stalks her. Encourages her pervert son to peek in her windows.
Long story short, there is a constant barrage of complaints and problems, usually every 4-6 weeks but sometimes much more often. We try to be patient and understanding.
Today was the last straw.
We sent an appliance repairman to check her fridge. He shows up around 10am and she chews him a new one because he didn't show up in the afternoon and she was "three sheets to the wind" on her pain medication. Then she starts yelling at him while shaking her cane and threatening him! He now refuses to go back. We only have two appliance techs in town and he's the only one we trust. She followed that up by calling our office and belittling my office manager and then yelling at my Property Manager who quickly shut her down.
Enough is enough. In my office, we go the extra mile for everyone. For this particular woman we've gone an extra 20 miles with a camel on our back, hiked Kilimanjaro backwards while wrestling gators, and received 50 lashes at the top for our reward. My final act of kindness will be to provide her 60 days to find a new home because we're done.
At American West Realty, our slogan is, "We don't just manage!" It speaks to the fact that we handle sales and not just Property Management in Cody, Wyoming. But it also speaks to the fact we do more than just "get by" with the minimal services. We always strive to provide more than is necessary, more than is expected.
Today we found our limit.
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