There were two kinds of tenants who didn’t pay the rent.

There were the regular people who ran into financial problems.  They’d get in a bind and we would usually try to work out something to collect the rent and hopefully keep their business afloat and avoid legal costs.  That was just part of the job.

Then there were the others who made every rent collection conversation a trip down crazypants lane.  Those were the ones I really didn’t like to deal with.

One of the difficult ones was a woman who had a retail business in a little strip mall.  She wasn’t making payments or responding to my letters or calls.  After I ultimately had to serve her with a legal notice she followed me out into the parking lot to loudly tell me how she felt.

Tenant:   You know what, you are ridiculous!  Your papers are stupid!  I am so sick of your papers!  How do you sleep at night?  You are a terrible person who does terrible things!  You disgust me!  You are a disgusting person!  I can’t stand to look at you!  How can your family stand you?  You are sickening!  You must be sick inside to do a job like this!  You are just a bad bad person!  You are a bad person and god will judge you!  You make me sick!

Me:  You know, I don’t like you very much either but that doesn’t change the situation.

Tenant (gasping and clutching her chest and staggering backwards):  I cannot believe you would speak to me like that!

I shocked her delicate sensibilities.  Poor dear.