We had a tenant skip out on his lease.  All attempts to locate him were dead ends.  He had been a monster to deal with and completely trashed the place when he left.  It was one of those situations that felt a little personal. He had been so ugly to me and my staff that I really wanted to catch him but he just vanished.  We thought he may have even left the country – that was how little information there was to find on him.

Nearly a year later I was standing at a gas pump filling up my car when the monster tenant pulled up on the other side of the pumps from me.  We had a moment of eye contact and I had that OH MY GOD reaction when I realized who he was.  I was juggling my phone around to try to get a sneaky photo of his truck’s license plate when he leaned over and started talking to me. I couldn’t believe how he was acting so cool and calm.  Then I realized….  he didn’t recognize me!  He was giving me his best “Heyyy…how you doin’?” moves.  I went with it and gave him my best big flirty smile in return.  He asked for my number and I told him that I didn’t give my number out to strangers but if he’d give me his business card then I’d call him.  He gave me his card and made me “promise, cross my heart” to not forget him.  I did just that!  I smiled and promised and crossed my heart.  I asked him to pose for a picture with his beautiful truck so I wouldn’t forget him and he did!  I got a nice clear picture of him and the license plate.

Our investigator jumped on the information I had collected and found out he had opened a business under his ex sister-in-law’s name.  Everything was in her name – the business registration, the utilities, even the truck he was driving.  It would have been nearly impossible to have found him if he hadn’t been such creep at the gas pump.  He was served with the lawsuit the next day.

I’m sure he’s still wondering how we found him.  Maybe also wondering why he’s not more successful with the ladies too?