Continued from "The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave, Part One"
It's Sunday morning and in the 'real world' that means I'm working as a church musician (with my phone on silent, in my purse). It's been three days of this guy texting me. He goes from hitting on me, to apologizing, to begging for an apartment, to hitting on me again. Far from wanting to rent him an apartment, I'm now at the point of contacting the tenant he's living with to ask her when he will be leaving (and knowing that he won't be leaving until he gets an apartment). Yes, I probably should have handled the situation already and been more forceful than I had, but my 'real life' actually had more pressing issues at the time... and sometimes you don't see your mistakes until you look back... while writing a blog :)
By now, I'm also starting to get concerned about being at my house alone, sign or no sign on the door, that he may just start showing up if he sees my car in the driveway. I parked my car at a family member's house and walked back to mine, so I could eat lunch and rest for a bit, without anyone really knowing I was home. Avoiding things? You know it. After a couple hours passed, I went back to the church to rehearse some of the music we were playing the following week. That's when all hell broke loose.
While I'm in the church rehearsing, my phone rings - it's my current tenant, the one that's going to be moving out in a few weeks (the apartment this guy is begging to rent). When I answer, it's not the woman that lives there that's on the phone, but her boyfriend. He's always been polite to me, but he's very, very angry. He tells me that 'this punk kid that's living at the end of the street' has been hanging around their house (yes, he's talking about 'the guest'). The boyfriend continues to say that the guest showed up while his girlfriend was out in the yard talking to the neighbor. The guest proceeds to open the door to the house, and look around, under the premise of 'trying to let their cat out'.
Yes, that's what he said. He was going to let the cat out of a house he didn't live in and where he did not know the tenants. The guest then goes over to the yard of the apartment next door (also one of my tenants) and settles himself into one of their lawn chairs, as if he lives there.
My tenants boyfriend also tells me that he's had occurrences in the past week of the gas cap being off of his vehicle. He's a professional truck driver, so the chances of him personally leaving the cap off the truck is possible, but highly unlikely. He concludes by telling me that his girlfriend is highly freaked out by the behavior of this guy and that if the guest sets foot on their property again, he's going to shoot first and ask questions later.
After a formal complaint from a tenant, it was time for real action. I've never had a situation with someone that was not an actual tenant, so I decided I needed advice on how to handle things. I called the state police and spoke to the officer on duty, who told me that what he heard from me was bordering on criminal behavior. However, it was out of their jurisdiction, so he put me on hold and transferred me to the county sheriff's office. The sheriff's office took my call, but had to put out a call to a sheriff in my area, who would then call me back. In my redneck county, that meant everyone with a scanner knew I'd called the police.
Ten minutes later, the sheriff called. He was great, listened to what had been going on and then proceeded to tell me exactly how to handle the situation. Since this guy was a guest and had not established residence, he could be told to leave the property within a day or two. If he resisted and did not leave by the time he was given, I was to call the sheriff's office and speak to the Sargent that handles evictions, who would know exactly how to proceed or tell another sheriff how to handle things, if he couldn't be there personally. I've dealt with the evictions sheriff before and know that he's someone that can get really bad situations turned around, so that gave me a little bit of hope.
After speaking with the police, it's time to call the tenant where the guest is staying. I'm worried about her safety as well, so I sent her a text asking her to call me at her earliest convenience. She calls within ten minutes and before I start, I ask her if she is alone. She says yes, and I explain that there have been issues with the guest and other tenants, and that I know that the police have been contacted. I tell her that he must leave and that he must be gone by Tuesday evening (48 hours later). She says she will handle it, but I do assure her that if she has any issues that I will back her up.
After careful consideration, I find myself spending the night at a family members house; within 20 minutes of my arrival, the guest starts texting me. Pages upon pages of text messages, individual messages longer than the screen on my iPhone. I read them, but do not respond. I cannot turn my phone off, because of my job, but I put it on vibrate and lay it aside as it continues to light up with pleas to rent the apartment to him and accusations of my other tenants being trashy jerks and falsely accusing him...and apologizing for hitting on me.
...but won't I please hold the apartment for him?
It's Sunday morning and in the 'real world' that means I'm working as a church musician (with my phone on silent, in my purse). It's been three days of this guy texting me. He goes from hitting on me, to apologizing, to begging for an apartment, to hitting on me again. Far from wanting to rent him an apartment, I'm now at the point of contacting the tenant he's living with to ask her when he will be leaving (and knowing that he won't be leaving until he gets an apartment). Yes, I probably should have handled the situation already and been more forceful than I had, but my 'real life' actually had more pressing issues at the time... and sometimes you don't see your mistakes until you look back... while writing a blog :)
By now, I'm also starting to get concerned about being at my house alone, sign or no sign on the door, that he may just start showing up if he sees my car in the driveway. I parked my car at a family member's house and walked back to mine, so I could eat lunch and rest for a bit, without anyone really knowing I was home. Avoiding things? You know it. After a couple hours passed, I went back to the church to rehearse some of the music we were playing the following week. That's when all hell broke loose.
While I'm in the church rehearsing, my phone rings - it's my current tenant, the one that's going to be moving out in a few weeks (the apartment this guy is begging to rent). When I answer, it's not the woman that lives there that's on the phone, but her boyfriend. He's always been polite to me, but he's very, very angry. He tells me that 'this punk kid that's living at the end of the street' has been hanging around their house (yes, he's talking about 'the guest'). The boyfriend continues to say that the guest showed up while his girlfriend was out in the yard talking to the neighbor. The guest proceeds to open the door to the house, and look around, under the premise of 'trying to let their cat out'.
Yes, that's what he said. He was going to let the cat out of a house he didn't live in and where he did not know the tenants. The guest then goes over to the yard of the apartment next door (also one of my tenants) and settles himself into one of their lawn chairs, as if he lives there.
My tenants boyfriend also tells me that he's had occurrences in the past week of the gas cap being off of his vehicle. He's a professional truck driver, so the chances of him personally leaving the cap off the truck is possible, but highly unlikely. He concludes by telling me that his girlfriend is highly freaked out by the behavior of this guy and that if the guest sets foot on their property again, he's going to shoot first and ask questions later.
After a formal complaint from a tenant, it was time for real action. I've never had a situation with someone that was not an actual tenant, so I decided I needed advice on how to handle things. I called the state police and spoke to the officer on duty, who told me that what he heard from me was bordering on criminal behavior. However, it was out of their jurisdiction, so he put me on hold and transferred me to the county sheriff's office. The sheriff's office took my call, but had to put out a call to a sheriff in my area, who would then call me back. In my redneck county, that meant everyone with a scanner knew I'd called the police.
Ten minutes later, the sheriff called. He was great, listened to what had been going on and then proceeded to tell me exactly how to handle the situation. Since this guy was a guest and had not established residence, he could be told to leave the property within a day or two. If he resisted and did not leave by the time he was given, I was to call the sheriff's office and speak to the Sargent that handles evictions, who would know exactly how to proceed or tell another sheriff how to handle things, if he couldn't be there personally. I've dealt with the evictions sheriff before and know that he's someone that can get really bad situations turned around, so that gave me a little bit of hope.
After speaking with the police, it's time to call the tenant where the guest is staying. I'm worried about her safety as well, so I sent her a text asking her to call me at her earliest convenience. She calls within ten minutes and before I start, I ask her if she is alone. She says yes, and I explain that there have been issues with the guest and other tenants, and that I know that the police have been contacted. I tell her that he must leave and that he must be gone by Tuesday evening (48 hours later). She says she will handle it, but I do assure her that if she has any issues that I will back her up.
After careful consideration, I find myself spending the night at a family members house; within 20 minutes of my arrival, the guest starts texting me. Pages upon pages of text messages, individual messages longer than the screen on my iPhone. I read them, but do not respond. I cannot turn my phone off, because of my job, but I put it on vibrate and lay it aside as it continues to light up with pleas to rent the apartment to him and accusations of my other tenants being trashy jerks and falsely accusing him...and apologizing for hitting on me.
...but won't I please hold the apartment for him?
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