Summer's Shenanigans

For the most part, I am a genuinely nice person, but if you catch me at the wrong time and rub me the wrong way, I can be an absolute BITCH. For example, my most recent bitchification happen last month...

My rent is due on the 1st, but the 1st happened to fall on a Saturday and that particular Monday was a postal holiday, so I sent my rent off a couple of days later then usual. Now, I would assume that this wouldn't be a problem since I have always paid my rent in full and on time, for almost 3 years now. Apparently I was wrong, because a few days later I got a formal notice in the mail demanding that I hand deliver my rent check along with a $75 late fee within 3 days or I was going to be charged an additional $600 or some bullshit like that. Now, I would think that this notice would be acceptable if I was a shitty tenant, but I am a dream tenant. I have never paid my rent late, I have never bounce a rent check, I NEVER complain when things around the house break and I fix them myself if at all humanly possible. So, this letter and late fee REALLY pissed me off. Since my rent check was already received, I wrote the following letter to my property management company:

October 12, 2005

Russell Lee Bennett Management
C/O Sheila Rodgers
3910 Vista Way #106
Oceanside, CA 92056

Dear Sheila:

Enclosed you will find a check for $75 to cover the late fee charge for October rent on 3120 Madison Street. I apologize that rent was late, I was out of town and forgot to mail the check before I left. Unfortunately, I had no idea it would be such a burden on Russell Lee Bennett Management since the last property management company was not as strict.

As mentioned to you when you did the walk through on my house. All three of the windows on the north side of the house are nonfunctional and have been since I moved in on September 1st, 2003. Two windows are stuck closed and one is stuck open, which is a problem since there are also no screens on these windows. There is also a window in the kitchen that is painted shut and broken, which has also been this way since I moved in, in 2003. I would also appreciate it if screens could be put on all the windows (there are 5 that are missing) since the overgrown trees on the side of the house are infested with bugs and spiders. Lastly, I would like to request that the trailer that has been parked against the fence in the lot next door be moved, since it blocks almost all of the natural light on the north side of the house.

Please give me a call at (619) 300-2464 and let me know when these repairs will be made. Thank you!

Sincerely,


Summer Hogan
Vicious Enterprises

I put the above letter in an envelope, along with my $75 late fee and hand delivered it to my property management company. Within minutes of dropping the letter off, I got a phone call on my cell phone from Sheila sweetly explaining that I should of just called if rent was going to be late and that it's really not that big of a deal and that she is a reasonable person, etc. etc. Why was she being so sweet, you ask? Because California state laws requires that all windows in the house be functional (they must open at least half way) and now they are going to have to spend hundreds of dollars bringing my house up to code after all these years. I wonder if that was worth the $75 "late fee"...

Those of you that know my brother, know that he has the same passive aggression running through his veins. If you don't know him, you should read this blog about Winn and Sims law firm.

The moral of the story is this: Don't under estimate someone that you don't know. Fucking with someone that is smarter then you is not a good time (for you at least ;)...).