Thursday, April 24, 2008

Mother of Teenagers

I am only 31 and have never birthed a child.

Yet I have raised numerous teenagers and young 20-somethings. Right now Scott and I are parenting a 19-year old girl and a 17-year old boy. The girl dropped out of high school (her parents let her) at 15. The boy's father (who he lives with) takes care of dinner by asking them which fast food they want.

I also helped raise one of my ex-boyfriends from the time he was about 20 to 26 and our roommate at the time from about 19 to 23.

Apparently, one of my renters thinks that he gets to hop on the Mom-Reese-will-take-care-of-me-wagon.

Well, I won't. He is about a month and a half behind in rent (make that 2 and a half on May 1st) and thinks it's ok to not contact me AT ALL.

How many chances should this child get? It is his first time living on his own. This is not my responsibility.

He can't seem to remember to check his email on a regular basis. Not my responsibility.

He won't return my text messages. Also not my responsibility.

For those that wonder why I don't just CALL him - the answer is twofold. Firstly, I DESPISE talking on the phone. I am too ADD to carry on an important conversation and can never remember my point or any of the relevant facts to the situation when I am on the phone. Secondly, half the time his cell phone has been shut off.

He moved in the Vancouver house from somewhere in the eastern portion of the US and thinks he has "nowhere to go" if I kick his skinny little butt out.

While we were in town for the wedding I reminded him that he had promised to give me at least $200 on the 10th. Since the 10th was two days before my wedding, I didn't go beat down his door on the morning of the 11th when I discovered he hadn't made a deposit.

I DID see him on the evening of the 14th and mentioned that I needed that deposit, he said "oh tomorrow is my day off and the money's in the bank so I'll transfer it tomorrow." Which he did not do and did not ever explain why.

Gah.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yowch. I think that with each passing day as a squatter, he feels more entitled to think of the place as his.

Do you have some friends in the area who can send a subtle but implied message of force?

It's time for flat-out eviction, I think. Do you have all your legal ducks in a row? Lease paperwork and such?

There are a lot of remorseless, shameless leeches in this world. And they've all got a story. It's time to let him know the final chapter has been written.

What does Andy have to say about all this?

Marisa said...

Andy is ready to do whatever I need him to.

He's paying me his $500 commission check (it was supposed to arrive today but didn't). He's also getting a second job to get out of the hold with me.

He's planning to move out in June, but I have no problems kicking him out before that if necessary.

I do have a legal lease and I don't think he'd put up a fight if I evict him. Everyone else in the house knows the situation and wouldn't have a problem supporting me.

Anonymous said...

I appreciate that he's having a tough time, but he can't make that into your problem. Kicking him out, hopefully, will teach him to "man up" and deal with his adult responsibilities.

I'd say give him five days from now to come up with his entire back rent. And a dipped-in-stone May 5 deadline for May's rent.

What sort of a job does he have? What do you know about him, really?

Anonymous said...

Tough love. I believe I'd be kicking him out.

Angela said...

Let's hear it for drawing boundaries and recognizing what does and most importantly does *not* belong to you! Here's hoping for smoother sailing. I don't envy you a renter. Tough stuff.