A Horror Story and a Meme!

I'm wondering why people take advantage of other people. Is there no such thing as respect and honor left in this world. Though I'm not one to complain about things, I'm hopping mad.

I am a person who will give anything to anyone or do anything to help anyone. I should have learned my lesson a long time ago, but being a giving person, I have never given up on people. Let me tell you what has been happening over the last few months and also what happened today.

We rent our upstairs apartment out to help us make ends meet. Last September, the apartment became vacant. Hubby knew a young man who was going to be put out on the street, so he offered the apartment to him. When I met this person, I had my doubts about him. However, hubby wanted to give him a chance, so I agreed. We rented him the apartment.

When we had to have some work done in the house for the fire department to bring all electrical up to code, I was horrified to see that the apartment was a mess. I don't mean clutter. There were pizza boxes, fast food containers and food on the living room coffee table. As nicely as I could, I told the young man that he needed to clean up the apartment. Two months later he took eight bags of garbage out of the apartment.

While we were on vacation last January, the tenant put his garbage out on the upper deck. The deck was constructed to give the tenant more living space and a place to sit out at night as there is no yard for the upper apartment. Over the next four months, the garbage continued to pile up there. First we had raccoons, then mice. I asked the tenant to get rid of it in February. He told me that he would get rid of it come spring when it had melted. Hubby insisted the tenant would clean it up, so I let it be. Last Monday I told hubby it had to go. The two of us went up there and cleaned up 14 bags of garbage with a shovel. There was even cat litter on the deck. I was horrified.

The other day I went out into the front hall to gain access to the front door because it was raining. I wasn't entering the tenant's apartment, as the hall is a community space. However, we don't use it often as we feel that the tenant should have privacy. I was appalled when I stepped through the door. There must be 6 months of junk mail sitting in that hall on a bookcase that belongs to the tenant. This is a definite fire hazard.

The day we cleaned up the 14 bags of garbage, I heard the tenant come in and went into the hall. His words to me, "I have a little b*tch to clean up after me." I was horrified. I told him outright that I was not his mother and would not be cleaning up anymore of his garbage. I told him nicely and asked him to clean the hall up because if the fire department came in they would have a fit. He said, "Well these aren't all my fliers. Some of them came out of your mailbox."

I held my tongue and replied, "I was nice enough to clean up your garbage. It's your place to clean up the hall."

The hall is still full of newspapers, which are going into the garbage tomorrow morning. Yes, I will clean it up but I am not going to search through all of it to see if there is something of his in there. It will just all go into a garbage bag and be put at the curb garbage day.

For the last few months, the tenant has been late with his rent - as much as two weeks late. He promised me he would be all caught up on May 2nd, which is today. We never heard from him and when he came in at dinner time, hubby asked him if he had the rent. He said no and he wouldn't have any for another two weeks.

Sorry friends, but I lost it. I told him that he'd promised me the rent would be caught up on May 2nd. His reply, "Tough luck for you."

I went ballistic and told him that he would be out of here. He gave me the finger and went into his apartment and closed the door.

I have made up his eviction papers. Hubby will sign them when he gets up tonight and I will serve them to him after midnight. According to the Ontario Rental Tribunal, I have to give him 14 days to pay, or at the end of that time he has to be out. If he doesn't move, I have to pay to go before the Tribunal and have him evicted. Total time frame: approximately 2 months. Total cost to me: About $300. Total cost to the tenant: 3 months free rent.

Now, I've said all of this to make a point. This is a young man who we gave the apartment to so he would not be living on the street. We treated him as a son, helping him out whenever we could and even giving him food when he didn't have any. Why is it that he repaid our kindness by dumping garbage on his deck and not paying his rent? I truly cannot understand people who deliberately take advantage of others. Not only am I bewildered and frustrated, I am hurt that he would do this. We have been nothing but kind to this man. This puts a definite strain on us financially and he knows it. After all, he was supposedly hubby's friend.

I would like to hear your opinions on this. I will keep you updated on how things progress.

Now, on the lighter side of things.

Storyteller asked her readers to participate in 'The Meme of Fours' after being tagged by Ivanhoe. So here goes:

4 Places I've Been:

I have traveled in both the US and Canada. My favorite places are:

* Tennesse

* Arkansas

* Cape Breton Island in Canada's Maritimes

* Cranbrook, British Columbia

4 Favorite Foods

* Fruit of any kind, especially fresh raspberries, blueberries, strawberries plus apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi and a host of others.

* Pizza

* Homemade apple pie, using sugar substitute

* Mom's holiday dinners, which usually consist of turkey, dressing and all the fixin's.

4 CDs

* Roy Orbison

* The Gaithers

* Celine Dion

* The Rankin Family (Canadian Celtic group)

4 Jobs I've Had

* Nurse's Aide

* Taxi Owner Operator

* Baseball Stitcher for Spaldings - stitching hardballs for the pros

* Retail Manager

4 Things That Make My Day

* Hearing from my online or real world friends

* Enjoying fun time with my grandsons

* Doing a random act of kindness

* Blogging

4 People That I Tag

I don't like tagging people, so I'm going to amend this part of the meme. If you participate and leave me a comment saying that you have, you can help yourself to a copy of the award below.

Enjoy taking part in this meme. It will help your blogging friends get to know you just a little better. Have a wonderful Saturday, stay safe and enjoy your time off from work. ~Blessings, Mary~