Where There's Smoke....

Where there's smoke....there's a low income tenant with terrible kids.

OK, I know that's not really how the old saying goes, but that's what it meant today. I was in town getting ready to paint the floor in my last vacant 3-bedroom house. I received a call from my dirtiest tenant. I knew that she was a poor housekeeper when I accepted her and I put her in a two bedroom apartment that was in poor cosmetic condition (although safe and clean). Anyway, the tenant called today to tell me that there had been smoke coming out of one of the outlets. I asked her what she had plugged in and she said "nothing". However, she said that something was wrong with the outlet.

It took me at least 2 seconds to know exactly what the problem was. I knew that her terrible monster children had caused the problem. I arrived at her apartment a few minutes later and confirmed that my suspicion was right. The children had not only destroyed the outlet, they had stuck a pop can tab into the outlet. It's a wonder they hadn't been shocked (or worse).

So, I shut the power off and went to pick up an outlet and outlet cover. I returned a few minutes later and replaced the outlet without incident. While I was there, I also checked the smoke detector. It was not a big surprise that they had removed the smoke detector battery (probably to use in a CD Player).

It's a joy to deal with these low income tenants. Every day is another soap opera!