I work at a self-storage facility as a leasing agent, which means I rent storage units out to people. When I do this, I read over our terms and conditions, so people can’t come back and say, “Oh, you didn’t tell me this. Blah blah blah.” I don’t like confrontation and I don’t like stupid people. My job also entails calling up people who have not paid their rent and reminding them of this. Some of these people are nice about it and some are major dickwhistles. When people who owe us money don’t answer the phone and don’t return our calls, we mail them out a certified letter saying, essentially, “Hey dipshit, you didn’t pay to keep your stuff in our building, so we’re going to sell it to pay for what you owe us.” Most of the people who get these letters are no longer at the address that they’ve given us or have had their phones turned off because they are shit with money, so we receive no response. All we as a business are required to do is tell them that their rent is late and mail them out a letter before we go ahead with an auction. Today, we had an auction. We auctioned off four units belonging to three different people for almost $8000. Unfortunately, we don’t get to make a profit off of these auctions; we are only allowed to recoup up to four months worth of rent plus any auction fees. So we sold these peoples’ stuff because they hadn’t paid us, and afterward my boss told me to call them and tell them they’d be receiving checks for the balance of what we made versus what we were owed. This is when shit got annoying.
Auctions are all fun and games until someone’s shit gets sold. I got a call back from a guy completely bewildered and outraged that we’d sell his stuff and that he never received a letter and blah blah blah. What I don’t think people get about certified letters is that if you’re not there to sign for it, then it sits at the Post Office until you come pick it up. If you don’t pick it up, they send it back to us. It’s not our issue if you don’t go and pick it up. By these people not responding, we assume they are fine with us auctioning off their belongings. The guy complained that there might be some personal papers and customer records and wanted the number for the person who bought his unit. That’s something I’m obviously not going to give out, but I told the guy I’d leave a note for the purchaser and if he lets us know he found something, I’ll give him a call. My first question about this situation is why in the hell are you putting something into storage that you know can be sold if you don’t pay for it, and then NOT PAYING FOR IT? That’s your problem, so please don’t complain to me about it. I’m simply doing my job.
A second guy decides not to call back, but rather to stop in. Perhaps he finds himself intimidating or something, but he’s just some guy to me, so I sat here and ate my salad while he asked me questions. He implied that there was an ominous “something” in one of his units that could not legally transfer ownership and may be covered under some type of “homeland security” laws. I asked the man if it violated our lease (which states that you can’t store explosives, flammable liquids, contraband or other goods prohibited by the law) and he said, plainly, no. I asked him if he could tell me what it was, and again, he said no. I gave the guy my boss’s number at this office and told him that all I do here is what they tell me. I’m not in charge, I just make the copies and make the phone calls. This is a business, and it’s a business with repercussions. If you walk into McDonald’s, ask for a Big Mac Meal, and then take off without paying, that’s a crime. If a painter paints your house and you tell him you’ll send him a check in the mail, but never do, that’s a crime. These people are agreeing to make payments to us for a service that we provide, and then become complete shitheads when they violate our lease by not paying. I put this as simply as possible after every rental I make by saying, “Just pay your rent on time, and you’ll be good.”
In conclusion, people are stupid and I hate them.
