I like to set up appointments with my clients when I go to visit them. This way, they know when I’m coming and they know how much time I have to spend talking about their website needs. Last week, I set up a meeting at 2:00pm to meet with one of my clients. Now, generally when I set up a meeting with a client, I try to get there five to ten minutes early.

So I get the to the meeting five minutes early and find that there is no one at the building. That’s okay, though. I can sit outside and wait for the clients to arrive. No big problem. Then 2:00pm comes around and I’m still the only one there…2:05pm, 2:10pm, 2:15pm…

Now at this point I’ve been sitting there for twenty minutes on my own. I sent a text to my client that we would have to reschedule because I had to get to another meeting and then I left. About twenty minutes later the client texted me back and said that he had to go out to the store to get something to eat before our meeting, but that he would be back at the store in ten minutes if I wanted to meet then.

Follow the timeline here, folks. I left at 2:15pm and was texted back at 2:35pm at which time the client said they could meet at 2:45pm. That’s a full 45 minutes after our original meeting was scheduled for!!! Obviously, I said that we would have to stick with rescheduling because I couldn’t put off the 3:00pm meeting.

Can you imagine? After not showing up for a meeting at your own office (because you had to get something to eat) and saying that you’ll be around 45 minutes after the start time, you would expect the vendor to come back and think nothing of it?!

Some people are just amazing in their lack of concern about the cost of other people’s time.

Landlords in Monmouth County are weird.

And now we have an absentee landlord who lives in Kentucky. Fine, whatever. Like any other American, he has the right to live where he wants and own what he can afford – even if that means he owns a property thousands of miles from where he lives. Whatever – good for him. He’s not a good “people person” as he is one of those rich guys who never really listens to what you say, but rather just talks over you. Also, he is quite condescending and thinks that my roommates and I are just a bunch of “kids.” Bear in mind, I’ll be 28 years old in a few months and both of my roommates and I have Masters Degrees and we’ve been working professionals for the last 2+ years (we’ve all actually held jobs for much longer). But, like all Monmouth County landlords, this guy is just weird.

My roommates and I sent him August’s rent on July 21st. Talk about sending the rent early, huh? We try to be good tenants and we wanted to start the relationship with the new landlord on the right foot. Get this – the landlord doesn’t cash any of our checks until August 22nd. That’s 32 days later! In the interim, he complains that we sent three checks (one from each of us) and he demands that he gets one check from me from now on. I told him that he wouldn’t have to worry about this in the future as we’ll be sending a money order or cashier’s check.

Why a money order or cashier’s check? Well, my roommates and I have any number of monthly expenses that we each pay – cell phone, car insurance, utilities, rent, car loans, student loans, etc, etc. Every single one of our bills can either be paid instantly online or we can send a check that is cashed within a week. None of us (and I would assume none of you) EVER pay one of your monthly bills and have to wait 32 days for your checks to be cashed! Why a money order? Because I live my life within a tight budget and in the real world! With all of the bullshit that I have to deal with in my financial life, I don’t have the time or effort to let a check sit out there for over a month.

I write this because the landlord has now recommended that we do NOT send money orders to pay the rent. I don’t know what his angle is, but it’s not going to work. I’m sending these money orders as certified mail with return receipts. He mentioned something in an e-mail about “what if they get lost in the mail?” Ugh…

There are enough fail-safes in the money order system in the year 2008 to track where these money orders are and who is cashing them. Plus, they are sent as certified mail to HIS OWN ADDRESS!

Folks, this is an unnecessary complication in my life. I do not want to talk with my landlord or have an adversarial relationship with the guy. I want to pay my rent on time, take care of my apartment, and I want him to cash my checks in a reasonable time frame. Why must this process be any more complicated, damn it?