Is it a full moon? No, but some days you ask that question. Residents try our patience and I wish I had a nickel for every time one of them said, "Can I have the number to your corporate office?" Most of the time when we are doing our job we are the least liked. We deal with emotional issues tied to our residents including their pets, homes, finances, children, vehicles, and even their lifestyle. We ask residents to be courteous to their neighbors regarding noise, pick up after their pets, and a whole list of things covered in the lease. We can post all the signs we want, highlight certain provisions in the lease, go over details that we have continual issues with, and even reinforce guidelines in letter and newsletters. There are also some residents no matter what we do to communicate what we are doing to make our community the best for everyone, they are not happy. Welcome to property management.
Many managers have also had a regional or corporate person overrule a guideline or lease provision in hopes of avoiding controversy. Even though the lease says if they are late they must repay concessions, we'll waive the fee because they felt they were treated unfairly. Of course there are always two sides to the story and the property manager in many cases seems to be the bad person in the event for doing their job. The person making the decision may not know there are five or six others now we must accommodate in the same fashion if we are to be fair and equatable. How do we enforce the lease in the coming months, if it is waived before? The thought process seems to be, satisfy them and maybe the problem will go away. What they may not understand is the ramifications and precedent it creates for the decisions we must make in the future. It opens us up to Fair Housing complaints, and throws ethics out the window. Something many of us take seriously.
So how do we handle situations when something like this happens? First, remain calm with the resident. To control the emotions of others, you first have to learn to control your own. Second, choose your words carefully. Refrain from using the word "no" and think about saying something like, "I'm sorry but removing the fee is not an option we have." Third don't take the attack personally. If you do, these types of incidents will wish you had picked another career. Forth, others that made overriding decisions have the right to do it. Does not make it right or correct, however, it transfers responsibility to them...or so you would think. Last, fight the battles you can win and don't waste you energy or get upset over the ones you cannot.
If this job was easy, anyone could do it. Yes, residents that call corporate will do everything in their power to make you look unprofessional and the bad person. After all, you probably did not give them something they wanted and Lord knows you may have even hurt their feelings. For some reason we have gone from a society where feelings were a right to have, to something we try to avoid. Again, welcome to property management.
