I need to vent and maybe those that read my post will find it entertaining and maybe save others from potential nightmares....
I graduated from HS over 20 yrs ago and have happily and successfully lead my life by not keeping in contact with anyone from HS. I never liked HS. I wasn't teased or bullied, I just never had any real connections to anyone from school. I remained in my hometown after graduation and rarely ran into any from school. 3 years ago I had to make the hard decision to leave my sleepy blue collar town in pursuit for employment. My hometown was hard hit by the economy and this forced me to leave everything I have ever known. My biggest issue was that I owned a home and had no possibility of ever selling it so I had to go the rental route.
By leaving my home state and joining facebook
opened the doors for the past to come in. I ran ad after ad for my home and found mostly people to be sleazy, freaks or just plain irresponsible. I started to think I would never get a tenant. Then I got a call from a couple that were interested in the house. Their employment, references etc checked out. Their credit was not great but I quickly found most people interested in renting my house had horrible credit. Sign of the times I suppose and not all that uncommon for an area with a high unemployment rate. I had moved 12 hrs away so driving back and forth was taking a toll on me. I met with the couple and they seemed decent. Something about them made me feel uneasy and after showing them the house, the couple confessed that they knew me. I was taken back as I had no idea who these people were. Well we all graduated together.
I was a little embarrassed because I did not recognize them at all. Both of them had changed significantly and to be honest, neither had aged well. They said they had both been married and divorced and reconnected at the last HS reunion. They seemed happy and talked of marriage, kids, etc.
I rented the house to them. I drove home feeling relaxed that I had finally found a tenant and now the financial burden would be lifted for a little while. 3 days later I get a call from the girl sobbing telling me she and the guy broke up. She told me intimate details of their relationship which I did not want to know and all of a sudden I felt like I was dealing with a couple of middle aged teenagers that refused to grow up. She wanted out of the lease. I was tired and figured it would be too much of a hassle to make her stick with it so I said fine. I called the guy the next morning and he said he could afford the house on his own and wanted to stay. I did deal with some mini drama when she moved her furniture out but after that, everything seemed to settle down.
5 months later the rent was late. I called and called and finally the guy confessed he had been laid off. He assured me he could still make rent with his unemployment. Again, still feeling that uneasy feeling I said ok. Rent was late each month and it was a complete hassle trying to track him down. During this time more and more people from HS were finding me on facebook. I quickly realized why I never cared for these people in school. None had changed and every weekend they still go the local bar like they did at 21. Many posted pictures of their drunken weekends. The women wore clothing too small for their much larger bodies and the men still dressed the same and the only difference in the appearance was the beer guts and premature balding. I then realized that the few people I had on my facebook were also friends with the guy renting my house. So the weeks he claimed he was broke, he seemed to have enough to get his drink on. He posed happily for the photos that later would be put on facebook.
One month I didn't hear from him for weeks so I started the eviction process. I got a message on facebook from one of the HS chums informing me he was very ill and had been in the hospital. I actually checked into this and it was true he was in the hospital. I let him slide but later found out he wasn't ill but had crashed his motorcycle into the back of a semi truck. He had been drunk.
He finally quit paying altogether, stopped returning my phone calls and the neighbors told me he had moved out in a hurry. So I made the drive back to find the house empty, dirty and littered with empty vodka bottles. 54 to be exact. I counted. During my clean up I was completely startled when a guy came down the staircase only wearing underwear and the stench of liquor. I ran out out of the house and called the cops. Turns out the stranger danger was living there and got left behind by the guy I rented my house too. Since this stranger had established residency the police told me I had to follow procedure by evicting this guy through the court, even though he was never on the lease.
The guy volunteered to leave in a week. The cops took pictures of the house and told me that if this new guy causes anymore damage out of spite, they will testify for me in court.
I return a week later and the only thing left besides garbage was a blanket on the bedroom floor upstairs. I changed the locks and returned home cuss I had to work. I got a call from my old neighbors saying the guy is going in and out of the house!
I had a company change the locks again. I then had to drive back to find out how this guy is getting in. I did a stake out of my house and waited for hours until the guy returned. I busted him getting into the house. Turns out he used to work for a locksmith himself and was picking the locks! I talked to him and he seemed mentally retarded. He talked like a child and there was something obviously wrong with him. The cops thought so and told him if he returns he will be arrested. This seemed to do the trick cuss he never came back.
Now while all of this is going on, it turns out that this guy also went to my HS but had graduated years before me. He had made friends with the people I graduated with cuss they all hung out at the bar together. I then started getting messages about how sweet this guy really is and he just has "problems." Which really means he is a complete drunk. He is such a bad drunk that he passes out in public on sidewalks and back alleys. He has been thrown out of the bar for passing out and falling off the bar stool. But everyone loves this guy cuss he is really sweet but just has "problems." I then started getting messages from people asking if I could just let him stay in my house a while longer till he gets a new living arrangment worked out. NO! I told these people that maybe they should take him in, funny how I got no response to that.
That drama was two months ago and I decided to pick up a second job and not go the landlord route for a while. Also the house needs work cuss the two drunks puked on carpet and put a couple of holes in the walls. I can forget ever suing these losers and recooping any money.
Well two days ago I got a message from the facebook HS gang informing me that the stranger guy had died. He was drunk, fell and caused serious head injury to himself that later killed him. Now all of a sudden the guy is a complete saint and I am totally getting the vibe that I should somehow feel bad that he died and died alone. Don't get me wrong, it is sad he died. It is really shame that he left earth that way But I do not like the attitude that somehow I should feel really bad cuss I didn't let him live in my house for free. I have now deleted them all of facebook and more than ever I have no desire to ever live in my hometown again. Maybe someday I can sell the house but it doesn't look promising. It sits empty, I have the neighbors park in the drive and just watch real estate drop in value.
So the lesson here is, people do not change and if they were idiots years ago, chances are they are still idiots.
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