You can't have a rational conversation...

with an irrational person. This is one of my dad's infamous lines we heard over and over again as kids, and still today as adults. Other than my duties as mom - I also do some property management. This is not an industry I ever thought I would be in - and it's also nothing like I thought it would be once I got into it. The above phrase has never rang more true to me as it does when I'm dealing with "tenant issues". Luckily we have a building manager, that truly is a saint, and deals with a lot of tenant issues head on - I just hear about them thru her. Our building manager has been lied to (a lot), yelled at, sworn at, hung up on, and lied to again. It seems so strange to me that even though we are providing a basic human necessity (a place to sleep) there's nothing easy or "basic" about it. I guess when you are providing a basic necessity you really deal with the vulnerable side of people. Unfortunately, so far, it's not very pretty. I've learned so much from doing this - the list would really be too long to type - but one of the most important things that it has reminded me to be aware is to make sure my children know that telling the truth is ALWAYS the best answer - especially when you are in a sticky situation. Telling the truth gets you so much more empathy than lying and then trying to wriggle out of that lie. I think this rings true in most situations - especially ones in dealing with your landlord :)!