Notice the Notice

9/23 – I served my tenant a 5 Day Rent or Quit Notice. I have no reason to believe I will be paid for this month, or any month after. I realize I am long overdue with presenting this letter to the tenant. But I gave the post office, and her, the benefit of the doubt. When you have reached this point, the Notice point, you actually don't want them to pay anymore. You just want them out. If they leave, I feel, it won't be quietly. Every time I go out, I take one look at that half of the property and see what I am dealing with. Garbage, grill coals, toys left where they were dropped, everything stating "I don't give a shit". I just want them out.
I feel that on the 4th day at the 23rd hour, I am going to get a phone call begging me not to throw them out. I have never been owed this much money before, so I can see why I am pissed. But then you realize that you've been taken for a chump for the last 23 days. Those stamps were used for mailing in other things. Those letters were used as napkins. And my property was a free hotel. When I arrived, I had intentions of getting minor work done, and delivering the Notice. When I got out of my car, she pretended she was on the cell phone. Besides, they were leaving for church and her kids were around. She doesn't have enough pride left for me to hand her this envelope right in front of her kids. While fixing up a few things, my newly posted For Rent sign attracted a potential customer. As he made his way through the unit, he remarked how certain people trash the place. I wondered if my other tenant was one of those people. As I was finishing up, I thought I would try to stop the dripping faucet in the kitchen that was running up my water bill every month. If I knew that one minute later I'd have a geyser in the kitchen, I would've left on the spot. But then a tenant would've had the same problem. I got on the phone with a handyman and he was there in a flash. As we were heading out to the store, I caught her by surprise on the porch. She couldn't even look me in the face. At that point, I knew that all concerns I had about her maybe not being able to send the rent, or the check getting lost in the mail were gone. She knew she didn't pay. And she knew that I knew it. I had bigger fish to fry at the moment, and less than an hour later I had a working faucet. On my way out I dropped the notice in their mailbox. They weren't home and that was for the better. I figured any final misunderstanding about the rent, I would've gotten a call that day. Never came. They have 5 days to get their shit, and get the hell off my property, and out of my life.