Why Life Doesn’t Have to Be So Hard

Every week, I wonder why some people have it easier than others of the exact same kind. And every week, I'm shown an example why some have a hard life.

For example, one week my tenants let me know the electric oven in the unit stopped working. After trying to fix the oven with some new GE profile heating elements, I gave up. The wiring was burnt, so I decided to order a new oven instead.

I've always told my tenants that if they want to save time, they can order a replacement and schedule delivery based on their own schedule. I, in turn, would immediately reimburse them through Paypal or a check. What tenant wouldn't love to have something fixed and paid for right away?

But this time, they wanted me to order the oven and pay directly. That's fine, so I did and acted as the middle man for scheduling.

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Lack Of Independence Leads To A Hard Life

As a result, the whole process took two weeks longer than expected. This was to the dismay of my tenant who says she heavily depends on the oven to cook all her food.

The delivery guys were supposed to deliver the oven Saturday morning, between 7-11am. They left me a voicemail the night before, which I forwarded to my tenant. But they didn't deliver the oven on Saturday!

What happened was the delivery guys got to my rental at 9am right in the expected window. But, he decided to call my mobile phone instead of my tenant's mobile phone. Then he left after 15 minutes when I didn't pick up!

I was in a five-hour foster care mentorship training seminar and had my phone on silent. The instructions in the note, were as clear as day. They not only said to call my tenant's mobile phone, but to get out of their truck and ring my tenant's apartment #.

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Lazy And Incompetent People Cause Suffering

Talk about a hard life and unnecessary sorrow. My tenants were livid at the delivery guys for not coming during the scheduled window. Not only did they waste their time, they also changed the original delivery date from Friday to Saturday. If they kept it as Friday I could have been there.

I was also annoyed because the delivery guys were too lazy to ring my tenant's doorbell or read the instructions. Plus, I was also annoyed that my tenants didn't let me stick to the Friday delivery schedule after they confirmed and wanted me to handle everything!

When I called the delivery dispatcher the next day to get an explanation and to talk to the driver, she said the driver was no longer working for them. He had been terminated for one too many missed deliveries. Can you imagine? All he had to do was get out of the damn truck and ring the doorbell to prevent a complaint. Now he's unemployed.

Life would also be easier for my tenants if they had let me handle everything or took the initiative to call, order, and schedule the oven. This way, their phone number would be on the original manifest, and I wouldn't have had to play middle man.

Work Smarter So You Won't Have A Hard Life

Bottom line: Life can be so much easier if you actually make the extra effort.

The employee who decides to get in every day before his boss is probably going to get promoted much faster than the employee who always arrives 10 minutes later than his boss.

The financial freedom seeker who decides to review her finances once a week for 15 minutes is probably going to end up much wealthier than her friend who wings it.

The father who decides to introduce himself and his son to every single one of his son's teachers the day before school begins will probably have a son with a better classroom experience.

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