“You’ve Been Served… and We’re Taking the Plant Back!”

Oct 12

2 min read

As a property manager, I spent a lot of time in court.

At one point, I was probably there at least once a month. Court became pretty routine, and over the years we learned a LOT about process serving, obtaining judgments, negotiating payment plans, and collecting money owed to our clients.

And then there was Minnie.

Minnie was a particularly difficult tenant who was very good at avoiding our attempts to collect the money she owed. She was also pretty good at avoiding being personally served.

But I was determined.

You see, personally serving a tenant was important. If we could prove Minnie had actually received the court papers, we had a much stronger position when we appeared before the judge—even if Minnie decided not to show up.

And something told me this probably wasn't Minnie's first rodeo. She seemed to know exactly how to make herself difficult to find.

So... we got creative.

I called my rental agent into my office.

“Go to the store and buy a plant.”

I'm sure she wondered where I was going with this.

“Nothing too fancy. Just something nice.”

Then I explained the plan.

Take the plant to Minnie's place of employment. Walk in and tell the receptionist you're there to see Minnie. If she asks your name, tell her you'd really like to surprise Minnie and just show her the plant.

And off she went.

Sure enough, the receptionist called Minnie to the front.

Minnie came around the corner expecting, I assume, a lovely surprise.

She got one.

My rental agent held out the court petition instead.

“You've been served.”

And then she turned around and walked out...

WITH THE PLANT.

Come on now. We weren't giving Minnie a plant when she wasn't even paying her rent! 😂

Mission accomplished.

But that's not quite the end of Minnie's story.

My rental agent returned to the office, plant still in hand. It was a pretty little violet, so we put it in our office kitchen.

Naturally, there was only one possible name for it.

Minnie.

And Minnie the violet lived happily in our office kitchen for YEARS.

We told that story over and over again—and every time someone saw that little violet, we were reminded of the day a simple plant helped us finally serve one very elusive tenant.