I am putting more and more people on 'hide alerts' status, just about always becuase of wild, rapid texting. One of my long time clients is/was an elderly Japanese woman with a lovely house near the U Cal in a top neighborhood from which she rented to students. She was like the sweet, soft spoken wise lady. She seemed to get a kick out of her young tenants and the money had to be good. In addition to her master bedroom - two rooms and a bath - is 6 rental spaces including a cottage in the former detatched garage.

I put this in semi - past tense as she is mid 80s now, and not the super hardy mid 80s, her walking was getting very slow and hunched over, she now lives with one of her twin daughters, alternates, and one of the daughters manages the house from SF. Oh dear God, she is nothing like her mother. Worry wart, will not shut up, asks the same questions over and over. And she sends short texts, in rapid fire, often 4 to 8 at a time. The constant be-de-beep was driving me nuts. So much easier now. I check in once or twice a day. Plenty good. Sometimes she hits me with ? , meaning, why are you answering me right away? And me thinking, poor baby.

She's unlikely to fire me. I've been working on that complex for 6 or 7 years, I am the wise man at this point, and she is so naive on the facts of home maintenance and repair. I charge her top dollar. F - it, she's going to inherit that $3 million house soon enough and she is a serious handful.

Others who are too demanding of my time for boo chit also getting the crescent moon 'hide alerts' treatment. They have my email address which shields me from being always on tap. No e-mail alerts on my phone.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K