FobzyCollecting the rents
April 18th 2008 00:29
To-day was rent collection day so I accompanied Mary to the collection of cottages on the Estate in which lived the workers and some others who had had a connection with our family over the years but who had been allowed to stay on as tenants for various reasons.
We also had some who lived there in the name of charity and who were very grateful to have somewhere to live with a discounted rent.
Mary drove one of the farm vehicles as the cottages were set well away from the main buildings and from our house in particular.
As she drove she explained how each tenant was just that little bit different in the way they approached rent days. But it was Mary's job to do the best she could and most tenants paid up quite regularly and willingly and then there were the few who were always behind and the farm manager would call on them and sort things out.
She carried with her a receipt book and would hand write a receipt for every collection.
The first few collections went fine and then we came to a house with a prominent letter box displayed. Mary put in her hand, saying the tenant worked outside the estate and was never home. I was expecting to see an envelope with a cheque in it. But no, out came the loose notes which Mary counted out and put some change into the box. I stood there stammering with my mouth wide open.
"Oh, don't worry, Mary said, everyone knows it's there and nobody would dream of stealing it"
I thought, "Oh, boy,in the city it would not last 5 seconds" but I kept my mouth shut.
Then came the excuses from a few of the tenants and Mary just took what they offered, wrote her receipt and left them to it.
The last little cottage contained an invalid and Mary simply opened the unlocked door and went inside, collecting the heavily discounted rent from the kitchen table which was the exact amount and wrote a receipt putting a vase on top of it so it would not blow away.
It was back in the car and into Mary's sparse little office at the back of one of the stables where she wrote out all the details into a ledger, by hand, saying they only put the total amount into the computer, they'd tried doing it the other way but it did not work out too well.
She then added up the money, balanced it with the ledger, which she spent considerable time explaining to me, popped the money in a bank bag and locked it in the safe, locking the door on our way out.
She said that was all she'd been asked to show me, and she had various functions around the place, and I must say the whole process left me speechless, but I was not going to disrupt the place by registering any surprise or suggesting changes. It had worked all this time without me and I dare say would continue to work that way with or without my prescence.
What with the tractor yesterday and money to-day I was certainly learning a thing or two.
Life was never going to be the same again, I could see that. Responsibility , oh dear!
| 73 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Jill Browne
Skip On Over
London Travel from Skiponover.com
England Travel
Canada Travel
Calgary Travel from Skiponover.com
xxox
Comment by Fobzy
Fobz