Recently I picked up a "Power Plunger" (Item#99644) for $5.95 on sale and a 25' drain cleaner (Item#66262) on sale for $11.99 at Harbor Freight.  

There was no plunger in the bathroom (my mistake.

They used a plunger and got rid of the blockage. 

I am talking about a very beefy manual with extreme details on how to handle a certain situation.Here is an example of what I mean by Standard Operating Procedure, this example is one I wrote for a Maintenance Request:1.0  Maintenance Requests1.1  Clogged Toilet1.1.1  When the resident informs the Maintenance Manager (MM) of a clogged toilet, perform the following:1.1.2  Inform resident to first utilize the plunger and remind them to not ever use drain-o or any chemical product.

Those are great ideas. we always give the tenant a welcome basket when they first lease the home, Toilet paper, water bottles, spaghetti sauce, sometimes a plunger... just stuff they may need or can use when first moving into the property.. they LOVE these items.. all things you can buy at the $1 store.We also send them a movie gift card and dinner coupon during the holidays and have a hand written note letting them know the owner asked us to send them this and thanking them for being such great tenants.If you are big enough and have enough homes you can normally go work a deal with a local restaurant to be able to get some discounted price off the coupon value if you buy quite a few of them.

I tell her I am out of town for the holiday , Try a plunger and if that doesnt work go home and use your bathroom.

On another topic, for something like the famous clogged toilet situation, should I be up front and ask the tenant to try to use a plunger himself first before calling me, or is this something I'll have to go in for in case it happens?  

Don't forget to provide toilet bowl brush and plunger in each bathroom.These are all expenses you can write-off come tax time. 

Or $$ if their toilet is clogged and they just needed to use a plunger.

Buy a light bulb and a plunger.