He finally shut up when I told him we could just go elsewhere and pay cash if he was going to be a d-bag. 

To back up a bit, the water had been shut off for months and they had a plastic tub in the kitchen to catch the rain water coming through the ceiling.

We have one tenant who pays on time every month, but a snowstorm shut down freeways in and out of the town for two days.  

You can tell he spends more time with the AmAm landlord than he does with the out of area white owner of the trailer park, who comes in to deal with the city council wanting to shut the park down.What I got out of the book is these are the kind of people you get when you don't screen, so screen.

If you just offer them the "happy clause," they will either look surprised and shut up, or they'll take you up on it.  

We teach our tenants how to use the emergency shut offs for water, gas, electricity... then when and how to contact us!

I only pay the water and sewer bills, here lies the issue...The downstairs tenant called me the other day and said his electricity got shut off.  

Choosing to not have to deal with that, or shut-off utilities is smart, as long as it doesn't affect the bottom line in a way that it's worth the hassle of managing turning on/off utilities, and risking tenants allowing pipes to freeze, etc.So, how many units are you managing with separate meters?  

When you done, purse the debris up in the 6mil plastic and duct tape it shut to seal it in.  

They don't have to deal with shutting off my service, or paying people to talk to me about it on the phone, or reestablish my service or process extra fees, etc.I think you have to have some understanding of tenants in order to enjoy being a landlord.