Don’t Wear Moccasins into a Drug House 

The manager at a large apartment complex was unexpectedly fired for fraud. The management company was desperate to temporarily cover the position and I was quickly nominated to take the job, even though I was just their accountant and did not have any real property management experience. 

After a few days, a couple of maintenance men rushed into my office to let me know that the AFT had just performed a drug bust. The lead person from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms wanted to speak to the property manager and I needed to drive over to see him. 

On site, the AFT lead asked me if I had ever seen a drug house and if I wanted to see it before it got sealed off. Of course, I was curious, and followed him into the apartment. The people in the apartment had been cleared out, but the busted down door, drug paraphernalia, large piles of stolen wallets and purses, mountains of trash, burnt cupboards and other damaged property had not been cleaned up yet.   

The sight that made me jump and run out was noticing all the undisposed syringe needles that had been tossed on the carpet throughout the unit. When I realized I was literally walking on used needles wearing only a thin pair of leather moccasins, I hustled out of there and knew that I had seen enough. Luckily, I didn’t get poked and hopefully never have to see a sight like that again, but if I do, I won’t be wearing my moccasins.