be more understanding

give someone the benefit of the doubt,

never jump into conclusion too soon.

I was involved in some exchange of words with someone I knew for just a couple of months.

For as long as I knew him, he has always been looking for tenants to share his 3-bedders apartment.

First, he kicked a couple out of his apartment because they were a HORRIFIC couple and he felt threatened living with them.

The last I heard was, he has found tenants to fill up the rooms. Good news.

A month after that, I needed a place to move to, so I dropped a message in a group chat, in a bid that someone might know of someone who can take me in.

About 4 days after I dropped the message, I received a text from an unknown number.

There was no mention of my name nor any introduction from his side.

I chose to ignore. 

And here goes the rest of the story...

And no, I don't "post nice messages, invites, etc" in the group. Out of courtesy and being responsible, I only respond to people's invites to state if I can or cannot make it to their random gatherings. Hahaha. Yes, perhaps that's what he meant by 'nice messages'. I take it as a compliment.

And then, he was being sarcastic when I showed hints that I might know who the heck he was. Would he be better off if I treated him like a stranger?

To be honest, if that's not an accusation, tell me what is it? 

And when people apologised, the least one could do is to acknowledge that an apology has been put forward. What did he mean by 'if you don't feel like apologising'?

It's more like if you don't feel like accepting the apology, that's okay for me. I've done my part.

Yes. I should expect no one to know from head to toe of what's happening in my life. Hence, if you don't know what people are going through or have gone through, don't jump into conclusion too soon. Worse still, you have to confront and end with a rude accusation.

Just as I don't know what happened to the NEW tenants that you've found to fill up your apartment (that you have to be looking for tenants AGAIN), I can't accuse that you're such a bad landlord that the turnover in your apartment is as high as anything one could imagine. 

Understanding and tolerance don't come easy. If you want to be understood and tolerated, please be a good role model yourself.

I don't think he accepted my apologies nor has he forgiven me for not responding to his 'unnamed' message. 

I shall forgive him for not forgiving me and not accepting my apologies. 

To prove how dodgy is Gumtree nowadays, this is a profile photo of one of the weirdos who texted me from Gumtree.

p.s: Don't expect people to know who the heck you are if you don't introduce yourself and don't call them by name in your introduction line. DUH!