The rent cheque drama a.k.a. why I need to have an emergency fund

So the end of March/beginning of April basically summed up why it is important for me to hold onto and maintain a liquid emergency fund. Mostly because you can't always count on others not to make a mess of things for you.

The rent for the apartment I live in is split three ways and paid out on the first of every month. However, rather than all three of us roomies paying the building's management separately, the other two pays me their share of the rent and in turn, I give management a cheque of the full rent amount on the first. Ultimately, it's more organized and less confusing this way for all of us.

But it's also so that I can play buffer for this exact scenario that I am now once again faced with.

My sister pays her rent via cheque. Mostly because it gives her an appropriate paper trail for when she gets questioned about her status as someone who contributes to the rent of a unit. Which is fine and dandy and doesn't change anything for me. At least until she runs out of cheques.

That happened earlier this month.

But instead of replacing said cheque book as soon as it happened, she... procrastinated it. At least she did until the end of the month when she finally walked into her bank to request a new set of chequebooks.

That was when she proceeded to find out that it will take them 5-10 business days to send the new books to her. Which was five to ten business days she didn't have. Meanwhile, she had rent and a metropass to pay for in the meantime.

So guess who is covering the difference for her until she can cut me that cheque now? Or rather, guess what.

My emergency fund.

And that's normally fine and understandable I guess, but in the same breath, here's the thing that kind of annoys me about this situation. I mean, it's one thing to legitimately not have the cash to pay me, as was the case some time last August for the other roommate. That's fine then, just let me know when you can pay me back.

Except she actually does have the cash on her to cover everything here and then some.

It's the inconvenience in addition to the paper trail that is stopping her from going to the teller and withdrawing the cash to pay me. So instead I'm stuck with the inconvenience of having to juggle my savings and money around in order to cover the shortfalls in my chequing account that is now $525 dollars short of cash. And at a time of the month when I tend to be at my tightest as far as money is concerned.

All in all, thank God for that emergency fund. Elsewise, I don't know, but it wouldn't be pretty for my financial state right now, that's for sure. Nor my mood. Though granted, it does annoy me nevertheless.