How to be a passive aggressive landlady in Well now

Background info

• Rent is due on the first of the month.
• Tina, my tenant, prefers to drop the check (sans envelope) in my mailbox.
• Right now, my bank account is running very close to empty on a daily basis, so much so that a rent check a day or so later than today could mean a late mortgage payment this month.
• Tina is regularly rather casual in regards to the rent due date.
  She pays, just a day or two or five late.
• In order to keep Tina from becoming a picky demanding tenant,
  I have to be certain never to act like a picky demanding landlady.
  Of course, my mortgage company does not hold to the same concept of courtesy.
  Its philosophy is - Not a penny short, not a day late.
• Just two thin sheets of drywall separate us physically right now, no more than a few dozen feet between us, but how do I cross the chasm tactfully to ask her to do what she already should have done?
• Last background fact:
  Once a week, the mailman overstuffs every mailbox in the zip code with messy sheaves of flyers and coupons for local stores.

Text exchange

Cobalt to Tina: “Awkward question.
Did you put the rent check in my mailbox?
I just threw out that mess of flyers that clutter up our boxes along with a whole lot of other stuff
and I’m paranoid I might have tossed your check along with it.
I need to know so I can dig through my big outside bin before it gets dumped.”

Tina to Cobalt: “Ack no not yet. Sorry! I got distracted and forgot. I’ll put it out there right now.”

Cobalt to Tina: “Not to worry.
I was just so afraid I’d accidentally thrown your check out.
Thanks much!”

Concluding points

Sometimes I just love text messages.
They make it so much easier to deal with people on a not face to face or voice to voice basis.

I’m going get the check out of the box.