The wind was certainly filled with gusto today to where while crisscrossing the City, I noticed a number of people attempting to keep their hats and jackets from either blowing open or their caps off. One young gentleman who was standing at one of the windy corners waiting for the light to change so he could cross was having one heck of a time with his baseball cap wanting to blow off to where he had to hold it down with both hands. Too funny! There are always those times when classic moments appear and I’m without my camera.
I was a bit miffed in finding out one of my listings won’t be closing on time due to a loan not being processed normally with a few hiccups that had to be addressed. What was most annoying for me was how everyone pounded on me to get all my normal work done as quickly as possible. Well, I did it in a hurried fashion, so now I’m left to set and wait for everyone else to catch up. If that wasn’t enough to cause me to bristle, just as I was on my way to a late afternoon appointment, another agent called and said he didn’t get a fax I sent to him yesterday. I said, “I’m sure I sent it because I always wait for the fax confirmation and I also texted you that it was just sent.” His reply was, “We looked all over for it and couldn’t find it.” OMG! I told him I’d run back to the office and re-fax it with a bold cover letter. These situations happen more than I’d like to admit and each time I can’t help but wonder where those fax machines are and who has access to them. My office fax number has been the same for over 20 years, but these past two years or so, I once in a while get a fax from different clinics in our area. Each time it happens I call them about confidential a medical history I’d received at my real estate office and that I’ve immediately shredded it. I’m sure those patients would not be happy campers if they knew someone faxed their medical conditions to a real estate office. To err is human and I get it, but when it comes to certain information, there should be serious double-checking of fax numbers before punching numbers. I think it’s been my day of being a bit “itchie” with people for not paying attention to their work and later me becoming a bit verbally harsh. Well at least they now understand why I wasn’t happy with their work and I’m confident they’ll be all the more careful going forward.
After scolding someone several months ago about something similar I ended the conversation by saying, “You have great promise as long as you start paying more attention to detail and really work at getting better at what you do.” “Just remember,” I said, “Some day you may want a reference from me, and you’ll likely use me as one because you will have raised the bar on the quality of your work.” In writing these words caused me to remember a few successful people who worked under me who sometimes referred to me behind my back as something I can’t possibly name in this article, but at least they finally realized some years later I wasn’t being a bully, but rather a very demanding teacher. It makes me smile in remembering how one who later soared in accomplishments having referred to me with my underlings as the “Teach Astard”. As you know, I left out the “B”, but I still have no regrets because sometimes you just gotta do what you gootta to do to bring out the very best in others as long as it’s selfless in nature.
