Thank goodness it was more of a light mist all day instead of something much heavier. My marathon of showings were productive to where the buyers have already narrowed their choices down to two properties which will make it much easier for them to make their final decision. Of course it’s always best to have a second pick just in case they’re not able to come to an agreement with price and terms on their first.
Thank goodness I was able to keep my scheduled arrivals at each one of those properties in sync with the time frames I’d planned. The buyers were actually surprised I was able to keep on track with the timing of them all. All I could say was, “I usually take an educated guess at the amount of time to be spent in a given home, as well as the time it’ll take to drive from one home to the next.” Since I’ve known the buyers well enough from past transactions, we were able to spend some quality time visiting between homes. They’re another couple I’d love to clone and sprinkle around our City.
My public open house at 321 S. Carolina was a far greater success than I’d expected due to the weather. Without a doubt, there were several people in attendance who were showing more than a passing interest. One of the couples happened to know the original builder, and after hearing what they had to say about him, I was right-on with my belief of him being a very meticulous builder. I was informed that back in those days, he would be contacted to do some work for one of our local Lutheran Churches, and his end products always being of superior quality. I did mention how unfortunate it is in our times, the visible lack of master craftsmen in our midst. Far too many perform their jobs as though they’re simply on the clock, instead of there being a moment by moment challenge to do their very best. We’re all familiar with pride of ownership and how it not only maintains, but also nearly always increases a home’s value, while on the other hand, the mindset of “pride of workmanship” has fallen far too much out of favor across our lands, which makes me too sad at times to even think about.
While visiting with my buyers today, we ended up on the subject of how much more our larger corporations search for workers who’ve hailed from the upper Midwest. I couldn’t help but share my own story about a personal interview I had with a corporate human resources manager so very many years ago. Since I’d decided to re-locate to Southern California, my first employment application was filled out and sent to a corporate bank since the mechanics of back-room banking was already something I’d learned well. Believe it or not, about two days after I dropped it off at their regional office, I received a phone call asking me to come in the following day.
The next morning I drove to their regional office filled with a nervous excitement. When I finally stepped off the elevator of their umpteenth floor’s Personnel Director’s office, I knocked, walked in, and then was directed all the farther within that office. Upon our first encounter, the director kindly asked me to be seated for my interview. It was an interesting one because he wasn’t asking much about my credentials, but rather more on the personal side of my life like, “Where exactly is Mason City located in Iowa?”, and “What are your hobbies?”, and “What made you decide to move here?”. Similar questions went on until he finally seemed satisfied with what I believed to be a “quirky” interview.
I ushered myself out and drove back to my apartment. Since my interview was in the morning, I’d say it couldn’t have been no later than 4:00 pm when I received a call from him saying, “Mr. Chodur. If you are interested in the job, we’re offering it to you.” Of course I accepted it along with following his instructions, which were to return to their Human Resources office the following day which was on his sky-high floor and begin my orientation.
The next day, I met with him one last time, and just as I was walking out, I turned and asked, “Since I’m familiar with the normal process of hiring, what did I do or say that caused you to make such a quick hiring decision?” He looked at me without expression and said, “I’ve held this position for many years, and I’ve found that we’ve had the best luck with employees who were raised in the Midwest, but what made you all the more desirable, is that you also graduated from a parochial school.”
Looking back at my job performance with that bank so very many years ago, I’d say he made a good judgement call, because unbeknownst to me at the time, that particular office’s accuracy and productivity ratings had risen higher than it had ever been. The only thing which I believe helped our rankings, was my being diligent in creating a workplace camaraderie where we all pitched in to make each others’ jobs more streamlined.
Can you imagine how much more great America could be if we’d stop all of this partisan saber-rattling? Just take the time to think about all the money, time, and productivity that’s been lost by our politicians who’ve refused to work with counter-balancing political parties. As far as I’m concerned, I’d say at best, our current state of politics in America is nothing more than childish tribalism.
Tonight’s one-liner is: Live as if you were living for a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.
