RentRant

I feel like tossing my blackberry into the Hudson! I met the nastiest broker today, get over yourself...you sell apartments. End of story. Funny how some in this biz have a bizarre sense of...self(centeredness). Based on what you might ask? Based on very little, one might say. But times are tough, the claws are coming out! Some of these "top" producers never met a bear market, it's been turn a key, pass go and collect fifty, sixty grand+. This particular broker I had to deal with got absolutely irate over a counter top. I was suggesting that a stain was the result of "normal wear and tear", how dare I, lol! A tenant paying $7500 dollars per month in rent should expect to use the kitchen counter tops for actually preparing food....how preposterous! You actually cook in this $100k kitchen, yes it has everything and "the kitchen sink(couldn't help myself).

I don't like rude people, I especially don't like rude people who have no justification for being rude(like sales people). OK if you are like some mad scientist type(quantum,MIT type) or just a delusional sort in the entertainment business...I can maybe forgive it, chalk it up to "part of your charm" so to speak. But this particular woman did the old I'll just talk very loud and fast, so if you do want to engage you will be forced to talk even louder and faster. No, I don't play that game, I read the "Power of Now" god damn it! Lol!! It was all too strange, like watching a train wreck, all because of a stained counter top on a kitchen island. Yes developers are now learning porous stone does not make a good working surface, sure looks good though.

I think using good manners always serves us best, but NYC can bring out the beast in many folks, this fear of being perceived as weak. It's very animal planet. I never fear looking foolish if I know I am acting in good faith, well tempered and honestly. It really is good business and good for business.

An interesting way to understand human behavior is to understand what many fear, ultimately that would be annihilation, OK that's a different blog. I think many of us are what Jung might refer to as being "unconscious", and it is very hard to realize our actual potential in this frozen state. Basically what I mean is you are so jammed up with little stories of who you are, you are not you at all. behind all those "stories" there is a whole human being, but we have all been educated, conditioned might be a better word into a frenetic mass of energy. A friend recently told me that he doesnt want to change, "people know me as being this particular way". He felt that if he changed his personality, he wouldn't be who he "is". So any idea of evolving or growth is sort of out of the question, I found that very interesting.

Let's bring this baby back into focus. Good manners. My Uncle Leo liked to tell me,"you can't go broke making a profit". So True. Also I would like to add you can't go wrong having good manners, being polite and fair. Of course we're not perfect, but when we do slip up, if we recognize it, acknowledge it, it helps to put out the fire of the ego. Brings us back to a place of feeling balanced. Of course some like being rude, loud and obnoxious, that's "who they are". OK.

I know real estate brokers have a terrible reputation, but there are many people in this business that work hard and stick to the high road. I like nice people, I have been fortunate to be around many interesting, creative,successful people, from my wife who is a talented dancer to extended family that includes a couple of Oscar winners. Success isn't a license for being rude, but ironically it seems those harboring insecurities tend to like to tell you who they are, instead of show you.

Do what you do and do it well without attachment to the outcome and be nice along the way. The taste of honey beats vinegar any day of the week.