Reflections on a Career – 5

People; nice people, mean people, selfish people, insecure people, giving people…and then the occasional “different” person. I try to give the “different” folks the benefit of the doubt, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. After all, I’m sure there are those who have looked at me as a bit “different” – an advantage I have (not of my own devices) over some other “different” folks is that I can generally provide a good return on investment for my employers and clients, it’s amazing what people will tolerate when you are creating cash flow for them. I write not of my own devices because it is all by the grace of God, I should be the posterchild for the idea that God looks after the simpleminded.

This evening I was reminded of Bessie. Bessie worked for me at a few different properties and my could she rent apartments. I think that if I collected a few dozen appliance boxes and stacked them one on top of another that she could rent those for a premium. Bessie and I were at some tough properties, properties in crime-infested areas; one was so tough we had armed security in the daytime. She was always pretty upbeat, except when she was downbeat, and when she was on a downer she could really draw it out and make everyone around her pay with her petulance, but she was normally chipper.

Bessie was one of the best conversationalists I’ve ever known, she would say something and listen, say something and listen – the only thing is that she was saying something to herself and then listening to herself and then responding to herself. As I said, folks will put up with “different” if the person who is different is making money for them, and as I also said Bessie could rent apartments – so what is the problem with someone talking to herself if she is also renting apartments? I didn’t see a problem. Her former regional manager didn’t see a problem; Bessie talked, she rented apartments, and we were all fairly happy.

The fact that Bessie talked to herself actually saved me from serious embarrassment one day. I stopped by the property she was working at, went into the rental office and didn’t see anyone around. No one came out from the back office to greet me. There was silence. Then, coming from the bathroom down the hall between the front office, where Bessie worked, and the back office where the manager worked, I heard a conversation going on, a discussion. I thought, “What are Bessie and Velda doing in the bathroom together? What are they talking about?”

I decided the best thing for me to do was to take a seat in the front office and wait for Bessie and Velda to come out in the hallway. I waited…the conversation continued. I waited some more…the conversation continued.

Then the toilet flushes, the faucet runs, and out into the hallway steps Bessie. She didn’t even have to open the bathroom door to get out because the door was wide open.

“Bessie,” I said in wonderment, “did you have the bathroom door open?”

“Yes I did Bob.”

“Why in the world would you do that Bessie?”

“Well, I had an appointment coming in to meet me about an apartment and I left the door open so I could hear them when they came in.”

“Did it occur to you to put the clock-sign on the door saying that you’d be back to open up in ten minutes?”

“No, I didn’t think about that. But it was okay because since the bathroom door was open I could hear them and tell them that I’d be out of the bathroom in a few minutes.”

All I could do was to be thankful that I hadn’t walked down the hall looking for people for I surely would have seen Bessie on the porcelain throne engaged in vigorous debate with herself. So you see, the fact that Bessie talked to herself saved the day for me.