I have another sinus infection. YUCK! Actually, today, I have felt better than I did Monday and Tuesday. I really dislike having a fever and feeling like this….sweaty, cold, hot, stuffed up, runny nose, funny smell in the back of my throat. Gross. I actually stayed home on Monday. That was the first time I have called in for months. I just couldn’t lift my head off the pillow and I thought I was probably contagious with that fever. The rest probably did me good. The boss didn’t say much and I decided not to worry about it.

In other news, after Hubby making yet another call to the PMC this Monday to find out how the showings this weekend went, we learned there were no showings. (Sigh) He also learned that we should reduce the price (again) and put in a refrigerator. More money out the door! (Sigh) So I have been looking for a cheap fridge and we lowered the price. That place has just got to rent out this month. We will really be in a pickle if it stays empty. And I mean a real pickle. Like say, living out of a cardboard box, eating ramen noodles and eating cheap hamburger. Keep saying your prayers and I will too.

I just had the rudest phone call. This guy called from 300 miles away and wanted a price on a vehicle. So I gave him a price. Then he asked for a price on a different trim level that would be around $10K more. I said “what exactly are you looking for so I know what trim level would be best for you?” and he started rattling off this list that was all high end stuff. I said “why did you ask about the base model if you wanted all these extras?” and he said “well I can ask anything I want to, it’s a free country it’s it?!” I said “really?” and he hung up on me. Maybe I was being too forward but I have been doing this a long time. Usually, if a person calls for a price, they know what trim they want…or at least know what they want in the vehicle. They don’t ask for a million different quotes. I think it was another dealership shopping me. Bastids.

You know, people are REALLY rude on the phone sometimes. I have at least one person hang up on me a day. Of course, I am not one to take much crap though either. It doesn’t take long to figure out if someone is serious. If they are, they are usually reasonable as well. And if they are serious and act like jerks at the same time, they are going to be jerks the whole way through the process and that can be a real negative for my department and my business as a whole. It’s just best to let those folks go on to the competitor. That said we still have to maintain good numbers-both individually and in the city. It’s hard, very unglamorous work. Not the managing of the department so much, that isn’t really a challenge at all. It’s the hours, working with the public and the demands from corporate/the GM that really wears me out. And I suppose the hour drive a day doesn’t help. Do you know I am the only department that will not receive a bonus at Christmas and I am responsible for between 25-30% of the business monthly? I intend to have a conversation before the end of the year with the GM about that very subject. He was supposed to have set up a bonus structure for me and then told me I needed to have more staff before I could have a bonus. WTF ever. How about a raise in the meantime for keeping us in 2^nd place out of our 12 stores in my first year here, then? Bastid.

It’s supposed to get “cold” here tomorrow. That means a high of 50. I love it. It will be frozen tundra up north and here….just a nice cool day. I may have to wear a sweater! It is funny how quickly Hubby and I have acclimated to the weather. We notice if the temperature is less than 70 degrees! I have to put on my lounging pants! LOL what a crack up.
I love this place.

Okay, well only two hours left now. That seems reasonable. Maybe I shall Christmas shop on-line with all of that money I don’t really have…..DOH!

This Life Is My Life!

~Sophia

Teri spent much of the next year scheming with lawyers on how she was going to get the business away from Jayme. Jayme refused Teri’s buy-out offer. Teri refused Jayme’s buy-out offer. Every time they went to court, the judge told them they needed to work it out themselves. Jayme served as President/Treasurer and Teri served as Vice-President, Secretary. Legally, they could both do whatever they wanted to the staff and the other could say nothing about it. Jayme fired Mike, I had long since quit not being able to stand the daily drama or Jayme’s bullying. Teri then started clocking in and paying her children, even if they weren’t there to work to get Jayme back for firing Mike. It was a mess. Most evenings we would meet at the Roxy and listen to the day’s events. Jayme ended up catching Teri on camera removing food for personal use and that did not go over well in court.

Meanwhile, one of Teri’s sisters, Geri had been having marital problems in Idaho. She began visiting more and more and the five of us really enjoyed her company. Geri was a flower child and the oldest of the group. She was mellow, with a giving spirit, a genuine laugh and love for good times. Yep, she fit right in with us 5 party people. Come to find out, they weren’t legally married. She just referred to him as her husband…something about common law. With the frequent visits to see us and libations almost every night, it didn’t take long for Geri and Clarence to start having an affair. Geri decided to leave her life in Idaho and move down to the City even though Clarence didn’t promise a long term relationship. They seemed to get along well and we all supported it and decided not to judge. That made the 6 of us. We became inseparable. Geri moved in with Teri to save money and help Mike and Teri out with their house payment. Hubby and I helped Mike start his own catering company on the weekend, with Geri and Clarence and Teri pitching in when they could. We did a lot of laughing, working, drinking and loving.

 Of course, there was always the Jayme and The Business cloud for Teri. She ranted and raved to EVERYONE about it. We heard about it over and over and the more she drank, the angrier she would get about the whole mess. We spent months trying to convince her to just give in and sell it but she was so stubborn about it. Finally, when she realized that the lawyer’s expenses were literally going to take half of what Jayme was paying her, she decided to settle. She was very angry about it and ran Jayme’s name into the ground at the Chamber functions. I thought that was so unprofessional. I mean, we were all there in the capacity to get Mike’s name out there, not bitch about the past. I really started to see Teri in a different light when she did acted out. Plus, she was not shy about having a 6 pack or more at a Chamber function and being visibly drunk. Those around her laughed at her when she thought they were laughing with her. I was embarrassed many times because she was loud and really inappropriate. So was Hubby. We quit going to the functions, making up excuses to stay home.

More to come….

HO-HUM! I am stuck at work on another glorious Saturday by the Gulf. It’s the Saturday after Thanksgiving so everyone and their step-cat are out taking advantage of the sales. I made 60 phone calls this morning and reached 5 people. Yikes. That said, I then noted that our web blocker wasn’t working so I have spent the afternoon surfing on-line! YES! I have had time to reflect on my life as of late. Life is good…

Actually life is scary too. We still don’t have the house up north rented out. There were supposed to be appointments this weekend to show it but we never really know what to believe from the PMC. Let’s just say they don’t always have it all together. Pammy, the gal that runs the office and is one of the owners is not the sharpest tacks in the drawer. Plus, if you ask too many questions about how they are advertising or why they are charging you this or that; you may get a lambasting in email. I have received several. For example; I emailed and asked what typical response they were receiving from a specific advertisement and why they continued to advertise in it when our house was rented. Here’s the response from Pam:

“The ad goes in the week before it is printed.  I believe the paper printed the day after she signed the lease, so that ad was submitted the week before.  We continue advertising until the lease signing, because sometimes a tenant falls through at the last minute and we continue to take names and numbers until the lease signing, so if it does fall through, we have names and numbers to call back and hopefully we won't miss a potential tenant.  We make every attempt to cover all the bases and not pass up any opportunity to get a tenant.  Then by the next week, we knew there were problems with this tenant and it looked like we might have to find another tenant, so of course, we continued the ad!!!!  It amazes me that anyone could complain about $7. per week in print advertising!  That is an incredibly low, low price!  We don't make a penny off of that charge!  It all goes to pay for placing the ad.  We do all of the rest of the advertising for FREE!  We print a list every week, fax, e-mail and give it out every day and place many, many listings on the Internet at NO CHARGE to you.  Most other companies charge an hourly rate for the Internet advertising.  We don't.  You get an incredible bargain with our services.  We don't have to put your listing in the ad at all, if you don't want us to, but we are TRYING to do the best job we can for you in finding a tenant and we believe that listing is an integral part.  If we accidentally miss getting a listing on the ad, then we could expect you to be irritated with us, because if advertising is not done, then we might be missing a tenant.  If you are going to have a rental property, then you are going to have advertising expenses, but we keep that to an incredibly low price.”

Is it just me or is she defensive? Now mind you; I didn’t complain about the cost. I asked why the ad was continued and what kind of response they were getting from the ad. Both are valid questions and all I asked for was an explanation. She freaked out on me. This was one of several lengthy paragraphs I received in response to some very valid questions. She maintains that I am A. Demanding- B. Accusatory- C. Impossible to Please …among other things. Now, the truth of all of this is- A. they sent us a bill for $500 more than the actual invoice and had I not questioned the bill, we would have paid $500 more than we should have- B. Last time I checked, it was our house and we are allowed to ask questions and- C. High Standards are what I am known for and I have no qualms admitting it. High standards make me better and push those around me to be better. I am not going to apologize for expecting to receive the same kind of Customer Service that me and my staff give out of my Department every day! Besides; who in the world would say that to their own client?

It occurred to me somewhere in the middle of one of these melodramatic emails that I AGAIN was in a position to choose to argue/defend/justify my actions with a crazy person. The common denominator is still me. So I have given some thought to how I come across in email and in person. Apparently, I am intimidating in person-I have mentioned this before in the blog. I am sure that is my height and flashing green eyes. Hell, I scare myself sometimes. Pammy has never met me, however; we have only emailed. I think what is more intimidating is the style in which I communicate. I just lay in out there. No B.S., no beating around the bush, no himming or hawwing. I am blunt and to the point and obviously it comes across as blunt and to the point. Now, I see nothing whatsoever wrong with that type of communication, in fact, I prefer it to the wishy-washy girly type. Or the “let me go behind your back and say it because I am too chicken sh*t to say it to your face”. Not me. I’ll say it and not bat an eye.

Question becomes: How much of that style do I choose to change? Clearly, for some folks who are insecure, immature and lack the intelligence to pick up the fact that I am just being honest and straightforward in my communication find me insulting. I have also been called condescending. I’ll admit to that too. I do sometimes think I am better than other people and that is so condescending. Hey, I am just admitting to the truth. Judge if you will but if you look within yourself, you are going to see some things that just aren’t nice. It’s called being human. Now what makes you a good human is making a choice to curb your personality so that you aren’t scaring the hell out of everybody!

Since I have made my living in sales and run a department in which there is literally a waiting list to get a spot on my team; I know that I am able to curb my personality quite effectively. Seems to me the only time I ever get a REALLY bad reaction, like say from Hubby’s mom; Pat or PMC Pammy is when I call their sh*t out on the carpet. Yes, that is it! (She said in triumph.) It’s when I say “wait a minute, you don’t get to just say that and get away with it. And by the way, who do you think you are?”

Hmmm. That’s tough because I rather like that part of myself. It has taken me a long way. I guess I don’t have to figure it out today.

Maybe I will take off early, go home to hubby and Mendy, sit out in the hot-tub with a glass of wine and not think about anything but being Thankful. I can be Thankful for many, many things. I hope you can too.

Love

Sophia

I just realized that I forgot to write and tell you about the end “Bluffing the Bluffer”.  Several weeks after we sent the quotes for airline tickets and the pictures of our home here on the beach, she wrote back. It was a small note saying “I offered you the same offer as the other kids; a hotel room for the week. I hope you can understand but I just can’t afford to pay for airline tickets too. “

Interestingly enough, she did pay for the other kids’ rooms. They each got their own private rooms. None of them were asked to bunk for the week with her. She didn’t ever offer us our own private room-in fact refused it when we asked about it. In the past, when she and Glen paid for this same hotel week, each family always had their own room.  We asked for help with the airline tickets because she WASN’T offering us a private room. Who in the hell wants to stay in the same hotel room with their mother/MIL for a week in Florida? Besides that point; if she offered to pay for the other siblings’ rooms, she should in turn pay for Hubby’s. She just pulled the whole stunt to hurt him.

If you ask me, it takes a logic that is far from my own to make that line of thinking proper or even realistic. We didn’t bother to respond at all. We just thought if we left it alone, the game would end.

We didn’t hear a word from her until Thanksgiving. She called like nothing had happened in May and like her and Hubby remained as close as ever. She wanted to know all about our new home. (I sent her a change of address.) She wanted to chitty chat and be friends. Hubby didn’t say much about it and neither did I. I think we were both surprised that she called at all. Although she is known for making the obligatory phone calls so that she can play the martyr later. I think we have both accepted that she is just never going to be able to relate with Hubby on an adult level and that she is obviously very immature and insecure to pull these stunts all the time.

Mean people suck.

Until next time....Sophia

So Hubby and I have been determined to buy a house for a year. Nothing seemed to be going right and we couldn't get any cooperation from the Universe. Our first two offers were declined (on the first house we liked) because we had a contingency. The third offer we made on a second house was accepted but they wanted us to close in under 3 weeks. That didn't work either! We had really gotten to the point of just letting go of looking for a house until the spring.
The house up north was freshly painted (AGAIN) (BUT not by Dan the crappy painter) by the Property Management Co. (herein called the PMC) we hired. They started showing it and we were hopeful. After about a month of no rental contract; they told us to drop the rental price. We found that odd because we weren't out of line with what was in the area. What we discovered is that there are now A LOT of rentals out there. With the low interest rates, everyone bought a house. Some bought under ARM mortgages and when the interest rates hiked, they foreclosed. Investors have been gobbling the foreclosures up and then putting them on the market as rentals. Just our luck.

The price dropping seemed to create traffic, however so apparently we had done the right thing. Soon enough, we had a contracted renter for a year! The day she was to move in, she discovered a crack in our foundation and called the PMC. We didn't get the whole story for some time but come to find out; the PMC was a little slow in responding to her. They didn't notify us for two days. They did get us some bids and we had it fixed in a week. Unfortunately that wasn't fast enough for the renter. She backed out.   

So there we were again. Meanwhile, a very close friend of ours advised us to GET IN A HOUSE because the market here was ripe for the picken's. We himmed, we hawed... we thought, we discussed. We watched the market. We had watched a particular house since March with a beautiful yard and pool area. It was WAY out of our league but we would look at it and say "wouldn't it be neat?". Over the course of 6 months, the owner dropped the price significantly and still wasn't selling it. This was enough to make us wonder what we weren't seeing. So we toured it with our realtor's (and friends) otherwise known as the most patient people in the world! We discovered the problem. The walls were painted some gawd awful colors. I mean awful! Brick red in the kitchen, blue and white stripes in the bathroom, purple and yellow flowered wallpaper in the master bath. YES PURPLE AND YELLOW TOGETHER! It was bad. However, the backyard was fantastic. She had done nothing with the front yard of course but wow that backyard! Cement pond, hot tub and all. It even had established landscaping which is so expensive and time consuming. We thought hmmmm but it was still about $20K out of our range. So we went back to sitting and waiting for awhile.

About 4 weeks passed and she dropped the price again. Guess how much. No, you will never guess. $20K. NO I am not even kidding! (After we found out what she paid for the place we thought she was nuts asking that kind of money for the house, she was looking to make a killing!) I saw it on-line at the reduced price, called Hubby and we said let's do it. So literally in three weeks to the day we closed on that house. (Isn't that kind of funny considering we said we couldn't do that in the house before?)

Of course the house up north still isn't rented and we've reduced the price a second time. We may lose our ass. I like to think God has me covered and that all of this has fallen into place just as it should.

Did I mention that we have learned the PMC are the type to add expenses to your invoice that they don't think you will notice? That is a story for another day.

Until then; this is Sophia a new Sophia. An "I am up to my eyeballs in debt" Sophia.

But hey, This Life is my Life.