Kids, vandalism, and
Realtors
This last Sunday as I was just getting ready to watch
Supercross with my kids (it's somewhat of a Sunday afternoon tradition this
year), we heard some noise coming from the small construction project behind our
house. A couple of teenage boys were throwing rocks at the earth moving
equipment. Before I could step out onto the back deck to tell them to
knock it off, one of the rocks found a window and shattered it. At this
point they decided to pick up their skateboards and walk away. Becuase I
hate vandalism and don't want to see anyone take an unjustified economic loss in
these times I called the police, gave a quick description, location, and
mentioned that I could still see the kids and the police should hurry if they
want to catch them...the dispatcher said the police would come
when they could get around to it...
I
thought about that as the kids disappeared around a corner, my kids were seeing
all this too and decided to make sure the right thing happened this time.
I hopped in the car, circled the block and saw them just as they were about to
enter a local store. I pulled the car over, got out told them they should
stay right there as the police were coming. At that point, I had my cell
phone, I called the police back, told them I had the kids in front of me and
they might want to respond a bit quicker...two squad cars rolled up in
two minutes!
After a brief statement from me, one kid confessed,
I wrote a statement, showed an officer the damage and went back home to watch
the races with my son.
A hour or so later I saw what was probably some of
the kids family come out with him to the construction site, take some pics and
leave.
How this relates to us Realtors
What
struck me about this little incident was how everyone makes mistakes in life,
some pay for them now, some later in other ways, but we all do the best we can
with our kids, ourselves and our businesses (which may be like kids
sometimes).
I think I set a good example for my kids. Hopefully the
kids that were vandalizing property will not do it again and will think twice
before getting into any trouble in the future.
In business we make
mistakes, we pay for them and we move on to the best of our ability. I'm
sure the parents or family of the kids are doing the best job they feel they can
do too. This is the important thing though, what is right for
some, is not necessarily right for all.
We are all
different
Some agents like commercial real estate, some
residential, some specialize in vacation areas. The list of
differences goes on and on...We all do what we feel is best for us, our clients,
our businesses, families, etc. There is no perfect way or one right
answer. And at times we make mistakes and have to pay for them
too.
