tangentwoman

Friday, March 18, 2011

A Friday poll

I know I have, like, zero readers, but still, I put this out into the universe:

Our real estate agent seems insistent on being in contact with me, and only with me, about all things, often during my work day, often at times when I simply cannot deal with her. She refuses to call the Smelmooo in these situations, and she also almost never leaves any detailed information in her voicemails; it's more, "Hi, it's your agent, please call me back" and it will turn out that she's just calling to remind me that she's working for us. Which is fine, but, geez, just say that.

Anyway, I give that context as part of my full disclosure that I'm already predisposed to be irritated at the agent. However, I've been pleased that she's started to realize that I will almost never answer my phone if she calls me during work, and that I may be more likely to respond to an e-mail if there's actually something urgent that she describes.

But, of course, she refuses to copy the Smelmooo.

Earlier this week, I was at an all-day retreat, and one of the ground rules was that we were not allowed to use our Blackberries during the day, so I didn't get the voicemail or the e-mail from the realtor until the end of the day. She was actually calling about something real: a repair that needed to be dealt with right away, and I was grateful that she raised it, because we didn't realize our contractor hadn't fixed it.

ANYWAY. In my reply, I asked that she please be sure to copy the Smelmooo on future e-mails(she always begins her e-mails, "Hi, Tangent and Smelmooo!" so I wasn't sure if she thought we share an e-mail address or what, but I always copy him when I e-mail her, so I couldn't figure it out).

Today I e-mailed her again (and again copied Smelmooo) to tell her that the repair had been made and that she could open the house up for showings again this weekend. In her reply, just to me, she noted, "I'm sorry, I don't have the Smelmooo's e-mail address." Which is simply not true, not only because, seriously, EVERY. TIME. I've e-mailed her, I've copied him, not to mention that we gave her all of our phone numbers and e-mail addresses when we first started working with her.

So I replied, "Great, thanks. It's smelmooo@smelmooo.com; I copy him on every e-mail I send to you; you can just hit 'reply-all.'"

The Smelmooo thinks this was bitchy of me; I contend that, if she actually did know the "reply-all" trick, she would, in fact, employ it, so I did her a solid and educated her.

So, finally, the question: Bitchy or practical? ("Neither"/"Other" is also an acceptable answer if you explain yourself.

4 Comments:

  • I vote practical - if she's that unaware to realize that he's copied on every email, she won't take it as bitchy.

    By Blogger mickeyg, at 8:31 PM  

  • I'm going with a little bit of both. I probably would have left out the part about copying him on EVERY email and just say that you'd copied him on that email and she could feel free to reply to all.

    -Esco

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:57 AM  

  • Hi - Sorry to do it this way - but hoped you could help - I can't seem to post on Minnarice blog - and I would love to get her a message. I stumbled upon her blog when I was searching for an old CT friend - and found out we have the same person in common (Dave's HS friend...). I would love to send her a private email with our experience - so she knows that it isn't her problem - it's them! We also "chased them" for a while. Any help would be greatly appreciated! spohlmann@tampabay.rr.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:40 PM  

  • That's ok, I have, like, only four readers. But since I was out milling around in the universe, I saw your post and felt compelled to respond, although it may be too late.

    Your real estate agent is (was?) being obtuse, and you had a right to set her straight.

    D2
    http://yesindeedee.blogspot.com/

    By Blogger DeeDee, at 12:46 PM  

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