Mean People

Hello everyone! No clue who I'm talking to but I'd like to think that my absence from blogging hasn't scared everyone away. Or maybe my blogging did it, who knows. Either way, I'm writing again. This time I'd like to address something that happened earlier in the week, at work.

Monday seemed pretty normal *read Crazy* as usual. We had tons of phone calls, and like most Fridays, we had more than one closing scheduled in the office. Our job as receptionists is to get a room for the clients. Other than that, we have no control over the closing paperwork, or really anything else that has to go with the closing. Nine times out of ten, we don't even know the name of the people in the closing, and that hasn't been a problem in the past. Until Monday.

Attorney Zachary Lawrence shows up for his 3:30 pm closing. Michelle takes him to the big conference room because she thinks it's the right room. He comes storming out a few seconds later and says that we've made a mistake, and demands to have another room. Michelle & I look at each other, trying to figure out what do do, and the overly impatient man says, "I see your lips moving, but nothing's coming out." So I volunteer to take him to another room, but when I get in there, I see that it's already been taken. I mention that he may be the first one there from his group, to which he argues with me that there is "no way" he can be the first person there because in the 30 years he's been doing business, it's never happened. No matter what I said to the guy or how much I tried to lighten the mood, he was pissed anyway, so he argued with me. As we get back up to the front desk area, he yells out at me, "How about this? When you figure out what's going on, you just let me know." Okay, fine. I go back to the other side to find a conference room. I feel myself getting frustrated, but I take a deep breath and try to just brush it off. When I return to the front of the office, I say, "Hey, guess what? We have a room for you!" to which he replies, in the most condescending voice, "Well isn't that just great?" If someone would have heard the words I said under my breath as I walked him to the conference room, I probably would have gotten fired. I take him to the room where he proceeds to tell me how small it is and that they will need a bunch more chairs. (I think about how it is definitely too small for his ego and fat ass, but I say nothing.) I can feel my face get red with anger, but I bite my tongue and bring in more chairs. As I leave them and walk back to the front desk, I feel myself on the verge of tears. All it took was one look from Michelle and I lost it. The next 30 minutes or so, I attempt to calm down. No one has ever been that rude and condescending to me in person. Unfortunately Bill, my boss, is busy with agents, so I can't go in and tell him what happened. More and more people in the office find out that I cried (since I tend to light up like a light bulb), so I tell the story a few times. Then I find out that Ann, our Title lady, has been running back and forth between 2 closings, and Mr. Lawrence has been treating her the same way. He'd say things to her like "I don't care if you are working with other clients" and demand all of her attention. Between he and his client, Ann is almost in tears from the things they've said to her, and I consider her to be tougher than I am. Around 5:30 I see an opening in Bill's office, so I run in and try to tell him what's going on. At the time I felt a bit like I was telling the teacher on a mean student, but I also didn't want the news getting back to him that I cried without being able to tell him why. I told him what the guy said, and then mentioned that he'd been the same way toward Ann from Title. I will never forget the look on Bill's face. He instantly puffed up and said, "Is the attorney still here? I'd like to speak with him."
Bill walks out and introduces himself to Mr. Lawrence. This is basically how it went:

B: My name is Bill Gill, and I'm the broker here at Baird & Warner. I have had complaints from two of my employees that you have been rude to them. We do not tolerate that here. You are a guest in our office.
Z: Well, if your staff knew what the hell was going on, it wouldn't have been a problem. Who are these two employees? I want to talk to them.
(I had been listening from the front desk, and almost instinctively I jump out of my seat and run around the corner where the two men are standing.)
Me: (Waving) You wanted to speak to me?
Z: (Stuttering... surprised by my sudden appearance) Fine, if you have a problem with me, then why don't you have the cops come and kick me out? (Who the hell says that? Maybe it's happened to him before...)
B: Really? Okay.

Bill proceeds to go to his office and call the police. Mr. Lawrence grabs his stuff and walks out to the parking lot. He tries to come back in, but Bill meets him at the door. They yell back and forth for a minute or so, arms waving around. I get a little nervous because Z is a BIG guy and I wonder if he'll try to throw anything at Bill... luckily he knew better. Apparently Z says that he wants to know where the edge of our property is so he can stand there and wait for the police without looking like he is "fleeing the scene". Bill suggests the Starbucks parking lot.
Cops come, and we tell them the story. The cop just laughed at it, especially when Bill said, "Well, he's the one who told me to call the police, so I just took his advice.

Long story short, he's no longer welcome in our office again. And it really doesn't pay to be an asshole. Since this happened, I heard from at least 3 other people in the office who have had to work with this guy, and apparently he wasn't just having a bad day on Monday. Seems like he gets off on talking down to everyone and demanding everyone do what he wants. Newsflash: You can get a lot farther in life without being a bastard. Though there was a long list of things I wanted to say and/or do when dealing with this man, I am thankful that I told my boss and that he stood up for us. It would not have been worth getting fired over someone who makes it his duty in life to make others miserable. I'm having a hard time getting over this situation because I haven't ever had to deal with someone like that before... but I guess it's a good lesson to learn.

More later, I'm running late.

-Ash