One of my favorite colleagues had one of those workday incidents that would have scared the crap out of any of us.

On Friday, she arrived at a listing a few minutes before a pre-settlement ritual: the walk-through.  Her sellers had a two-week post settlement occupancy agreement, so the house was not yet emptied out.  She started to turn on some lights on the first floor and ran into a man carrying a television set coming up the basement stairs.  And the conversation went something like:

Her: Hi, I'm the real estate agent.  Who are you?

Him:  I'm the burglar! 

Her:  Well, I'd suggest that you put that thing down and leave right now.

Him:  If I did that I might have to hurt you!

Her:  Well, that's not a good plan because in less than a minute, a colleague in much better shape than you are is going to be coming through the door!  And there will be even more people with him.

With that, Mr. Burglar put down the TV set, scurried to the back door, picked up a pillowcase with stuff in it and he left.  And, a few seconds later, the buyers showed up.  And about a minute after that, the police responded to her 911 call.

What was her first thought!  When I talked to her yesterday, she said she wasn't at all afraid while the confrontation was taking place.  She knew she wouldn't be hurt.  She was afraid that the buyers might be freaked out (they sort of were) and it could somehow interfere with settlement.  They did decide to put it off until Monday, but they were impressed that the DC police showed up so quickly.

But, she said, all she could think about was what a fabulous blog post this would make!  Since she doesn't blog (I've been trying to get her into it) she called me!  And I have to say that as she told me the details, she wasn't coming from a place of fear, or what a dangerous profession this is. 

Still, I had to wonder what I would have done if I'd walked in on a burglar in a listing.  Would I have had her bravado?  Would I have confronted the guy?  Would I have started some very quick preparations to meet my Maker?

As a little girl, I grew up in Tornado Alley in a house with no basement.  I really worried about sharing the fate of little Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.  And my father would comfort me by talking about the odds. 

Yeah, bad things can happen.  Yeah, you have to use common sense.  But you can't let the fear of something that probably won't happen run your life.

My dad was, however, a compulsive maniac about using his seat belt when he drove.  That's because the odds of being killed or injured in an automobile accident were far greater than those of being sucked into a funnel cloud or hit over the head by a burglar. 

So drive - and work - safely!