A fellow emailed me about two weeks ago, and told me that he would like to visit with me about listing his house for sale.  He had picked me from an Internet ad.

I sent him some information, even visited with him by telephone.  We set up the appointment for the morning time a few days later.

So I prepared the Comparative Market Analysis, Listing Agreement, and other supporting materials, and the next morning I drove about twenty miles toward his home.  Just as I was turning onto his street, my assistant called and told me that my prospective client had just called and canceled the meeting.

When I got back to my office, there was an email from the man saying that he was very ill and he didn't want to expose me to his sickness....that he would get back with me as soon as he recovered.  I sent back my regrets, and told him I would be ready when he was.

I knew in my heart that he was telling me what the world calls a White Lie, that I wouldn't hear from him again, and that he didn't see anything wrong with his behavior -- the bad behavior he had displayed by causing me to invest my time and energy without the benefit of garnering The Promise -- delivering my prepared presentation. 

My psychotherapist wife says her profession refers to this common behavior among many young adults as, "It's all about me."  They are amazingly narcissistic, she says.

So Monday I looked to see if he had listed his house with someone else, as I had suspected he had.  Yep.  He had.

Now here's my question.  I have noticed that more and more people feel little responsibility for honoring their promise if they later decide that they don't want to.  And to make matters worse, rather than just call and say they have changed their mind, they fabricate a lie. They think of it as White.  It's still a lie.

So I started thinking about what he had told me when we had first visited by phone, and wondered if I had discovered an irony.

He had told me that he had lost his good-paying job unexpectedly just after he and his wife bought this home.  He had found a lesser-paying position, but he no longer earned enough money to comfortably keep the mortgage.

I wonder if the reason he was chosen to be the one his company let go was because of his inability to tell the truth?  Perhaps those who weren't let go had a reputation with the employer of "my word is my bond."  They didn't use the White Lie.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - PARK CITIES

Our 45th Year

214 503-8563

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