What's Your Signature?

I've been working with a new customer who is a property manager and I've noticed I get a negative feeling about him every time I receive an email from him.  I've never met him face-to-face but I just assume he's not friendly. Why?  It's his signature line in his emails:  

"The beatings will continue until morale improves." 

Really?  That's what he wants to say to everyone he emails?  That's his bi-line.  When people think of him, he thinks this will be memorable?  So, again, we've never met, our contact is strictly professional, and he signs his email:

"The beatings will continue until morale improves."  

This just rubs me wrong.  Maybe it's because he's a military man it the phrase conjures up images of Abu Ghraib, or, heck, I don't know exactly why, but it does.  I have a sense of humor, and I'm sure it's intended to be funny, but I don't like it. And if I were in the position to need his professional services, I would skip over him and check out the next professional.

Most of us are busy with our careers, our families, our communities and most often we don't have or take the time to really get to know someone's motives, etc.  We make quick judgements about people and situations so we can get on with our day.  

I've been thinking about some assumptions I have about others based solely on the snippets of their life I see and I realize that I can really like or dislike someone by what I perceive is their overall attitude.  Not really fair or even an accurate assessment, especially in an online community, huh?  Well, it's true.  And I know that we all make these snap judgements.  For example, there's a blog I read and there's this one writer who can not write about a topic without a negative bend.  She just might be the nicest grandma on the planet and possibly she donates to charity or runs a tight ship or loves animals or tries her best to save the environment, but she seems like a real curmudgeon in all of her rantings.  I'd never hire her. I'd never recommend her.  She makes me feel negative, and no one wants to feel bad.

I think I can safely assume that there will always be people we don't mesh with, but are they the ones we don't want to mesh with?  Or are we shooting ourselves in the foot?  So, what is the foot I put forward - the walk I walk - the image I project?  What do people "hear" from me?  What am I saying without realizing it?  In business and in pleasure, it's the tiny nuances that can make or break a relationship.  

What's your proverbial bi-line?

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Janell K. is a member of Rentec Direct, a web-based rental software program offering Landlords and Professional Managers tools for tracking income and expenses, payment processing, tenant screening andonline advertising.