Some years back, I listed a property near the lake and explained to the sellers (an African American couple), who were still readying their house for sale, that there was no need to start looking at a replacement home until we had their current home under contract.  It was highly improbable that our market (that we were in at that time) would not allow us to locate a seller willing to accept a contingency offer.  They agreed and continued to make the improvements to their home that we agreed were necessary prior to marketing.  

You guessed it...within 2 days of our conversation the wife found a house she just had to see and "probably" make an offer on.  I showed them the house, but again explained that their home was not even on the market yet so there is no chance of another seller accepting a contingency offer.  My clients viewed the home, immediately decided I didn't know what I was talking about and advised me they wanted to make an offer.  I tried once more to tell them was not a good idea.  They demanded I move forward with an offer.  Now understand this wasn't just any offer, but a contingency offer that was 20K below list price and in a hot market.  I was dumbfounded and told my clients not to hold their breath, then submitted the offer.  

I received a call from the listing agent the following morning saying the offer was laughable, at best.  I called and left a message for my clients that their offer had been categorically rejected. Within minutes, I received a call from my client while I was in the middle of fueling my car.  The husband was absolutely livid and was yelling at me that I didn't present the offer properly and he's not sure I knew what I was doing.  I again advised him of our market conditions and my experience, but he railed that there was something that didn't add up here and he thought the seller's rejection of his offer had racial overtones.  The buyers and sellers had never met to my knowledge.  I told him his assumption was ridiculous and the rejection was based on a clearly unsuitable offer, not skin color.  He then yelled at me for a couple more minutes and said he'd be back in touch later to discuss this.

As you can imagine, I knew this had no where to go but south, so I went directly to my home office and processed a listing termination letter.  While driving to my client's home, I called my broker to advise him of the situation in case things got worse.  I continued directly to my client's home and saw the husband cleaing out the garage.  I approached him, shook his hand and told him I was firing him effective immediately.  Believe it or not, he couldn't understand why I was upset.  He said he wanted to continue working with me.  What?  I was the idiot he had yelled at only a couple hours previously.  I told him there were plenty of agents who needed his business much worse than I, so please contact one of them.  

Before I even got home, he had called my broker and complained that I had fired him and couldn't understand why.  My broker questioned him for a few minutes and then told him our decision was final and he should locate another office to list his house.  My then former client had the nerve to ask if there was another agent in our office who would list his house to which my broker replied that no agent in our office will be working with him.  

This business never ceases to amaze me....never a dull moment wouldn't you agree?