Do you know where your Realtor is?

Showing properties for sale in the city of Chicago carries with it an interesting idiosyncracy: more often than not, the listing agent will be present to show the property he or she is representing. While most other municipalities have joined the 21st century, where the buyer's agent can show up with her client, and gain access to the property by means of an electronic lockbox, Chicago continues to insist that we book our showing appointments in 20 minute bites, and hope that no one is stuck in traffic, or the elevator, or needs to use the restroom, or otherwise create a delay.
The thing is, though, that all Chicago realtors know this procedure, and understand why appointments must be brief and timely. There is, after all, a succession of other listing agents waiting to unlock other doors after your property has been shown.
This is why it was incredibly surprising, when I showed up with my clients at a Streeterville condo the other day, and no one was there to meet us. Perhaps the agent misunderstood, I thought. We had arranged to meet at the unit on the 23rd floor. But maybe has was waiting in the lobby. The cell phone, of course, is perfectly useless in a downtown highrise. So, I rode down to the lobby, where the doorman informed me that the listing agent "is somewhere around here". However, two calls to his cell phone produced no result.
Up I rode back to the 23rd floor to confer with my clients (who stayed behind in case we missed each other on the elevator ride). We decided to give him a few more minutes, and then wait a little longer in the lobby. When we came back downstairs, the doorman was surprised: "still not here?" Nope. The doorman was kind enough to take a look outside, and came back with encouraging news: "he's here!"
If we were expecting the listing agent to come bursting through the door with an apology and an explanation, we were disappointed. Instead, a gentleman in his shirtsleeves walking his dog motioned at me from beyond the glass door, and flicked his index finger in the air in an "I'll be right with you" sort of way.
"Is he coming?" my client demanded. I said that I thought he might be, as soon as he's done walking his dog. Needless to say, we waited no longer. As we were about to get in the cab to go to our next appointment, the gentleman in shirsleeves, now without the dog, sauntered over "you want to to come up now?"
What???