The Emerald Rose

      Sorry folks been a little off stride writng. Probably the severe withdrawal of hanging out until the wee small hours watching the Boston Red Sox teeter back and forth with first the Los Angeles Angels, and then on for another seven games with the Tampa Bay Rays,…oh well, just like Roy Orbison used to sing,….”It’s OOOOOOOOver,….OOOOOOOver. (sigh). I mean it was really getting to me, flipping channels between the Red Sox games and a)NCIS, b)Law & Order, c) CSI – NY-Miami &Las Vegas, d) Boston College/Virginia Tech  football, e) New England Patriots football, f) political debates i.e. McCain and whatshisname, g)cleaning the litter boxes, h) getting “snacks” or “fat food” to keep my energy levels up,…..well trust me my “clicker”thumb is on ice, and once again I am voving never to get that wrapped up in baseball again (til next year at least. The Doc says the thumbs should be healed up by then and I can come off the injured reserve list.

       This period of October and November are referred to as “the meeting season” in my business, Association Management. The State of Florida requires under law that there be an Annual meeting of all the home and condo owners, any new Directors must be elected at that time, the new budget for the next year (2009) must be presented, and the “new” Monthly/Quarterly/Annual Assessment each owner must “pony up” to pay the bills is unveiled (never a pretty picture, but with this “super” economy we are having here the assessments can only go one way,….UP! That’s when it gets real ugly in the trenches.) The reason all these damn meetings fall in these two months ius because noone is here to rent the units too. Kids are back in school, the migration (shudder, shudder) of the Canadianis Snow Birdis does not start until December. (How can you tell it’s snow bird season? From the rusty squeaking sound as they open thier wallets to pay a bill and are complaining about how bad it was and the discount they should ge off the bill.(sigh)). These meetings usually go for about two hours each and all the legal requirements means it take us about twenty hours worth of prep time for each one. And no matter how you do it there is always a “wart”, a “boil” a “pus filled bag of skin” who wants to launch off into a tirade about dog poop on the sidewalks, neighbors who leave thier trash cans out all day, kids whooping it up and having “fun” in the pool at all hours (6pm to 8pm), the terrible landscaping job they are getting and how we should get more “cheap labor” to do a better job, etc., etc., etc. The good news is most of them start at ten a.m. on Saturday morning, and I tried a new tactic last year, getting thier bank to pony up a few hundred bucks and have a FREE Thank you luncheon starting at Noon sharp! Pay attention, new empirical formula,…FREE Food, Hot Food, Free Beer and Wine + angry old farts with nothing to do with thier lives but bitch = “I make a motion to adjourn the meeting”, 200 people jumping up to yell “I second the motion” and running for the doors before a vote can be taken to get to the front of the FREE line!  Always happens, and all caterers are told to set the most aromatic item they are presenting so the aromas waft into the meeting room as soon as they possibly can if they want to get paid. Even ugly, warts and boils like FREE food!

   Usually  there are two meetings a Saturday, every weekend of October and Nvember, then the owners go back to thier cave to hiibernate for the winter and grumble about whatever they can think of, and us? We put the valium away for another year, clean up all the empty liquor bottles around the office, stand in front of the mirror and practice smiling, which hasn’t happened in three months, and all vov to look for a new career. The telephones are on “automatic pilot” for about the next three weeks, the old jeans and tee shirt s replace the crisp professional manager wardrobe of December, and we all go home to see if we still have loved ones waiting.

      This year will be better, because my boss “spoiled 28 year old rich kid who “needs” $10,000 a month to cover his personal expenses”, has agreed to sell the Company to me and my backer/partner! The price and terms have been settled, the contracts are being drawn up now, the bank is in agreement and like ol’ Gene Autry used to sing, “Im back in the saddle again.” More on that later, but it takes a load of stress off me as I’ll finally be getting a paycheck again, and be able to “Manage” the business properly. It might cut into my “blog time” a bit mopre than I want it to in the begining as there is a lot to straighten out, reorganize, and stabilize by takeover (legally he wants full out by December 1, but it will be January 1 so we don’t get screwed up tax wise for one month. (It’s still “hush-hush” because he hasn’t decided whether to tell the customers and employees or just “let them find out themselves” (see what I mean about the spoiled rich kid attitude?)

          But from his initial “I really don’t want to sell the business for another three years”, and then to the “Well I’d want to stay on with a salary for at least a year after the purchase” to NOW “Can we wrap this whole thing up and get it done by December 1st, and then I will be gone, completely, sign any non-compete clauses you want,…whatever.” Why such a turnaround in attitude in five months? Easy, When he decided HE would step in and personally manage several of these accounts himself, how hard could it be? Guess we have the answer to that question,…take the money and run Forest, run! (It is true “work is the curse of the poor  “little folks” like us.)

     So new horizons opening up, progressive management thinking instead of regressive, and damn I get to go back to working 7am to 6pm and actually accomplishing something at least five days a week and half a day on Saturday, until I get it whipped into shape.

      Business has always been a “Chess Game” for me, evaluate your assets and resources, work at deploying and manageing them for quality output and personal satisfaction (thiers) with thier work, and building a “team” all bent on success.

      Well need more coffee, gotta check e-mails, see if I have any money left in my IRA (Market down another 500 points yesterday 😦 , shower shave and start thinking about writing a book about my life working titles like “Holy Shit, I’m 65 and still alive!” or maybe “Get over it Dude, I got twenty good years left!”, or possibly “Throw dirt on me if I don’t get up for work anymore,….I’m dead.” And of course my personal favorite title, “Life is either an Adventure,…or shit!”

         I’ll post more as things develop the big key is agreement has been reached, there are no “deal-breakers” left to handle, and I am back to owning a piece of a Company, making a liveable wage, and having fun! Yea God,…Thanks for listening.

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