Wasn't there a movie in the 1980s called "Dazed andConfused"? Well, I recently had an encounter with a propertybroker who said he was Amazed and Perplexed!

So, a few days ago, I got a call from this commercial realestate broker who demanded to know why we hadn't presented to ourclient the two office buildings he represented. The twobuildings are located in a part of the country where our firmis representing a client in the acquisition of a 100,000 squarefoot office facility. In that market, a lot of vacant spaceexists and few 100,000 square foot tenants are currently seekingspace there. The broker first emailed me saying he was"perplexed" at why our client hadn't visited his buildings. When I invited him to call me to discuss his concern, heaggressively opened his conversation by exclaiming that he was"amazed," and was particularly strenuous when he loudlyproclaimed "because every company that considers over 100,000square feet looks at my buildings!"

I did my best to explain to this guy that we and our client wereaware of his two buildings and why those buildings didn't meet ourclient's criteria. Afterall, despite this guy's distasteful manner,he was doing his job. During my explanation, hetalked over me and seemed much more interested in voicing hisopinion than listening. And, when I wouldn't yield, he beganto yell at me, saying that I didn't know the market. This guyhad never met me, had never spoken with me before, didn't know whatI knew, and had no clue about my market knowledge. If thiswas his lame attempt to draw me into a fight, he was not going toaccomplish that. When I disagreed with him, he called me asmart ass and began to yell at me again. I don't think hischarm school teacher would have appreciated his actions. Bythe way, this all happened during a three-minuteconversation. Talk about amazed and perplexed!