The Truth

The company I managed, we'll call it Beltri, because both owners wear really large belts and it rhymes with the actual name of the company, is in a tailspin. When I was "downsized" in Dec of '07 things were looking bleak. My office sales fell about 10% but compared to the 35 & 40% losses of most other companies, we were holding our own. Future business was not looking good, as I said, most of my agents were part timers and were looking for other employment just so they could get by. The owners had just ended the relationship with our mortgage company and announced a partnership with one of the most maligned mortgage companies in the business. In the process a good friend was cut loose in the most unproffesional way possible. This would later become business as usual. At our yearly holiday party, numbers were almost as low as everyones spirits. Alcohol solved the spirits problem but when the owner got up and announced "Things are gonna change around here, there's a new sheriff in town" everyone looked around at one another embarrasedly and sobered up on the spot. On the morning of Dec 28 I got a call from my crying secretary saying she had just been let go, I was shocked because just 6 months ago we recruited her from a competing broker and 45 days ago when the owners thought she wasn't showing them enough "respect", they talked to me about letting her go. I, in no uncertain terms let them know she was the best secretary we had ever had and if they fired her they would lose me also. As I finished my conversation and hung up the phone, I knew I would soon begin another chapter in my life. I stormed through the office door and yelled what the **** do you think you are doing. The bloated owner asked me to step into the conference room and talk, I sat down and looked him in the eyes and knew he was a beaten man. He told me he had let my secretary go and he was also returning my license to me, that he and the Mrs decided to take the company in a different direction. I spewed a few choice words in his direction, cursing him for leading on and letting go of a woman with a family who needed the paycheck, and then realized the man couldn't even look me in the eyes, I left and started packing 4 years worth of nonsense. As I walked around the office packing my things, I felt like a heavy load had just been lifted off of my shoulders. My past year had been spent making excuses for the Beltris, trying to expain why we weren't advertising, how come bonuses weren't being paid, why wouldn't the Beltris return any calls. From my own office this was fine, but the calls were coming from the other offices as well. I realised the Beltris had gone into hibernation and weren't even going into their own office. Packing my bags I though it was finally over, no more phone calls, no more covering up, no more making excuses. What a relief!!! As I loaded the last box into my truck, I returned to the office to return my keys, amex, tell him where some important papers were, and to let him know he should really give me an exit interview, that I would let him know exactly what was going on in the company. Again, he never looked at me, I thanked him for the oppurtunity and walked out of the office a happy man. Two days later I stopped by the office to drop off a company jacket and some tee shirts I would never wear again. The man still owed me over $6,000 so I figured I would be civil. Real Estate is a close knit, gossipy type of business, and Mr Beltri was a well connected businessman. I figured he would pay what he had owed me and we would go forward with our respective lives. How wrong I was... For the latest news on my former employer go to http://outrageousagents.com/agentdatabasewp/?p=875