Posted by Lynne/OR on 12/27/09 12:21pm
Msg #315769

Unbelievable!!!

I had a borrower last Saturday morning....10 signatures into the signing (not even finished with the title docs yet!), he puts down his pen, says "this is rediculous!, I need a break!" and goes outside to smoke for 15+ minutes. Here I am, sitting in his dingy smoky kitchen table, with nothing but the clock ticking to fill the silence. After my shock of his extreme rudeness died down, I took the liberty to poke my head out the sliding door and say "I have another appointment at 12, if you do not want to sign today, that's fine, but I need to leave in about 10 minutes." That got him to come in and finish the signing...but WOW I have never seen someone SO inconsiderate of my time!! Like I have nothing better to do on a Saturday than hang out in his nasty kitchen! Unbelievable!!!

Reply by Susan Deurloo on 12/27/09 12:37pm
Msg #315771

One thing that I have noticed is that how much thicker my skin has become since I started this profession. I have learned to stick up for myself in a polite, yet assertive manner and like myself better for it too! What surprises me is how the borrowers seem to react in a positive way when I do it.

Reply by Shoshana/AZ on 12/27/09 12:55pm
Msg #315772

Once I had a signing in a very smoky house. I thought I was going to choke. Anyway, bor says"Do you mind if I smoke?" I said "yes, I have asthma". So, he starts to light up anyway. His mother, who is sitting right there, looks up and says to him, "She said no smoking!" LOL! She made my day.

Reply by GOLDGIRL/CA on 12/27/09 1:52pm
Msg #315775

First of all, Lynne, to you (and probably everyone else), his stinky kitchen table was totally gross, but to him it was his happy home. Second, it sounds like he had an extreme smoking addiction aggravated by the stress of signing 10 title docs and had to escape for a prolonged nicotine one-on-one before continuing with the loan. It probably never occurred to him he was being rude - he was just doing what he had to do. That's why I try not to take most of this insane borrower behavior personally (notice I said "try". Besides, alot of them think we're getting paid big money to just sit at their kitchen table and wait while they do whatever it is that's driving us nuts. But it seems to me you handled it perfectly - and you used a great line to get him back on focus. On a related subject, I find it more amusing than annoying when the borrowers have already indicated they want a notary at such and such a time, then we've called to confirm the time, but when we get to the door right on time, they act like it's all a big surprise. They look at you through a window and yell: "Who is it?" like it might be Son of Sam who's carrying their loan papers and a notary tote bag... this is often followed by "just a minute" while they put the barking, yapping dogs out (it didn't occur to them to do this before?) But best of all, "just a minute while I clear off the kitchen table" usually of weeks of accumulated junk (last week this included a roll of toilet paper ...?) we gotta laugh.

Reply by Virginia/PA on 12/27/09 2:11pm
Msg #315776

... It's hard to believe that we've met the same people. And they usually have to hunt down their driver's licenses, even though they were told to have them available. I've heard them all. It's in the car. It's in my purse upstairs. Of course they have also left them in the copy machine and have to run to the store to retrieve them.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 12/27/09 2:17pm
Msg #315777

Oh so true..

"But best of all, "just a minute while I clear off the kitchen table" usually of weeks of accumulated junk "

And best when they add - "Sorry, I just got home and haven't had a chance to straighten up" or "we're renovating" - judging by what I've seen that renovation has been ongoing for..ohhh....10-20 years or so.....

I do really love what I do though

Reply by Jim/AL on 12/27/09 6:00pm
Msg #315789

Re: Oh so true..

Call ahead by 20 minutes the other day to say I will arrive at 12:10. Ms Smith says great I will call husband at work. Get there at exactly 10 after and she says let me call him again and tell him you are here, he just works five minutes away. I explain she knew exactly when I was arriving and I am right on time, why with an advanced call is he not here? I was not a happy camper at all. Took him 20 minutes to get home.

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/27/09 6:58pm
Msg #315798

Jim, Some folks have zero sense of the value of OPT!

OPT = Other people's time.

It's very rude to be so indifferent.

Reply by Jack/AL on 12/27/09 10:34pm
Msg #315812

Re: Jim, Some folks have zero sense of the value of OPT!

To quote a real estate broker/instructor/author in Alabama, Ken Greenwood said "People are worse than anybody!"

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/28/09 7:24am
Msg #315819

Re: Jim, Some folks have zero sense of the value of OPT!

Being a signing agent is one position where being tardy is actually due to the lender / title company / scheduler's issues. If good punctuality is a trait of a signing agent, then it can drive the notary crazy.

Meanwhile, back during the M-F hours of 8 to 5 where I am working in an office, I can honestly say that I have not arrived later to my job than five minutes BEFORE I was supposed to get there in the past four years for any reason. If I could not get there on time it was planned the day before and I made arrangements beforehand.

Between 8:00 and 8:15 am the same people call in every single morning to let the lucky one who answers the phone know that they are running late; the reasons they give for being late are 98% within their control if they planned their time better (or AT ALL). When they arrive at work is their business, not mine, but they want to take up MY time (if I answer the phone) to give me their latest excuses for not getting to work on time. Seriously. They like to chat about it and give details while on their cell phone. Then, it is also courtesy where I work that the person who takes the call sends out an email to tell everyone that Jack or Jill won't be there because of such and so. More time.

They leave ten minutes early for lunch and get back ten minutes later after lunch...reasons include traffic, haircuts, mani/pedis, kid needs something, get oil changed, meeting contractor, small crisis at home, and so forth.

All that is between them and their supervisor, which I am not. But, if you are at work on time, then you take all the calls of people who are not.

They are the same ones who leave early to do the same things as stated above. The reason they do this is because they have no sense of the value of OPT. The world is full of people like this. Good, nice, productive people who simply have no sense of the value of time or planning to be punctual. They try to cram too much into small bits of time and have no concept of how much time anything takes them. They really think that a ten mile drive takes them exactly ten minutes. They do not realize it takes them 15 to 20 minutes to drive those ten miles even though they drive it every single day. They drive faster than they should, get frantic and expect that even though they don't leave earlier the next day it will change.

It makes no sense, and it is rude, and it makes them look as if they have a big "sense of entitlement" as they go through life. Sometimes they make jokes about it and think it is cute to talk about their inability to get anywhere on time.

We might not be able to do a lot of things in life but when it comes to punctuality, there's no reason for constantly being late. I realize that everyone has issues that come up or which they have to contend with, but the reality is that when people make others wait because they are late to appointments or meetings then there's only one reason for it. They do not value anyone else's time as much as they value what they are doing to eat into the time of those they take advantage of.

In fact, about the time I clean off my desk at 5 pm is when one of the late arrivers wants to really talk about something important. "It'll just take a MINUTE!" [No, try 15!] Heck, they've got no awareness that some of us actually arrive and depart on a schedule, run our lives on a routine and have things to do at certain times after 5 pm. Same thing happens at lunch, as well. If I make lunch plans to meet with a friend, someone's indifference to OPT will undoubtedly cause me to be behind schedule.

So...if any of you reading this are continual late-arrivers, think about what you are saying to those who are not. When you prance in 15 minutes late, the truth is that you are saying "What I was doing before I got here was more important than the time YOU scheduled to be with me."

Sermon over.

Reply by jba/fl on 12/28/09 8:05am
Msg #315822

Oh how very true Brenda

"if any of you reading this are continual late-arrivers, think about what you are saying to those who are not. When you prance in 15 minutes late, the truth is that you are saying "What I was doing before I got here was more important than the time YOU scheduled to be with me."

Reply by BrendaTx on 12/28/09 8:24am
Msg #315823

Actions speak the truth. Words are just static

and smoke around the truth divert the victims attention away from the truth.

Reply by taxpro on 12/29/09 5:28pm
Msg #316012

Re: Jim, Some folks have zero sense of the value of OPT!

C'mon now Brenda, don't hold back! Tell us how you REALLY feel about this!

Haha! Just kidding - I loved your post! I feel exactly the same.

BTW, I am also a native Texan, although I have now been living in Kansas for over 36 years. My Texas family members constantly ask me how I ever could have moved away from God's Country. I just say, "I did it for love." Texans are a special type, and I always LOVE reading your posts! It reminds me of my peeps back home...sigh.

Reply by desktopfull on 12/28/09 7:16am
Msg #315818

Re: Jim, Some folks have zero sense of the value of OPT!

I know a few SS's & TC's that have the same attitude, as they get you your docs an hour after you're appointed time.

Reply by desktopfull on 12/28/09 7:26am
Msg #315820

Re: Jim, Some folks have zero sense of the value of OPT!

Hit the post button to soon. Like now, I received the confirmation last Wednesday for a purchase closing today 10:00 am and I still don't have the docs. Even better, the phone numbers for the borrowers are wrong (they're driving in from 40 miles away). They didn't put the name of the business, the RE agent, or the phone number for that business where we are closing on the confirmation. And they still aren't answering my emails or phone calls, but I'm the one going to get the garbage from all sides once I can get through to anyone. As if I don't have anything better to do for the next 2 hours.