I was showing a property to a client yesterday in Brentwood when the doorbell rang (now keep in mind that I had made an appointment to show this home to my client and generally the family who lives in the home leaves for an hour or so), so I decided to go to the door and see who it was. I opened the door and it was a caterer. The man was very flush in the face and was apologizing for being late and began to push his way into the house with a tray of hot something (it smelled great). I tried to catch him and tell him that I was not the owner, but this guy was totally shutting me out and concentrating on getting all of the food and wine inside. So, I decided to call the home’s owner to let her know what was going on, but before I was able to dial the number, the caterer turned the corner and saw my client (here’s where it gets funny). The caterer stops in his tracks and just stares at my client (let’s call him Bob for the sake of this story) and Bob is looking quizzically back at this red faced caterer. After a few moments, the caterer blurts out, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, your wife told me that you might fly home early today and for me not to be late! I really didn’t mean to spoil your surprise birthday party.”
Now Bob has this really odd look on his face and says, “Sir, my wife and I are divorced. I don’t even live here.” When the caterer hears this news, he gets visibly upset and rushes back to the kitchen mumbling to himself the whole way. I run into the kitchen to try to explain that I am a Realtor who is showing this home to Bob who is a potential buyer for the home, but this caterer is just going nuts! He starts into this half coherent rant about how his wife’s brother talked him into partnering in this catering company and how he is always stuck doing all of the work and that no one appreciates his effort and how could his brother-in-law book a party that wasn’t even going to happen, and so on. During this whole rant he is throwing around all of the food and utensils that he just brought in and begins to make his way to the door. Just then Bob springs into action and physically blocks the front door. He stops the caterer and holds his cell phone up to his ear and pretends to talk, “Honey, I am so sorry about the divorce and I really miss you. I think that we should work it out. I’ll be at your house tonight around 7.” Bob then closes the phone and says to the caterer, “Change of plan, we’re back together and I want to have a party!”
This completely catches the poor caterer off guard and gives me time to jump in there and fully explain the situation. Once I had finished my explanation and we were on the same page, I called the owner and had a great laugh!
Update: The home owners had a great surprise party and the owner’s husband was completely caught off guard by the party. Today, the owners got more great news, Bob made an offer on the home and it they accepted it shortly thereafter! So here’s the moral of the story: 1 great house + 1 red faced caterer + 1 great buyer = 1 great sale!!
I love my job and I love selling real estate in Nashville.
