Finding a Place to Live in London: Lesson 2

....you quickly learn which real estate agencies have qualified employees and which ones don't. Our personal favorite was the young real estate agent (let's call him Bill) who asked if he could bring his new colleague along on the viewings. Sorta as a training opportunity for the new colleague (let's call her Sue).

Sue had only been with the ABC Real Estate Company for 2 weeks. "OK, fine by us", we replied. After riding in the car with Bill for 10 minutes, we inquired, "So, Bill, how long have you been working for ABC?" His answer: 3 months. Ah, a seasoned veteran.

Let's just say, Bill needed to engage in a little of his own coaching and mentoring...in the span of 1.5 hours, Bill could not find 2 of the 3 properties, parked in a no-parking zone resulting in a ticket (his 8th one, as we later learned), and asked us in the first five minutes of meeting us, "So, what kind of property are you looking for?" Our answer, "The type we filled out on your information sheet before coming into your office today." Ouch! Bill, however, appeared to be nonplussed.

We knew we'd be saying goodbye to Bill forever when later that night, we learned Bill's preparation for the "letting agent's" job had been as a bartender at a local restaurant chain, (a.k.a TGIFs, Chilis).

Let's just say Sue already had a bit more snap that Bill. She probably even mixes a better martini.