One of my more famous "blurts" at work was when I told a client that "my job is like internet dating."
Awkward silence.
I realized what I'd said and explained: I work from home. I never meet any of the people I work with -- either clients or co-workers. When I do we usually exchange head-shot photos, a description on what we'll be wearing or at least arrange to meet at a public place like the Starbucks in Terminal A. We're nervous and vaguely excited to see what the real person is like after emailing or talking for a few months. (Of course there are a few key difference between dating and work relationships: the end game, in particular.)
Today I am thinking that house-hunting on Zillow is like internet dating. Consider the facts:
- I am searching Zillow for a particular price range (internet dating: age range)
- I am looking at pictures of the house (internet dating: pictures of the person) meant to show the best possible lighting, angles, magazine-gloss available given the subject
- There is a blurb telling me all the positive facets of the house/person and subtly leaving out the negative features
- When I get to actually see the house (internet dating: meet the person) it's not quite the image I had build up in my mind based on our brief, written relationship. Sometimes this is good, other times not so much.
- 90% of the time, even though I see the possibilities (I was doing some screening, after all), it sounds like too much work and really what I'm looking for (thank goodness I am not in the dating game anymore).
The other thing that struck me about the job search was how good/natural our real estate agent was at checking up on the relationship. After each house hunting session he asks, "How are you feeling? What are you thinking? What did you like/not like?" And then he adds some positive reinforcement like "we'll just keep looking, the right one is out there. We've got plenty of time."
Our most recent house-hunting expedition produced some enticing opportunities. One where we were really interested and basically there was no way to get it down to our price range (or get our downpayment high enough to approach the bank for a loan). REJECTION! (You're still following the dating theme, right?) Another one was really cool, but the guest bathroom on the main level had floor-to-ceiling mirrors on all 4 walls. This would be uncomfortable (I think) for my guests -- at least it would offer me way more information that I truly needed while taking care of business. Other than that the house looked great for entertaining. (Or maybe it depends on the type of entertaining you're doing. I recently read an article in Redbook on swingers clubs which pushed a few of my boundaries...but that's a different post, I am sure.)
At any rate, we're still out there kissing frogs (looking at houses) with the help of our fairy godmother (don't tell the real estate guy that I called him that, please, I am not sure he'd appreciate it).
Signed,
The Princess
PS - Contemplating a biography with a working title "Life is Like Internet Dating..."
