I went over to Mom's house last night and did little "Chores" that required an electric screw driver and a hammer. Mom spent the first 3 or 4 minutes micro-managing the tasks then I asked her if she didn't have something to do that world be more productive. So she started to pull together dinner comprised of roasted chicken mashed potatoes and peas smothered in a mushroom gravy that turned out to be nectar from the gods. All the while, Glenn Beck and Fox New blasted in the background and Mom made comments about how Obama was creating a socialist government and how the Tea Party was going to take back our country. Jesus! Glen Beck is such an ignorant creature. I am reluctant to admit it, but so is my Mother.
We had a great dinner; lots of laughs, a discussion about Scott and some eye-opening talk of my Father. When we got to the latter, things started to get pretty raw as Mom recounted some of the more embarrassing moments Dad had created while he was among us. The most upsetting story I had never heard about until last night.
Seems that years back Scott, Mom and Dad were working together in a Gerrie & Associates real estate office in Costa Mesa. Mom and Dad had set up the business and Scott was working somewhere else. So over dinner one night Dad convinced Scott to join the family business and Scott agreed, adding that he could bring at least ten agents with him from the office where he currently worked.
At that time Scott was somewhat of a young turk: successful and well liked by everyone in the local Real Estate Board so when he set about recruiting the other agents over to the Gerrie endeavor he had no problem and within a week the office was 12 agents larger. All went well for the first month – the new agents were highly productive contributing sales and commissions and all should have been good. However, Scott was not known for spending too much time in the office and his productivity was not necessarily up to par. But the new recruits were a very positive move for one and all.
At the end of the month there was a sales meeting and everyone was anticipating a big hug from Bill Gerrie and perhaps a inspirational chat about how good things were going: an affirmation that big things were going to happen at Gerrie & Associates. Instead, Dad focused in on Scott and his noticeable absence from the office. He proceeded to call Scott every name in the book and tell him that he was useless and an embarrassment to the family and his co-workers. He did this in front of all the agents and Scott was humiliated to the core. The next day all the agents came to Mom and quit. Scott never came into the office again. The office was now empty and soon after they had to close it. Scott was once again scared and Dad was, as always impressed with his ability cut out the slackers from the real men.
Or course they went back into business with each other many times over the years – each time was a disaster. I asked Mom how all this made her feel and she just said she had to "LAUGH" it off to carry on. Seems to me that "Laugh" is pretty powerful medicine. I would have cold-cocked the mother fucker! And I feel blessed that, through art, I escaped some of the lunacy of my family.
Love you Lauren more that you can imagine. XOXO Dad
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