I used to live on the fourth floor of a walkup brownstone on the upper west side of Manhattan.  Lots of stairs. I hated walking up those stairs every day, and I particularly hated carrying heavy things up the stairs.  So when we bought stuff like furniture or groceries, we would usually get them delivered. Every time, the delivery guys (they were always guys) would do the same thing.  They’d huff and puff as they ascended my many, acting as if this was one of the greatest injustices in world history – like, how DARE I ask them to lug this heavy stuff up all these stairs!

Now, of course, they were just trying to guilt me into giving them a big tip for their troubles, but it always annoyed me.  I mean, that’s the job, right?  Their job was to carry heavy stuff up stairs.  If I didn’t have a lot of stairs, I could do it myself, then I wouldn’t have to pay them.  Indeed, their very job depended on me having a lot of stairs.

It’s like a dentist complaining that he really hates teeth.  OH GOD, MORE TEETH! If you don’t like teeth, don’t become a dentist.  Dealing with teeth is the job!

Real estate agents do this all the time.  They complain about having to fill out paperwork.  They complain about dealing with clients who won’t pull the trigger.  They complain about having to prospect.  They complain about everything.

But all those things you hate doing? That’s the job! Those are the things people PAY YOU MONEY for.  Filling out disclosures?  That’s the job.  Calling FSBOs?  That’s the job. Schlepping buyers to look at house after house?  That’s the job.  If you didn’t have to do those things, you wouldn’t have a job, and you wouldn’t make any money.  If you really hate it so much, then go find another job that you’ll like better.  Maybe carrying heavy things up stairs will be right in your wheelhouse.

The fact is, everyone complains about their job sometimes, regardless of how great the job is.  Somewhere there’s probably a movie star complaining about the boredom of sitting in his trailer waiting for the next shoot.  Some jobs are better than others, but every job has stuff that we don’t like doing.  That’s why it’s a job.

So suck it up. Don’t complain about your job.  It’s annoying, and no one cares.

This post is part of a series of what I call the “36-1/2 Rules for Client-Oriented Real Estate Agents,” a collection of short takes on the CORE concept that I’ve developed over the years of discussing and teaching the system.  We’ll count up to the 36th rule over the next few months, and then the 1/2 rule.  You can get the full list of rules by clicking on the “36-1/2 Rules for CORE Agents” category on the blog – scroll from the bottom if you want to read them in order.