This morning, on my way to a Cherokee Association of REALTORS board of directors meeting, I passed these guys watering a hanging basket plant and couldn’t stop myself from posting this tweet:
“Just drove past 3 guys watering 1 plant. Your city of Woodstock tax dollars at work!”
My twitter account auto-posts to my Facebook account, so the same message appeared in both locations. Well, after my meeting I get a call from one of our Maxsell agents. She was a key player in getting the hanging baskets of flowers placed in downtown Woodstock in a citizen effort to beautify our town. Apparently she has been getting little help in keeping these plants watered. So, she asked the city to help.
Now here I am with an interesting situation on my hands… I have potentially upset City Officials and possibly hurt the status of one or more of my agents with my recent comment. You see, we are really involved in our local community… our agents volunteer all the time, lead committees, start non-profits for trail systems, highlight the local merchants, interview citizens of the town and we truly love the City of Woodstock as individuals and as a company. Yet, I feel it my duty (and our company’s obligation) to be open and honest in everything we do or say. I truly feel that 3 guys watering 1 plant is a waste of effort (and possibly tax dollars).
So, what do I do now?
I praise my agent for leading a beautification project with obvious and immediate impact. I thank the city for the willingness to help keep the project maintained. And I suggest ways to improve the system (because I hate people who just complain and never volunteer or suggest ways to make it better)… possible solution: send 1 person to water the plants, but equip him/her with a pole and hook to take the basket down – add water – and return to hanging position. This could be accomplished with a simple garden rake if said pole and hook did not exist in the city’s closet.
Furthermore, I promise to keep our company focused on helping our communities improve (through beautification or efficiency or in any other way we are capable). I have already shared Woodstock Farmer’s Market info directly with three local citizens who are sure to join in a coming event. Heck, our Community Advocate (how many other local companies have Community Advocates anyways) just posted a great article on the new Woodstock Farmer’s Market. We will continue to support our local merchants and spotlight the faces of our community. I can only hope that our City Officials understand that we are here to help make our community a better place to live, work and play, but that doesn’t mean we can’t complain and suggest improvements as well.
Here is our slideshow/love affair with the City of Woodstock:
view photos from other local communities on our flickr page
UPDATE:
After more conversation with my agent, it seems my ‘pole with hook’ idea will not work. It seems that using a ladder is the only way and there is truly a need to have someone support the ladder as the ground is very uneven. So, I guess we really do need 2 guys watering 1 plant. but 3?
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