When I became the customer care manager of a large property management company in Southern California, one of the things the outgoing customer care manager showed me in the office was a lunar calendar. She used it to track and prepare herself for the full moon cycle during the year. She had been the customer care manager for many years and she swore by the calendar.
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I smiled politely and skeptically and as she went on with my training I forgot about it. When I started, I removed the lunar calendar, thinking that I didn’t need it and since I wanted space on the wall to hang up my own stuff. After all, how much of a difference could the lunar cycle make?
A huge portion of my job was to be the corporate liaison between senior management and our residents and clients. In other words, when people were upset at us, they called me and looked to me to find solutions. Once I received calls I’d touch bases with everyone involved to find some way to address the situation. Not always fun.
A Special Kind of Crazy
With over 30,000 residents and 1,000 associates, every day was challenging and stressful, but some days were just crazier than others! On those days I’d have interactions with residents, customers, even our own employees where it felt like I was surrounded by aliens, with their own special kind of crazy.
I can remember so many times, in the middle of the crazy days, sitting in my office wondering, “What is happening??” I was used to angry, frustrated and obstinate people~I wasn’t always used to flat out crazy.
Then one day, on my drive home after a particularly schizo day, I looked up and saw the full moon just rising above the treeline. I then remembered my predecessor’s words about the lunar calendar and the day made sense. “She was right!” I thought.
This scenario played out many more times during my tenure. I’d have one or two crazy days “out of the blue” and then drive home and see the full moon and think, “A-ha!” Eventually it got to the point where after the first couple out of left field crazy moments in a day I’d check to see if it was a full moon!
What Does this Mean For You?
As a multifamily professional you already know that every day can be crazy! Pipes freeze. Toilets back up. A resident blames you because you didn’t remind him that rent was due on the first. But haven’t you noticed that some days are just even more unexplainably challenging and weird? It could be the full moon!
Now, even if you don’t totally believe in the full moon thing, here are some things that can help you when the crazy storms hit, and you know they WIll hit!
- Be aware that crazy does happen! When it does, prepare yourself and your people so that they can be patient, understanding, and calm in the midst of the storm. Sometimes people and days are just crazy and it has nothing to do with you, and there is nothing you can do about it, besides not make it worse!
- Don’t take it personally: It is never fun to have someone attacking you, yelling at you, accusing you of things that you didn’t do~but they will happen. The more you can strengthen yourself so that you can prevent your defenses from going up, the quicker you’ll be able to resolve the situation, or simply get through the tornado of crazy until it passes, without making it worse.
- Look at the calendar: You may want to know, in advance, when the next full moon, or any other event that could trigger the “crazy effect” will occur. Then you can prepare everyone to smile and duck and cover if needed.
