<p>driver-
no prob!
They are made of plastic, so I don’t see why you couldn’t take them on the plane. The serious drawback I see is that it appears to me that they only work if you have your tray table down. Looks like you have to remove the gizmos to close the tray table, and then… you are at the mercy of the person in front of you. The minute you close your tray table–poof- they could be in your lap!</p>
<p>The only time I really wished I had those things was once, a long time ago, when my younger s. was about 3 yrs old. We were on a relatively early flight, and my younger s was a bit fidgety. I did all I could to keep him still (short of slipping Benedryl in his juice), but the guy in front of him got really perterbed and whipped around, glaring at me, saying harshly “Would you get your child to keep his feet still!!! He is kicking my chair!!” I apologized profusely and said I would continue to do my best to keep him still, but that he’d been up since 4 in the morning. This guy snarled at me and said “Well so have I !!” I looked at him and replied, nicely, “Well, he’s only 3-- what’s your excuse?” He didn’t say a word to us for the rest of the flight :)</p>
<p>Oh- Driver-- I forgot to mention (though it goes without say)-
Why would any stockbroker who lies to us and pretends that they know us or our spouse and have supposedly spoken to us before, think we would entrust our $$ to them?? Do they think lying to us is a good icebraker?? Sheesh… One guy called here and asked for my h. by a shortened version of his formal name (a nickname he NEVER uses). The guy did everything he could to get me to give him my h’s work # or cellphone #, insisting he was returning a call. When I politely declined, and asked for his cell or work # so that I could have my h. call him, he hung up in my ear.</p>
<p>Jym626, many real estate agents cold call for prospects. I can’t stand being cold called myself. So I don’t do it. To the probable detriment of my income but I sleep serenely at night.</p>
<p>I hate the ones who ask for my husband or son and when I ask what it’s about say “it’s a personal matter, I’ll call later”. Well, I’m either their mother or wife, and I’m the only one who answers the phone. So if you want to talk to them, you have to get through me.</p>
<p>Ha! Although this hasn’t happened via phone calls, my H gets junk mail regularly addressed to a formal name that is often the lengthened version of H’s actual name. (ie, he would get mail addressed to “James” Ourlastname when his given, legal name is “Jim” Ourlastname)
Oy.</p>
<p>Thedad-
I know when someone lists their house FSBO they often get deluged with calls from realtors either (1) asking if they could just come by with a proposal to list the house, or (2) claiming they have a preapproved prospective buyer they want to bring over. These are more reasonable calls to me, as the person has already stuck a sign in their yard or run an ad in the paper inviting calls. </p>
<p>I remember once getting a call out of the blue from a realtor saying that he had a client who wanted to buy in our neighborhood, and were we considering selling our home (at the time it wasn’t on our “A” list, but what the heck, we’d been thinking about it, so we said ok.) He wanted us to sign a one-time listing agreement with him, that would in essence give him the full 7% commission, should we sell the house to these people. Fortunately, a neighbor, who happens to be a real estate attorney, told us this fellow was calling people in the neighborhood, and his suggestion was to either agree to a fixed dollar amount for the commission should the house sell, or agree to 1/2 the commission, since the agent did nothing for us to list or sell the house. (BTW, neither of us sold our house to these folks–maybe someone who agreed to the full 7% got the sale :)) I would be interested in your thought on this, coming from the other side. I forget, do you handle residential or commercial real estate?? </p>
<p>Anyway, I always knew you were a good guy, thedad, and your feeling about cold calls just cements my belief. But I did so dislike the early morning cold call from the dishonest potential stockbroker, which pulled me out of the shower to answer the phone and then he hung up on me when I wouldn’t give him my h’s number. Grrrrr.</p>
<p>And boysmsom–
Great answer. I also sometimes tell them that I am the one who handles the $$, so they are wasting their time talking to my H :)</p>
<p>Jym, unfortunately, a lot of those “I have a buyer” letters/calls are scams to get a foot in the door, which really puts those of us who really <em>do</em> have a buyer in a hard spot. I recently sent 20 letters to owners in a condo building where my Buyer missed out getting an available unit for a very strange reason, but that’s another story, and didn’t get a single nibble. Sure, it could be completely valid…it could also be that people were just wary of being played.</p>
<p>Otoh, even if representing both sides, I wouldn’t do it for less than 5 percent. There is work and liability with respect to each side and having each side believe that you’re treating them equitably throughout the whole transaction is hard, draining work.</p>
<p>I find the advice of most real estate attorneys, many of whom have never actually shepherded a transaction in their life (at least in Calif, which uses an escrow process), to be almost random with respect to quality.</p>