What's mildly irritating you today?

[lookout123]

yer such a boob shawnee

[Flint]

what? shawnee's boob?

[lookout123]

yeah, didn't you see the pics?

[Shawnee123]

Yeah, didn't you?

[lookout123]

the following is a letter I sent out today. i'm not sure if it is irritating or upsetting, but i know it doesn't make me feel good.


Dear Mr and Mrs __________,

Thank you for responding to my follow up call. I really do appreciate the compliments that you paid me in speaking about the investments that we selected for you when we first began working together. I also appreciate how much you trust and value my advice and credit it with keeping you secure in these tumultuous times.

There are some issues that I feel I must address to ensure we're all on the same page. While I'm glad you're satisfied with the quality of the investments we chose together I feel it necessary to remind you that choosing those investments was only meant to be step one of an ongoing shift in your portfolio. Immediately following the purchase of _______, we had agreed to liquidate _______ and place the proceeds in a more secure income producing investment, ________ specifically. You chose not to do that even though I advised you to do so on twelve separate dates in the last 36 months.

The result of only putting one part of the plan into action was an imbalanced portfolio not prepared for the economic downturn I spoke to you about in the spring and summer of 2007. On _________, 2007 I called an urgent meeting with you in which I outlined the dangers we were facing and asked you to take immediate action. Specifically I asked you to __________________ and ________________. You said you would think about it and get back to me. I reiterated my concerns in a letter dated __________.

2008 has been a brutal year for all investors but you have been hit especially hard due to your portfolio imbalance. When you contacted me last week concerned with your losses I cleared my calendar so we could meet. The plan I previously created no longer works because your losses have been too great. I did, however, present a new plan that does address the known issues and prepares us for the unknown events of the the next several years. When you left my office, I felt confident we were finally on the same page and prepared to move forward with a sensible approach for your portfolio and estate.

I must confess your phone call today caught me completely offguard. While I appreciate the confidence you've placed in me I must admit I'm baffled. If you trust my judgement why have you chosen to ignore every single change I've asked you to make? I'm glad you are happy with the investments I purchased for you when we first began working together, but ignoring my advice about them now reminds me of the man who took his car to the mechanic. He told the mechanic his car wouldn't stop when he pressed the brake pedal. The mechanic inspected the car and declared the solution was to replace the brake pads. The man smiled and thanked the mechanic for his help but announced he still had faith in the previous set of brakepads the mechanic had sold him and drove away. Surely you understand my point in this silly story.

I genuinely value you as a client and enjoy the time we have worked together, but if you insist on ignoring all that I say I see no point in continuing our business relationship. You are paying me for advice you don't follow. The choice is simple: either follow my recommendations or quit paying me.

Please call me immediately to discuss your decision. If I do not hear from you within thirty days from the date of this letter, let this be notice that I will no longer be servicing your account and will not be morally or legally responsible for the performance of your investments.


Sincerely,


Lookout

[Shawnee123]

I think you have a really tough job!

Good letter, too.

[footfootfoot]

Excellent letter, I'd have recommended a few tiny changes in the spots where you slightly tip your hand and reveal how immensely annoyed you are.

I think the positive side of the letter is that where you seem to take these things personally indicates the depth of your interest in protecting their investments.

It's hard to do your job when you are hobbled.

Let it go, they don't seem to care about their $ as much as you.

[Aliantha]

the forecast temp for today is 37 degrees celcius which converts to almost 100 F.

That's pretty bloody hot when you combine it with about 85% humidity.

[SteveDallas]

And, as I recall, that weather's not an awful lot of fun for pregnant women. (Mrs. Dallas was in the final stages of her first pregnancy in the summer of 1995, which was especially hot and muggy.)

[Aliantha]

No, it sux. I work up a sweat just going from the aircon in the loungeroom to the bathroom which I leave the door closed on so it's hot. To add to that, I've had to do lots of stupid little jobs today including defrosting the fridge out the back, which I thought would be cooler anyway, but as it turns out, the heat out there just made the fridge get hot faster, so all benefit of standing in front of a cool fridge was lost!

So far it hasn't reached astronomical heights though, so here's hoping it doesn't.

[DanaC]

I think that letter's brilliant, Lookout. Bet it was a bitch to write though :P

Ali *hugs* ...actually no, you probably wouldn't appreciate a hug just now. Here *passes across a big vat of icecream and an industrial sized fan*

[skysidhe]

chantix makes me a little nauseous

I'm not sure what the point is. I should just bash myself in the head with a hammer. That would make me quit too.

[Aliantha]

Well there's some good news Dana.

For the last couple of days we've had the most brilliant south easterly blowing which (because we live 100 metres from the water and on the eastern seaboard) has blown away the humidity and made everything seem fresh.

It's very pleasant even though the actual temp has still been fairly high.

[glatt]

So today is the first day of a week long vacation for me. Yay! But last night, I got a message on my blackberry that the powers that be want to handle invoices differently for the end of the year this year. I'm the only one who knows how to work with the invoices I do, so I get to come in to work on the first day of my vacation to take care of this crap. It would have been nice if they told me yesterday, or Monday even. I hope to be out of here in an hour or so. (I'm only posting here as I wait for each individual invoice to print out.)

[Trilby]

Memo: Somebody needs to talk to glatt about his TPS reports...