Vultures in Florida
12 - 28 -06
By Kimberly Adkins
Vultures! I hate them. The lowest of the lowest type
of species. Too lazy to work for its food, it waits
for its meal to die, then they fly around in circles,
sniffing out the carcass and then move in for the free
meal.
Vultures are much like real estate agents in our area
(sorry, no offense to any Springer agents out there).
We had our house on the market for a few months. As
soon as it went on market, we were bombarded with junk
mail from other real estate companies and individual
agents wanting to sell us the house of our dreams from
their listings. Sorry, but we are moving to get OUT
of this area, not to stay in it.
Now, with our house temporarily off the market, we
are being bombarded with junk mail from other real
estate companies and agents wanting us to re-list with
them. They all brag about the “services” they
will provide for us that is sure to get our house sold.
Funny, but their “services” are all the
same. I don’t see anyone standing out in the
crowd. One even LIED to us in their letter, stating
they can sell our house because it is a seller’s
market. Everyone down here knows that it is a BUYER’S
market around here, especially after three entire new
subdivisions went up in the last year on land that
used to be woods and fields. As far as the rest of
the county goes, I am sure there are other new neighborhoods
as well. Thousands and thousands of new homes built
in the last year in this county alone, with no buyers
lined up to purchase all of them, and cutting into
the market of buyers that might have been interested
in our house.
Aside from the real estate agents who are flying around
our house like vultures, there is another kind of vulture.
Advertisements. Each week, Jack and I both get a piece
of junk mail from Hernando Mitsubishi, trying to get
us to buy a car from them. None of the mail comes with
their name on the envelope. It is always disguised
as some important account notification, or “official” government
correspondence, or a “check” implying that
we are getting the money instead of them trying to
part us from our money. I have even called them to
stop, but the junk mail piles up. In the last year,
they probably killed several trees in junk mail they
have sent to our address; try multiplying that by the
rest of the county. After all of that, we still have
never step foot on their lot and don’t plan to
either.
The biggest vulture of all – Wal-Mart! I despise
Wal-Mart. Quite unfortunately to the American society,
Wal-Mart has almost become a necessary evil. I really
try to stay out of that place because I hate how they
treat their employees, how they treat the communities
they are in, and most of all, how it makes me feel
when I leave there. I can go into a Wal-Mart in a good
mood, and leave with a Mrs. Hyde personality. They
are too hectic, chaotic, and mentally and visually
over-stimulating. Each time I go into one, demons I
did not even know I had start to emerge, and I get
these crazy desires to slug someone and curse out total
strangers.
I really don’t need to shop at Wal-Mart. But,
in our area, the nearest mall is an hour away. When
we move to Virginia, the closest Wal-Mart to where
we will be living is right next to the mall, so I will
not need the convenience of Wal-Mart’s closeness
to our home. Wal-Mart is the worst kind of vulture
because of the way the will shamelessly sacrifice things
like respect, loyalty, people-friendly environment
for workers and shoppers, teamwork with the employees
and community, all in the name of money. Everything
they do is all about the dollars, not the people. They
have cost a lot of Mom-and-Pop businesses, and some
not-so-small businesses (like Kmart, etc.) their fair
place in the market in every community. They are killing
the competitions, and in effect, killing the communities.
They are not very good at sharing. Check out www.wakeupwalmart.com
for the low down on how low Wal-Mart goes in their
treatment of people.
We are really looking forward to getting back to Virginia.
Then we will not have to deal with real estate agents
anymore, junk mail from Hernando Mitsubishi, and Wal-Mart.
Until then I guess all I can do is say…………Calgon,
take me away!
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