Minimum Expectations

A few years ago I was touring Vietnam on a bicycle.  One day I found it necessary to replace the batteries in my camera with fresh ones.

Finding such a rare extravagance in a small village was not easy.  Additionally I didn't speak the language, so I relied on my "show and tell" communication skills. Pulling out the old batteries I showed them to a self-proclaimed shopping helper, a young man who had attached himself to me for the moment. 

He understood my needs and immediately went off in search of fulfilling them.

After a passage of time, he returned with a wrapped package of Eveready Batteries. I was delighted! In just a few minutes I would be back shooting photos again.

My shopper's helper led me to the owner of the batteries, so I could finish the job of negotiating for their purchase. 

As with everything in the country, the negotiations took as long as the finding of the batteries.  We came to what I considered a fair price, I paid and left.

Never once during the negotiations did it occur to me to try the batteries to be sure the worked.  They were nicely wrapped in the original packaging, so I had the expectations that they would work.

I was wrong.

The batteries as pretty as they were, were old and dead.  I was screwed. The merchant who sold them to me was long gone.

Of course the money that exchanged hands probably meant far more to him than me. But it was the principle of the exchange. Perhaps he didn't know he sold me perfectly useless batteries, or maybe he did. I would never know.

I learned a cultural lesson that day. Assume nothing.

In the U.S. we call it "Buyer Beware."  We still make assumptions, but when buying a house for example we hire an inspector to come in and make sure the components of the house work.

We do have assumptions that certain parts of a home will work.  Particularly when that part of the home is advertised.

I sold a home recently that advertised a gas log fireplace.  Upon inspection, the inspector found out the gas part of the fireplace did not work. The sellers of the home didn't want to spend the money to fix it.

My buyer insisted the fireplace be repaired to work as advertised. She had the minimum expectation that what was advertised actually worked.

Buyers often have minimum expectations that the major parts of a home will be in good condition when they purchase a home.  If the condition is less than good, it needs to be disclosed.

My buyer won the negotiation on the working fireplace. She was right and the sellers finally did agree.

If everyone had the same minimum expectations my job as a real estate broker would be a lot easier.  Expectations are as numbered as there are people.  The only thing we as a group could agree on is...the sun does come up every morning.

<photo was taken on Manasquan Beach, N.J. © 2007 Kristal Kraft>

Comments

[Kristal]

Derek ~ putting the batteries in the camera would have made sense. As I recall I didn't have the camera with me at the time. Oh well...it's only money but a lesson learned.

[Derek Burress]

I didn't even know batteries had a self life. You should have put the batteries in your camera while the guy was there.

[Kristal]

Ines ~ Thanks for stopping by. I'll be over to your blog shortly to check out your version of expectations! :)
kk

[Ines Hegedus-Garcia]

Hey kk - it's funny that i recently wrote an article on expectations - I love the way you present things and make them easy to understand.....but you know that! ; )