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A Zurflueh Takeover
9 Plays1 month ago
🎧 Welcome to Thoughts For Rent — the podcast where real estate gets real (and local)!
Hosted by Jenni McKenna, a Las Vegas born and raised seasoned broker, and Owner of McKenna Property Management, this show is your inside look at what’s really happening in the Vegas property management and real estate world. With over 20 years of experience herself - Jenni brings not just knowledge, but heart to the conversation.
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💬 Real talk. Local stories. Professional insight – provided from a company who has their boots on the ground and hearts in the community.
In this episode, Irelynn and Max takeover and cover their thoughts on people and society's potential lack of patience with each other. Does being a Karen really get you better or quicker service?
McKenna Property Management, proudly managing Las Vegas homes since 2005 (and loving every minute of it).
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Transcript
Introduction to the Zerfloo Takeover
00:00:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hey, welcome back everybody to Realtors Keeping It Real on our podcast called Thoughts for Rent. Hosted by Jenny McKenna. Where is she? She's not here. This is, I think, the first time myself, Max Zerfloo, and... Ireland Zerfloo.
00:00:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
Hey, that's the same last name. It's the first time we're going to do a podcast together without Jenny. i think we should call it the Zerflu takeover. The Zerflus take over the whole thing. McKenna's allowed. Anyway, this is Ireland. It's my daughter, my second daughter, my middle child. His favorite daughter.
00:00:57
Irelynn Zurflueh
Is it hard being a middle child? um No. I think it would be a lot harder being a middle child if I didn't Have great parents? If I wasn't your walking clone in life. Yes, we are very similar.
00:01:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
We're very similar. We crack the same jokes. We laugh at the same things. So that's good. Lucky you.
Podcast Focus on Quality Content
00:01:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
i know. I have such good parents. Look at that. What about this microphone being right in front of your whole face? You're so pretty. can me There we go.
00:01:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
What about the sound quality? We were so concerned about it. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. if They'll let us know if they don't. Anyway, hey, we have this podcast. Hope you guys are subscribing to it and watching it on a regular basis. And we want to make sure that we are offering you good quality information and content.
00:01:43
Irelynn Zurflueh
I know that we talk about real estate a lot and talk about property management. I think you and mom, sorry, you and Jenny, talk about you know lot of lot of the processes in your property management company, right? Yeah, a lot of legislation, lot of procedures. But I also tune into your guys' episodes, and I know that there have been talks on vacation. i think you guys spent a whole episode talking about Dr. Pepper and- how Jenny hates Pepsi and how she prefers Coke. so We have done that. We talk about everything. We have done that. Left, right, and center, sure. And you know when you and I get together, we're knockeding that we can't keep it too serious. That would be just horrible.
Public Behavior and Social Media Influence
00:02:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
That just would not be our personalities at all. So we've got to mix it up a little bit. It's probably why Jenny hasn't allowed us to have an episode yet. She can go over there and do that. have a thought, though, that I want to talk about.
00:02:32
Irelynn Zurflueh
I've been seeing a lot lately, not only on you know social media, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, all these videos of people misbehaving at airports on or on a plane or getting in fights and all this stuff. I've seen a couple you know live things lately. I was at the bank yesterday and this guy was getting into it with the teller.
00:02:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
And he was just pissed because he had to wait a long time because the one teller couldn't do a couldn't deposit foreign funds and he didn't want to wait for the other teller. But he was like... He was talking to a corporate. He says, I want her to be disciplined and just getting just yelling at her.
00:03:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I was, and another guy in the bank was like, hey, don't be so mean to And they all almost got into a fight. So it was like it like a live TikTok video I was watching. but I saw the one where some McDonald's coat like worker got coffee thrown on her Oh, yeah. Oh, gosh. Because of one. Soup has done. I've seen someone throw soup on somebody.
00:03:25
Irelynn Zurflueh
What is happening? Why are people mean to each other? Like full fist fights, like jumping over the the sandwich deli. Why is this happening, Ireland? You tell me. I don't know. Well, I always think holidays make people crazy. So maybe we're seeing a lot of those videos because it's post-Christmas. But I always think holidays make people crazy and heat make people crazy. Because I feel like in Vegas, sometimes I'll have a conversation with someone in July and they're just so nasty. And then I think to myself, they probably are just dehydrated and hot.
00:03:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
But I'd see, I also, there might be something to be said about more views for more negative stuff. Well, sure. People are more interested in seeing that. And, you know, we have to be careful because you don't know what a person's going through. There's always been, people talked about road rage or someone cuts you. Yeah, I kind of screwed that one. Someone cuts you off on the road and you're like, but you don't know what that person's going through that day.
00:04:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
Absolutely. ive bought People of always said, you don't know what they're going through. Just walk a mile. Which is great. Yeah, sure. Which is great, but it really doesn't excuse behavior, does it? I don't think it does. shouldn't. I think that, oh man, I'm going to butcher this, but I think people say that... um it It can be a reason, but it can't be an excuse. So it could be and a reason as to why maybe you reacted so poorly, but it should never be an excuse to continue reacting that way. You've just tried to quote a bold law.
00:04:49
Irelynn Zurflueh
Oh, did I? Yes. You can have reasons and you can have results. Oh, but you can't have both. No, it's right. it It can't be an excuse. But I think, you know, also there's different personalities in the world. Like if i if someone started to get into conflict with me, I'd to probably run. I'd be like, oh, no, um I don't want conflict.
00:05:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
What about you? I think you're probably the opposite. like, hey, you want to be mean to me? I'll throw it back at you. Let's go. I unfortunately am a little bit of a – I hide behind screens. I'll admit it that when someone gets me on the phone or someone gets me over email or someone gets me over text, I'll match their energies. But I do shrink a little bit in person. In live conversations? Yeah, it gets me a little – Stressed. Well, that might bring to a point maybe something we should discuss. As social media came about and screens were there to hide behind, maybe people have gotten more bold in their conversations.
00:05:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
Maybe that has transferred over to even in live. They're like, I remember when I was telling this person off online. Maybe I'll tell them off in first person too. Potentially.
Customer Interaction and Politeness
00:05:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
i definitely feel like as I've gotten more in the industry, I've been not aggressive, but I've been more willing to be confrontational.
00:05:59
Irelynn Zurflueh
i feel You have to be, right? I mean, sometimes. Oh, yeah. you don't get right You don't want to get run over. No, I don't think so. Well, even even earlier this week, I had a guy give me a call, and it was probably the second or third time he tried to call me that day, but I kept being in meetings. And when I finally answered, he goes,
00:06:18
Irelynn Zurflueh
oh, I'm so glad I got you. You're such a hard person to get a hold of. And it was just a little... oh you thought that was negative? Yeah, it was like a little thing. And I was like, but I i answered for you. And then just the other day too, i a girl tried to call me and she i was it was the first time she called me. She even called me that day. And then she said, oh, thank goodness I didn't get your voicemail.
00:06:41
Irelynn Zurflueh
Like, why are we walking into it? Well, it's because we live in a world where people want an answer right away. yeah It's so different than it was 20, 30 years ago.
00:06:51
Irelynn Zurflueh
Like when you're on a text, first of all, you're horrible at responding to text, by the way. I'm absolutely not. our family, you're the slowest. You're the slowest. Okay. I'm just saying our family. art My brother, Kai, oh yeah doesn't even respond to text messages. yeah, you're right. I guess I forgot about that.
00:07:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'm the second worst person in the family. People people get so accustomed to texting. They'll text somebody then wait. And they'll see the bubble or don't see the bubble. And they're like, why isn't they responding? They might be doing something, done for crying out loud. That's fair. That's why I leave my read receipts on. Because then if you don't oh you do get ah an immediate response, you'll know why. Because I haven't read it yet.
00:07:26
Irelynn Zurflueh
Oh, yeah, I turned mine off. That's because he's a quick responder. Plus, I don't want people to know whether I read it or not. Because then they'll expect an answer. You see what I'm saying? Well, I just never... I don't open it until I'm ready to there reply. Well, that's one thing. But I think i think that...
00:07:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think this immediate, you know, immediate answers, immediate gratification is something we've weve we're dealing with. But let me ask you this and as far as far as being sort of angry and being mean to people. youre and You know, in your job, you have to deal with tenants and owners and vendors vendors and people who, and maybe even some staff who might be a little pissy.
00:08:03
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah. Right? So what do you think gets, who gets treated better when they're trying to get something out of you? Someone who's being... mean and pushy or someone who's being patient and cooperative?
00:08:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
Who gets treated better? Who gets a quicker result?
00:08:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
i taking too along at I mean, to quicker results, truthfully, it's the saying that you say all the time. It's that the squeaky wheel gets the most oil. So quicker results are going to be the person who probably has the bigger attitude and has more complaints and is reaching out to us more.
00:08:40
Irelynn Zurflueh
Better, more efficient, more cooperative results will probably be the person who is patient. And I always say to the the person who provides more description is always going to get faster, better results.
00:08:56
Irelynn Zurflueh
But that's because I work in the repairs department and like contracting. So the more descriptive they can be, then the more information I can have from the very beginning. So then rather than having to do a back and forth to gather all this new info,
00:09:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
So, but yeah, I do think that sometimes I do appeal more towards the squeakier wheel than I do the person. get them off your your docket or just... Yeah.
00:09:21
Irelynn Zurflueh
Is that right? To say squeaky wheel, though, does not necessarily mean aggressive or mean or a rude person. It's just the person who is chatting the most, who's reaching out the most, who's calling the most. So
Communication Styles and Family Dynamics
00:09:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
sometimes they can be still very nice, but if they're doing constant reach-outs, then I'm most likely responding to them first. Okay, let's reset the scenario. Let's say people need need a dishwasher replaced at their property. And one calls you up and they're like, hi, my dishwasher's broken. I'd really love to get a new one. do you think you could you know coordinate that?
00:09:58
Irelynn Zurflueh
And then the second person calls and says, my dishwasher broke down. I want a dish new dishwasher here in two hours. This is ridiculous. I can't believe that I have to live without a dishwasher for so long. I want my dishwasher now.
00:10:10
Irelynn Zurflueh
Those two people call within 10 minutes. Who would you be inclined to help? I would definitely be more inclined to help the first person. I'm going to help both. you But I will probably take care of the first person first.
00:10:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
They called at the exact same time with the exact same need. Because? Just because they were nicer. They were pleasant. They were pleasant. 100%. And we all want to be treated. we want to be treated nicely.
00:10:33
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yes. Absolutely. And I think it's all – it's what you put out in the universe too. So I'm constantly trying to be as kind as I can – those people in my life as well.
00:10:44
Irelynn Zurflueh
I try to be kind to hairstylist, my nail technician, my bank. you have a boiling point? Hmm. I don't think I have a boiling point. i think I, I will hang up before I let it get to somebody else before I let it hurt somebody else. And in person you, you'll just either walk away something like that. I probably, i mean, I'm really non-confrontational.
00:11:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
Um, Your mother, yeah a little Irish lady, she's been known. She's not like a Karen, though. No. she's She won't. she's like And we've had situations early in our marriage where something didn't go right on our flight, and she wanted me to you know take on the entire airport and start beating people up. But I was just calm about it, and we got our flight quickly. And we actually got you know kind of got in a big disagreement about how that was handled. But I think the way I handled it was better because you just can't get too excited, you know?
00:11:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, i've you've said this. Jenny has said this. And even my current partner has said this. Oh, you're not going to say his name? No, he doesn't want to say his name. Oh, geez.
00:11:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
Apparently, I come off as as very rude in restaurants, is feedback that I've been told. kidding me? I do nothing. i've put my order in. That's all I'm doing. You're matter of fact, but I will look back to an Outback dinner your mom and I had with you when you were probably 12.
00:12:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
twelve I was 12. I know, but it's I think it set the tone. we They come after them. Hey, how was your steak? How was your meal? And most people just go, yeah, great, great, thanks, da, da, da. And so Jenny and I both said, yeah, it was good, thank you. And she goes, yeah, my meat was a little tough, to be honest with you, at Outback. Yeah.
00:12:22
Irelynn Zurflueh
So that's, maybe you want things the way you want them. I still to this day don't understand why people ask questions that they don't want answers to. And as a child, I also thought that when they asked that, it wasn't just a social. They really wanted to know. They really wanted to know. And so I was going to tell them. But I've been told that I tend to be too matter of fact. I'm not as sociable. I'm not as like chit-chattery with staff. And I don't think it's. You're a matter of fact person. You're to the point.
00:12:52
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I have been told that it can come off a little scary. Well, I'm that way too on the phone. I know what you when you're on the phone, I'll hear you sometime on the phone and you'd love to just, you'd love to end the conversation because all the important information has been related. We are done with the important stuff in this conversation. But people want to keep going or repeat what you talked about. Oh, it drives me crazy. So you probably get that from me. I'm a little impatient with talking about things that we don't need to talk about.
00:13:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
I'll even say to my mom on the phone, I'll say, Mom, we've reached the end of this conversation. was Let's hang up, which is kind of funny. Your sister, she likes to talk a lot. She loves to jibber-jabber.
00:13:27
Irelynn Zurflueh
She'll extend it. I have some friends who give me a hard time because they I don't like to do FaceTimes. I think that it can either be a phone call that gets settled or it can be a text. I don't know why you have to see my face to like answer a question.
00:13:39
Irelynn Zurflueh
Is that same when we call you on FaceTime? Well, when was last time you called me on FaceTime? We wanted to see the dog or something like that. The last time they called me on FaceTime was probably to rub it in my face that they're on vacation somewhere and show me some kind of beach that they're out by. the last time we were on Facebook, all I saw was from here up or something. I think you'd just woken up. you The ceiling and forehead was And then that was it. Well, I just think people, you know, people tend to talk a little bit more than needs be. And that sometimes can aggravate me.
00:14:07
Irelynn Zurflueh
Do you ever feel like there's a moment... that people have earned the boiling point? You're the customer. and Do you feel like there's ever a way to be treated that deserves that kind of end result?
00:14:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yes, I think the answer has to be yes. At some point, someone screws up so royally or is treating you so poorly that they you need to respond accordingly.
00:14:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
And I think my boiling point has gotten lower and lower as I've gotten older. Does that make sense? So you're more irritable. I think I'm quicker, yeah. Quicker to be irritated and tell somebody, Like I went, like, you know, Emily knows me to be pretty not confrontational. And we went to a thing at Mandalay Bay and I'm a local and I didn't want to pay 30 bucks for parking. And this parking tenant said, well, you have to pay it. And I like immediately got angry with it Like, this is ridiculous, which is not my normal thing. But that somehow that just triggered me, made me go, what how come I'm paying so much money as a local to come to this place? I'm probably going eat and losing money on gambling. And why am I paying more money?
00:15:09
Irelynn Zurflueh
But things can trigger me lately. i think I think Kai is is probably the shortest fuse in the family, I would say. it could be. But he he seems to be, I don't know. It seems like his fuse was short when he was younger. And now that he's getting older, his the fuse is growing longer, but maybe- What is this, Call Out Kai podcast here today? What the heck's going on?
00:15:31
Irelynn Zurflueh
Only because used to- My little baby boy. I used to see Kai reach his fuse. And I'd be with him. We'd be experiencing maybe the same thing, whether we were on vacation or at a restaurant or whatever. and I'm 10% into my fuse. And he's way up there? And he's already at like zero. So it's just and it is interesting that certain people will have a shorter fuse and you need to know how to handle that.
00:15:58
Irelynn Zurflueh
Some people will have super long fuses. But I always wonder if – there's ever a point where it's warranted of the the frustration, the yelling, the light coming back, or if it should always just be, give me a manager, talk to corporate, or whatever that is.
00:16:12
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, maybe. So I mean, it's I guess it's DNA. It's how you were raised. Probably first child might have something to do with it. Or youngest child, sorry. Youngest child. But i do think I do think that we want to be treated in America or in across the world. We want it to be treated with, for the customer, we want people to treat us well.
00:16:30
Irelynn Zurflueh
And that's not always the case lately in customer service. That's true. but But you can't – I don't think you can respond negatively to somebody who's maybe not doing their job as best as they could. Like said, maybe they're having a bad day. Yeah.
Cultural Differences in Customer Service
00:16:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
Well, I've seen a lot of commentary that, at least in the U.S., we exist in kind of a rat race of it all. And a lot of other countries – or I've seen a lot of comments or posts from other people living in other countries where – things move at a slower pace. And then it's just understood that things move slower. And so everybody everyone is okay with potentially a little bit of a longer delay because everything is already naturally slower. And I do wonder about that because Vegas is very fast paced.
00:17:16
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think a lot of people want answers very quickly. mean people that are visiting or people that live here? People that live here. i think Vegas is one of the biggest cities when it comes to like immediate gratification and it just carries through. But I also think America as a whole, we have very different working hours and expectations for responses and return times compared to maybe other countries out there who. So we need to slow down.
00:17:45
Irelynn Zurflueh
I think that would help. I think if everybody slowed down, i think the boiling point and the fuses would get So three-day work week for everybody. Yeah. That'd be nice. Three-day work week, four-day response time guarantee rather than 24-hour response time guarantee. i I know you're right about that because I live with someone who's very fast-paced and always boom.
00:18:06
Irelynn Zurflueh
Sometimes you just want to go, let's just breathe a little bit and let's just suck it in and let's just look at our surroundings and enjoy them for a second. You're probably right about Europe and other countries like that.
00:18:17
Irelynn Zurflueh
Interesting. I never thought about that. I guess we'll have to ask we'll have to go to Europe, find somebody in customer service, and then ask them if they've ever been yelled at. I've been to Europe, and I've never had a bad experience so far. We just had a great experience at Disneyland where we experienced customer service at its top level.
00:18:37
Irelynn Zurflueh
100%. And when you see that, you go, wow, this is just amazing. Then you also look around and go, it's not really that hard to provide that kind of service. You know what I mean? It's not like difficult. No.
00:18:47
Irelynn Zurflueh
Because we're nice people. Maybe if you had a bad customer, maybe they'd I think it helps when the we were in a space where there was 12 of us. And so the ratio, I think, was like for every two people, there was one yeah person there.
Travel Stress and Behavior
00:19:02
Irelynn Zurflueh
Yeah, that's true. So the ratio of client to client.
00:19:05
Irelynn Zurflueh
cut employee was super low and obviously then you look at Disney as a whole though and it's massive people hundred hundreds and thousands of people yeah then you also see how many employees they have so I think ratio also helps you need you need that support you need your coworkers, you need the people who are going to help you out because there's only so much.
00:19:32
Irelynn Zurflueh
One person. come One person. Well, that makes sense. I totally agree. I think that's why a lot of big companies, people don't like because they don't hire enough people. And so, You're getting the service that It's that. It's also the industry and the situation you're in.
00:19:47
Irelynn Zurflueh
People, when they're traveling, are always sort of on high alert anyways or nervous. or i yeah know Do I have everything I need? Am I going to make it it? So they just get on high tension, high alert, and then that can lead to some confrontations. Knock on wood, I've been on a lot of flights in my life, more than most. And i've I've never seen what I've seen on some of the social media stuff where people are fighting in the seats and getting kicked out. a Knock on wood, I've never seen that happen.
Conclusion and Call for Kindness
00:20:11
Irelynn Zurflueh
Have you seen it happen? not in person. i've i've just never As a person, I've never understood why you would want to pick a fight in a metal box.
00:20:20
Irelynn Zurflueh
It's the least, most desirable place to pick a fight with someone. So I do my best stay out of it. And plus, have no control. The captain's in charge, and if he says to get off the flight, getting off the flight. Oh, yeah. I think if want to get to your destination, you better be your best behavior.
00:20:36
Irelynn Zurflueh
So I think that we to round it off, we would say that maybe the key is to just to be patient and take a breath and work on being as pleasant as possible in your in your life because that's going to create better experiences with other people and it's going to get you probably better results if you can just try to remain pleasant even in hard times.
00:21:01
Irelynn Zurflueh
100%. I think that there is a way to be pleasant and still be persistent. I think that's the person who will get always helped first, is the person who can still remain pleasant and kind, but who stays firm in what they want and their objective. So I think pleasant and persistent is better than any other combination that you can come up with.
00:21:23
Irelynn Zurflueh
That's gold. That's gold right there. That's gold. That's good stuff. I get on the phone with people and I want to solve something. And sometimes you get people in foreign countries and you're like, wait, American Express isn't headquartered in that place, is it? But I like to try to open the conversation with, hey, how are you doing today? Or, hey, where are you located? What's it like over there?
00:21:42
Irelynn Zurflueh
It really, i kind sometimes it opens up the conversation and it serves me well. I've tried to really hone in on names. I think once I put a name to like a phone call, I understand that they're a person. They're not just...
00:21:53
Irelynn Zurflueh
this mythical thing missing outside of me. So I've been trying to be really good at responding to people's names or getting their names when I first call and then getting my name.
00:22:04
Irelynn Zurflueh
so that's my little trick that I do. That's a good one. Well, be kind to your partner, your spouse, your children, your family, your coworkers, the people you encounter in restaurants and on airplanes. Just be nice to everybody and life will be wonderful.
00:22:19
Irelynn Zurflueh
Focus on that. Let's all focus on being nice. And like Ireland says, being nice doesn't mean you can't be persistent in pushing what you want and what you think you deserve to get as a customer or a coworker or a family member. 100%. I'm going to be pleasant and polite and persistent when I say, if you liked what you listened to, subscribe to our channel. Tune in every single week. Thoughts for Rent, Realtors Keeping It Real. And we hope you guys like this and we'll see you guys next week.
00:22:50
Irelynn Zurflueh
Thanks, Ireland. We are cool.