The year 1971 was a very pivotal year for me in terms of growing up and viewing the world differently. I was 10 years old and was getting a look at life around me without rose-colored glasses. For starters, that was the first year I experienced death in my short life-well, at least a death I could remember. My first grandfather passed away when I was three or four years old, leaving me with very faint memories of him. In 1971, when my second grandfather passed away, I was old enough to be effected by his death, and even though I wasn't extremely close to him, I had enough memories and understood how his passing would impact me.
It was also during this year that I was introduced to Archie Bunker. My newly widowed grandmother suddenly had a lot of extra time on her hands, and to occupy that time, she began watching more television. All in the Family was introduced in 1971 and it quickly became one of her favorite shows. Since she lived almost directly across the street from us, and because kids love to go to Grandma's house, it only made sense that I was at her place quite a bit. So consequently, I was exposed to Archie Bunker and his views on life.
For those of you who don't know Archie Bunker, let me describe him for you: Archie believed himself to be America's most patriotic and vocal citizen. He had an opinion or explanation about anything and everything. Unfortunately, he couldn't communicate those thoughts without yelling, arguing, labeling, discriminating, or showing his true ignorance and lack of education on whatever topic was at hand. Of course, to make matters worse, he never saw these faults in himself and didn't want them acknowledged by anybody else.
All in the Family was a great show because it covered topics that had never been previously addressed on primetime TV. By touching on these issues, the cast helped to show all of America something we didn't really want to admit: There may be a little of Archie Bunker in all of us.
This brings me to the point of the story and why I am beginning this chapter with it. Perhaps we all possess some of Archie Bunker's negative character traits but just don't want to 'fess up to it. Some traits are worse than others and some can land you in trouble if you're not careful, which is why the main traits I want you to be aware of is prejudice and discrimination.
I believe prejudice and discrimination are born of a combination of things. They often begin in the home environment and/or the area and time in which we each live. They continue to thrive through ignorance and lack of education, resulting in an unfounded fear that often deadens one's sensitivity to the human connection. As you should know, prejudice and discrimination are against the Fair Housing Act (I have much more information covering the Fair Housing Act on my website at ), and the reason I bring this up is because every being on earth has things they are prejudiced about or discriminate against. It may not be race, color, religion, or creed, but it could be height, weight, hair color, clothing, or a number of other things. If you're like most people, you probably aren't aware that you have prejudice in your psyche. But you do. We all do.
Of course once you have interviewed a tenant prospect, you need to meet them at the dwelling so they can view the rental and fill out the application if they are interested. Since this meeting is the first time that you will actually meet the applicant I want you to realize something of great importance which is this: sight is typically the first of the five senses used when making a prejudiced judgment.
Since you are meeting a prospect at your rental unit to see them for the first time, I want you to remember not to label or pass judgment on your tenant applicant when you first lay eyes on them. I guarantee that often what you expect to see and what you actually do see are not the same things.
Even though your prospect was polite, courteous, and passed all qualifications with flying colors on the phone doesn't mean when he or she shows up at the rental this person won't have green spiked hair or body piercings or numerous tattoos-or drive a beat up Chevy when you like BMWs. He or she might wear thick glasses or sloppy clothes, or be fighting a weight problem.
None of this matters. Keep in mind that this person initially passed your qualifications over the phone, so treat his or her as if he or she were a picture perfect, Ivy league college grad dressed for a modeling spot in GQ magazine.
Do not discriminate based on sight; discriminate based on qualifications.
If you discovered your tenant prospect was truly qualified over the phone, and when you get to the house, you don't let prejudice or discrimination cloud your judgment, you may well be on your way to finding a tenant to fit your needs.
