When I refer to the term, good guys, I mean both men and women. In the politically charged environment we have today, one needs to be careful how they say things. I want to talk about two classes of people in business. Good guys and dirtbags. Ha

In my line of work, I have met some of the finest people I know, and I have also met some of the biggest dirtbags. It always cracks me up when I meet people that would rather tell a lie than tell the truth. In fact, I have met people that would tell a lie when the truth was easier. They just cannot help themselves.

I have always had a pretty good meter when it comes to reading people and more times than not, I usually know in the first three minutes if this is an individual I can trust or not. My experience is that people usually don’t change and if they are dishonest at first, they will most likely be dishonest all the way through. When I am speaking with a hotel owner, I usually let the first exaggeration/lie pass but when it happens the second time, there is usually a warning bell that rings in my heart.

Funny story, this guy called and wanted us to sell his hotel in a market where we were selling other hotels and I said, sure, happy to help. He told me he had a 3-year franchised hotel and it was doing x in revenue etc. etc. I asked him for the property address, so I could l look up the aerial for the hotel. Once I pulled up the aerial, I could see that, while it had been updated, the property was a 30-year wood frame constructed hotel. I asked the owner about this discrepancy and he proceeded to tell me, “well it was renovated three years ago.” I said ok and moved on. The next thing was that his financial reporting did not match his tax return, and he proceeded to tell me that he had a group account the previous year that he didn’t report in his income. In our business that is big fat no-no, so I told this fine young man to call someone else to help him. The first lie was maybe an oversight, but the second was intentional and he and I parted ways.

One example where I missed the early signs of dirtbag-ness was when I had a family member that married someone a few years ago. That someone and their son turned out to be the two biggest dirtbags I have ever met. They basically and completely fleeced my family member and while they may be laughing and thinking how smart they are, God tell us, he sees all and knows all and will reward based on the intentions of the heart.

So, in summary, I don’t care what your background is, what you look like or where you came from. With all people (using a Clint Eastwood movie theme), there are the good, the bad and the ugly and it is incumbent on us to discern quickly, which one we are dealing with. The difference between being a good guy and a dirtbag is always a choice. KT