The Inner Bottom Line ® ..where Choices & Values meet

How To Deal With Rude People

July 7th, 2015   •   no comments   

Dear Olive, I’m so glad we had the chance to meet and discuss this issue. As you know, being on the mortgage side of real estate focused on sales and marketing requires me to call on people I don’t know in the hopes I’ll be able to help them see the value of our services. That can often lead to situations where I am confronted by rude people. I also send out a lot of emails and at times I’m asked to remove people from my list. That can be both surprising and hurtful, too. But when these things happy, [ Read More ]

“Trusting the Process and The Outcome”

May 21st, 2015   •   no comments   

The Inner Bottom Line ® A Column on Personal Choices & Ethical Dilemmas by Olive Gallagher Dear Olive, My wife & I have been trying to buy a home for a year. It took us five months to agree on an agent we liked and then, it became a daily grind of looking online, checking out listings our agent sent us, and spending every weekend driving around with her visiting houses that ended up looking nothing like the pictures posted. Finally, last month, we found our dream home. Within 24 hours, we made an offer. Our agent had prepared us [ Read More ]

“Out There On My Own”

May 13th, 2015   •   no comments   

Dear Olive, I like the columns you write, especially the recent one about how hard it is to get rid of stuff when selling a house. I’ve got the reverse problem. I’ve never been married and have been independent since college. I don’t collect stuff. I’ve done without a lot of things my friends take for granted, focused instead on saving my money with one goal in mind: to own my own place. A place just for me, on my own, door shut, away from the noisy world. I admit I missed a lot of fun including trips to Mexico [ Read More ]

“But I Thought You Did, Too”

April 20th, 2015   •   no comments   
“But I Thought You Did, Too”

Dear Olive, I was happy to meet you in person. I discovered your column last summer when it ran in The Oregonian and have followed it since on examiner.com but had no idea you were in real estate. That’s why I’m writing. Ted and I have been married for twenty-three years. I always thought our marriage was special and admit, especially when I read one of your columns about infidelity or a couple who couldn’t communicate, thinking, “that isn’t us.” Now I’m not feeling so smug. With the kids gone, we recently decided to sell our large home. That’s when [ Read More ]

“No Time to Think”

April 12th, 2015   •   no comments   
“No Time to Think”

Dear O, The other day, after an inspection on a home I have listed that ran late which made me double late picking up my kids from a soccer game and driving them to dance class, all the while praying for inspiration for a dinner menu my husband and kids would actually all like and then realizing I’d forgotten to pick up my dress at the dry cleaner for an important dinner on Saturday, I realized I can’t keep doing this much longer this way. Then I remembered reading a column of yours years ago about having no time and [ Read More ]

“The Deadly Game of Gotcha”

January 24th, 2015   •   no comments   

It’s a strange time out there in the universe right now. I’ve been listening and watching and mulling these past few weeks, and in his latest and brilliant State of the Union message http://is.gd/HOx2Kw, even President Obama referred to the pointless, non-productive game of “gotcha” too often played in Washington for political points. Now, it’s not like the game of “gotcha” has just been invented. I imagine it may have been going on ever since one caveman decided to steal another neighbor’s better and hotter fire. And certainly, how it all plays out in our present condition continues to evolve [ Read More ]

“Five Steps to Starting Over in 2015: Step One”

January 6th, 2015   •   no comments   
“Five Steps to Starting Over in 2015: Step One”

With a fresh new year and beginning in front of us, I’m constantly reminded of the remarkable resilience we have to recover, re-form, reinstate and recommit our best intentions and loftiest goals. And I’m also reminded, every year at this time, by so many of my readers, of how the same questions arise, year after year, many of them heartbreaking and touching but oh, so familiar. Whether the resolution is focused on how to lose weight or keep things neater or save more money or get sober, they cover everything, big and small. What all of these wants share is [ Read More ]

“Just a Simple Thank You Will Do”

October 19th, 2014   •   no comments   

Dear Olive, I appreciated your kindness when I waited on you Saturday when you noticed the customer ahead of you had upset me. Today, it’s rare anybody notices much less cares. What I liked most was the question you asked: What did I think the biggest difference in people today was? Nobody’s asked me what I thought in a while. After forty years in customer service, I’m retiring and the answer’s simple. Folks have no courtesy. When I started, the attitude was “Please, can you help me?” Now, it’s all “gimme, gimme, gimme” and “give it to me now, instantly, [ Read More ]

An Open Letter to Readers of The Inner Bottom Line

August 24th, 2014   •   no comments   
An Open Letter to Readers of The Inner Bottom Line

Dear Readers; I don’t write my column to present an opinion that is the end-all, be-all of answers. In fact, I avoid ever telling anyone what to do as there is never any “answer” to any problem or dilemma. And for each of us, the best choice will be different. Nor do I present myself as an expert on all things. I focus on one thing only; helping others understand how to make ethical decisions that are best for their life and those they love. Period. My concern, my sole concern, on The Inner Bottom Line, is to help the [ Read More ]

“Real Danger on The Road”

August 24th, 2014   •   no comments   
“Real Danger on The Road”

The Inner Bottom Line ® A Column on Personal Choices & Ethical Dilemmas by Olive Gallagher Dear Olive, Thanks for your column about cell phones. I’ve got a major pet peeve of my own about people that text while driving. The other day I was heading home on I-5 and counted at least four drivers busy texting. All while going at least sixty plus mph! I was so furious I wanted to take a photo so I could show our local police but then I realized I’d be doing the same thing if I did. What are these irresponsible idiots [ Read More ]