Rick Astley wasn't African American.
Yes, the singer with that big, smooth voice of a black man turned out to be white when his music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up" debuted in 1987. People thought he was a stand in for someone else. Even the record producers didn't believe that his demo tape was really HIS demo tape. Turns out, a white boy can melodiously contend with the best of them.
(I feel somewhat compelled to include this link here, otherwise you will have that song stuck in you head until you can hear the whole thing and that would just drive me up a wall. I can't do that to you all. I like you too much.)
Do we sometimes do the same thing as those record producers? I recently saw a manager pull aside a leasing consultant and tell her not to spend too long with a particular group of potential residents because, she had been doing this long enough, and she knew how to spot time wasters. I looked at the family standing there and tried to see in them what she saw. They were dressed in a middle class fashion, looked clean and neat. I didn't see any obvious track marks or meth twitches. The small child wasn't even being obnoxious. These folks looked like ideal rental candidates, and I was desperate to see what she saw in them, because for the life of me, I couldn't bring it in to view.
Was I missing something, or was the manager? Frankly, I'd like to believe that I was on point with my take. In an economy where it's hard enough to get traffic through the door, to dismiss your potential "time wasters" seems silly. After all, with traffic being so low, I'd say you've got some extra time on your hands. And what about the remote chance that somehow you actually talk those folks in to putting down a deposit? All of a sudden, in the writing of a check, your time goes from being wasted to being spent wisely.
What do you guys think? I'm interested to get response on this one. I know that sometimes there are tours we know we aren't going to close. Do you conduct them differently under the very justified banner of efficiently, or is every tour the same for you? And if they aren't the same, does anyone think there might be a Fair Housing question there?