Carolyn 101 by Carolyn Kepcher

Author:Carolyn Kepcher
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

CAROLYN 101:

When it comes to assessing people, don’t always believe what you hear—form your own opinion.

* * *

I was immediately struck by the fact that, also contrary to expectation, he didn’t say a whole lot. When he did speak, it wasn’t just to hear himself but to ask a series of razor-sharp questions.

For starters, we gave him an abbreviated tour of the clubhouse, which had been modestly refurbished since my first horror-show visit. The ghastly golden shag rug was gone, as was the mildew stench, and the tumbledown place had been rubbed and shined to a fare-thee-well.

As we walked around, poking into all sorts of corners and out-of-the-way places, I can vividly recall Mr. Trump asking me—not John Murray—whether I thought it might be possible to salvage the old place. It was, in fact, the first thing he ever asked me.

Sensing that my response would set a tone for any future interactions, I took a moment to think about it. And as much as I felt intimidated in his presence, I spotted an opportunity. Like a rider approaching a difficult hurdle, I knew that not failing here required taking a deep breath and a risk that I might fail. “I’m not an architect,” I carefully replied, “or a structural engineer. But my guess is that any serious buyer would eventually have to pull the whole clubhouse down and start over.”

I noticed him listening very carefully. I could tell that he was taking notes in his mind, which is the only place Donald Trump ever takes notes. In case you’re wondering how I got up the guts to make this prediction, particularly since this was not my area of expertise, I should point out that my father, Ray Cassidy, spent his entire career as the building inspector for New Rochelle, New York, so I knew a little about construction, architecture, and structural design—at least enough to back such a bold statement.

Donald Trump didn’t seem fazed by this at all and followed up, sensibly, by asking both of us some more questions. These pertained mainly to the number of members, their annual dues, the state of the course, the demographics of the membership, and whether the members lived in New York City or were mainly from the immediate vicinity.

The fact that I had so many of these operational details at the tip of my tongue was thanks to the good graces of my new boss and mentor, John Murray. I certainly hadn’t accepted the position knowing a thing about preparing budgets, managing a pro shop, handling accounts receivable, doing membership sales, squeezing a reasonable profit out of golf outings, or any of the other areas John had encouraged me to master during my brief tenure. It’s amazing how fast and how well you can learn when you’ve got a mentor encouraging you who isn’t the slightest bit threatened by your increasing knowledge.

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