We get asked all the time, 'what's the oddest request you've ever had?'
When put on the spot, it's often challenging to come up with something exciting but over the years we have had a number of fun and unique experiences. Most people think all we do is absentee home care but that couldn't be further from the truth.
Executive Errands
®
is a Lifestyle Management company which means, in fancy speak: We do everything we can to enhance the living experience for our clients. In un-fancy speak: We help people.
Yes we do absentee home care and that's usually how new clients begin working with us, but we are so much more than that.
Most recently, we had a client who asked us to help her buy a new car! She has been searching for a specific car for quite some time and wouldn't you know it, as soon as she left for summer, one popped up!
She asked us to go check the car and to test drive it (which we did). Once she decided to proceed with the deal, we cleaned out her old car, took it to the dealer and then received the instructions for picking up the new car after they'd mailed the paperwork back and forth.
That's a lot of responsibility to delegate! But she's been working with us for years and trusts our judgement. We believe she will be very happy once she gets back to use her new car!
I think most of you will be surprised by the types of requests we get. We have, for example, on several occasions, done the final walk through for escrow. For many people, a home in the desert is a second home and often the buyer can't get here for escrow closure. Especially on a new built home, but on every home purchase, there are many things to check before the deal is final.
Given I personally have owned 14 homes over my lifetime (in succession, not in parallel), I consider myself somewhat of an expert on both ends of the escrow process and have been able to adequately protect the interest of our clients.
On another (special) occasion, we had a client request a vintage automobile capable of transporting four adults for a birthday dinner. Of course we found one -- I don't recall what type of car but think about a big old Buick or Hudson from the 1940's and you'll get an idea!
We do a lot of waiting -- obviously we have done the long lines at the Post Office for holiday shipping, but we've also stood in line for three hours to pick up a Honeybaked ham for a client's holiday dinner. Another time we stood in line forever (it seemed) to pick up Coachella tickets. And let's not forget the interminable waiting at the DMV for clients' automobile registrations!
We've helped clients get engaged (limo, champagne, roses, a red carpet entry, dinner reservations) and we've picked up a marriage license at the County Registrar for another client who planned to come here to get married. We've provided wedding bouquets, balloons and cakes for other impromptu weddings.
There always seems to be a lot of work with automobiles -- from taking them for service, to replacing batteries or tires and to dealing with the DMV. We have clients who get regular mobile car washes and others who have us coordinate and take delivery (or ship) their vehicles for season.
We even had to locate a specific car model/year/color for an accident reenactment. Luckily we found the only one for sale locally and were able to negotiate a day rental. Reenactment filmed without a hitch!
We have assisted clients with downsizing and/or remodeling efforts too -- not just the actual remodeling (yes, we have a General B Contractor's license) but the fun stuff like putting their furniture on consignment and getting art appraisals. We have donated so much to charity on behalf of our clients; it is staggering to think about.
And we take delivery of everything from a single Amazon package to entire households full of furnishings. I always joke that we get so many packages for clients; my UPS guy thinks I'm a hoarder! You know, when we tell clients they can ship to our office, we tell them to mark the package 'for yourself, and send it to this address' -- that way we know to whom the package belongs.
Imagine our confusion when we started receiving packages actually marked "Yourself"!! We had no idea who to contact or where to deliver the packages. And it wasn't just one! It was at least a half dozen or more; all for Christmas.
Eventually we opened one of the boxes and once we saw what was inside, we knew instantly who ordered the merchandise. We contacted the client, an attorney, who is very precise in his thinking. When we said 'address it to yourself', he took that literally! We all had a good laugh about it.
My favorite all time story though, is the one about the client who lost his wedding ring on his honeymoon. He called on a Sunday night, said it fell off in the Caribbean and wanted an exact replacement when he arrived on Tuesday!
When someone says, 'it is a yellow gold 10mm wide band' there are literally zillions of options. But, after searching madly, we found a website where his photographer had posted a few photos of the wedding and was able to find one single shot of his wedding band.
Presto, change-o! That exact ring was sitting on the counter when he arrived, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries included!
That's the thing I love most about this business -- being able to solve problems and to do what other people say is impossible in order to provide value to our clients. I absolutely love that!
Yes we do absentee home care, but we do so much more. The next time you have an odd or weird or seemingly impossible task, no matter how big or how small, we would love the opportunity to help! For more info or to set up an account, please contact us today!
