Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
it was local and for someone who could happily sit through television programmes like
Es-
cape to the Country
,
Location, Location, Location
and
A Place in the Sun
without wanting to
self-harm, it was perfect - almost too good to be true. And it was. Natalie liked her job, she
enjoyed meeting people and seeing different properties, but there was a problem, an impedi-
ment to her potential success as an estate agent: (apologies to any estate agents reading this,
but) Natalie isn't a heartless, devious worm.
It became clear very early on that the estate agency business, especially at this unfashionable
end of the Loire Valley, was and probably still is a cut-throat affair. Monsieur Norbert, who
had been pretty gruff and unpleasant when we were his clients buying our house from him,
was even more unpleasant as Natalie's boss. There are three estate agencies in town and a
limited number of clients, either buying or selling, so the chicanery and emotional blackmail-
ing that went on in order to secure a sale or even just to get a house on the market was con-
siderable. On top of that, Norbert seemingly liked to bully his staff and set them against each
other, making the office an unpleasant place to be.
Most of Natalie's 'clients' it seems just wanted to chat anyway. How depressed you must be,
or what circumstances must have led to the kind of loneliness that can only be leavened by
the presence of an estate agent one can only guess, but Natalie's job soon took on the role of
social worker and companion. She became hugely popular around town (she still is); a source
of comfort to some people, always happy to lend an ear. And of course Natalie always did
like nosing around other people's houses, so it was an even better deal for her and she would
quite often return home with a gift, a plant here or a piece of furniture there and on one occa-
sion a modhating Brittany spaniel, but not many sales as the market was predictably sluggish.
She just couldn't lie to people to convince them to buy something that wasn't suited to them,
or to sell something they didn't want to sell.
Even so, Natalie toughed it out for three years; the market was practically dead, staff quickly
came and went, most of them unable to bear Norbert's bullying management and all on a
pitiful minimum wage with no allowance for petrol or other expenses. She got virtually no
commission from any sales she made, as Norbert would often claim that the sale was his any-
way. To receive commission, the 'sale' had to be from a client that you had introduced to the
agency, but Norbert's family had been in the area for generations so he would always com-
ically claim to have introduced them himself. On one occasion he claimed commission on a
sale because he had once played tennis against the clients' nephew!
Obviously living with me for so long it goes without saying that Natalie has the patience
of a saint, but I don't know how she managed three years of that when all the odds were so
stacked against her; I certainly couldn't have done it. So when Natalie became pregnant with
Thérence it was something of a relief all round, not just that she could go on state-funded
maternity leave for a maximum of three years, but that she would be away from Norbert. She
would never openly admit it, but his harrying management style was having an effect on her
