Memorable Bizzy Body Bulldogs,
a continuation of "It Takes A Village"...
Local business is critical to the survival of any community. And since knowledge is power, it is incumbent upon every local business person who wants to be a success to be in the know. Everybody’s business makes for a successful business.
At the top of my Bizzy Body list are the real estate agents. Having personally worked with most of them while serving my time as a "caged dog", it seemed to me that the overabundant agent-to-resident ratio was about 1 to 35. That meant a lot of real estate agents were fighting over only so many acres, and it was clearly dog eat dog out there. Often fighting over scraps, I watched some of them turn rabid when they believed their territories infringed upon. Frankly, many of them were really pitbulls in bulldogs’ clothing. Oh, the stories I have to tell.
In line behind the real estate agents fell the local attorneys. In order to eke out any semblance of a living in this small town, it was better for many of them to remain general law practitioners than it was to limit their already limited clientele with specialties. Some of the lawyers even had to supplement their income with side careers, real estate being a preferred sideline. What I resented the most was the Flathead Valley attorney calling me up and asking me to legally advise him on how to properly prepare an insurable document because he wasn't sure how. My only thought when providing my free advice was always, “and you’re getting paid how much?”
Montana is a state overflowing with good ole boys, and my crown for Crony King MOWB of Boy’s Town goes to the crotchety old president of the Whitefish Credit Union. He was arrogant and ancient even back then, and is probably long gone by now.
I would be remiss were I not to mention Joe, the exuberant horse-trading jeweler of Tomahawk Trading on Central Avenue who knew just about everything about everybody. With his gift for gab, you’d a thought Joe had personally shaved a chip off the old block at Blarney and had it permanently set into that bollo tie always cinched around his neck. He sported a thick head of white hair, and his starched and pressed western wear was always finished off with silver bling in bulk and chunks of turquoise.
