As a man gets wiser, he expects less, and probably gets more than he expects.-Joseph Farrell

It is a common observation that those who dwell continually upon their expectations are apt to become oblivious to the requirements of their actual situation.-Charles Sanders Peirce

What a wonderful world this would be if we all did as well today as we expect to do tomorrow.-Anonymous

If you are like me, the letters we receive that are unsigned or in the "anonymous" category are ones that I discount rather quickly. A few weeks ago I received one of them with a cover letter and knew exactly who wrote the following letter and I'd like to share it with you.

 As a person who has marketed leasing and fleet management to prospective lessees for the last 11 years and has done so for 3 national lessors, successfully I might add; I must say I am tired of reading quips from fleet administrators that feel their jobs are so demanding and subject to extinction.

What about the lessors' salespeople? Or for that matter, the entire marketing group of a lessor?

Our tenure stinks. We live and die by signing a new lessee (fleet administrator). Our yields are so pathetic that we can barely afford to write the deal. If we condone fleet management, the fleet administrator thinks he may become obsolete

It's difficult enough to secure new business and maintain existing accounts without having to deal with this ridiculous paranoia. (Incidentally I do not represent a lessor that leases to Greyhound).

If anything, the leasing salesperson is about to become extinct because it's going to be almost impossible to write enough profitable business to justify our existence.

Let the fleet administrators know that it's about time they quit grinding us and that we want their trust and allegiance, not their pouting!-Name and Address Withheld.

Now I happen to know the guy who wrote this letter and I can tell you that I've had days like he obviously has which prompted him to write this letter. The publishing business can gnaw at you, too.

After a considerable amount of time pondering his message I decided it would be helpful to all of us to reflect on what he is really saying. It's a tough hard world out there!

All you have to do is to recognize the pressures at the corporate fleet manager's environment; or look at the plight of the fleet car dealer who has been shaved to a mere pitance of his sales; or to the automakers themselves who are finding that it is sorely more expensive to get the business today. We all have the burden to make what we are doing cost less and still get the business or the job done.

What we may be forgetting is that the people we are doing business with face the same objectives that we do and some even face the same ultimate alternative of being replaced. Why don't we conduct our daily business with a little empathy for the other person and make some of those tough days a bit more palatable for both?