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One of Brown – O’Haver’s employees just told me that she was leaving. She was doing a great job and we have come to rely on her more and more in her role as a content specialist public adjuster. We appreciate her very much.

Recently, however, she came into my office to let me know she was leaving the adjusting field. When I asked her why, she let me know that, while she was content with her hours, her pay and her acceptance as an employee at our firm, she could no longer put up with (1) dishonest insurance companies trying to save money, (2) lying contractors and (3) greedy insureds.

Now not all contractors are liars and we only have a few greedy insureds as clients but that was her perception. She couldn’t put up with the business any longer.

Why would I put such devastating information in a blog? Obviously it is in Brown – O’Haver’s best interest to paint a rosy picture to obtain more clients because, frankly, we have found that we can’t just live on prayer. However, we also realize that sometimes industries do not level with people who are looking for work.

All industries have their issues. My son in law once told me that if you have a $50,000 job you will put up with $50,000 worth of crap. If you are making $100,000 you will be putting up with $100,000 worth of crap. So lets get real here. Yes, there are problems in the insurance adjusting industry but look at what nurses have to put up with. Give any sales organization bent on quotas and goals, a look and you will see that sales may not be a field for you even though some people are rockin and rollin in this job. And, what kind of guts does it take to become a law enforcement officer no matter what the pay?

Judge Judy left the bench where she was a public servant to change her career path. Martha Stewart left her job as a model to go to work on Wall Street and then left that to move on. Dr. Phil laments the time when he was a failing family therapist. Careers are not just for anyone.

Years ago I visited with a job search company where, for a fee, they will find you employment. We were high up in an office building in a major Capital city when he asked me what I wanted to do. I said, “… just about anything”. His response was to tell me to look out towards the high rise building under construction that you could see from his window..

“Do you see those people working down there on the ground?”, he asked. I nodded that I did. “Now”, he said, “do you see that guy up there”? There in plain view was a man who was hanging on , putting rivets in the large metal girders that were being lowered by a giant crane, “That guy up there is making almost ten times what the people on the ground are making”, he said. “And do you know why? He is doing some thing that others can’t (or won’t) do.

In the meantime, I am convinced that public insurance adjusters do “rebuild lives”. And even though things are not always peaches and cream, I find a great deal of satisfaction in my job.