I would like to share with you my day spent with a client who came in thinking she might be filing for bankruptcy in my Toronto office.
She had taken the day off work to meet with me to discuss her financial predicament. I’m not sure why she took the whole day off. We tell prospective clients that this consultation will generally run 30 to 45 minutes. Anyhow, after 30 minutes, it was clear that bankruptcy was not her best option. She had enough cash flow to offer her creditors a meaningful settlement; she just could not pay them in full.
At this point, I would normally have sent the client home with a homework project, namely assemble all the documents I needed to start her file. Well, she had actually brought all her documents with her, and since she had taken the day off..
I had my assistant, Britney, sit down with her and go through all her paperwork. Everything was in order. At this point, we would schedule the client to come back in a few days to sign all the documents which take some time to prepare, but since she had taken the day off..
We asked her if she would like to kill a few hours in the mall across the street while we prepared her package. (We took all her credit cards, so I knew she wouldn’t be getting into any trouble.)
She was back in our office in 2 hours, I reviewed all the paperwork with her, had her sign it, efiled her proposal with the federal government and sent her home with a document confirming that her proposal was filed. In at 10:30, out at 3:00. My dry cleaners can’t even work that fast.
So what’s my point? Well, files don’t often unfold as this one did. But in this case, the client was organized, we had an opening, and the client was prepared to wait. She met with a real live trustee (me), not a manager or clerk; we made the time to service her and sent her home happy. If one of these clients came along every day, I would make the time for them. She left my office with the weight of the world off her shoulders. Did I tell you that when I asked her how much she owed to some of her creditors she said she didn’t know? I looked at the pile of bills in front of her and asked her why they were unopened. She said that it made her sick every time she opened a new bill to see how much it had grown to. This lady needed help and I was happy to help her. And that made me smile.
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