Page 2: The Milwaukee Magazine Article
As more weeks went by, I began to hear from some past friends and co-workers who I had known many years ago. One such co-worker/friend called me with his concern that Mr. Libit did not seem interested in hearing about positive comments about me, but rather seemed to be asking negative things about me. When my friend had no such news to relay, he said that Mr. Libit seemed to conclude the interview quickly. My friend's words to me were to the effect "Tom, what did you do to this guy?" I couldn't imagine.
I called Mr. Libit to ask him if he was doing a positive or a negative story about me. His reply was to the effect that he really doesn't discuss such things prior to the story running, but that it would be a fair story. He set-up another appointment to see me, now a few months after our original interview.
This time, this interview was more confronting than cordial, yet Mr. Libit remained polite. If you have ever seen the classic 60 Minutes interviews where the reporter confronts the interviewee with things that were not originally disclosed, this was that kind of interview. At one point in that interview, Mr. Libit asked me why I had not disclosed that I had another brother who lived in Minnesota. I insisted that I had told him about that brother and then I proceeded to speed dial my brother on the speaker phone. When my brother answered, he got his phone number so as to call my brother at a later date. It might have just been our imagination, but my wife an I both thought Mr. Libit seemed disappointed that my brother was available to talk to him. My brother reports he never did talk to him.
Mr. Libit's inquiries seemed to accelerate and the tone worsened as both our home and art studio went through some lay-offs. He had asked us about a (very) few of our past home clients who had some grievances, I tried to explain that in the nearly 1,100 homes we have built in the past 14(+) years, we had so very few bad client experiences. I later followed up by mailing a stack of our most recent client satisfaction surveys. I can only hope that he has followed up with a few of those past clients as well.
As I said at the beginning of this report, I have not yet read the article. Mr. Libit was never rude or belligerent in my experience with him and I hope I have been the same towards him. I have certainly not led a perfect life, but I do try my level best to be honest and treat people fairly. After I have had a chance to read the article, I will write part 2 of this report. Thanks for reading my thoughts.
Blessings,
Tom Hignite