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Front and center
A.J. Watanabe makes a good first
impression on clients at the realty
office where he works
ANDRES-JAQUES "A.J." WATANABE moved to Hawaii about seven months ago and went right to work in the Kahala office of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties.
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Who: A.J. Watanabe
Title: Front desk coordinator, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, Kahala Job: Handles front-desk duties for the agents and staff at the real estate brokerage.
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Watanabe, 35, said he chose Hawaii both so he could attend Hawaii Pacific University and so his wife, Shio, could be closer to her family in Japan, where the couple met while he was teaching English in Sapporo.
Watanabe also toured the world for two years as a musician, first with the Up With People organization, then with Belgian pop group Bizz Nizz.
The former A.J. Barbee said he adopted his wife's last name because, though she had suggested a hyphenated last name, "I don't like hyphenation."
"I think it should be one or the other," he said, "so I chose hers."
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Question: How long have you had this job?
Answer: Actually, I became official with them in June. However, I was here on a temporary basis since April, through a temp company.
Q: How did it come about that Coldwell hired you directly?
A: Well, the agents had a lot of pull on that. They were just very happy with the way I did things, and I guess you could say they petitioned to have me over full time. It was very touching and moving, actually.
Q: Who's your immediate supervisor?
A: Donna Pantaleo. Her title is area office manager.
Q: What are your main responsibilities?
A: Oh dear. We do everything. Answer the phones, ...
Q: We?
A: Yeah, there's actually two of us here.
Q: Who's the other one?
A: Gerry Rohner. I'm here from 8 to 5; she's here from 10 to 2.
Q: What's your typical day like?
A: Well, I get in about 7:30. I check around the office, see who's here and who's not. About 8 o'clock the front doors are unlocked, I turn on the telephones, bring the computers up.
Then during the day there are a number of projects going on at any one time, whether it's reviewing research manuals and putting them together or thinking of new ways to have the office flow to help the agents or assist them in their daily tasks.
Q: Do you have to make the coffee and stuff like that?
A: For clients, yes. We do take care of our clients very well.
Q: What do you do for the individual agents?
A: There's always something to do. We definitely take a lot of pride in the services we provide for our agents and how we take care of our agents, whether it's recognizing their birthdays or what have you.
Q: How many people are there in the Kahala office?
A: There are about 85 agents, plus we have an office for agents in training, and there's the mortgage company, Pacific Access Mortgage, so in total there are about 200 people.
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Q: Would you ever like to be a real estate agent yourself?
A: Actually, I wouldn't.
Q: Why not?
A: Our folks here work really hard, and their hours are all over the board. It's basically a 24-7 job, and at present I'm a student, so that wouldn't be very good for my studies.
A: What are you studying?
A: I'm a psychology major.
Q: You want to be a psychologist?
A: Oh, absolutely.
Q: Why?
A: I kind of have a knack for being able to understand other people, so I just thought it would a natural progression.
Q: As a front desk coordinator, do you feel like a bartender sometimes, in terms of people coming to you and unloading all their problems?
A: (Laughter) No, not at all.
Q: Having lived in Japan and being married to a Japanese woman, can you speak Japanese?
A: Yes.
Q: Do you ever put it to use?
A: Sometimes there are circumstances where it does pop up -- with my wife, we speak some at home -- but it's not something I like to use at work.
Q: Why not?
A: Because in dealing with something as important as someone's home, I wouldn't want to make a mistake by having someone rely on my translation. There are people trained specifically to do that.
