Best Case Scenario

don’t know if you’ve ever had the experience of selling a house, but I’m finding that my first time isn’t all that much fun. The inspection period is almost over, and I’m experiencing so many thoughts—everything from the “worst case” to the “best case” scenario of how the sale might play out.

The best case scenario is the buyers come into a large sum of money left to them by old aunt Hilda, decide to pay cash for the house without any concessions, and poof! House sold!

The worst case scenario is they’ve reconsidered living in the neighborhood where my home is and have made a plan to move to Anchorage, Alaska instead…the whole deal falls through, and I have to put it on the market all over again.

Of course, concerning myself and losing sleep will not affect the result in the end. But while enduring the uncertainty, it is human nature to ask, “What’s the worst that can happen?”

In computer science there are algorithms and data structures that use complex mathematical equations to determine best and worst case scenarios for a particular task. The funny thing is that often, both the best-case performance and the worst-case performace rarely ever happens! Ultimately, the outcome will fall somewhere in the middle. 

I guess my point today is, that it’s natural to consider the extremes of how a situation might play out, but it is most likely a waste of time to dwell on them.

Lisa Petty, Editor
Equal Opportunity Employment Journal