Real estate agent fined $15K for drinking client’s milk from fridge

A Canadian real estate agent was fined $15K for drinking a client's milk.

Home surveillance footage captured Michele Rose going into a client’s fridge in Kamloops, British Columbia in July 2022 and helping himself straight out of the carton while waiting for a potential buyer to arrive.

“This was unprofessional in so many ways,” seller Lyska Fullerton told the Washington Post.

The footage left Fullerton feeling “utterly speechless, in shock and creeped out".

“Every part of it was just such an invasion of privacy and such an invasion of our home,” she told the outlet.

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Fullerton discarded the milk after viewing the footage.

“My husband came back home and watched me throw half a gallon of milk in the trash,” she said. “He’s looking at me like I’m crazy and asked, ‘What are you doing?’”

“You don’t even want to know,” she replied.

To make matters worse, Fullerton shared that her camera also caught Rose inadvertently breaking the arm of her couch when sitting down on it.

The seller said she confronted Rose after another viewing two days later and asked him if he’d wish to share anything with her about the previous visit.

Rose allegedly answered, “The milk?,” according to theconsent order released last Thursday.

Fullerton submitted the footage to the British Columbia Financial Services Authority — an arm of the Canadian government that overlooks and regulates the Canadian province’s financial institutions.

“In what world do you think that this is ever okay to do?” Fullerton told the outlet. “I wouldn’t even do that in my own family’s home.”

Rose’s actions were described as “unbecoming” by the authority, which fined the realtor 20,000 Canadian dollars — approximately $15,162, according to the order.

He is also being forced to pay almost $1,896 in enforcement expenses — with both fines needing to be paid within six months.

Rose was also immediately fired by Fullerton following her confronting him.

Rose called his actions a “very unfortunate, and very uncharacteristic, decision” in a statement with CFJC Today in July 2022 and said he’s “never done this kind of thing before”.

“Although I have apologised directly to the homeowners, I know that actions like this are not quickly forgiven nor easily forgotten,” the agent said. “I will be spending the next few weeks considering my actions, better understanding why I would do this, and working to ensure this kind of [behavior] never occurs again.”

Rose was also suspended “until further investigation” from his position at Royal LePage Kamloops Realty, the real estate agency shared in a statement with the outlet. It’s unclear if he has been reinstated.

Getting calcium is important, but not like this.

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