Getting Told off by a Complete Stranger is Confusing

This is the house we want to rent. Super cute, huh? 

(all names in this story have been changed for anonymity. Actually, all names are real, except one) 

So, Mike and I have decided to move from our little, itty, bitty house to a bigger house. We moved into our current rental when we first moved to NJ nearly 2 years ago. Our plan was to sell our house in GA and buy here. We even got a Realtor and started looking for houses. That was last fall. This fall, Mike and I have decided to move into a more permanent rental house- one that we can live in for 3-5 years and is not so itty bitty. The market has to pick up in that amount of time, right? Our house in GA is rented and we hope that we can maintain the status quo for now. 

So, I called Toni, the nice lady who helped us dumb kids last year even though she probably knew that there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell that our house in Savannah would sell at the time. We asked her to help us find a rental... but not before I called a couple of contacts that I had seen myself. (Mind you, I don't know anything about how Realtors work, or get paid, nor do I really care;  I just need help finding something livable, in our price range, that will accommodate my lovely kitty, has a yard, two floors, central air, no nosy neighbors, a clean kitchen and bathroom, etc., etc., etc...) 

"Wanda"
 (this is really her, I'm not trying to be funny).

I digress. I guess the crux of the issue is that I made contact with the "contact for information" person myself and not through Toni. Big mistake, apparently, because when she- we'll call her "Wanda"- called me back and I told her that I was working with another Realtor she BLEW her top on me. She literally told me off for calling her directly and told me that she hardly makes "$5" on a rental commission... I was really scared that she was going to block me even trying to look at this house. I pretended the phone was cutting out and hung up before I started screaming back! I could not believe that someone that calls themselves a professional - I found out that she is a board member on the South Jersey Board of Realtors (or some professional organization like that)- would start screaming at me over the phone about how I messed up her commission by bringing my own Realtor in on the deal. 

I understand, now, how rental commissions work and yes, I'm sorry that Wanda will have to split her pittance with Toni, but I was shocked that someone that I didn't know would speak to me that way, period. It's one thing to get told off by a friend or family member (happens to me all the time), it's a completely different thing to get told off over the phone by a complete stranger! I was pretty jazzed up afterwards to say the least. All I can say is that I never experienced anything like it in any other state... could it be that famous Jersey 'tude that I was warned about before I moved here? I can only guess. 

Wish me luck. We are seeing the house- with Wanda and Toni- on Saturday.