The Disappearing Partner

This story might be a bit long but it has to be told completely too fully understand what I felt at the time. I was working with a guy named Bill and up till that day I thought he was pretty cool but as you read on that’s all about to change. We had a customer she was an older lady and seemed to always be sick, so when I called or went to the home she was always sick or at the doctors this is what her sons would tell me. I had made a over 20 trips to this customers home so I knew it was time to step up the pressure to get the bedroom group back. We pulled up to the house there was 2 parked cars in the drive, bill and I got out as I walked to the door I saw it was open about a foot “which is like chum to a shark” when a collector sees this, This was the first time in my 20 or so trips I seen the door open. I got to the door fast and opened the screen door “never talk thru a screen door” it’s just a barrier from your products, so with the door open a foot it was perfect for what you call the “push knock” this is where when knocking you push the door all the way open! The key is to look as surprised as your customer, this is what I did a guy came to the door and asked what I needed, I asked for my customer by name he said I quote “sa sleep” at least that’s what I heard, so I said god it’s hot out here can I come in for a sec and give you a message or a note for her? He said sure “you see the goal is always to get into the home it puts you closer to your goal “Money or Merchandise” so as bill I went in I asked the guy if he could go tell the customer it was very urgent I talk with her and see if she would come out and talk with me he said NO” I explained to the guy if I couldn’t talk with her I would need to return the bedroom unless he had the money to pay for the accounts past due bill? He said I’m not waking her up and he sure wasn’t going to pay the bill for her, so I repeated that I would need return of the bedroom group at this point he made it clear I wasn’t picking anything up from this house! The words he used was I wasn’t getting “shit from this house” so as explained before you just keep repeating the same thing over and over with just changing the words around the goal is for the customer to get to the point where they say get your stuff and get out! This day all it seemed to do for this guy was get him even more pissed” off! The guy just puffed up like a cobra and said I had better take my dude and get out of his house so I started saying the same thing again……about this time I saw a wooden door to the kitchen I think slid open and 5 or 6 very large black guys came thru the door screaming you white “MF” among other things, at about the same time I heard the screen door slam behind me so I turned fast and to my surprise my partner “Bill” was gone! I turned back around and I the guys where moving all around me. There seems to be always a time in collections and repo work where you think “I should really look for some other kind of work” well this was one of them times, so I said guys I don’t want any trouble it’s just a job that has to be done the largest of the guys said homeboy you found trouble “we are sick of you F>ing with our mother! I had a thought “ Shit I’m a dead man” I said guys this bedroom group isn’t worth them going to jail for or me getting my ass kicked for so how about I just leave? This guy started into me again screaming at the top of his lungs as this was going on I noticed the smaller guy that we started all this with was sitting at a table behind these guys “I saw him look up he said why don’t yall just let him go” at this point they all turned to him and was yelling at him, I saw my chance I hit the door and I was moving “I like to think they were surprised at how fast a scared white boy could run!” anyway when I got out to the driveway I saw our truck was blocked in with a car behind it and my “PARTNER” was in the road looking down the street I ran up to him and said what you trying to see the best route to run? He said shit I thought they had killed you! I radioed the store for help and they are sending the Police to help us. There was a guy behind us and I guess he heard this and he got into the car behind our truck and peeled out. We got into the truck and I radioed the store and let them know we where away from the house and I would wait for the police. The owners mother “ said great! When she was saying this I could hear her and others in the background laughing, I asked her what was so funny? I didn’t see anything funny by this point! The owners mother said sorry she would tell me later when we came back into the office. So I waited around the for the Police they showed up and did what I thought they would they told us to leave and get a Writ at this point it was late into the day so we went back to the office. When I came in the door to the store, The owners mother saw us and busted out laughing and all my co-workers behind and around the counter started laughing also! I asked a little pissed off “What was so funny?” The owners mother came up to me and said she would tell me, it seems when I was in the house with the Guys that when Bill ran out of the house he got on the radio and sounding scared Shitless he busted out loud “Help! "T"'s getting his ass kicked by 5 guys!! You see these radios are open air waves so everybody in the company and all over Ga could hear this and cussing isn’t allowed. The owners mother asked where our location was and how was it he wasn’t with me? Bill told her he was faster than I was and one of had to get away to call for help! I had to admit this was FUNNY!