| I was the repo man, and they were the angry | | | | slightly, and Jason decided it would likely |
| mob. I was earning my fifteen dollars on that | | | | hit the brick wall if we tried to pull it |
| night. | | | | out. He decided we had to go inside and ask |
| | | | the owner for the keys. We found the man at |
| "He's the repo man," the father said to his | | | | the bar, and he pretended not to hear a word |
| son. | | | | we said. He just stared at his drink. |
| | | | Everyone else heard us, though, and they were |
| "But why is he taking our car, daddy?" the | | | | all his friends. |
| little boy asked. His mother was digging out | | | | |
| the last of the clothing that was frozen to | | | | A crowd began to form as Jason hooked up to |
| the floor of the trunk. | | | | the car. They made rude comments and watched |
| | | | us, but then, as the car was pulled out, it |
| "Well son, we didn't make the payments, and | | | | did hit the wall, and the turn-signal light |
| when you can't pay for it, you don't get to | | | | cover was broken. The crowd went wild, |
| keep it," he patiently explained. I took the | | | | yelling and threatening us. Unfortunately, we |
| keys from him. I took the car instead of | | | | had to stop right there to hook the car up |
| hooking it up, and my brother, Jason (who | | | | properly. |
| owned the towing business) drove his tow | | | | |
| truck, so it would be ready for the next | | | | I grabbed my baseball bat and ran into the |
| repossession. The little boy stood in the | | | | bar to call the police. Afterwards, I ran |
| yard and watched as the repo man drove away | | | | back out, waving the bat around. By this |
| in the family car. | | | | time, Jason was on top of the tow truck, with |
| | | | the angry mob circling below him. Someone had |
| I don't remember exactly, but they probably | | | | thrown a beer bottle, and we would later |
| owed less than a thousand on the car. It was | | | | discover that in the chaos my brother lost a |
| worth even less than what they owed. I had to | | | | toolbox full of expensive tools. |
| stop occasionally to use snow to clean the | | | | |
| windshield - the wipers were broken. I wish | | | | The police arrived quickly, and added threw |
| all our repossessions went this smoothly. | | | | their own insults our way (nobody likes a |
| | | | repo man), but they kept the mob at bay while |
| A Scarier Repo Man Story | | | | we hooked up. At least there was no fist |
| | | | fight, and nobody pulled a gun on us, or |
| Later that month we were in a small town to | | | | fired shots over our heads. These three |
| take some Pontiac. We cruised behind a couple | | | | things would happen on later jobs. |
| of the bars in town - generally a good place | | | | |
| to look. At the second bar, we found our car, | | | | Jason never was paid enough for the work, and |
| and checked the VIN (vehicle identification | | | | he gave me just $15 per car retrieved (this |
| number) to be sure. We didn't have keys for | | | | was almost 20 years ago). I think in our best |
| this one, so we would have to tow it. | | | | night we repossessed four cars. Moral of the |
| | | | story? There are better ways to make a living |
| Unfortunately, the wheels were turned | | | | than being a repo man. |