There are days I despise my job >.<

Off Topic
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Okay, so last evening, I got sent out on a repo job, which I hate doing, and for good reason. They suck big time. Give me a tire change or a breakdown or a battery jump, I love it. Repos just blow. So, I scout the spot out, see the Camry I need, and go up to it. I check the VIN against my papers, and start to load the car onto my truck. Everything is going fine…until the 300+ pound woman who is leasing said Camry comes out of her home.

She’s yelling at me, screaming at me, the whole nine yards. I don’t blame her, since who wants to be repo’d, right? At the same time, I have no sympathy either…don’t lease if you can’t afford it. I just tell her the stock stuff, you know, “Go to the dealer on Monday, work it out with them, I’m just doing my job, etc. blah, blah blah.” I continue on with my job.

Well, this woman is angry enough, and large enough, to try and stop me. She literally shoves me away from the truck, and tries to use the levers to lower the deck back down (the car was hooked already, I was just lifting the deck up). Of course, there’s a bunch of levers, and she doesn’t have a clue as to what does what. She just starts pushing and pulling on them, and in her efforts to free her car, she broke part of the hydraulic lift system. My truck is now down for repairs (which thank GOD my boss is paying for…$500 to fix -_-) Gonna be two days at LEAST before she’s up and running again.

I wound up using chemical mace on her to subdue her, and called the police (obviously), who arrested her for disorderly conduct (I didn’t press assault charges…she was having a bad enough day as it was, and it’s Christmas).

See why I hate repos?

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

Lol that actually sounded quite fun, apart from when she broke your truck, I would love to be on the front line of that kinda stuff just so I could tell the stories afterwards

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

No, definitely not fun Matty. Okay, so this woman shoved me. I can deal. But what if she had, say, a gun or a knife? Or, like one driver I know who had a guy pull a frickin’ sword out on him during a repo. It’s tense, scary and totally NOT fun. Ten years ago, I felt the same way you do. It was a rush, you know? Now? I have a family to think about, a baby and a wife-to-be. I don’t like all the excitement repo-work provides lol.

And Vickie, yea, I think my boss is going to go after her for the damages and other misc. expenses. I hope he includes the $15 it’s gonna cost me to buy a new canister of mace lol.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

Ah i see your point, a sword? thats pretty messed up, i’d probably have to carry some kinda defense in that case.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

We all do. I personally have a canister of Mace, a miniature baseball bat and of course, the ever trusty tire iron (no tow driver leaves home without a tire iron. Ever. Never. Not once.)

My boss has a Benelli M2 shotgun and a Glock .45 in his cab, along with a full size baseball bat, mace, a Taser, not to mention handcuffs…he does about twenty times the repos that the rest of us do lol

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

Not that I’m criticising, but don’t you think you might not get such extreme reactions were you to go to the door, ring the bell, politely explain and then get to loading the car, rather than just whacking it on the back of your truck without a word to the erstwhile owner? Then if they go mad, you can call the police before you get into a nasty conflict.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

I always thought that someone contacted the owner while the repo was occurring to distract them from the fact their car was being taken back.

And Nemo, I’m betting there would be quite a reaction if you did that. At least when you’re loading it without their knowledge, you have at least some head start on them to come after you. Walking up to their door may make it easier to find something and come after you. At least that’s what I would imagine.

I’d imagine repo-man and bounty hunter are two of the worst jobs to have because of the danger involved.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

You warn them, they kick up a fuss, you call the police.

You warn them, they accept, you do your job.

Either way, you hopefully avoid someone going apeshit that you’re stealing their car and trying to shoot you.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

I agree, Nemo, but that’s not the way it’s done, and for a good reason. If the confrontation occurs at my truck, I have more of a chance of defending myself there…home turf and all. If it happens at their front door? Not quite as good for me, is it?

Generally speaking, though, everyone gets angry at being repo’d (duh, right…like I said, who wants to be repo’d), but most folks don’t cause a massive stir about it. Most people realize they screwed up, and that it’s not MY fault they did. And I’d say probably 60% of the vehicles I repo are returned within a few days.

My all time favorite repo was a two person job about five years ago. Dude bought a brand new Lambo (Gallardo to be precise), and didn’t make payments on time, which is fricking stupid…don’t by a Lamborghini if you’re gonna default on the payments, right? So anyway, the dealer definitively said no hook truck or flatbed, he didn’t want to take a chance of the car getting damaged. So me and this other driver went out with the second set of keys and he ran interference for me while I just tooled away in the Lambo. Want to talk fantastic car to drive? The bloody speedometer went to TWO HUNDRED AND TEN lol…no, I didn’t go 210 (I kept it under 80, seeings how it wasn’t mine lol), but God I wanted to. 8)

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

Ohhh man. A a Lamborgini…. drools. I have ALWAYS wanted to take a car like that and cruise the Autobahn. Wow. Interesting car to repo.

Katherine, be careful out there. Know you have a tough job.

BabyChris121675

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

The Italian police have two that top out at 200. You don’t want to get in a chase with them.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

Depends on the dealer. For a new or newer used car, you can make the payment to the dealer (or finance company actually) in a reasonable period of time…like a week or whatever…and the car is back. You generally get one strike. Two, and you’re done. For an older used car or someone with crappy credit, yea, once gone forever gone.

I saw this thing on TV a while back…I wanna say it was Discovery, but I could be wrong…that was telling how police departments in places like Nevada and Texas use the exotic cars that are seized in drug raids as straight interceptors. I can see why. There’s a lot of Texas that’s just flat, flat, more flat, and flat. Not to mention straight as an arrow. It’s real easy to speed, basically. So they use Lambo’s and Ferrari’s and Maseratti’s and the like as chase cars. Obviously couldn’t use it to arrest someone lol…no back seat 8) The Mass State police has a old Corvette that they used for parades and D.A.R.E. stuff. I don’t know if they ever use it as an interceptor, but I’d love to be the cop that pulls someone over in it.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

To quote my Dad, Vickie….“cruise control, son, cruise control” ;D

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I love the idea of cruise control to keep your speed down.

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Re: There are days I despise my job >.<

To answer about the Police Lambo in Italy, one of the two was totaled when it crashed into a car that wasn’t paying attention. I’d like to find the article, but my mind wanders so I’ll probably lose track. But I do know for sure one was totaled in the line of duty (I think it was rushing an urgent delivery of human organs for transplant - yes, it had refrigeration of some sort).