Repo Man has a heart
I am a 300-pound, tell ‘em like it is kind of guy, which is why I am so good at my job, trying to take belongings from people who do not want to let them go.
Some days, I admit, it is enough to break this burly 5-foot-8, 300 pound Cajun: It makes my heart sick. It’s affecting everybody. The
re’s no light at the end of this tunnel.
It used to be I dealt mostly with low-income families surviving on small paychecks. But lately my clientele has changed. They are people in nice houses with pets and lawns, young families and parent’s with children in college all living beyond their means.
My job can be dangerous, hairy moments are rare Repossession agents are not allowed to carry guns, or use force to repossess a vehicle or boat.
I hear every excuse possible. Lost job, family’s sick, can’t pay for the house — all legitimate excuses, I tell them, ‘It may not be your fault, but it is your problem. Some yell. Some threaten, and others warn that God will punish me. One lady told me I was going to go meet Jesus. Thank God I am ready when he is. I have to remind myself that the finance company pays me to do a job, not determine if the debtor should get to keep the unit. I go repo, that’s all. Same as you do your job, I do mine.
When I look at little kids crying … that’s heart-tugging. It becomes harder and harder not to care. I see single mothers, now wondering how they are going to get to work in the morning, fathers begging the kids to get back inside, I was asked to park down the road and walk back so the neighbors can’t see what’s happening. It’s a struggle, people most of the time are more worried about what I think about them than the people who they have to go back inside to, these people need them and crazy as it sounds so do I.
I told a friend of mine one time, God is in the repo business, I am very good at my job, I love people, I love helping people, it is not my job to determine if you can keep your vehicle, boat whatever, it is my job to find it and take it back to the bank. My friend told me this statement that made it clear “God is not into the repo business, God is in the Eric business”. He is not into taking stuff from people, but he is in the business of making sure me and my family has everything we need. I wish I had the money to pay every ones note for them, I wish I could tell the bank give them more time, But I don’t, But I do have a heart, A heart of the Father who is about restoration and hope and love and if you give me a chance while I am repossessing your things I will share that hope and love with you, I have never put a debtor down, never made a single person feel bad, you get mad, I get calmer, I will defend myself, but thank God he has never let it get that far. Peace, love and hope to all.
I try to remember what Donna Frank told me one time “where there is breathe Eric, there is Hope”.
Awww… why’d you have to go and make me cry like that???
That was a beautiful post, Eric. You are absolutely right; honestly, at this point — in this economy — we should all say, “There but for the grace of God go I…”