Scary...

[April]

today I was informed that an ex client was threatening to kill an employee, and even more so, had hired someone to do it for him. Apparently, he did not pay this guy, so the guy went to the police and stated that he had been hired to kill someone. The employee has been secreted away out of the city for a few days until this guy is caught. They have a general idea of where this guy is, and several current clients have seen him today.

I've been threatened with murder once before, but it was nothing as specific as this, and there were no actual steps taken.

[laborcat]

Holy crap. I don't think I could handle that. You are braver than I am. Hope the guy gets caught and your coworker can come home soon.

[Kogarashi]

Holy crap indeed. Disgruntled ex-client hired a hitman and apparently the only reason the employee wasn't taken out was because the hitman wasn't paid? Definitely scary.

[RealUnimportant]

What's the betting that this ex-client was "fired" for lack of payment as well...

[April]

Holy crap. I don't think I could handle that. You are braver than I am. Hope the guy gets caught and your coworker can come home soon.

This is not a normal occurrence. I mean, threats are made occasionally, but generally you know it's just talk. This is the first time, in the 40 some-odd years we've been open that there has been a serious threat like this. In my case, I terminated a guy for making threats against his ex boss and the police in his town, and he called a client and said he was going to drive by and shoot me and my boss. Considering he had serious health problems, was unable to drive and his home was over 4 hours away, I wasn't really concerned, and nothing ever did come of it.

[freeatlast]

When I worked at the portable storage place I had an irate customer threaten to be waiting for me in the parking lot after we closed for the evening. His account was seriously delinquent and we had charged his debit card (that he had used previously) to bring the account current. The contract he had signed when he began doing business with us stated that we could do that if needed. He told me that if I didn't refund his money immediately he would be waiting in the parking lot. I just told him to pound sand and kept an eye on the lot until time to go home. Since I worked alone at that time of day, it was pretty easy to see if any other cars pulled into the lot. The building was locked and if he showed up I would have called the police That could have been fun - especially since I had the ability to record the call - and had done so as soon as the threats started.