*MOD EDIT - A couple of posts in this thread were removed because of fratching potential. If you are going to comment, please stick to discussing the situation in the OP rather than making comments on gun laws or the topic of gun use. Thanks.
Hey y'all, long time, no post! I've been rather happy recently, having moved away from my (former) customer facing position at Eye and Ear Cable (now working staff administration,) and having had no issues with my Reserve unit.
A bit of back story, I received a retention bonus when I resigned last year. Money sitting in the bank, doing next to nothing. I figured I'd make better use of it by expanding my hobby of buying and selling precious metals. Luckily, I have a friend who owns a pawn shop, so I pay a bit to him each month for counter space, safe space, use of his X-ray fluoroscope (XRF) gun. It saves me a bunch of overhead and he gets the extra foot traffic to his side of the counter. I'll pay cash on a buy up to $300, anything more than that goes out as a check. I also require government issued photo ID and a thumbprint in case something comes back as stolen. And because I’d been knocked off once before I set up shop in the shop, I carry a Sig P229.
So, last weekend, Big Bubba comes in. Not his real name, but he does go by Bubba on occasion, and he's big (6'5", 300 plus, works on a farm, BIG Bubba.) Now Bubba was one of my first customers and was a pretty good guy. Not today. Drunk, has a handful of jewelry, some of it silver, some gold, some costume, some real. I pull out my loupe and start sorting it by markings. Once that’s done, he puts away the costume junk, and I ask “pawn or sell?” If he says pawn, I hand him off to Dale (the shop owner) as I only have a retailer’s license, and Dale has a pawnbroker’s license. He doesn’t, though, so Dale goes into the back to do some paperwork.
Now, at this point, I can offer two methods of processing. I can send it in and wait for a settlement from the refinery I sell to, which will get you any precious stones back and a higher percentage (settlement is 98.5% of the gold value, I give you 85% of the total, and keep 13.5% for myself. Silver I get 90% back, so I give 80% and keep 10%) but that takes 10 business days OR I can melt it, mix it, test it, and pay you cash on 65%, regardless of metal type. It’s not a lowball price, as I know from dealing with the bigger jewelers in the area that I beat them by 10% or more, but since it’s cash in hand I take a higher percentage. Bubba almost always took the former, but tonight he was needing the cash, and needing it now. I melted his jewelry, mixed the metals, XRF’d it and calculated the values. He had about $1100 in combined metals value, which would net him $715, or $940 if he waited for settlement. Conversation went like this.
Bubba: “Jack, I need the most you can give me.”
Me: “Bubba, you know the terms, it’s the same as it always is. What you have will get you $715 now or $940 later.
Bubba: “But I’m going to have my power and water cut off! You need to do better! I’m a good customer!”
Me: “You are, but I can’t come up. I have a set policy and you know I do better than anyone else. That’s why you come here.”
Bubba: “Profanities, obscenities, rudeness.”
Me: “Bubba, take your stuff and leave. Come back when you’ve sobered up.” *hands Bubba a dore bar of his combined jewelry.*
Bubba: “Obscenities, rudeness. I ain’t leaving without cash. You’re going to pay me.” *tosses dore bar back on counter.*
Me: “Bubba, we’re done. Come back tomorrow when you’ve sobered up.” *Go to walk away*
Bubba: “Hell no!” *reaches for back waistband*
Me: *draws pistol* “Hands where I can see them!”
Bubba:
Me: “Turn around, keep your hands up. Go to one knee! Go to both knees! Lay forward!” *at this point, Dale joined me having heard the shouting, with his own weapon drawn* “Dale, you got him?”
Dale nodded, I go over to grab Bubba’s pistol, lift up his shirt to find…his Droid. I grab him by the arm, pull him up, and hand him his phone. I want to shout, I want to cuss, I want to fucking KILL this big dumbass, because he’s drunk, and stupid. I grab his bar, hand it to him, and push him out the door.
Next day, his wife comes in. She apologizes to me, hands me the dore bar, and asks for cash. I pay her the $715 I’d offered the previous day, even though the value had gone down about half a percentage point.
I’m not one to whine, but goddamn, I nearly shot one of my best customers because he was too stupid and drunk to realize what an ass he was, AND that he made a move that most cops would have plugged him for!
Holy crap, I almost gave a customer some high velocity lead poisoning
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