Eddie was our welder for a good number of years. There wasn’t a better welder or a better feller around.

Eddie told the story of his brother, also a welder up in Oklahoma, that ran his own shop. He was having a terrible time getting people to pay him for the work he did. Then he heard of a guy that would help him out and was given a business card.

He called the number and told the man the problem he was having. He was told to expect a visit. A couple of days later a long black sedan, with dark windows pulled up in front of his shop. A guy dressed in a nicely tailored double breasted suit got out of the back seat and came in carrying a large briefcase.

Eddie’s brother invited him into his office. The man with the briefcase asked to see the past due invoices, which were laying there all rubber banded together. He opened the briefcase and it was level full with stacks of $100 bills. He shuffled the stacks around and a large pistol was imbedded in a special cutout section of the case.

He reached in a got the weapon out. He had fashioned a small calculator into the handle. He held the gun by the barrel with one hand and pecked out numbers with the other, as he flipped through the ample stack of Past Dues. When he got to the bottom of the stack he declared what the dollar amount was.

He said, “here’s how we operate. I’m going to buy these invoices from you for 50¢ on the dollar and then I’ll go visit all these people”.

Eddie’s brother got a sum of several thousand dollars on the spot. The fellow got back in his car and the driver dropped it in gear and drove away.

Nothing was ever mentioned by any of the delinquent payers. They continued to bring their welding into the shop as before. There was a 100% collection rate from each and every one of them afterwards.