Employee of the Year

Chapter 14 - The Rebel Without a Cause

The next day I got my first name on the list. Jesse Stark was a forty-year-old entrepreneur with a $90,000 balance overdue on his small business owner card. His wife Beth was also listed on the account. According to the records, Jesse and Beth lived with their kids in a four thousand-square-foot house in Corona, a growing suburb in RiversideCounty about an hour and a half outside of Los Angeles. Jesse was the owner of Rebel Without a Cause Custom Auto, a specialty car store that recently went out of business.

I saw from the record on the computer screen that we had already called Jesse more than two dozen times in the past year. I saw Roland and Olivia made many of the calls, though I never talked with Jesse before. From the customer feedback notes, I knew several of the calls resulted in heated arguments. I saw in another update that he stopped making mortgage payments four months ago and was in the process of getting foreclosed on his house.

“You remember this guy?” I asked Olivia.

“Oh yeah,” she said. “Rebel Without a Cause. I remember him. That poor man lost everything: his business, his home, his family. He’s hanging on by his fingernails. Temo, you don’t want to be asking him for anything. I’d move on down the list if I were you.”

“Olivia, this guy is in the Five Figures Club.” This was our term for cardholders behind on balances worth $10,000 or more. When Teresa said she wanted me focused on the big collections, this was who she was talking about. Most of the people in the Five Figures Club had fallen hard from a high place. By the time we got to them, they were usually pretty battered and broken down. You had to be relentless. When pursuing members of the Five Figures Club, Passion was usually only one of a whole pack of wolves, including the hospitals, the mortgage bankers, the department stores and the auto financers. Even in a best case scenario, the prey had enough meat to feed only one or two predators. Sometimes the carcass was already clean, with not a single asset left for us to collect off of.

“I have to try to talk to him.”

I called Jesse Stark and identified myself.

“What do I have to do to get you people to leave me alone?” the man said. “Do I have to die?”

“We’re trying to help, Mr. Stark.”

“That’s a total lie. You don’t care about helping me. You’re calling about the card. I’ve told you people so many times that I can’t pay it back. I lost everything. My business, my house, my family. I am all alone in the world. Nobody calls me except you vultures at Passion. It’s getting so I remember your names, you folks call me so much. First there was Olivia. Then Roland. I don’t remember you though, Temo. This must be your first time. Doesn’t matter. You’re all the same. You’re all a disgrace.”

“We’re just doing our job, sir.”

“Well, your job is evil. I hope you burn in hell for what you’re doing. You hear me?”

“Please, sir. You have no call to talk that way.”

“Why not? I am just being honest. I have no reason to be civil. We don’t live in a civil world. You know what you’re doing is wrong. Don’t deny it. You know it eats away at your soul. The worse part is that I’m no better than you. When you arrive in hell, I’ll be right there waiting for you.”

Sir, you got to believe I am here to help you. Whatever happened with the card, you’re still a customer. That’s means you and I are partners. Let’s talk about what it takes to get you back on your feet. There are lots of counseling services out there. We’re going to figure what you need.”

“I know exactly what I need, Temo.”

“What’s that, sir?”

“I need a one-way ticket to a place where your bank can’t harass me any more. Don’t call here again. I am warning you. I’ve already chosen the path I’m going to take. There’s nothing you can do to change that.”