***
The community was made up of lots different ethnicities and races. I saw them all as they came to pawn shop to receive short term loans. Our advantage was that we are one of a very few pawn shops in a radius of about five to ten miles.
“Thank you,” the Hispanic man replied as he walked off toward the door wearing his job outfit that looked to be from a local meat processing factory.
At a pawn shop you also see a variety of different income levels as the economy is hurting. You also get a chance to see a variety of women come in and out.
“Damn, that blond had a big set on her. I could see all the way down her blouse when she bent over the counter. Her bra was see-through. I could see right through it,” my sales associate Paul stated smiling to me as the door closed behind the attractive blond lady who had just walked out of the pawn shop after redeeming her son’s musical instrument.
It was truly a good place to people watch.
A few minutes later, a cute well dressed brown skin black lady with shoulder length black hair and a cute face walked in. She appeared to be in her late twenties. As she walked toward the counter, I noticed her just above the knee fitted blue skirt, white blouse and a pink sweater jacket along with black heels and a black purse as I straightened the gun display up.
“Can I help you?” Paul asked as the lady made it to the counter.
“Yes, I need to see how much I can get for these items,” the woman stated handing the items over to Paul as I walked over.
“Okay, give me a couple of minutes,” Paul responded as he headed to the back.
I made sure to glance over to get a view of her nice thick brown legs without being suspicious as I walked into the back with Paul. We quickly discussed before I returned to the counter.
“Ma’am I got your items here. The best we can do is $65 total these items,” I finished as he looked up from the calculator.
“Are you kidding me? That can’t be right. The Xbox and the digital camera cost way more than that. Also, the DVD’s are from a lot of recent movies,” she insisted.
“Ma’am, I understand, but this is the price we can loan you. We don’t provide you with the amount the items sold for. The camera is a old model and I have several gaming systems already here on the shelves. Also, are these your items?” I responded.
“Yes, they are mine and my husband. We are in an emergency situation right now,” she responded.
“Well, I can go up to $80 and I will need a valid state issued photo identification card,” I responded looking at her as she pulled out her driver’s license and handed it over.
“And that is the best you can do for all those items. Look, I am begging you to please talk with the manager or whoever to see if you can do more,” she responded.
“Ma’am, I am the manager and while you have several items, I have to loan off of the value as collateral. Do you have anything else like your wedding ring or other jewelry that you could use,” I responded as I had this memorized from having to use hundreds of times before.
“Unfortunately, not. All my other jewelry is tied up somewhere else and this wedding ring is all I have. Look, I am going to be completely honest. My husband was arrested on some bogus drug charge and I really need at least $315. We were having previous money issues and had tied up my possessions to secure loans for that. We don’t have anything else of value that we can put up to get him out so I am begging you to see if you can do any better. I have to get him out for us to be able to get more money,” she spoke begging.
I remained calm and looked back over at the items already knowing my next move. In this business you hear all types of stories and you have to realize you are in business to make money.
“Let me see your ring,” I asked as she pulled it off and handed it to me.
“What you think?” she asked.
“Mrs. Jones I am sorry, but I can’t give more than $75 more for the ring. I can guarantee you will not get anywhere near $315 for those items. Let me go check with my co-owner Paul as he was looking through files to see if we can get you anything better,” I responded seeing from her driver’s license her first name was Pam.
“Okay,” she responded in a tone of possible hope.
I went to the back and spoke with Paul updating him on the situation. I then returned to the counter.
“Good news. I just spoke with Paul and we may be able to offer you more. We will need a few more minutes. Just go back there and take a seat. Paul will be with you shortly,” I stated leading her back to our office making sure to take in the views of her toned brown calves and nice sized ass under her skirt.
After taking her to the office I quickly returned to the front of the store and informed the one customer in there that we had an emergency and would need to close within five minutes. The customer decided they would come back later and I quickly locked the door and turned our sign over to closed.
I then headed to our restroom area beside our office. From this room I could listen and see directly in the office via the small screw holes behind the toilet in the bathroom. Paul and I had used the holes that previously served as paper towel dispenser to spy on tons of our female customers who needed to use our bathroom for many years.
“$100 is the best you can offer,” she stated as Paul sat back
“Yes, I called around to a couple of similar shops to us to see if we could get you a better offer somewhere else. Your gaming system is really outdated now and your digital camera has a low megapixel and zoom rate in addition to being several years old. The DVD’s have a little value. However, the best I got for the entire package was $70 over in Brandon. The ring is probably another $75 or so at best, but that is your wedding ring,” Paul spoke
“Damn, I guess this stuff is not really worth what I thought. We are messed up now. I have no idea what to do,” she responded.