Earlier
this month we got in a new recruit, (We'll call him Ricardo).
Ricardo was a very hard worker. During his interview days
he must of ground, (cleaned), 30 or more frames in 5 hours. The
next day he came back and did even more. Ricardo showed lots of
promise as a new member of The Underground crew. He was
interested in learning to sell, post and of course build. He
also had good skills in amp repair / solder rework so we were really
excited to have him. I met his wife briefly and they brought in
their beautiful daughter that had the cutest curly hair I haven't
seen since a Shirley Temple film.
After
a couple of days of delays, he finally let me know that he could come
in on a Sunday. I was taking my wife to work when we saw he and
his wife coming into the neighborhood. So I turned around and
went back to the house to let him know I'd be back in a few minutes.
I got there and told him to go ahead and get started around
back and that I'd be back in 15 minutes to join him.
So I
dropped Sheri off and when I got back, my worst fears had come true.
Ricardo was nowhere to be seen and several of the Soundstream
XXX subs he'd been cleaning were gone.
My
mind starting racing over my decision to trust him. All I could
focus on was all the, 'signs', that I had ignored in my quest to give
a hand up. What part of town he was from, his ethnicity, his
accent, even his oddly green eyes that reminded me of a pit bull. It
looked like Ricardo just wanted a hand out and decided to help
himself. I decided to beef up security even more and worse, I
started to distrust my loyal staff. The financial loss was
there but more than anything I felt hurt and betrayed. I wanted
to do something about it but I didn't even know where Ricardo lived.
I didn't even know his last name. I trusted too much I
thought to myself. How stupid could I be?
A
week later I received a call from one of our loyal clients asking me
if I'd like to buy some XXX motors. I of course asked if he'd
already bought them or just saw them in an ad somewhere. He
told me a guy named Ricardo had contacted him wanting to trade. I
quickly found out he'd been living with his grandmother 10 miles
away. I got his address and put together a team to set up a
sting! "I can have justice!", I said to myself.
Everything
was going to plan. I was around the corner waiting in my car while my
plant was feeding me information. I found out Ricardo still had
the subs and that he even took one that still worked! He was
quite the salesman as I listened to the open phone call that my
undercover buyer had going.
My
guy told him he was looking for six to eight big woofers for his
project. Ricardo boasted that you'd only need one of two of
these super-woofers he had. He boasted that the one he had
working was even pushing out the glass on his truck! I listened for
my cue and swooped in to surprise them!
Ricardo
realized what has been going on and went into, 'Tough Guy', mode. I
wasn't any better when I, with great sarcasm, told him that we'd
missed him coming into work. My undercover guy had done time
and knew he could make things happen if need be. To my relief
he backed down when Ricardo started to really started to get crazy.
I told Ricardo that all he had to do was give back what was
mine and there would be no violence and no trouble for his family.
He didn't back down. Ricardo was ready to lay his life
down to protect his treasure.
I
decided the best thing to do was use my phone to record video of the
whole scene so that I could give it to police to help me prosecute.
Ricardo's wife came out to see what all the yelling was about
and I immediately laid into her about helping him steal from me. She
was quite surprised and quickly defended herself verbally. She
was not amused to have a stranger yelling at her. It was all
quite a scene but ended up as a short stand-off and a volley of rude
quips. We left with only a bad video recording and the jitters
from all that adrenalin.
The
drive home was quickly filled with wise sayings and other stories of
heartbreak and past errors.
That
night I had called Ricardo's house looking to talk; his grandmother
answered. I pleaded with her to stop Ricardo from making things
worse and that there was still time to make things right. She
replied that she'd been encouraging him to return the items and that
it wasn't worth it. I then felt bad for their family. Did I
really want to destroy their Christmas by punishing a thief? Sheri,
my wife comforted me and said that we didn't have to let this get in
the way of our celebrations. We decided to forget it for now
and just enjoy the time she had off and watched some movies to
distract us and went to bed.
A day
later I received a call from a restricted number. I hoped it
was Ricardo and answered the phone friendly but on guard. It
was him!
He
wanted to know if he could keep the good sub if he gave back the dead
ones he took. We argued for several minutes about it. He
felt that he deserved something for his labor and told me about how
hard it was to get four 100lb woofers back to his house. I
couldn't believe the audacity he had. I told him that just
because I owed him for his time, did not mean he could take my
property and he certainly couldn't keep an item that was worth 3x his
labor! I told him that I wasn't going to negotiate with a terrorist
and that he needed to give everything back before there was any
negotiation! The call ended with both men standing their
ground.
An
hour later I thought that getting three back at all would be better
than nothing. That the police wouldn't do anything but take a
report and they'd tell me to take it up in civil court. I
didn't want to destroy his family or take away their dad but I felt
Ricardo had to pay for what he did and thought he left me no choice
but to do what I could with the police.
I
remembered my conversation with Ricardo's Grandmother. I had
one last thought of hope that maybe she could do something. I
called and guess who answered? My hope turned to opportunity!
I felt superior that I had just downloaded an app for my phone
that allowed me to record all phone conversations. (Arizona is a
non-consent state for phone recordings). I knew I had him! All
I had to do was get him to admit his crimes and I'd have him on the
ropes!
I got
the conversation I needed to convict but what really threw me for a
loop was the way Ricardo thought I was going to screw him out the
hours he worked. He still had no empathy for regret for
what he did. He simply didn't want to be without bass. He
threatened that he'd call the Better Business Bureau and the police
for being paid so little for his time. That I was paying him
under the table and that it was illegal for me to do this. He
then began to rant about all the bad things that other people had
said about me in the forums and that he was standing up to me and
felt that stealing from me was doing justice for the others I had
mistreated.
At
this moment I realized that here again was a person in pain asking me
to fix his pain. That they wanted me to feel sorry for them and
that if only I could give them their ransom that they would be OK and
they'd end their tantrum.
He
told me about his hard life in South Phoenix and how he felt the
first day he worked for free wasn't right. That I owed him.
That I was the one victimizing him and that he was standing up
to a bully. I did my best to describe that what he did was
wrong and that there were no excuses for what he did. That he
wasn't the law and it wasn't his job to punish me for things people
wrote on the internet. Exhausted, I managed to promise a
downgraded sub and car alarm in exchange for the motors. I
figured it was better than nothing and I really did just want to put
this behind me.
I
arrived as promised with no weapons or police. That I just
wanted the property back and that I would press no charges or involve
his family. He informed me that he had given a motor to a
friend in West Phoenix. That he had trouble contacting him as
well. I suggested we take a ride out that way and just see if
we could pick it up. He loaded up the subs and nervously got in
the car and we took off.
I
immediately thanked him for doing the right thing and that's all I
wanted from him. I made a few jokes to break the ice, I knew
the drive would be long.
Along
the way he confessed to everything and even told me how he did it.
He told me he admired what I was doing and had wanted to come
work with us for quite some time. I asked him why he would do
something to sabotage his dream. He explained that he'd been
going through some tough times. He had no reliable work and
that doing tattoo work on the side just wasn't paying the bills. His
wife had also been nonsupporting of his work with The Underground as
it didn't pay right away and would best if he took trade instead.
She also complained of him not providing a good Christmas for
their family and that he needed to put his dreams of car audio aside
for the good of the family.
He
felt trapped. He saw an opportunity and reverted back to his
survival skills he'd learned since being on his own since age 11 in
South Phoenix. He made his move to have a good Christmas and do
well for his family.
He
reminded me that the night before he came in that Sunday, he'd asked
me what it'd cost to buy just the motor and a frame. I quoted
him $380 shipped. He kept that number in mind thinking he'd get
some easy cash from a pawn shop or Christmas bass head. He
quickly found out that the market for a 100lb sub woofer, especially
one that didn't work was quite small. I laughed and said,
"Welcome to my world!"
We
exchanged stories and I preached to him all the ideas I have for
Robot as well as other projects. He was again, saved and wanted
to support us the same way we supported him. We laughed about
the whole thing and I told him that I could still teach him to sell
and make money part time without having to labor on the back porch.
I gave him a few ideas and I could see that twinkle in his eye
that I saw when I first met him. I knew it was going to be a
great Christmas.
We
got to his friends house but he wasn't home. I left some
business cards with the friends and let them know about our referral
program. His eyes lit up too. I felt like Santa himself!
I
knew where the guy lived so I could get the motor later. The
tension between Ricardo and I was gone and it was just two guys
talking about Christmas plans on a warm Arizona winter day.
I
drove him home, gave him his new SPLX 15" sub and car alarm. We
wished each other merry Christmas and both looked forward to time
with our families.
I
wish you a warm and happy holiday season as well. Thank you for
your support and well wishes all year round. Lets make 2013 the
best year ever!
Patrick
Chandler
Co-Founder
of Robot Underground
