A Repo story that ended well

It has been a while since I last gave an account of a repo I did while working in the car rental industry. Here's another entry:

I forget the time, but the place was at the Enterprise on Covington Pike in Memphis. For this repo, I had a co-worker I've previously mentioned with me - "The Leprechaun." I still cannot remember his name. Sorry!

Renter had rented a car on a Friday on a cash-only basis (no longer done at that location, last I checked). He had not returned his rental Monday, as originally indicated. With cash rentals, an extra deposit was always collected, just in case they accrued more fees than expected. Keeping the car extra days can accrue more fees.

"The Leprechaun" came to me on Tuesday to notify me that the renter had not returned a cash rental on time. As per our branch policy at the time, I immediately got a key cut in preparation, as phone calls went unanswered to locate the renter and/or the vehicle.

This renter had all of his information on the cash-qualification form leading to one address. But the car was not there.

Several days, at different times, we checked. Meanwhile, the extra deposit was exhausted and the renter had a balance, owing the company.

On Thursday, I decided to go out again, looking for that car and others, and took "The Leprechaun" with me. I made a mental note of the year, make and model of the car... as well as the color. It was a green Lumina.

At his house, there was no car. But the sharp eyes of my coworker saw a car of the same description about five or six houses away. We drove over, and the car had no "e" sticker that Enterprise puts on their rental cars. I checked the license plate... it matched.

Ten minutes later, the car was back at the office, being cleaned for its next rental.

Later that afternoon, I got a call from the manager of a competing car rental chain. She asked why we had taken the renter's car. I advised her there was ever really only one reason we might do that. She said she understood.

I asked if she would be renting him a car that day. I'd read between the lines that he was there, attempting to rent a car. The fellow had told the other rental chain that we had just up and taken his car for no reason. He should have kept his mouth shut... they might have rented him a car.