A painful memory
This goes back many years, but when I first started playing and was looking for a guy who did college hoops, a friend of a friend put me on to a guy who was just starting out. I lost the first couple of weeks and of course the guy showed up like clockwork to collect. Then I got it going and pounded him for about three weeks and was into him for nearly seven dimes, which is still big money for me now but was absolutely HUGE for me then. He had some excuse as to why he couldn't make it for the payoff the first couple of weeks, and then he just disappeared. I never saw a cent of it. I should have known the first time he didn't pay off on a weekly basis that it was time to get after him, but I was naive as hell about the business back then and didn't realize what a huge red flag that was. I also should have known he was in way over his head because--and no doubt this is why I was able to pound him--he used the lines published in the morning newspaper!
That exerience still burns me to this day. I swear to God, if I could have hired someone to collect for me without fear of prosecution I would have done so. In fact if this guy is still alive I may still pay him a visit someday.