Insufficient Funds

      One of the most annoying criminals I ever dealt with was Elmo Bagman, a notorious swindler.  Before his reputation was established by a long prison sentence, he leased me to work for him.  It was early in my career and I was working for lawyer on a test basis just to see how I would handle things.  The problem came down to nothing more than finding a needle in a haystack but when I was through, Bagman naturally tried to swindle my owner out of his fee. 
      You see my owner billed him $1,000 for my work.  Pretty cheap when you think about it.  Bagman dutifully forked over a check for that amount.  But the check bounced once it was deposited and came back from the bank stamped Insufficient Funds.
      My owner tried calling him about it but, as you might expect, could never get through.  He tried depositing it again and again it bounced.  Then, out of frustration, he hired a hacker to find out that the con artist only had $950 in his account and no overdraft privileges.  As a lawyer, my owner did not want to steal the money out of the account electronically.
      That was Bagman for you, always trying to swindle everyone and assuming, as con artists always do, that the victim will just give up.  But, of course, he didn’t realize whom he was dealing with in this case.
Not my owner.  I mean me. 
      How do you think I solved the problem?


Nano Solution_____________________________________________

      Rather than rush into a blunder, this time you take your time to analyze the problem carefully.
      But still incensed by the memory of the scam, Nano doesn’t wait for you and quickly launches into the explanation.
      “Simple,” he says.  “I told my owner to go to Bagman’s bank and deposit fifty dollars into his account, then go ahead and cash the check!  Sure he was out fifty, but he got the rest of the money.  Besides, it was worth it just to get even and not become a thief himself.”

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