A few characters around town

Today I was informed that I have a regular reader of this blog from here in "The South of Iowa". We'll call him "Windy". He's a cattle/grain farmer south and west of town. Windy always has a story or two to tell, sometimes rambling from one to another without stopping. An original if there ever was one.

There ya go, Windy - you're on the Internet now.

Yesterday at the office I was helping a customer load some straw bales into his pickup when a stranger came in and started helping. I didn't say anything, thinking this fellow may have came with the customer and I didn't notice him. After getting the customer loaded, I started talking to the guy and what I could help him with. He was interested in some DDGS that I sell. I said, sure, lets go take a look at the product on my feed truck, parked outside.

I then asked him his name, as I wasn't sure who he was. He told me, and for a split second I think the Earth stood still.

The 1980's were a turbulent time period on our farm, as it was for many others. Dad sold Pioneer seed corn at the time, and he had been selling seed to this fellow (we'll call him FC). Well, in 1984 FC came to our farm and helped himself to a few bags of seed corn (about $7000 worth) and left a note saying he'd taken them and would pay for them.

The problem was, he never paid for them.

We sued him, but were small fries compared to the other debts FC had. In the end, he declared bankruptcy and after the statute of limitations ran out, we couldn't do anything.

In order to pay Pioneer for the seed, we had to sell our camping trailer that we owned free and clear. That made an impact on our family; it wasn't so much losing the camper, but the fact that someone had taken it from us without attempting to come clean. He didn't pay us one dollar for his debt.

FC has done nothing to repay his debts. In fact, he's strung more people along over the years, leading them to believe that he'll pay them, when it reality he doesn't and won't.

So, when I told my folks that FC asked to buy feed from me, they were livid and amazed. Their first response was "get paid in cash" and quickly changed to "don't deal with him on any circumstances".

So, while I didn't bring up any of this with FC when I spoke with him about the feed, I have decided that I won't sell him any when he calls again. Or, if I do, I'll say the price is now $7000 + 23 years of interest.

Sorry Windy for grouping you and FC in the same blog!