A scrapper that gets scrapped

**Yunkman** · 01-13-2014, 04:39 PM

It seems like I shared this story earlier, but it fits this thread. I think everyone involved learned something, but this is how the story goes. I was called by a mutual friend of a woman who needed someone to clean the old iron etc. from a farmstead that her brother lived on. He'd had a stroke, wrecked his pickup and they put him in a nursing home. He is around 70 yrs old and I was assured he wasn't coming back to the farm which was in his two sister's names. They were preparing to rent the house to a young couple and had removed all his personal items.

I walked through the equipment with the mutual friend and the woman and took notes of what to take as we were to leave the better useable equipment. After the first couple days of removal, a neighbor (good friend of the man) showed up and we got acquainted. He made statements like "THAT'S Joe's good pickup". He was referring to the wrecked one and I said that the sister said to take it. He kept coming back and then the sister said that he ( the friend) had taken the owner from the nursing home and was visiting when I wasn't there. I got about 3/4 of what I was to take and then one morning I found a nasty note on my skidloader from the man. He accused me of stealing his stuff and said he'd had parts sold from his pickup etc. The law was never involved and I vacated the premises asap. I guess old Joe wasn't as bad off as his sisters thought. His house was a total disaster and he had bad debts all over the place. I guess I was lucky that he didn't call the sheriff but then in this case, I think the sheriff was looking for HIM to settle his own debts.

These cases are probably rare as well as the one Patriot mentioned. Maybe a person should get a receipt of cash advances or verifiable agreements when third parties are involved. I felt I was in the right in my case as did Joe's sisters, but the unobvious happened. Lesson learned.

**BurlyGuys** · 01-13-2014, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Yunkman

It seems like I shared this story earlier, but it fits this thread. I think everyone involved learned something, but this is how the story goes. I was called by a mutual friend of a woman who needed someone to clean the old iron etc. from a farmstead that her brother lived on. He'd had a stroke, wrecked his pickup and they put him in a nursing home. He is around 70 yrs old and I was assured he wasn't coming back to the farm which was in his two sister's names. They were preparing to rent the house to a young couple and had removed all his personal items.

I walked through the equipment with the mutual friend and the woman and took notes of what to take as we were to leave the better useable equipment. After the first couple days of removal, a neighbor (good friend of the man) showed up and we got acquainted. He made statements like "THAT'S Joe's good pickup". He was referring to the wrecked one and I said that the sister said to take it. He kept coming back and then the sister said that he ( the friend) had taken the owner from the nursing home and was visiting when I wasn't there. I got about 3/4 of what I was to take and then one morning I found a nasty note on my skidloader from the man. He accused me of stealing his stuff and said he'd had parts sold from his pickup etc. The law was never involved and I vacated the premises asap. I guess old Joe wasn't as bad off as his sisters thought. His house was a total disaster and he had bad debts all over the place. I guess I was lucky that he didn't call the sheriff but then in this case, I think the sheriff was looking for HIM to settle his own debts.

These cases are probably rare as well as the one Patriot mentioned. Maybe a person should get a receipt of cash advances or verifiable agreements when third parties are involved. I felt I was in the right in my case as did Joe's sisters, but the unobvious happened. Lesson learned.

ALWAYS get a signature giving you permission to remove stuff AND stating they are the rightful owner and are legally able to give you authorization.

**Yunkman** · 01-13-2014, 04:54 PM

Good advice, BurlyGuys...thanks.

I've often thought it would be possible to pull into a farmyard and get the go-ahead to remove everything....only to find out that they are just renters who might be on the "outs" with the owner and out for revenge. Or maybe a family member on drugs or something..... Or other variations of the scenario. Message to myself....Be Careful Yunkman.