Cash Money Panic

I recently sold to a woman, let’s call her Cash Money, who wanted to pay cash for her deposit. I left her house with close to nine thousand dollars in my pocket.

Honestly, this was a pretty crappy area. Real estate agents would most likely call this an “up and coming” area. I was pretty shocked to even be making the sale.

She also had two “handyman” guys doing work on the house while I was there. These guys definitely did not seem legit. Their work truck was a Nissan Versa hatchback.

The entire time I was processing the paperwork for the sale, I had my head on a swivel. When would these guys take this money and run? At some point, I am going to be robbed.

Are these 100 dollar bills real?

What is the end game here? Will Cash Money have these guys rob me and say she paid me, and I took off with the money?

I waited for the shoe to drop. I walked out to my car. Maybe it would happen now.

I started to drive away. Would the Versa follow me?

It wouldn’t.

Maybe there was another person involved in this elaborate scheme to rob me and pretend I took off with her money. I continued to check my mirrors for suspects.

I worked my next two appointments, constantly distracted by the amount of money sitting inside my rental car. Is this a safe neighborhood? Would someone break into my car and find where I hid this woman’s cash? Why did she have to pay me cash?

When I left the appointment immediately following her sale, I had three voicemails. Apparently, I was not the only one in panic mode.

Cash Money’s son had not received my email with the receipt for the sale. He also chewed her out for giving me (a complete and total stranger) cash without any paper receipt. We process everything electronically and Cash Money did not want anything emailed to her because she is not tech-savvy.

She was quite a mess. She actually drove to our retail partner and proceeded to have a panic attack with one of the sales managers at her location. I know this because after returning her three voicemails and leaving her a voicemail (because she, of course, did not answer her phone) to reassure her everything was on the up-and-up, I answered a call from an unknown number.

It was the sales manager. Both he and I reassured her I was not running off with her money to live out my remaining years in the lap of luxury, funded by just under $9,000.

Flustered and unsure, the woman finally left the store. She would follow up tomorrow to be sure the payment was processed.

Ten minutes later, Cash Money texted me. Her son had received the email with her contract and receipt.

I guess tech skills (or the lack thereof) run in the family.