Packing Heat
Back in 1985 (no mobiles) and with no idea of what l was doing, I was giving instructions to my staff on how not to do things.
We had a call from a person who was looking for a large private comfortable property, with all amenities to rent for about six months, they said rent was not an issue and they would pay up front. We had just the property and l had the job of taking them to the inspection.
Two guys dressed in suits in their 30’s came into the office and introduced themselves. I said to them, ‘lets go’ and they suggested that l go with them in there car. When l jumped in the back seat of the late model Holden, I immediately noticed a sawn-off shotgun inbetween the two front seats, meanwhile checking if child lock was activated and it was, l’m thinking end of days for my short realestate career. The guy in the front passenger seat turned around to me, I then noticed he also had a hand gun and holster. He then said, ‘we are the police’ and I replied ‘you’re note John Wayne?’ – I got no reaction!
Settling in to their new abode with 6 to 8 people the house they soon had a sensitive problem. Having been vacant for a couple of years, the sewerage system couldn’t cope with the sudden shock of 8 people using the toilets. We sent in the plumber. He arrived at the front door and after knocking was confronted by a big burly, plain clothed policeman, with gun and holster in full view.
The young plumber hurriedly fixed the problem and raced back to his boss in a panic, exclaiming there was a gunman in the house! He then went to the pub to sooth his nerves. As you can imagine, the rumor mill took over, gunmen running a muck in main street Ballan. 24 hours later the tenants vacated the house, it was clean as a whistle with six months rent paid in full.
I never did get John Wayne’s autograph.
Old Dog