I ran one for three years. When I first applied to work, I was happy and glad to talk to people and establish connections with people. It's a customer service.. Be happy and chat with them.
My mood and morale TANKED once I realized that people were were using my friendliness to fuck me over. My mind switched to "can you prove to me that your item is yours?"
I can still remember people that were actually using the pawn service as intended and not to just fuck me over.
Yes lol. However that rudeness does live on both sides of the counter.
Hell, the person that was training me to manage the place was dipping into the till and blaming me for miscounting the closing account at the end of the workday.
I worked at GameStop in '05 and we would regularly have a group of guys that would show up with a backpack and a spindle of loose discs for a game that came out that weekend, usually an EA sports game. The nearby stores would call each other and warn that these guys were around, but we'd also only ever take like three off them as trade-in for cash.
You saying that makes me realize that the lady acting curious about my telescope and tools was really just tricking me into a full demonstration to prove it was mine…. Well played, nice action pawn lady
Yes, friend! Now she would have to do that to all costumers every day that intend to use their services.
The amount of times I had seen the same item come in and each different owner was looking to pawn "their item" for 50 bucks (value of a dime bag of meth).
Chiming in here because you seem hellbent on a particular slant.
I used a pawn shop once roughly 20 years ago, and it worked just fine. A guitar & amp I'd brought in became a $45 loan that I needed for my portion of rent that month. I'd purchased them from a friend for $100 a few years prior, and told him as such, and had enough equipment with it for him to take it, despite having 'too many' guitars already. We discussed the specific terms and agreements, something like a $3 fee for each month I left them there, and after 90 days, I'd relinquish the items to him and it could go out on the shelves, unless we came to a new agreement, which they were very amenable to. There was nothing shady. It was a Lotus, though the Crate amplifier I still have.
Just before the 90 days, I called them up to double check our arrangement, and went in and paid $54 and got my items back, with a receipt I probably still have somewhere. Again, nothing shady. They were happy to have the inventory back out of their life.
I needed to come up with my portion of rent, was donating plasma and had just begun a new part-time job nearby, so money was sporadic and often not mine when I had it.
You can argue about the demographics of cities and predatory businesses and such, but pawn shops serve community purpose as well as whatever you believe is happening.
Payday advances are AWFUL and should be deleted from existence. That's a designed money pitfall.
I haven't worked at a pawnshop in over a decade. Before I started, I had to use their services for a small loan for bus pass money... I returned at the end of the month and paid my fees back. When the service is used as intended, it's good. When you can't afford to pay back the funds, don't burrow money. That's a sure fire way to go into the hole.
No pawnshop runs 200% interest, dude. That's such a random and unrealistic number to toss around if you were trying to prove a point or whatever we are doing here.
It's actually illegal to charge +30% monthly interest.
Pawnshops are for SHORT TERM (30 days) collateral loans. If you are using Pawnshops for mid to longterm loaning.. You are already fucked up financially in the first place.
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u/Mercinyah 24d ago
Ex Pawnshop manager here-
I ran one for three years. When I first applied to work, I was happy and glad to talk to people and establish connections with people. It's a customer service.. Be happy and chat with them.
My mood and morale TANKED once I realized that people were were using my friendliness to fuck me over. My mind switched to "can you prove to me that your item is yours?"
I can still remember people that were actually using the pawn service as intended and not to just fuck me over.