Handyman Tries to Scam Old Woman, Karma Hits Back - Subscriber Story

A greedy handyman tried to scam an old woman by tricking her into giving him extra money. Not long after, karma reached him.

Devon was a poor man waiting for the moment when his life would go from rags to riches. He worked as a handyman in a house repair company, but it paid him peanuts, and Devon was quite tired of struggling to make ends meet.

So, one day, he tried to con an elderly lady who had placed a call to his company for house repairs, to make some quick cash. Little did Devon know he’d regret his wicked actions soon...

It was around 9 o'clock in the morning. Devon was about to leave his house for work when he received a call from his boss, Mr. Lamar. “Hi Devon, we got a call from a house on 36th street about fixing a washing machine. Can you take care of it right now? It’s a bit urgent.”

Devon was hesitant, but he couldn’t say no to Mr. Lamar, so he replied reluctantly, “Well, I had some other houses to attend to, but ok, let me see.”

“No, Devon. You can’t afford to miss out on this customer. It’s urgent. And remember, the one who does the best work today will receive the bonus and will be promoted,” Mr. Lamar said firmly.

The moment Devon heard the terms bonus and promotion, his eyes lit up. After all, money was all he wanted. He quickly replied, “Don’t worry, Mr. Lamar. I’ll attend to that customer first, and then I’ll take care of the rest of the houses.”

“Good job, Devon. This is exactly what I expect from my employees,” Mr. Lamar told Devon and disconnected the call. As soon as he got off the phone, Devon jumped on his old bike and proceeded to the address Mr. Lamar had given him.

When he finally arrived at the location, an old lady opened the door. “Hello, are you here for the repair work?” she asked Devon in a low voice.

“Yes, ma’am. I’m guessing you’ve placed an urgent request for your washing machine. May I see it?” The woman nodded, and Devon followed her to the place where the washing machine was kept.

As soon as Devon examined the machine, he realized the problem was small, and it would hardly take 10 minutes to fix it. But then he remembered Mr. Lamar's offer, the money and the promotion he would receive, and his greed took over.

“Well, ma’am, I examined the machine, and I’m afraid it’ll take at least an hour to fix it," he told the old lady, coming out of the room where the machine was kept. “The problem seems a little serious. I’d suggest you wait in another room until it’s done.”

The old woman believed whatever Devon told her and left the room, after which Devon quickly closed the door and dialed his girlfriend. “Honey, we won the lottery today. We’ll go to a nice restaurant and celebrate it," he tells her.

"The customer I’m attending to today … this old hag, she knows nothing about washing machines. She is literally the golden opportunity we'd been waiting for. Finally, we’ll have some quick cash," he added.

“Oh, really? That’s amazing. Make sure you make some good money off her,” Devon’s girlfriend told him, excited.

“Yeah, babe, don’t worry. I’m going to ask her for thrice the actual amount,” Devon told his girlfriend and disconnected the call.

After the call, Devon continued to pretend that the machine had a significant problem and feigned to work for almost one and a half hours.

When he was finally done, he went to the old lady and said, “The machine is working now, ma’am. It’s good that you placed an urgent request. Otherwise, it would have stopped working completely.”

“Oh, thank you so much. If you had not come on time, I would've had to pay for a new machine,” the old lady praised Devon.

Devon shrugged. “There is nothing to be thankful about, ma’am. It’s our duty. We have to be loyal to our customers.”

“Oh, God. You’re such a nice man. You hardly get such employees these days. Your boss must be really fortunate,” the old lady said. “By the way, how much is the bill?”

Devon smiled at her and replied, “It’s just $300, ma’am.” The old woman gave the money and thanked Devon for the service again. Devon left the house happily, thinking he had successfully fooled the old lady.

The next day Devon was waiting for his name to be announced as a promoted guy. After all, he had made the most money yesterday. But Mr. Lamar didn’t announce Devon’s name for the promotion.

Devon was shocked! He quickly went to Mr. Lamar and said, “Sir, how is it possible that I am not being promoted? I had made the most money, after all.”

Mr. Lamar paused for a while and then told Devon, “Yes, I am aware that you made $300 from the old lady who was supposed to pay you only $100.”

“No, Sir. That’s not true. Who told you this? Was it Trevor? He must have done it because he’s jealous of me,” Devon swiftly defended himself.

“It wasn’t Trevor. He didn’t tell me anything. FYI, it was the old lady,” Mr. Lamar yelled at Devon.

Even after this point, Devon was adamant that he wasn’t lying. “This is not possible, Sir. I’m not lying.”

Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind. “Stop lying. That old hag knew you had cheated her.” When Devon turned to see who it was, he noticed the old lady standing behind him.

“Ma’am, you...” Devon said in a stuttering tone.

“Don’t be shocked, Devon. I overheard you talking to your girlfriend and immediately called your boss, or shall I say, my son. You know he told me you were a trustworthy employee who wouldn't cheat, but you broke his trust.”

At this point, Devon knew he couldn’t lie. So, he just stood there silently, embarrassed at what he’d done.

“I trusted you, Devon. How could you cheat our customers? Moreover, she’s my mom!” Mr. Lamar told Devon, dejected. “Anyway, you don’t need to come to work tomorrow. I’m afraid we can’t let people who treat customers with disrespect work here anymore.”

That day, Devon was fired, and he realized that he should never take the easy way out.

What can we learn from this story?

• Don’t look for shortcuts.
• If you do bad to others, you’ll be punished for it sooner or later.

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