There is a very common saying that breaks down to some variation of “Sometimes you gotta pay the piper.” But the question few people ask is what kind of life this piper must lead. Well, prepare for the grand tour because I spent 5 years of my 15-year banking career working in the collections department. The morale amongst my fellow pipers was well below average.

From 2012 to 2017, if trauma serves correctly, I worked in collections for a few different financial institutions. Obviously, banks make loans to create profit and keep theirbusiness afloat by collecting interest on each payment. Mortgages, home equity lines, car loans, and other products are commonplace. But what happens when the client decides not to pay or cannot pay? Who can remedy this adverse situation? Why, this is when my merry group of workers and I jump into action. I wish it was remotely as exciting as I may have made it sound.

Your typical day as a collector involves calling phone number after phone number after phone number and leaving the same voicemail, sometimes over 100 voicemails in a day. “Hello, this is Mike calling from the bank that you owe money to. Please give us a call back at your earliest convenience. My number is…” It’s a phrase I said so many times that I heard it in my sleep. After the call, you log all your activity on the account and move on to the next one.

There is one set of customers that always called us back without fail. These were the ones whose vehicle was submitted for repossession. They suddenly seemed to remember our number. Now with a repossession, we are calling every number you have ever given us two times a week and if it’s March 1st and your January payment is still due, we have someone make an actual physical house call. If endless phone calls and letters don’t get your attention, this usually will. A very common response from customers when they see their car being taken or if it was already taken is “Well, no one ever called me.”

Let’s examine the reply that no one had called them. This made me laugh since all I did from 8-5, Monday through Friday, 40 hours a week, was call people. It would be equivalent to someone saying, “Ya know, that James Brown is ok, but he never really sings from the heart!”

When presented with this claim of not being informed, we would list the phone numbers, days, and times of each call to which the customer would state they never received them. It happened very often and was a lone bright spot in a usual monotonous grind. Oh, those crazy kids! Their implausible responses provided rare moments of levity for us pipers.

Now I hope you have never had the misfortune of being called for a delinquent loan because I’m sure it is a horrible reminder. But think of how rejected we felt when every call went to voicemail. We all have to pay the piper, but at least I always urged them to “have a nice day” after I told them they had to pay.  We pipers are a polite, albeit persistent bunch.