It appears that at some point or another, people from all races, ages and creeds end up in line at the pawn shop, either searching for hidden treasures, or else trying to make some easy cash. The people who work at these places have come across countless ridiculous stories over the years, and here are some of the ones that stand out the most.
1. It Was Weighing Me Down!
A middle-aged man once brought us a gold anchor pendant that had an unusually-large diamond in the center of it. When I questioned him about it, he said that when he got divorced, he had both his and his ex-wife's wedding rings melted down and forged into an anchor to remind himself of how she had always been 'weighing him down.' The large diamond actually came from his ex-wife's engagement ring!
2. It Really Is Gold, I Promise!
A man walked in with what he claimed was a gold bar, but that was very obviously just a brick spray-painted gold. When my co-worker refused to weigh it, he got really angry and threw it at her. In retaliation, she picked up the cattle prod that we kept under the counter and chased him out of the store. Thankfully, we never saw this maniac again!
3. This Seems Very Familiar
I once ended up calling the cops after a thug walked in and tried to sell me my grandmother's antique jewelry, which had been stolen from her home during the chaos caused by hurricane Katrina. Some people have no sense of shame!
4. I Was Told That These Antiques Are Priceless
I once worked at a pawn shop which specialized in antiques. I was always amazed at how many people walked in week after week trying to pass on obviously fake items as genuine antiques. It was a laughable but also highly eye-opening experience, as these customers didn't exactly look like typical hustlers. In fact, most of them were white, upper class, middle-aged men and women, such as university professors and Boeing engineers.
5. How to Clean Your Conscience
One of the strangest encounters that ever took place in my pawn shop was when an old WWII veteran brought in a huge collection of authentic Nazi pocket watches. He said that he had taken them from the dead bodies of Nazi soldiers during the war, and now wanted to get rid of them so that he could finally have a clean slate.
6. The World's Most Expensive Stainless Steel
A woman once walked in with a collection of stainless steel silverware that she kept claiming were sterling silver. When we kept saying 'No,' she just started going crazy, and told us that if we didn't give her any money, she'd run in front of a car and that we'd get the blame. We managed to call the police, while pretending to test her knives and forks. When the police officers arrived, they immediately recognized her, as she was wanted for quite a number of drug-related crimes.
7. How Not to Use a Pair of Pliers
One time, while I was working in one of our city's most prestigious pawn shops, a shady guy walked in and went straight to a bin of loose tools. He then grabbed a pair of pliers, walked up to the counter, and pulled out four of his gold teeth right in front of us. Needless to say, both him and his fancy teeth were escorted out of the store.
8. A Hat Full of Scorpions
We used to have a regular customer at our pawn shop who liked to drop by every once in a while to check out our gun collection. Nothing strange there, except for the fact that he always walked around with a hat full of scorpions! When he first told me, I didn't believe him, so he pulled it off, and sure enough there were ten or so of them crawling around inside. He also claimed that if they stung him, he'd just feel pleasantly drunk for a couple of hours!
