Diary of a Debt Collector

By Tom Kane

Kim Darby had never had to work in her entire life. After leaving college at eighteen she had married her childhood sweetheart. By the time Kim was thirty she had three young daughters aged eleven, nine and seven. She had a lovely home and she had a husband who had suddenly passed away, without any insurance cover. She also had a stack of debts her husband had run up and no means to support herself.

Kim needed a job.

Kim tried the Job Centre, friends and the local shops to try and get a job. The problem was she had no experience. Then in her local newspaper, Kim noticed an advertisement for a Financial Agent, no experience needed. The job description was brief but the advert said she could make £400 a week.

A week later Kim had a job. She was given a round and she was taken out by her manager and shown the ropes. Three days in and it suddenly dawned on Kim that her job was to give people small loans. But not the sort of loans you would get in a bank. Kim’s loans were anything from £50 to £500 and she was expected to collect the weekly payments.

And that is where the fun began, because Kim was working in the roughest patch of her hometown. Her manager said she was dealing with the salt of the earth, but what he didn’t tell Kim was that she was also dealing with drug addicts, drug pushers, murderers, rapists, muggers, illegal immigrants and lunatics.

And that was on a good day!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tom Kane
• Release date: Jul 21, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465711397

Tom Kane

As a child, Tom Kane's family always insisted he was born in the corner of the living room, behind the TV. That strange assertion, true or false, seems to have set the tone for the rest of his life.  Kane's mother inspired him to write. Science Fiction, in the form of Doctor Who and Isaac Asimov inspired his love of the genre. Monty Python inspired him to be silly and he continues to blame Billy Connolly for his infrequent bursts of bad language  In the corner or behind the TV, what is officially known about Tom Kane's birth is that it took place in England on a dark and stormy night.