The best business owners are honest, but unfortunately there are many business owners who try to cut corners.

In today’s story, we learn about a Grandpa who found out a mechanic shop owner was dishonest.

Instead of insisting the owner make things right, he went to the landlord to get revenge.

Let’s see how the story plays out…

How my Grandpa became the owner of a gas station/garage

My family immigrated America in the 1880s and settled in Nebraska.

We were farmers for the first 80 years or so, but back in the 1960s my Great Grandma decided she was going sell the entire farm before she died and simply give her sons 1/3 of money for inheritance when she passed (she had 3 sons)

In 1969 my Great Grandma passed, and her 3 sons inherited the money she had earned from selling the farm.

My grandpa decided he would basically let that money sit until after he retired from the Military.

Grandpa needed the engine in his truck replaced.

In 1971 he deployed to Vietnam for his 2nd and final deployment.

At the end of his deployment he returned to Nebraska and retired after 22 years in the service.

Now he had an old chevy truck at the time and was in the process of building a concrete business with the money he had gotten from his inheritance.

Well during this time, his truck engine blew up.

My grandpa was busy at the time and he didn’t want to fool with the truck cause he was busy.

So he bought himself the engine he wanted to replace it with, which was an upgrade and he went down to the only garage in town and asked them if they’d be willing to put the engine in the truck.

They agreed on a price, and told him to come back in a week or so.

The mechanic didn’t use the engine Grandpa bought.

A week later my Grandpa comes back and picks up the truck, he admits he felt like a fool for not double checking the work.

He assumed since this was the son of his friend that the son would do right by him.

This was a small town.

Well my Grandpa opens up the concrete business, and he’s busy, and it comes time for his first oil change.

This is about 4 months after he got the truck back.

He’s doing the oil change and he notices that the engine he bought, isn’t the engine in his truck.

Its a smaller engine.

This obviously angers him to high heaven as my Grandma liked to say.

Meet Earl…

So he storms on down to the garage and talks to shop, Earl was the owner.

Earl comes out, and denies any wrongdoing.

Says he did as he was told, and it shouldn’t have taken him 4 months to bring the issue up.

My Grandpa tells Earl he needs to do what’s right.

Earl refuses.

Grandpa is out for revenge!

It’s important to note, this is a small town.

Written contracts, and so forth really isn’t a thing.

Your worth is your word.

My Grandpa tells Earl he’s going get him for this.

Earl laughs and tells him to leave his shop.

My Grandpa goes down to the county and requests the record for who owns that gas station.

Turns out its a old family friend named Harold.

Grandpa wants to buy Earl’s business.

My Grandpa stops by Harold’s house and starts inquiring about the business deal Harold has with Earl.

Harold says well Earl rents the gas station/garage from him.

My Grandpa asks Harold how is everything going, and Harold confides that Earl hasn’t paid his rent in 2 months.

My Grandpa asks “Do you have a written lease with Earl?”

To which Harold goes “nah, I sure don’t”

My Grandpa then asks “What if I bought the gas station/garage from you?”

Harold is suspicious of why Grandpa wants to buy the business.

Harold isn’t completely on board with the idea, but my Grandpa makes a strong point.

Earl isn’t paying his rent, Harold doesn’t seem like he has much interest in being a landlord anymore, and my Grandpa has the cash to buy the place out right.

Harold sensing something is up, asks my Grandpa “Did Earl do something to you? You seem awfully interested in this garage, ain’t you busy with the that concrete business of yours?”

My Grandpa fills Harold in on the story.

My Grandpa also mentions that he has a son (my father) who needs something to do, and he’d be happy to buy the whole building from Harold for a fair price, and what happens after that is his business.

Grandpa officially owns the gas station and mechanic shop.

Also its important to note, when Harold decided to rent this business to Earl, in that deal went all the equipment, and tools that Harold had acquired over the years so those belonged to the building.

Harold and my Grandpa came to a number that they both agreed on.

A few days later my Grandpa paid Harold in cash, in full for the business.

The paperwork is done and my Grandpa is now the proud owner of a gas station and mechanics shop.

Grandpa takes the Sheriff with him to break the news to Earl.

Now my Grandpa senses that Earl ain’t going be to pleased when my Grandpa fires Earl.

So for extra good measure my Grandpa calls up the local sheriff who is a high school friend and asks the Sheriff to come with him to break the news to Earl.

So my Grandpa and the Sheriff go down to Earls now former business and they walk in and before my Grandpa can even say hello Earl says “Now I told you, I didn’t cheat you”

My grandpa smiles and says “I’m not here about my truck, I’m here to fire you”

Earl was confused.

Earl with a look of confusion on his face asks “You can’t fire me! I own this business”

My Grandpa shows him the title and says “I’m now the owner of this building”

To which Earl fires back “But I got a deal with Harold!”

The Sheriff speaks up “You do? Do you have a lease?”

The gas station and garage were a family business for 25 years.

“Well no” Earl says

To which the Sheriff smiles and says “In that case, you’re going need to take your stuff and leave”

Earl is fuming, grabs his tool box and storms out.

My Grandpa ended up hiring the mechanic that would occasionally work on his trucks at his concrete business.

He had my aunt and Grandma run the gas station full time and my dad would work there after school.

We owned that Garage for 25 years before my Grandpa sold it to someone else.

This is great because not only did Grandpa get revenge on Earl, but it was also sounds like it was also a great place for multiple people in the family to work together.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story…

Don’t mess with the locals!

You never know who has money.

This reader compares Grandpa to Warren Buffet.

But what about the engine?

It really was great revenge!

Now, that’s revenge that really paid off!

This is such a satisfying tale.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.