Several hours later, Sam returned and Ben talked to him. “Sam, an IRS agent showed up asking about our withholding taxes and said we haven’t been paying them. I thought all our debts were up to date”. “Must be a computer error”, Sam responded. “I’ll call the guy back, tomorrow after I pull all the records.”
The next day, Sam did not show up for work, but had called in sick. Ben dutifully called the agent to report that Sam was out sick today and would call him upon his return and shared that Sam thought there must be some mistake. “Have him call me soon, so I don’t have to start collection action”. Sam called in for the next few days sounding ill (and no one wants a sick person around food) and Ben kept calling the agent. This went on for about four days. Then, Sam didn’t call one day. Ben called Sam, and the answering machine picked up. “Where are you, Sam? Call me as soon as you get this message.” No call was ever returned. Ben went by Sam’s house that night and found the house empty and no one around. A neighbor saw Ben and came over and said, “Sorry to see Sam leave, he was such a great neighbor”. Ben was dumbstruck.
The next day Ben called the Agent. “My partner has disappeared, I fear he stole some of our money instead of paying you.” “Well, you better get to the bottom of this and soon, or we’ll have to shut down your store”, the agent said. “How far behind are we?” Ben asked. “About two years”, the agent said.
That afternoon, Ben went into the small office looking for the check register and the bank statements, they were gone. He then went to the bank. “May I help you?” the bank officer asked. “Sure, my name is Ben Barnacle, I am an owner of Cakes, Inc., and I need to see a manager or something.” After a few minutes, the branch manager came out and Ben explained his plight. The manager frowned and then said, “Let’s get duplicates of all those bank statements and cancelled checks, we’ll have to charge you to research that”. “No problem”, said Ben, “I was afraid it was all hopeless.” “It’ll probably take abou t a week to get these to you”, the manager said.
Ben called the Agent back and relayed the missing books and records and told him that he had ordered the bank statements and hoped to get them in about a week. The Agent casually asked him what bank he used, and Ben said, “The Big Huge National Bank on First Street”. Ben figured that by cooperating with the agent he was buying good will. The agent wrote the name of the bank on a piece of paper and stuck it in the file.