You know you're about to get stiffed when...

1. You notice that the debtor company's filing cabinets are suddenly replaced with more portable cardboard boxes.

2. Phones are disconnected, lights are out, and your bill remains unpaid.

3. You notice an unusual flurry of activity and two large moving vans backed up to the front doors of the company's building as you drive by late one night.

4. You arrive to pick up your long promised check just in time to see the company president speed off in a car with a briefcase full of cash and the few remaining belongings that have not yet been repossessed.

5. You notice a large sign posted in front of the company's building announcing a liquidation auction by order of the Federal Marshal.

6. Your most recent invoices are returned by the Post Office and marked as "undeliverable with no forwarding address".

7. You discover that the address and "suite" number on the company's business cards actually corresponds to a now vacant space in a local trailer park.

8. Same guy, different hats.

9. Same guy, different voices.

10. Same building, different sign.

Ink cartridge expenses seem just a tad high?

Index: Tales From the Home Office