A story, with a moral.

A plumbing contractor in our little town lent someone a large 36" Ridgid pipe wrench. A disturbing amount of time went by, but the pipe wrench was not returned. The plumber had patiently allowed so much time to lapse that he couldn't remember for sure who borrowed the wrench. Ours is a small town, and over the years many folks had borrowed tools from him. So he sat down and made up a list of everyone he could think of who had ever borrowed a tool. He composed a letter and sent it to each person on the list, The letter read:

Dear ----, I'm sure it just slipped your mind, but please bring back the pipe wrench you borrowed or send me $---- so I can replace it. The guy who had borrowed the pipe wrench promptly brought it back, and 3 others sent him a check for it.