Adrienne Ferguson had retribution on her mind as she made her way along West Jefferson Boulevard clutching a stack of papers.
She wasn't reacting to a perceived injustice done to her. She was taking action for a stranger who claims to have a beef with the C&H Auto Center, a small automobile body shop down the street.
Ferguson and a partner operate Alibis & Paybacks, a Los Angeles firm that describes itself as "the ultimate revenge" service, offering paybacks both large and small.
For a fee, for instance, the pair will publicly denounce and embarrass someone or some business, peppering their target's workplace or neighborhood with fliers that colorfully describe the individual's purported malfeasance.
That's how C&H Auto Center owner Mario Dorantes ended up in Ferguson's sights.
For the flier targeting the shop, Ferguson used sugar as a metaphor, borrowing the C&H Sugar logo to assert that her client had been left "bitter" by his experience there. In earthy language, the flier alleged that the shop cheats its customers, something Dorantes strongly denies.
Ferguson and three helpers distributed 100 of the leaflets in a one-block radius around the West Adams district shop. The volunteers -- her 11-year-old son, Jordan Green, and friend Mimi Valentine and her daughter, Geraye, 12 -- placed the fliers on car windshields, behind mailboxes and at front porch doors.
Ferguson and partner Michelle Duke have conducted 20 such "payback blasts" for clients around Los Angeles since launching their business earlier this year.
The two longtime friends from the Baldwin Hills came up with the idea when Ferguson lost her receptionist job and the pair sat down to talk about how they could earn some extra money. Friends and family had long turned to Ferguson and Duke when they needed help pulling a friendly prank, so the women thought they could turn this skill into a business.
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They seem intent on making sure the revenge business is also a little sweet. The women crack jokes and burst out in laughter as they work on their various projects, seeming more like two girlfriends than a pair of backroom schemers.
"People trust us. We're like confidantes," said Duke, 40, who lives with her husband and four children and works at a real estate office when she isn't planning retribution. "Adrienne and I are both good at telling people how to deal with situations they're in."
