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So okay. You'll probably be able to figure out where I'm going w/this before I'm done, but bear w/my obviousness.
It seems that a month or so ago, a small, independently-owned music store in my town that I love quite dearly was robbed. Big time. Like, a couple hundred CD's big time. The owner gave me the jist: apparently, the perp had been caught and jailed when he tried to sell his goods to music stores in another town (stores that had already been alerted about the robbery). He was someone that had been a customer of Tom's (the owner) for years and was someone that Tom trusted and never thought would do anything like this. I felt terrible for him, knowing that the store was his livelihood and knowing how it felt to have one's trust so thoroughly trampled. But I was glad at the very least that Tom was able to get some of his merchandise back and that the thief had been caught and was going to have to deal w/the consequences of his actions.
Okay.
So there's a new guy at my work (let's call him Jim) that I've been talking to and getting kind of friendly with. I already invited Jim to this housewarming party that my roommate and I are having soon (and I rarely do much w/co-workers outside of work). However (and I think you know where this is going), my manager told me today that she found out a little something about the new guy. She asked Jim if he knew why his previous employers had said that they would never rehire him, and he told her about his bout as a petty thief. He apparently swiped a company car from his previous place of employment and used it as the getaway vehicle in the theft of the aforementioned music store. After getting caught and being arrested, Jim went to the store and confessed to Tom about the theft and offered to pay him back, and Tom agreed not to press charges against him. Jim was apparently desperate for money, being way in debt, and this was apparently the first (and supposedly only) time that he had done anything like this.
And this is where I come in. I liked Jim before I found out about all of this, but I've had a real mad on for a while for the invisible somebody who was responsible for the robbery. I admittedly have sketchy feelings about some forms of theft (in relation to big institutions, for instance), but I think that theft on this level, where it directly and adversely affects the livelihood and the trust of an individual, especially someone who already trusts the person in question, is reprehensible. However, Tom has apparently forgiven him, to some extent at least. And my manager is giving Jim a chance at a job despite his past. I personally don't think that I dislike Jim now, but I definitely don't trust him at all, and I'm definitely not going to have him over at my house now. The problem is, my manager wasn't really supposed to tell me all of this. And since no charges were ever formally pressed, there's really no reason that I should know anything about Jim's involvement in the incident. I don't want to let on that my manager (who I'm quite fond of) told me about all of this, but I don't think I can just let it slide. So I don't know how I should react towards Jim now (especially since he's supposed to be paying Tom back a lot of money and just blew most of his first paycheck on DVD's). I have to work w/him for at least another couple of weeks knowing what I know, alternating between liking him on a personal level and knowing what he did.
So, troopers...what would you do in this situation? Because I am at a loss... |
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