Wow, great article. I'll support it with real history. My first job (at 15) was working in a grocery store in the worst part of town. While the neighborhood was indeed crap, the residents were super, really nice people. I ended moving there when my dad kicked me out at 16 for being progressive. OK, lots of petty theft, but also lots…
Wow, great article. I'll support it with real history. My first job (at 15) was working in a grocery store in the worst part of town. While the neighborhood was indeed crap, the residents were super, really nice people. I ended moving there when my dad kicked me out at 16 for being progressive. OK, lots of petty theft, but also lots of love.
I learned about poverty, organized crime, and cops there. Interestingly, the local criminal was 100% positive for the neighborhood. He was the #1 employer, and owned the cops, who he wouldn't allow to abuse the residents.
Anyway, we had several customers who lived in abandoned buildings. One man used to buy 50 lb bags of Purina dry dog food with money from recycling soda bottles people had tossed - remember glass soda bottles? Dumb 16 year old me said to the head clerk "That poor man must really love his dog to spend so much on dog food" She replied "He doesn't own a dog". Oh.
An old, old lady used to come daily, and she just barely hobbled to the store. She had very little money, and no teeth. She would always bring a clean spoon and a paper towel. She'd eat baby food on the spot, then carefully clean and stack the empty jars, then buy one jar to take home for the other 23 1/2 hours of the day. We'd make a PA announcement "AL, please call the office" to warn all the employees to stay away from the baby food Aisle, AL meant "Ancient Lady", nobody worked there named Al.
All of the managers approved. The owner of the chain of store always told us that food was critical, it was our duty to do whatever we could to help people. He was death on theft for profit, but approved anything we donated to the needy.
So were we lying? Yes. Was the old lady stealing? Yes. Well, no way in H that I'm going to turn her in, I literally could not do it. Nobody else could.
Yep, the real problem is people not understanding that laws apply to everyone. However, I think they understand just fine.
Having the cops work made the neighborhood a whole lot safer.
Wow, great article. I'll support it with real history. My first job (at 15) was working in a grocery store in the worst part of town. While the neighborhood was indeed crap, the residents were super, really nice people. I ended moving there when my dad kicked me out at 16 for being progressive. OK, lots of petty theft, but also lots of love.
I learned about poverty, organized crime, and cops there. Interestingly, the local criminal was 100% positive for the neighborhood. He was the #1 employer, and owned the cops, who he wouldn't allow to abuse the residents.
Anyway, we had several customers who lived in abandoned buildings. One man used to buy 50 lb bags of Purina dry dog food with money from recycling soda bottles people had tossed - remember glass soda bottles? Dumb 16 year old me said to the head clerk "That poor man must really love his dog to spend so much on dog food" She replied "He doesn't own a dog". Oh.
An old, old lady used to come daily, and she just barely hobbled to the store. She had very little money, and no teeth. She would always bring a clean spoon and a paper towel. She'd eat baby food on the spot, then carefully clean and stack the empty jars, then buy one jar to take home for the other 23 1/2 hours of the day. We'd make a PA announcement "AL, please call the office" to warn all the employees to stay away from the baby food Aisle, AL meant "Ancient Lady", nobody worked there named Al.
All of the managers approved. The owner of the chain of store always told us that food was critical, it was our duty to do whatever we could to help people. He was death on theft for profit, but approved anything we donated to the needy.
So were we lying? Yes. Was the old lady stealing? Yes. Well, no way in H that I'm going to turn her in, I literally could not do it. Nobody else could.
Yep, the real problem is people not understanding that laws apply to everyone. However, I think they understand just fine.
Having the cops work made the neighborhood a whole lot safer.