I Should have Trusted that Teacher September 2007
Peter and I have helped out some local schools with their art and jewelry programs on a volunteer basis for years. It is usually a great experience and sometimes we find employees through the high school art programs. During one of our volunteer programs, a few students asked about part-time jobs in our shop.
The teacher of that program recommended a few students as potential employees from the class. I ended up choosing one of the girls that the teacher did not recommend and I now know that I should have trusted that teacher. This girl ended up being a colossal mistake.
She was an emotional mess with a potential eating disorder and constant family, roommate and boyfriend problems. She started dressing like a streetwalker and flirting with our married clients (and apparently her married teachers) -- a huge violation in my world. Even after a clothing change was strongly suggested, she continued to come into work wearing virtually nothing. After she was no longer with our shop, horrible things about her promiscuousness and her complete lack of morals came to light. She even befriended my stepsister and caused trouble with both a straight and gay couple at a party that my stepsister was kind enough to invite her to. She caused problems with our other employees lying about their conduct. In addition to all of that she stole hours on her timecard and refused to return her shop key, causing us to have all of the locks changed.
I actually felt sorry for her during the time she was employed in our shop because she always seemed to have so many problems. It honestly never occurred to me that her problems were all of her own making and she deserved every bit of the misery she inflicted upon herself. I could never figure out why the guys she went out with treated her like trash, why her friends and roommates stopped speaking to her and why she had problems in school. Now that she is gone, I have discovered that the guys treated her like trash because she acted like trash, gave at least one person an STD, slept with her friends' and roommates' boyfriends so they stopped talking to her, was too distracted with the misery and bad drama she created to focus on school, work and\or her future, and the reason she never asked for a paycheck early (like other employees) is because she was getting paid for time during which she was not working.
We have employed a number of young adults in our shop and our clients often come in and ask about this previous jeweler or that one. Other than the bad experiences we have heard about with this girl, not a single client has asked about her in a kind way. It is a huge disappointment to realize how bad my judgment about this girl was. I actually thought she was a nice person and a decent human being. I feel that making a mistake about someone in my personal life is one thing but subjecting people in our shop to this girl is a double mistake. I am tremendously sorry to have made this mistake and regret not listening to that teacher.
I always feel that it is better to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if in the future I find other potential employees through art programs, I will definitely listen to the teacher and take their advice no matter how nice the person seems to be.
Comments CourtBlueDiamond@aol.com