Last week, a woman in my very small, rural community stole a purse during her nail appointment. The nail tech who owns the establishment had to step out for a second to run home for a babysitting issue and the customer whom she has known for years was content to sit in the establishment and wait. The nail tech realized that she was missing her purse which contained her bank deposits that was composed of check and about $300 in cash. She calls the customer to ask her to mom for the bag until she can return to her business. The customer says that she did not find it. The tech was frantic and called her husband who suggested that she ask the customer to see inside her purse. She says the customer was acting nervous and refused but, long story short, the tech followed her to her car, the purse fell open wide enough that the tech saw her own purse in there. She called the police who dealt with the situation professionally. The tech didn’t want her to go to jail as she is the caretaker for her husband who has a chronic illness. She has been given a court date.
So, the tech posts the whole saga on her Facebook with a photo of the customer. As of yesterday, it had been shared over two hundred times. I don’t personally know this lady other than seeing her around town as she is quite a bit older than I am but I do know her family and they are very decent people. The responses to the post are pretty rough.
Not only has it been shared in our town but now it is taking a multi-county presence.
No doubt about it, the lady did wrong. She stole, she stole from her friend, and her actions embarrassed her family who did nothing wrong. However, this constant posting and reposting just seems like public shaming overkill.