Posted by Shay Sweet on April 18, 2006, at 22:49:15
In reply to Re: Mama and the Meaning of LIfe...Patterns » Shay Sweet, posted by ClearSkies on April 17, 2006, at 21:17:32
Well thanks! I wasn't sure if anyone would see it way down at the bottom, but I guess people are used to the way this forum is designed. I automatically look for new posts at the top of the page...anyway...
I am stealing time again, letting my stepdad pick up my toddler while I take a moment to vent.
I really love(d) my latest effort at a career; granted, I was less than perfect and felt I would never catch up with all of the billing and check posting that went along with the position, but the staff is great--like being on a sitcom--I had my own private area shared with one other girl who's really great to work with; we have good chemistry. I could go on and on about it, from the 100% medical/dental coverage, for which I just received my benefit cards in the mail yesterday, and yada yada yada. But I shouldn't have let myself get attached, as I knew the inevitable would happen.
Back in 2001, I was newly pregnant but didn't know it yet, shopping for groceries in a less than ideal part of the town I was living in at the time with my fiance. We had stopped there only because it was near his father's office, and he had to use the bathroom, so I hesitantly pulled in. Rather than wait in the car, however, I doddled in and began getting some things for the house. While I shopped, I opened a package of Entermen's doughnut HOLES and ate ONE out of the package.
I realized I needed a cart once I got to the juicy juice aisle, so I set the few things down on the shelf to get one--there was no one around, no cashiers, shoppers, anyone. As soon as I set the basket down on the juicy juice shelf, I spun around to face a heavy set manager who eyed me like I was a hoodlum. He said heartily, "You gonna pay for them doughnuts?"
Clearly a misunderstanding, I giggled at the ridiculousness of it all, but before I could explain, the manager was already angry and snapped, "You think this is funny?" Then, turning to a suddenly present cashier at the cigarette checkout, he ordered, "Call the police!"
Long story boring, I was arrested, spent the night in jail, and by 9:30 a.m. was having panic attacks from hell and just wanted to get court over with. It was decided that there was no sense in spending all the money to bail me out when court would be in the morning and I would be leaving anyway. That was dumb; I had never been in trouble with the law, though, so like an idiot, I trusted everyone's advice.
Minutes before we were escorted to our bench, shackles clanging as we shuffled our feet, what I supposed to be a public defender advised me to plead "No contest," which would ensure that Adjudication would be withheld. So I listened. When it was my turn to shuffle over to the microphone, with my in-laws watching through a glass window in the back of the courtroom, I muttered the words, No Contest, which meant nothing to me other than I was supposed to be able to zip on out of there with only bad memories to blemish my reputation.
The judge ordered two days in jail, which to my relief was considered "time served," and eventually I was a free girl again.
So fast forward five years, I'm filling out dozens upon dozens of applications, held a good job for two years who supposedly did a background check, and did several temp jobs, also consenting to background/fingerprint/drug screenings. NO PROBLEMO! So why would I suspect anything was on my record when A)I was instructed by an attorney to plead no contest and have adjudicationi withheld, and B) No other checks had turned up any convictions? Hell, my degree is in Education! You can't be a teacher if you have a blemish on your criminal record! Petty theft! For eating a flipping donut hole for which I had the money but was never given the opportunity to pay!!
Suffice it to say, my current job, aka my former job, works with an agency who does background checks, and this turned up as a misdemeanor charge. Since I indicated "No" on my application in reference to having had any charges, they had no choice but to let me go. If I had known about the charge I would have done something years ago to contest it, or at the very least, I would have shared the story with my employer! I told everyone else I've worked for, and up until today, it has been known as "The Donut Caper" evoking nothing but laughter.
This SUCKS.
I leave at 8 a.m. for Miami for three days b/c my little one is having surgery on her left eye. I was just beginning to feel hopeful again, like I belonged to something, had broken through that new stage of a job where nobody knows you. I had that. And now it's gone.
I don't think I will ever have a normal life. I always wonder if God just keeps pulling the rug out from under me so I'll be forced to buckle under the pressure and admit that I can't handle life without giving it all to Jesus Christ and freeing myself of dependency on anything else, ie pills...
poster:Shay Sweet
thread:634251
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/subs/20060205/msgs/634643.html