ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 31, 1997 TAG: 9703310117
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DONNA GARRETT
INDIVIDUALS are all unique - some for the better, and some for the worse! (God-given free will ... )
A clerk in a check-cashing store withholds $100 from a lady's disability check - steals it - while at the other end of the spectrum, a gas-station attendant remembers he charged a fellow $1 too much three months ago! When the customer comes back, the attendant tells him his bill will be $1 less than it is.
Without government checks, the disabled would not have food, medical supplies, attendants and/or transportation.
A lady with a disability had saved her money for a car. The last check and she had the amount needed! From excitement she made a hasty decision to cash it at a check-cashing place in a rather questionable establishment. The car was being held, and this caused her to not use her best judgment.
The quicker I get the money in the hands of the seller, the quicker I can drive my car, she probably thought. She almost didn't get it!
After she left the store, she counted the money and it was $100 less than her check. Oh, how she cried! Tears and sobs never brought it back, though. She was sick over it.
Someone drove her back to confront him - but the owner claimed the cash drawer was not over. The young clerk pocketed it himself, was the assumption. Nothing more could be done.
Surely only the lowest scum could steal from the handicapped!
In contrast - a young fellow had bought gas at a service station out of town. After about three months, he was back for gas - and get ready for this! The old gentleman at the pump walked back and counted his change to him, adding a dollar! He said, "Here's an extra dollar. When you were here before, I accidentally shorted you a dollar."
The incident is so rare it bears telling by itself. The fact that so much time had gone by and he still remembered is another reason for shock! It certainly made the day of the gas purchaser - and by the old gentleman's way of living, it probably made his day too to get that dollar off his conscience. How proud his mother would have been of him!
Life - and how people choose to live it - goes all up and down the scale. On a scale of 10 the old man would be at the top. Guess where the scum would be ...
DONNA GARRETT of Roanoke is a free-lance writer and an advocate for the handicapped.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB