Changes

"One day you're a peacock- the next day you're a feather duster."  Unknown

This week we learned that a manager who had a lot of promise a month or so ago was arrested for shoplifting at Walmart.  Plus she's facing theft charges for funds that were unaccounted for when she left her job at TLC.

There's no pleasure in her arrest, instead another confirmation that when addicts start being dishonest no one knows where it will lead. And in this case it led her back to jail.

When this woman first started working for TLC she was full of enthusiasm. She wanted to dedicate her life to helping others. In fact she once picked "dedication" of the topic of a meeting. So what happened?

The simple explanation is that she stopped doing what she was doing when she was successful. She began showing favoritism to certain clients. She developed questionable friendships. There was speculation about where she went when she was off of the property. Some clients said she was staying awake much of the night. 

However, when she was confronted about her behavior she had a plausible explanation for everything. And our policy is to support our managers unless we have clear cut information but they're not doing what they're supposed to do. In this case, we should have let her go earlier.

We wish this woman well. If she decides to continue with her recovery we'll take her back – once she gets out of jail. After all, we've taken people back who have stolen from us on more than one occasion. And today, they’re working in key positions of trust.