A while back I wrote a post about stress, and how we were all a little wacked out around here and to please be patient with us. A very sweet person called to make sure we were all okay. Physically we're all fine. Emotionally, maybe not so much.
You see, we were robbed. Not the dramatic horrific kind of robbery, but the stealthy, sneaking.... words fail me. Someone we all knew and even liked robbed us. This person worked here (and is NOT pictured in the catalog! don't think it was any of those good people!!), and was stealing spinning wheels and other big ticket items and selling them for dirt on eBay. If you know somebody who got the deal of the century on eBay for a "new in the box" wheel or drum carder - it was stolen here.
The financial fallout of this has been really bad, but that only affects me. The emotional fallout affects everybody who knew this person, all of us who worked day in and day out, sharing bits of our lives, and jokes and the shared happenings of our day. We were betrayed. Not just once, but continually. At first we thought somebody had broken in - a one time thing. Turns out it was going on for much longer than we thought, and who knows how long it would have continued. So all those conversations about how could it have happened when we thought we were robbed - that this person participated in, and gave no inkling.... were you laughing all the while?
The good people that work here have pitched in with extra effort - showing up to see if we needed more help when they weren't scheduled, working extra hours, coming in last Sunday to get inventory done as fast as we could without being closed any longer than we had to. I guess it's part of the balance in the universe - the good trying to balance out the bad.
The bad still eats away at me, as it does everyone else here. But it's getting better, and it will continue to get better. The law will do what it needs to do with this person, and we will get on with our lives. Sadder but wiser?
Choices, it's all about choices.
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6 comments:
I was at the site and checking out some yarn and saw your blog link! I am so, so sorry that this happened. I hope things go better now that this person is gone. Karma will get them for sure!
Hi everyone! I just wanted to commiserate with you. I haven't been robbed by an employee, but we have had several prescious store models stolen by presumed customers, and every time it happens it shakes us up just like you were describing. It's so demoralizing thinking of someone in our knitting community walking out of our store intentionally not paying for someone else's hard work. Not to mention the bad karma associated with stealing something like a baby sweater. Anyway - so sorry that you have had to go through that.
Sarah Keller
Owner, Knot Another Hat
Hood River, OR
I, too, am sorry to hear about your "snake in the grass." I'm glad you know who it is, though, so they can get SOME measure of punishment! I'll have to drive over and do some shopping to help out your wonderful business....
I am so sorry to hear that, what an awful thing to have happen. I know how stressful getting things back in order can be- I don't have a store of any kind, but have been robbed the other way (9 months pregnant at the time too!) and it was miserable. It would be so much worse knowing the person and assuming friendship and trust. Yikes. All my best to you all! Chels
I have shopped at Woodland Woolworks for the past year, and love not only the products you have for us but the wonderful service and friendly folks that I always encounter. I do hope things get better for you, it must be true that sometimes bad things happen to good people... I wish you all the best, and thank you for being the great resource that you are.
As a customer of your on-line services I share in your outrage and sorrow. The theft is a violation that is hard to take but added to this the betrayal of someone you work with and you are hit hard. I am sorry. It would be easy to become suspicious of others because of this but resist!It is because of your caring that you have such a great little business! Most people will not treat you like this one greedy soul and because you are sharing your loss, we will all gain an appreciation for all that goes right in our lives. Thanks.
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