A friend of a friend may be getting fired soon. The words ‘getting fired’ leave me squirming in my seat. Yes, I may not have the best job in the entire job, but I am thankful every day that I have a job. To be able to go to a place I call office, work some hours and get paid at the end of the month. To have that stability in my life.
This friend of a friend, wanted to withdraw money from the ATM in my office building. When he got to the machine, he found that the previous person had left their card inside the machine. Usually, some of us would cancel the last transaction and return the card to the nearest security.
Except for this friend of a friend. He withdrew money from that card, a total of five million (the maximum amount that can be withdrawn in one day), before making transaction with his own card.
Stupid? Maybe. Careless? For sure.
To his advantage (at first), the hidden camera at the ATM machine didn’t catch his face. When played back, it showed only his chest and the clothes he was wearing. Then, of course he had to go use his own ATM, as if the five million he just withdrew wasn’t enough for him to spend on self-help books preferably titled “How To Steal Effectively And Avoid Stupid Mistakes Like Getting Caught Just Minutes After”. The ATM machine recorded his transactions using his ATM card, with his data, all the while the camera recording the same person for the two transactions with different cards.
Turns out the card he stole money from, belongs to someone working in the HR department. Uh huh. He was called for questioning the day after and confessed to everything. His manager tried to defend him, but the Higher-Ups would hear none of it and decided that he must be fired.
Five million in exchange for his job.
This friend of a friend is not exactly the type of guy you would automatically assume stealing money. In fact, he’s rather quiet, graduated from a prestigious university, smart, most of the time he just keeps to himself. I hear he is supporting his family, sending his monthly take home pay to his parents and younger siblings, putting them through school. Sometime last month during lunch, I overheard him complain a little about not being able to buy new pants, since he doesn’t have any money. And someone told him, “Memang baik elo selalu mau bantuin keluarga lo. Tapi lo perlu perhatiin diri lo sendiri. Misalnya nih, tiap lo beli baju untuk adek lo 5 kali, lo beli baju buat diri lo sekali. Begitu juga dengan uang. Lo bantu orang tua lo sekian, lo sisain dikit buat lo sekian.” He listened, but didn’t say anything.
I kept going back to that conversation a month ago, and I couldn’t help but wonder. Could that be the reason? It doesn’t justify his stealing. But maybe I understand why he stole, a little. You know that longing feeling of always wanting or needing something but you just can’t get it. Not because you don’t want to, because circumstances force you to. Then suddenly there is this opportunity, this stack of money right in front of your eyes, it seems almost surreal. You sorta forget everything. You forget that you’re educated, that you don’t steal, that you might get caught, that you could lose your job. You just get greedy. You fill in this empty space in your soul for not being able to buy things. For working your ass off but not having the freedom to enjoy your income.
It hurts me to see this still happen. To some us. To this friend of a friend. That sometimes, it just takes seconds, for us to lose our common senses and give in to our weakness.
