When Nobody Was Looking
It happened after store hours last month in
Wayne, New Jersey. Four football players - three black and one white - came
into a Buddy's Small Lots and started shopping. Then it dawned on them that
there was no clerk. With such easy pickings, surveillance cameras rather than
human eyes tell what they did.
They found the items they were searching for
and started for the door. But they weren't making a run for it. Quite the
contrary! They stopped at the checkout counter, calculated the total of their
items, and pulled out $5.80 from their pockets - the total for the items, plus
tax. Still with no one in sight, one of them turned to a prominent
surveillance camera over the cash register, waved the money at the camera, and
laid it on the counter.
"We were down there for ten minutes,
looking for someone," one later reported. "We thought everybody was
in the back on break." Then the four young men left the store and headed
for football practice at William Paterson University.
The episode was soon reported on News 12 New
Jersey, and the video of their after-hours honesty went viral. Then the
story was picked up by several news outlets.
You see, the store was supposed to be closed
and locked. But the door lock apparently malfunctioned. Consistent with store
policy, lights had been left on inside for the sake of security. So four guys
looking to purchase something had walked through an unlocked door into a
lighted store building. They assumed it was open for business - and could have
tried to take advantage of the situation.
By the way, before heading to practice, they
went next door and reported to an all-night pharmacy that Buddy's appeared
abandoned, although the door was unlocked and open. The police were called and
the "burglary" was investigated. But the store's surveillance camera
had caught a case of honesty instead!
When the young men were identified, Buddy's
operations manager called their coach and asked to meet them. "We thought
we were definitely in trouble!" said one. He wondered if they had
committed a crime by going into a building that was supposed to be closed for
business. The caller, Marci Lederman, just wanted to compliment and thank the
four - and give them some gift certificates.
In a time of steroids in sports, murder by
bored athletes, and on-the-field brawls, a story about character and integrity
should make us feel good. So thanks to Jelani Bruce, Anthony Biondi, Thomas
James, and Kell'E Gallimore for reminding us that honesty really is the best
policy. The only right policy.
Your reputation is merely what others think
of you; your character is what you do
when you think nobody is looking.
Rubel Shelly
Preacher and
Professor of Religion and Philosophy
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