Man, That's Messed Up!!!

[spudley112]

Running into an old coworker made me think of this.

Back when I worked for the Sheriff's office, my shift corporal and I did not get along too well. He had a bit of a Napoleon Complex and had a habit of snapping at subordinates in a disrespectful manner. Back then I was younger and was prone to put up with more than I would these days. Despite all this, I decided to keep trying to get along with him and lo and behold, we eventually became friendly then friends.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was sitting at the dinner table with he and his wife one night during our evening shift lunch break. Earlier that day his wife had been to the doctor because she had found a lump under her arm and they had taken a biopsy. Needless to say, we were all concerned. Unfortunately, it turned out to be bone cancer and further testing revealed the disease had progressed quite a bit. Even though the odds were not in her favor, she started chemo, but it did not help. She quickly started going downhill.

Knowing the bills were likely piling up, I proposed a benefit golf tournament in order to help out. At the time, one of the most popular DJs in the area was a really good friend of mine and, because the top stations were owned by the same company, they advertised the tournament on all the top area stations! Unfortunately, his wife passed away before we were able to have the charity event, but we went ahead in order to help him out. The day of the tournament, there were so many people that showed up, it caught us all off guard. People were reaching deep in their pockets and we collected an amazing amount of money.

Well, here is the kicker. Instead of using the money to pay the bills, Lance (guy in question) bought a new truck and a new motorcycle. Two weeks after his wife passed on, he was seen riding down the road on his new bike with his new girlfriend....TWO WEEKS! Turns out a large local church had already collected a great deal of money and had paid off the medical bill before she passed on (what was left that insurance did not cover) and he had decided not to tell us.

In contrast, we had a charity event the next year for an officer injured in a motorcycle accident and he only accepted the amount of money that would pay his bill and proposed the rest be put into a benefit fund for those that might need it.

After that event with Lance, I could not even talk to him. I just felt like it was pretty messed up what he did.

Share a story about someone that did something that was shocking, dumb, outrageous or...whatever.

[comis]

Sorry to hear that, I understand how people could be corrupted with power and money, but spending a large sum for the truck and bike with a new girl friend is just totally outrageous and disrepectful.

[Mechanickal]

Yuk...

[Chako]

I would be surprised if anyone has a more horrible story to share. Just wow! 

[styx]

yea that is terrible. but some people are unfortunately like that

[CarbideCruzer]

Just to preface, I am not claiming to agree with what this person did, not do I condone this either.  Personally I wouldn't have done this, but I also want to commend you for the kind act you and others did.  You had good intentions, as did others. 

Not that I am defending this person's actions, once he received that money that was voluntarily given to him, unless there was a legal stipulation on how he spend the money or other conditions, ultimately there is no recourse.  One can argue this may be a breach of "morality" or "ethics", but these can be subjective aspects and there may or may not be information that might be missing from this situation.   

Please do take this me berating you or anyone, as that is not my intention.  However, I've seen a massive amount of instances someone or a group of individual help someone, only for these people to be allegedly "taken to the cleaners" so to speak and or have a genuine situation as what you have mentioned, but not use the funds in a unconventional manner.  While I'd like to stress there are some genuinely good people out there with the best intentions, any time there is a financial element, a cautionary mindset is advisable.

At the end of the day, based on the information that you provided, you sought to help and others were wonderful to help as well.