You Don't Mess with Mama Bear!!
Now and then I might get a "blah" day when I either don't feel good because of my fibromyalgia, or I'm in a "devil-be-damned" mood where I just don't care about much. It's rare for me to have days when I just can't find some silver lining in the clouds, but today was just that. Thoroughly crappy.
Several weeks ago, my son, David, decided to buy a used computer from a friend of his. This friend also happens to be my former coworker and one of David's former teachers. He's a young guy hired right out of trade school to run the school's tech department. I have my own opinions on that, but anyway....I digress. Ed and I tried to discourage Dave from buying the used computer from this guy because it could get messy buying from a friend, and he stood a chance of getting burned. He's an adult, however, and as his parent, all I can do is advise. Since D is (was) a friend of Dave's, Dave wanted to give him a chance. The deal was done. Dave paid him $250 and D told Dave the computer came with free tech support and repair for the life of the machine. Dave brought it home, happy to have a school computer and at having saved money. It looked like one of the school's old laptops that D had either bought from the school or had been given when the school got new machines. D claimed it was his own personal laptop, and that he'd taken care of it. I was skeptical.
From the start, the computer was acting badly. Dave was confused because D had once had a reputation for being good with computers, which is how he came to be hired right out of school. (I, however, knew from working at the school that perhaps he wasn't as good as people thought because teachers were constantly having issues with their computers and projectors.) Anyway, Dave kept getting the "Blue Screen of Death" and began falling behind in his schoolwork so he took it back to D for repair. This happened twice; each time, D said it worked just fine for him, but he would look it over again. I know now he did not. He couldn't possibly have done anything to it because just as fast as Dave got it home each time, that "Blue Screen of Death" would pop up again. It can't work "fine" for the repair tech and immediately crash on the owner as soon as he walks it in the door.
Dave took the machine to D's workplace, handed it to him, and asked for a refund. D reassured him that he would get his $250 after he'd fixed the computer and resold it. Weeks went by. Each week, Dave checked in with D to see if he'd sold the computer and was ready to refund his money. No. Not surpringly as time went by, each time Dave tried checking in with D, he was harder to reach. Oh, yeah. You saw this coming. These past few days, Dave has tried every measure to get in touch with D, including calling the school. He was never available and would not answer any texts or messages on FaceBook.
Here we are today. I decide it's time to hop on FaceBook to try to get some help. Dave went there, too, and we discovered D happened to be there as well. Dave messaged D and, as usual, got no answer. I went to the Coldwater Exchange 2 page on FaceBook where D first posted the computer for sale. Dave went there, too, so he could send me the link to the post. Just as fast as he sent it, it disappeared. I didn't even get a chance to look at it. D deleted it. He knew we were there, and he knew what we were looking for. I was getting angrier with each passing moment. I messaged all four of the admins, explained the situation in full, and asked for their help. By this time, I was ready to lace into D like I'd never done to anyone before. He deliberately deceived my son and stole his money. No way am I down with that, and no way am I going to just let it happen.
We called the police. They refused to do anything, said they couldn't, and we'd have to file a claim in small claims court. I tried finding an attorney, including online. The online guy said he made several calls and no one would work pro bono on the case. Great. Small claims would've ended up costing Dave money because he not only had to pay to file and serve, it wasn't likely he could win because he had no paper with the purchase terms or a receipt for payment. I didn't want him to lose more money in this whole miserable ordeal. Ed's sister, Shannon, suggested Legal Aid, which I didn't know we had around here, and he might try that on Monday. It seemed like we had no recourse left, but this angry mama wasn't about to let it be.
I called the school. I don't believe they would be pleased to know one of their employees stole from one of their families. This kid handles one of the more expensive departments in the building! How do they know he isn't up to no good there? He is on FaceBook during the day when he should be working. That was evidenced today when he showed up at FaceBook this afternoon to destroy evidence of the sale. The principal was gone to a meeting, but I left a voicemail with a brief description of what had transpired and a phone number for her to call me. I'm still waiting to hear from her...it might be Monday before she can get back to me. I fully expect the shit to hit the fan here. Whereas we got no justice from the legal system, I feel fairly confident we'll get it here. Even if we don't get our money back, if he gets fired for stealing from a school family, that's good enough for me. He will end up losing a lot more than $250, and it'll be just payback for his crime.
Dave and I didn't want it to end up like this. All he wanted was his money back, and he simply kept making an honest attempt to get a refund for a faulty machine. Instead he was repaid with the grief of dealing with a selfish little boy who stole his money and refused to give it back. We had hoped not to be greeted with this kind of kindergarten behavior, but it happened. Big surprise.
Some of the money Dave was due was supposed to come to me because I'd helped him with financial arrangements. Now that we're out the money, I don't have a way to pay for the state exam I need for my new job. Dave has some money that he was saving because he desperately needs to go to driver's training and buy a car. The money was earmarked for that, and that alone. It was not to be touched for anything else. Now he insists on using a little bit of it to pay for my test. If I was in a position to say no, I certainly would, but I have to take it. There's no other way for me to keep my job. It's all so infuriating. One simple crime that starts with one victim has a huge ripple effect on a whole family. The stress alone on all of us has been unreal.
So there you have it. We are writing off the $250 and hoping this guy loses his job. I hope it takes a long time for him to find another one, too. The Coldwater Exchange 2 page has removed him and banned him, but there are a lot of other exchanges around. I'm half tempted to go to each of them and leave a warning like I did on Coldwater Exchange 2. No one needs to be subjected to this kid's lies and his thieving.