Secrets.... continued

So, to pick up where I left off... the woman  who has just sat down next to me on the commuter train that I was trying to ignore is sobbing and I just gave her a tissue.... this is when the torrid tale begins. She was being blackmailed by her boss?!! WTH?!... and it wasn't for money, it was for sex!!

She worked  as a bookkeeper and payroll clerk for one of the Leading Law firms in not only the Bay area, but in the entire state of California. The person who was blackmailing her was the office manager. Why was he blackmailing her.... because he found out she was daily skimming small amounts of money, which on a monthly basis, would add up to approximately $5,500-$6,000, which in all actuality doubled her monthly income. So, I asked her why was she stealing money, what did she need it for, did she have a drug problem, how long had she been doing it, and how did she get busted?

Well, once she had been flooded with all my questions, I guess you assumed I was really concerned, because she had stopped crying while she proceeded to give me the answers. She said....

It had all started about a year and a half prior when her husband had been  abruptly laid-off. They had immediately gone into shock, because like most of us they were living from check to check and beyond their means. In addition, their mortgage was $3,800/mo., Monthly notes for two Mercedes & a Minivan  totaling $1,800 and not including basic essentials like Utilities, Food, Gas & Clothing, plus three children in private school, His $1,500 Unemployment Insurance check was a mere drop in the bucket. The first time she stole money, it had literally fallen in her lap.

She had just come back from having minor surgery when she opened the petty cash drawer where it was not suppose to be more than $250. While on leave for a couple of weeks, a few persons had paid cash for consultations and no one really knew what to do with it. Not only was there no record of this money, but there was over $4,400. She said, she had convinced herself that this was just a loan. She was just going to subtract $250 from the amount and placed it back into the drawer and she would pay her house note and stock up on Groceries and household items, but she would pay it all back when she got paid next week... But you know when next week came there was a different story!!

"Secrets!'

My Granny use to say, "A secret aint a secret if you tell somebody!"
How true is that... and why are some secrets so...so.... that we just have to tell someone?! Though I'm human and have slipped a few times, I am a good holder of secrets for a few reasons. So, many of the people who bared their very souls to me were virtually strangers. So I did not know anyone they knew and vice versa (most of the time), so I could tell my friends & family and none was the wiser. Yet, nine times out of ten, I always changed names to protect the innocent and sometimes ignorant.
In my description, I referred to a lot of my secrets came to me while working as a Bartender, however many secrets were told to me on the train going to and from work; as a Stylist; as a Wedding/Special Events Planner; as an Administrative Assistant for a very prominent Beverly Hills Doctor; as a  Manager of a High-end Women's Clothing Store; as a Personal Trainer for a popular Gym chain and as a Neighbor, Friend and Fellow dog walker.... 
In around 2000, I was on the train tired, pretending to read, when this very conservatively dressed, soft spoken, average looking, middle-aged white woman sat next to me & began to cry. I tried my damnedest to ignore her, but when she began to sob profusely, I offered her a tissue and she began the  49 minute explanation of the awful trouble she was in due to the tangled web  she had woven.... 
Stay tuned for the great secrets that were meant to never be told, begin to unfold.....