(Photo: Rocket News 24)
The shoplifter entered a Tesco supermarket in Burkit Mertajam, Malaysia. He was unemployed and his wife was comatose due to complications from childbirth. He was, in short, desperate.
He grabbed $6.68 worth of food and tried to slip out the door. But a manager caught him. Remarkably, the manager decided not to press charges. Instead, he offered the man a job. The Star reports:
The store’s general manager Radzuan Ma’asan, who interrogated the man, decided to take a different approach in dealing with the crime.
Warning him never to steal again, he offered the man a job at the store.
“The man’s situation really touched our hearts. We visited his relative’s house. It was so empty and poor,” he said yesterday.
Radzuan said his staff visited the man’s wife who is now out of coma. The baby however did not survive the birth complication.
Radzuan said the store had yet to decide what type of job to offer the man. “He was not a regular thief. When we questioned him, he immediately confessed, saying that he stole the fruits and drinks because his son was hungry.
“In my 23 years of experience in the retail line, I had never come across thieves who admitted their act so easily. Most would give all kinds of reasons. He also told us that he was unable to work as he has to look after his three children, aged two to seven.
“So, we decided not to lodge a police report as this was a genuine case of extreme poverty.
“For now, our priority is to ensure that he enrols his seven-year-old son in a school,” said Radzuan, who handed the man cash to cover his current expenses.
When I was 6 years old and grocery shopping with my mother, I saw a man slip a can of tuna into his pocket. I pointed him out to my mom and said that we should turn him in. "No, John. If he's stealing a can of tuna, then he really needs it." That was an important lesson.
-via Rocket News 24