Off the current topics...
So I was telling someone at work about this person that was parallel superior to me. Ran the IT education school; I worked in the IT support services part. Smaller company, maybe 50 or 60 people? So we all ran into each other all the time. I really didn't like her at all, she was unpleasant to me, but I figured it was just me.
Anyway the person made a lot of money, being the head of the education arm, and I figured she was super successful, and that's why she never said anything good to me.
Then, after some .com acquisitions/etc, the person bought the education school with one or two other people. I resigned for greener pastures. But the crew kept in touch via a mailing list.
One year, maybe 2-3 years after we all left the company, someone posted that this woman lost her husband and that it was really awkward. Ends up that on his daughter's birthday he went out to "get another present", went to a nearby bank, robbed it (put the cash in a birthday bag?), got pursued, and drove off a dock and drowned (the New York Post headline says "Sank Robber" instead of "Bank Robber"). As the articles say, after the whole chase thing they went to his residence. There was a woman on the porch of the house where he lived, crying, and she declined comment.
So, yeah, awkward. I figured he was just trying to hold up a facade of successful upper middle class life or something, but maybe she was an innocent in the picture.
I Googled her name to try and figure out his name so I could find the bank robbery details (different last names, she got married while I worked at the company, I only remembered her maiden name).
To my surprise all the Google hits were about when she got arrested for stealing money from the PTA about 6 years after the bank robbery. Apparently she was in charge of some of the finances and money disappeared for a while. She used part of the money to pay for her daughter's American Girl birthday party. She was found guilty about a year later.
So... yeah. I can't imagine living like that. Thinking the facade is so important.
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