Perspective from a Small Business Owner

I wake up worrying. I go to sleep worrying. I get tense when the store is supposed to open. When I get that opening text alert in the morning I get a brief moment of relief - then it continues the rest of the day, always knowing in the back of my head that something may go wrong. What will it be this time? Will the computer system have a glitch? Will an angry customer leave us a bad review? Will something break? Will an employee steal inventory and cash? When we started the business, it was like a dream come true. Finally, we could be free to do what we wanted to do and know that our hard work was not only benefiting us with income but also contributing to the greater community in the form of jobs, taxes, expertise and specialty products.

Now, we are ruled by taxes. Everyone always says that the government works for us, but we pay them money on time every month, every three months, and every year and what do we get in return? An unresponsive and apathetic police force who treats us like we have done something wrong after we were victimized – twice (and people wonder why I'm an anarchist).

We are also at the mercy of our employees. Employees who we desperately need and who we are good to. No, we can’t offer comprehensive health care or a 401K, but we generally hire young people, give them responsibility and experience, and we pay them on time and above minimum wage. We work with our employees – we encourage them to go to school if that’s what they want. We allow for time off when we can make it work, and we have held jobs for expectant mothers who said they wanted to come back. We don’t impose insanely strict rules on them. In fact, we are pretty chill. We just want a couple of people who will show up when they say they will, be nice to our customers, and not steal from us. Pretty basic stuff. But this last year has been a nightmare. We have people apply, interview, accept the job, and then we never hear from them again, leaving us waiting on what was supposed to be their first day wondering if they got lost, got hit by a bus, or if they just decided we weren’t deserving of enough respect to be told that they changed their mind. We’ve hired people and have had them come in for one day before they call in sick their next three days due to a variety of creative reasons.

Then we had an employee who worked for us for almost a year. We gave her raises and bonuses. We gave her time off when requested. We trusted her with the keys to our stores. And what did she do? She stole inventory. She stole money, not only from us but from our customers as well. She involved her boyfriend and he stole from us as well. Then they sold the inventory. A double whammy because we lose the product and lose the sale of the product. And, as eluded to above, when we presented the video evidence of this occurring, as well as an audible confession, the police fail to act. What does this tell her and other thieves like her? It tells them that there are no consequences to their actions other than getting fired from a job that they must not have cared enough about to begin with. And they probably tell other people that they got away with it, and so they inspire others who find themselves with an opportunity for some fast cash.

Within a matter of days after firing the thief, the employee who recently came back from maternity leave put in her notice, called in the next day, and now is not responding to any of our messages. This leaves myself and my sister to work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, until we can find, train, and trust new people. This is how we are repaid for the risks we took to start the business. Not even enough respect to warrant a response, from employees or the police.

So now I’m bitter. I’m upset. I feel violated from the theft and I feel that my good nature has been taken advantage of. These events may sound small in the scope of much greater problems in the world, but this is my life and it matters to me. The government doesn’t care. People don’t care. I need my faith in humanity restored, and I fear that there just isn’t enough of it out there anymore for this to be possible. I hope someone can prove me wrong.