I sit here a bit disappointed in what our system has come to. There's very little left to subjectivity anymore, especially from a corporate view point. There's simply too much fear of political or legal backlash if things aren't "fair" to some people. So, rules become strictly black and white with very little left to discretion. I've now been in retail for a bit over 9 years and just recently received an offer for a position at Bank of America. I was so excited to be finally getting out of retail. I think that line of work has hardened me to the point where the humane side of my being is dissipating. That is not something that I am proud of, but it's what it's become. But, things have a way of getting int he way of my progress. Every single time. "Heartbroken" at now knowing that I will remain in retail for an indefinite time is probably the best way to describe it. Like I'm stuck.
I received a phone call followed by a letter from Bank of America indicating that I was not eligible for hire because my background check had returned unsatisfactory. After the phone call, I was utterly taken aback because I knew in my heart that I had nothing on my criminal record. I could do nothing but wait until the letter arrived. At that point, I would receive instructions on how to dispute the results.
Patiently, I waited for this letter to arrive and as promised, it came in the mail yesterday. In underlined text, I was informed that simply being dissatisfied with the results did not justify initiating an appeal. Included with the packet was a copy of the requested Rap Sheet from the FBI. One lone charge appeared on there and one that I had long since forgotten about. It was dated October 29, 1994. Seventeen years ago.
The incident immediately came rushing back to me as if it had just happened. I can see everything...the angle of the Sun on the buildings, the approximate hour, what I was doing prior and just after. It was an exceptionally awkward time in my life (there have been many). Just a couple months prior, I had turned 18 and adulthood thus far had not been very kind to me. One week before my birthday, my father stood on the stairs as I was opening the door to go to work and said "you have a week to find a place to live." Being the stubborn 17 year old that I was, I replied with "don't bother waiting the week out." I called into work, packed everything I could into 2 large cardboard boxes and loaded them into the backseat of my 1982 Toyota Tercel.
I bounced around for a few days at different people's houses. Just sleeping there. I spent the majority of my days working or finding other things to do because I didn't want to be in anyone's way in their homes. It was around the time when my peers were preparing for high school graduation. I would not be joining them since I made the mistake of telling an inappropriate joke in front of a teacher. Because of that, I had been suspended the 3 days of our final exams, thereby disqualifying me from graduating on May 27th. Once they graduated, I really had no place to stay. Nobody wanted some kid in their house while their own kid was away for Senior trip.
I was a bit too proud to tell many people what was going on in my life at that point. Therefore, I had not asked anyone else to stay with them. Instead, I found a gravel parking lot at a wildlife refuge and slept there at night, on the gravel (the boxes in my back seat would not allow my front seats to recline). My dad had not yet taken me off the family's gym membership so I could drive there to take showers before work. But I was still just lonely.
After a couple weeks of that, my closest friend Steve asked his parents to let me stay there until I left for boot camp. They agreed under the condition that I pay them $20 per week for rent. I though that was fair and I was so thankful for that. I started Summer School to make up for the semester that I failed and was still holding a part time evening job so I could pay my rent. I was scheduled to go to Marine Corps boot camp at the beginning of August (after both sessions of Summer School had passed) so I at least had a finite time period. However, things changed yet again.
My friend Steve wasn't scheduled for boot camp until mid-November of 1994. He got a call one day in late June/early July from our recruiter asking him if he could go...tomorrow. Well, being an eager young lad, he said that he could leave the next day and so he did. This left me once again in an awkward spot...living with someone else's parents. I felt out of place and panicked.
Steve had a neighbor. Single woman in her late 40's who had a den that wasn't being used for much. She asked for me to stay with her and offered me her den in exchange for performing all the yard work and other miscellaneous chores. This felt much better for some reason. It was a favor but it didn't feel like one to me. But, as history is the best indicator of the future, I was asked to leave. I'm fairly certain this had something to do with the fact that I had been fooling around with one of her friends but she never really told me so that's merely a guess.
By this time, I had been kicked out of Summer School for smoking (a bad habit I picked up in all of this mess), had enrolled in The Center School (an adult high school in Knoxville, TN), and had found a job through a temp agency at Anderson News Company, a baseball card distributor. I was in charge of creating UPS shipments to Canadian Wal-Marts. I was so efficient at that position that managers from UPS came by one day to watch me work to figure out how I was getting things done so quickly and accurately. I didn't make that much money from that. I was broke most of the time. The downside of working so fast was that I ran out of work to do, thereby reducing my hours.
The oil light in my car had been on for about 6 days. I was driving on my way to get my check and I was prioritizing the oil issue. About halfway there, the engine blew. There I was, stuck on I-640 (The I-40 bypass in Knoxville), under an overpass with no money. I knew right then that I wouldn't be able to afford the repair costs for the car. This also meant that I would no longer have that job.
My uncle offered to let me move in with him. I don't think he really knew what had all gone down over the last couple months. But he was there for me then and always has been. I even found out years later that he had been in the process of moving to Sumter SC but held back so he could provide me a home until boot camp. From his house, I would ride my bicycle to school so I could finish my High School Diploma. The Marines weren't accepting GED's at the time so I was driven to finish actual high school. This is what all set my little indiscretion in motion.
I was riding my bike to school one morning, still very broke and with no job, but I still had the smoking habit. I stopped at a Kroger on Broadway on my way and went inside with the intent to steal a pack of Marlboro 25's. never made it out of the store, which in hindsight I should have denied my intent because I was technically still within the store. But aside from this incident, I'm too honest and open to have denied it anyway. The fine for this was $162.50 and my recruiter paid it for me because I was so close to leaving for boot camp and I was his first recruit.
So there it is. Larceny. Sure it was wrong but I was a kid really. A kid going through some rough times and no real avenue in which to deal with things on a mature level. But my background? Heh. No Bank of America. This is not my background. This was an isolated incident in my very distant past.
Since that time, I made it through boot camp even though my father verbally expressed that he didn't think I would even make it through. I've seen the world through the window of a helicopter and sometimes down the barrel of a .50 caliber machine gun. I watched a 19 year old fellow Marine take a broken crane hook to the shoulder so hard it knocked the femur out of his leg. Yeah... try to picture that. Then stayed behind with him to help feed and bathe him since he was now a paraplegic. I've helped build homes for victims of natural disasters. I've contributed to helping homeless veterans seek shelter, medical, dental, and legal services annually. I was recognized by the city of Glendale, AZ as the volunteer of the quarter in Q2 of 2006 when I was volunteering as an EMT and crisis counselor to the Glendale Fire Department. I worked my way up to a sales management position with a respected company and brought a team of professionals from net losses to being one of the best in the organization. Hell, I was even recognized several times through various recognition programs for my efforts as a manager. I've since earned my B.S. from Arizona State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude, through their honors program, making the Dean's List every semester, while maintaining my professional excellence and running a family. Most importantly, I've married the woman of my dreams and have been raising 4 beautiful children with her. We teach them right from wrong and maintain a conservative approach to our lifestyle. Yes, even stealing is forbidden in our house.
I've never shared this story in so much detail. Come to think of it, I've never shared it at all. This is not because I am or ever was ashamed of it. It's because it's because that single act is so insignificant to how my life has shaped up so far that I never felt the need to bring it up. I'd even mostly forgotten about it until now. Everyone has their problems and most have endured things similar, worse, or better than the things I've described here. The point of all of this is not to make a sob story nor is it a plea for reconsideration. What point does it serve then? Well, I've always believed in a little transparency.
Larceny.
While you may have that word on a slip of paper from somewhere, you have no idea my background at all. Bank of America. Are you really "of America"?
Semper Fidelis,
Mikel J. Branch, Sgt. of Marines
Father
Husband
Veteran
Scholar
Professional
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