Six months of hell

Then began what I call my six months of hell.  We lost my mother at the beginning of 2007.  My father was devastated.  In fact, we were all shocked at how hard he took it.  He seemed to lose the will to live and withdrew into himself. 

I put myself forward again and travelled frequently between my home and his, working all day, then spending the evenings taking care of my father’s needs.  I immersed myself in his life and again, it shielded me from my own misery.

Then in March he rang me, very upset.  I had been on my way to bank the stores takings from the day before, but dropped everything to go and be with my father.  Stupidly, instead of locking the money back into the safe, I hid it in my bedroom, intending to deposit it the next day.

I rushed to my father’s side and in amongst all the upset, I completely forgot about the money.  I stayed with my father for a couple of days and helped him to reach a slightly better place, before returning home in the early hours of the next morning.

When I went to get the money to take it to be deposited, I discovered that some of it was missing.  I had no idea what I should do.  I had failed in my duty by not securing the money, so how did I now explain to my bosses what I had done.  I decided instead to stall until pay day, replace the money and deposit it.  That way no one would be any the wiser.

Little did I know that the finance department would pick up the fact that the money had not been deposited and would start questioning where it had gone.  The day before payday, I could no longer handle the pressure.  I phoned up my manager and confessed to what I had done.  I was suspended immediately, and dismissed two weeks later.  I didn’t even bother to try and defend myself, despite the fact I had caught the culprit and the majority of the money had been returned.