Restaurant owner foregoes charges and offers job to robber instead

• Carl Wallace’s restaurant, Diablo’s Southwest Grill in Augusta, Georgia, was robbed.
• He was initially upset but later realized that the robber might just be in a bad place.
• Instead of pressing charges, he wanted to offer the robber a job.

Grace abounds.

This manifests through the life of Carl Wallace. His restaurant was robbed, but he chose not to press any charges, forgave the burglar, and even offered him a job.

His initial reaction over the break-in at Diablo’s Southwest Grill in Augusta, Georgia, was, of course, anger and frustration, he told TODAY Food. But as he was adding some humor to a Facebook post that will at least explain the damaged door, he had a realization.

“It really kind of occurred to me [that it’s] … Easter weekend and to just extend an olive branch,” he explained. “You know, extend the layer of forgiveness and kindness and give the … would-be robber some redemption and a different path.”

So, Carl’s supposed-to-be rant turned into a job offering for no other than the robber himself!

“Our burritos are such a smash hit we’ve got people breaking in at 4am for their fix. So if ya see our door looking hurricane fabulous at Wheeler Rd this is why,” Carl’s statement began.

“To the [would-be] robber who is clearly struggling with life decisions or having money issues… please swing by for a job application,” he continued. “There are better opportunities out there than this path you’ve chosen.”

The post continued, “No police, no questions. Let’s sit down and talk about how we could help you and fix the road you’re on. Sincerely Carl.”

Carl’s story inspired the world. Even outlets in Europe and Australia shared the forgiving post, and pastors from around the country supported his decision.

Carl said that he “kind of looked at it from the robber’s perspective.” He added that his company has always tried to help its employees with their goals.

Carl continued, “I would ask the robber: ‘What are your goals in life and is this putting you on the right path to achieve those goals?’”

Carl believes that having the robber pay for what he did would just make things worse for him. So, he decided to not press charges.

“Putting this person through incarceration to then get out to make it harder to find a good-paying job,” he explained. “It only makes it worse. … Even I feel that our system in life is broken sometimes for some people … We’ve been doing the same thing for 200 years and it’s not worked.”

“Maybe everybody should offer some kindness and a way to help the fellow person versus continuing to harm what is already broken,” he concluded.

Source: TODAY