Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Outcome of the Court Case involved the Dreaded Pixie Dust
Pixie Dust Caper Update
Current mood: indescribable
Category: News and Politics
Well... know that I have calmed down from yesterday, I can now post. Back in April, we had a young woman come into the shop with her boyfriend, and our wonderful Stretch (aka Mike) did his usual Happy Pixie Dusting on the young woman, after asking permission (we ALWAYS ask permission as not everyone wishes to be covered in glittered ;->), I heard her giggling from my desk which hovers on the mezzanine, after which he asked if she was feeling risque, and then sprinked pixie dust over her cleavage. Unfortunately Stretch didnt wait long enough for her NO to the Risque cleavage (delayed reaction while she tried to figure out what he meant). Then apparently he sprinkled her boyfriend pants for extra luck that night (slightly off color, but until that date NON of our customers had had any issues with the fun and goofiness. Before she left the store, she spoke with another one of our employees, saying that she didnt want to cause problems, but that Stretch's risque sprinkling had made her feel uncomfy. My husband then spoke with her, where she again re-iterated that she did not want to make a fuss, but that she was taken a bit aback at her 'extra' sprinkling. My husband apologized for her discomfort, and said that we would speak to Stretch (which we did). They then left. Later that day, she called back while I was unavailable. The THIRD time she called, I was back where I could take the call, at which time she said again she didnt want to make a fuss, but was unhappy with the way my employee had said that it was just "Stretch is like that" and that she didnt feel that Stretch would be punished enough. I told her that he had already be spoken to, that he would NOT be doing any more risque glittering, and that this would be written up and retained. THEN she said her mother wanted her to take the case to the magistrate if we did not fire him.
I do NOT take kindly to being told to fire my employees, especially when the incident didnt warrant it AND he had already been chastized and was thoroughly embarrassed by the whole thing. To which she said she intended to files charges, and I cut the conversation off.
The followin week, a poor embarrassed officer (who frequently shops in our store) had to come in and read the charges to Mike - and amazingly enough - the girl was claiming that he had reached into her shirt to grope her, and the guy was claiming that Mike had touched his crotch. UFB. So - we have been playing Wait for the Court Date ever since, and Yesterday was the Day.
Sadly - Mike lost the Judge Lottery, and pulled a judge that his lawyer thought would be VERY antagonistic towards the case, and that Mike ran the VERY real risk of getting the full punishment, which could have been as much as FIVE YEARS OF JAIL TIME for SPRINKLING GLITTER (okay - in THEIR version it would have been for simple assault, something that had NEVER happened as he never touched their bodies in the whole sprinkling procedure.
So - Mike, in order to end this, had to plea GUILTY (this SOOO sticks in my craw) to the charges. The only good news I see in this is that it means that all the charges and outcome are expunged from his record in one year, provided he gets into no more trouble. So... he is forbidden from glittery anyone over the age of 10 and under the age of 50 (our special friends are exempt and you know who you are). But this does leave the door open for other unpleasantness - which we will not even put a voice too.
In the interim, spread the word, over Live Journal, over any other networks you all might have. That someone was FALSELY accused of a crime, and had to plead guilty just to prevent an even GREATER miscarriage of justice, since it would be his word against the young woman, her boyfriend and her mother (who was not even present at the incident). Most importantly, I NEVER want to see ANY of the three of them cross the threshold of my store again (Mike is not permitted to have contact with any of them, and would have to go upstairs or in the back if they come into the store, something that won't work to well when he is the only person manning the shop - so I simply don't want them there. They have made our lives hellish for five months, and have lost the priviledge of coming into Esoterica. But what would make us even happier would be to have this all work in our favor - and some of that would be spreading the word about this stupid case ALL AROUND THE WORLD (and back again). Please include our web address - www.esotericaofleesburg.com - in anything you put out (links are good too, I just can't figure out how to do them - brain dead still). Let our revenge be of a positive nature, that we rise above this and make it work for us now. Hugs to all of you! And many many thanks for all of your positive thoughts and kind words over the past five months!
Current mood: indescribable
Category: News and Politics
Well... know that I have calmed down from yesterday, I can now post. Back in April, we had a young woman come into the shop with her boyfriend, and our wonderful Stretch (aka Mike) did his usual Happy Pixie Dusting on the young woman, after asking permission (we ALWAYS ask permission as not everyone wishes to be covered in glittered ;->), I heard her giggling from my desk which hovers on the mezzanine, after which he asked if she was feeling risque, and then sprinked pixie dust over her cleavage. Unfortunately Stretch didnt wait long enough for her NO to the Risque cleavage (delayed reaction while she tried to figure out what he meant). Then apparently he sprinkled her boyfriend pants for extra luck that night (slightly off color, but until that date NON of our customers had had any issues with the fun and goofiness. Before she left the store, she spoke with another one of our employees, saying that she didnt want to cause problems, but that Stretch's risque sprinkling had made her feel uncomfy. My husband then spoke with her, where she again re-iterated that she did not want to make a fuss, but that she was taken a bit aback at her 'extra' sprinkling. My husband apologized for her discomfort, and said that we would speak to Stretch (which we did). They then left. Later that day, she called back while I was unavailable. The THIRD time she called, I was back where I could take the call, at which time she said again she didnt want to make a fuss, but was unhappy with the way my employee had said that it was just "Stretch is like that" and that she didnt feel that Stretch would be punished enough. I told her that he had already be spoken to, that he would NOT be doing any more risque glittering, and that this would be written up and retained. THEN she said her mother wanted her to take the case to the magistrate if we did not fire him.
I do NOT take kindly to being told to fire my employees, especially when the incident didnt warrant it AND he had already been chastized and was thoroughly embarrassed by the whole thing. To which she said she intended to files charges, and I cut the conversation off.
The followin week, a poor embarrassed officer (who frequently shops in our store) had to come in and read the charges to Mike - and amazingly enough - the girl was claiming that he had reached into her shirt to grope her, and the guy was claiming that Mike had touched his crotch. UFB. So - we have been playing Wait for the Court Date ever since, and Yesterday was the Day.
Sadly - Mike lost the Judge Lottery, and pulled a judge that his lawyer thought would be VERY antagonistic towards the case, and that Mike ran the VERY real risk of getting the full punishment, which could have been as much as FIVE YEARS OF JAIL TIME for SPRINKLING GLITTER (okay - in THEIR version it would have been for simple assault, something that had NEVER happened as he never touched their bodies in the whole sprinkling procedure.
So - Mike, in order to end this, had to plea GUILTY (this SOOO sticks in my craw) to the charges. The only good news I see in this is that it means that all the charges and outcome are expunged from his record in one year, provided he gets into no more trouble. So... he is forbidden from glittery anyone over the age of 10 and under the age of 50 (our special friends are exempt and you know who you are). But this does leave the door open for other unpleasantness - which we will not even put a voice too.
In the interim, spread the word, over Live Journal, over any other networks you all might have. That someone was FALSELY accused of a crime, and had to plead guilty just to prevent an even GREATER miscarriage of justice, since it would be his word against the young woman, her boyfriend and her mother (who was not even present at the incident). Most importantly, I NEVER want to see ANY of the three of them cross the threshold of my store again (Mike is not permitted to have contact with any of them, and would have to go upstairs or in the back if they come into the store, something that won't work to well when he is the only person manning the shop - so I simply don't want them there. They have made our lives hellish for five months, and have lost the priviledge of coming into Esoterica. But what would make us even happier would be to have this all work in our favor - and some of that would be spreading the word about this stupid case ALL AROUND THE WORLD (and back again). Please include our web address - www.esotericaofleesburg.com - in anything you put out (links are good too, I just can't figure out how to do them - brain dead still). Let our revenge be of a positive nature, that we rise above this and make it work for us now. Hugs to all of you! And many many thanks for all of your positive thoughts and kind words over the past five months!
