When Jessica Eckford-Aguilera from the Newcastle Flower Markets in New South Wales, Australia, arrived at work last Tuesday, she was surprised to see that her delivery van was vandalized.
Someone had written large but rather unreadable letters on the van using black spray paint.
Now, what would you do if this happened to you? Most of us would be so angry at the vandal and want to put him/her in jail for the irresponsible action. After all, getting this fixed can cost you some money and this being a delivery van, it is important for Eckford-Aguilera’s business.
Delivering flowers for Newcastle Flower Markets using that vandalized van could also be quite bad for the business’ image; thus, Eckford-Aguilera has to get the markings removed ASAP. That could mean a few hours or days of down time for the van, depending on the shop she brings the car to. Sigh.
Instead of blowing her top and charging the vandal, however, Eckford-Aguilera had a rather unusual response that earned her the internet’s respect.
“We would also like to offer the offender this! If you are bored and have nothing else to do I would like to offer you a job at the Newcastle Flower Markets.
A job that will teach you responsibility, a job that will teach you to have respect for other people’s belongings and job that you will feel wanted and cared for.”
Can you believe that? Instead of charging the vandal, she’s offering him a second chance not just to redeem himself but to change his life.
The florist said that the job offer was genuine and that she really thought the offender was a kid or a teen but was surprised when it turned out to be an adult, who was arrested that same night for another police-related matter.
“There’s certainly been a little bit of negativity but I think at the end of the day if we can try make a change, it makes us all feel good. We’d be creating a job for this person, it’s about teaching him responsibility and it’s other people’s product that they need to take responsibility for.
We all get lost, everyone’s got a story to tell and I think that his life has been spiraling out of control for quite some time. I just want to put an olive branch out there and hopefully he takes it up,” she further explained.
For her unusual and admirable response to the vandalism, the store has since been flooded with orders – but had also received a lot of job applications from honest people looking for a job…
