The Thief Among us

So I go into my favorite little gas station/variety store this morning and I see the owner behind the counter. He and I are on a first name basis and we exchange pleasantries. After a few moments of this and that, I ask him where "Bobby" is?

Now "Bobby" is the regular attendant who, for the past 5-6 years, has been faithfully behind the counter at the convenience stop. Close to my home, the gas/convenience store is a place that my entire family uses for gas, lotto, scratch tickets, milk, eggs, etc. on our way to and from home.  "Bobby" if you remember, was the guy that told me the story of what turned out to be one of The Daily Dandy's most popular posts entitled, "Desperately Dirty Housewives." We knew about his new baby, his wife and I even knew him before he got married three years ago, when he was a single guy looking for fun.

So, this morning, it was a natural response to walk into the store and inquire about "Bobby." The owner of the shop replies, "Bobby" stole a large sum of money from my safe, lottery tickets and cash from the register and fled the country."

"Huh?" I blinked. More than once.

"Are you kidding me?" I said. He wasn't kidding. A couple of days ago "Bobby" never showed up for work. The owner called all over looking for him. He called his wife, his friends but no one knew where "Bobby" was. Then, hours later the owner got a call on his cell phone from a strange number. He answered it and it was "Bobby" who was rude and told him that he stole money and that he was in another country and that he was never coming back.

"It was almost like a F-you, you suck," the store owner said. "Thanks for everything."

He then told me that he had taken....get this, the CUSTOMERS for money. What? I couldn't believe it so I questioned him further. He told me that "Bobby" turned on the water works and gave an Oscar worthy, good guy, down on his luck, performance to some of the regulars. "So are you saying they just, like, cut him a check, right there on the spot?" I asked.

Evidently people are that stupid, or generous, or whatever you want to call it. I can't say I might not have fallen for it if he had asked me, because "Bobby" was someone I felt like I knew. In a small way, yet I thought I knew who he was, enough to believe him if he said he was in trouble. That's the thing, you think you know someone and then you find out you don't know them at all.

So here's the question:
Does that make you stupid?
or
Does that make the other person a deviant genius?

I've often posed that question to myself.