What Were You Thinking?

Sometimes, if you address the elephant in the room, you can get some pretty interesting information.

I did a road test awhile back for a guy named Billy who had recently been released from incarceration after 12 years.  Billy told me he was sent to prison because he robbed a bank.  "That's interesting" I said (its not everyday you run into a bank robber), "Tell me about it."

Billy relates his story about borrowing money from his dad to buy a car and then falling behind on payments. Embarrassed, without any available funds and not knowing what else to do he walked into a bank and told the clerk he needed her to give him $5000.

Billy says that he was not armed but apparently bank clerks are instructed for their own safety to give robbers what they ask for and so she gave him everything in the cash drawer, which amounted to about $2200.  He took the money, walked out the bank, got caught right away, appeared before a judge and despite having no priors and not being armed was sentenced to prison.  Billy was released in November.

"What were you thinking?" I said to Billy.  "Didn't you occur to you that you might get caught?"

Billy replies; "Every morning for twelve years I got up, kicked myself in the rear and asked myself the same question. How could I have been so stupid?"