Like millions of other people, my holiday season was pretty trash.
It’s hard to be filled with gratitude and yuletide cheer when seasonal affective disorder won’t let you be great, your loved ones are nowhere to be found, or the financial strain of Christmas gifts burrowing into your bank account replaces your joy with suffocating dread.
Thankfully, there are people like Chicago Bears linebacker Khalil Mack, who instead of turning a blind eye to so many others wallowing in misery, made it a point to try to alleviate some of their financial burdens through his charity, The Khalil Mack Foundation. Though unfortunately, as Bleacher Report notes, his kindness made him susceptible to the ultimate betrayal:
A Walmart spokesperson said Tuesday that part of an $80,000 donation made by Chicago Bears pass-rusher Khalil Mack’s foundation to pay off customer layaways at a store in his hometown of Fort Pierce, Florida, was misused.
According to Catie Wegman of Treasure Coast Newspapers, Walmart spokesperson Delia Garcia said: “We have determined the store did not handle the transaction in keeping with Walmart’s guidelines and have taken corrective action.”
Per Wegman, Walmart held an internal investigation and found that after the Fort Pierce store’s layaways totaled only $60,000, store management allowed employees to use the remaining $20,000 to place items on layaway for themselves.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Instead of returning the leftover $20,000 to Mack or using it to help the less fortunate, these assholes kept the money and balled out on shower curtains and microwaves.
Garcia declined to reveal exactly how many employees and/or managers benefited from the ruse, but Walmart became privy to what transpired after an employee who was uninvolved in the spending spree brought it to the company’s attention. The company also noted that Mack’s generosity paid off the layaway accounts of 300 customers.
Walmart hasn’t said if anyone involved in the scandal was already disciplined or will be, but hopefully, Mack will hold any and all accountable to the full extent of the law for betraying his trust and taking complete advantage of his generosity.