Monica and the Rest Who Deserve a Second Chance

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you have read this week of the continued confessions of Monica Lewinsky. 16 years later we didn’t really need a confession. We know the facts and have all had to sit back and decide to whom to give the blame. Does a 22-year-old intern lose all her personal credibility for having sex with the President of the United States or do we forgive him for his confessional weakness after the first part; deny, deny, deny? I ask this because I believe that unless you are a child molester you deserve another chance.

I remember a handyman my husband hired at one time and during his tenure fixing our house whispered to me that he had served time on Alcatraz. I was so jazzed to talk to a real killer from Alcatraz that it did not occur to me that we were part of his second chance. He was bright, competent, full of stories, and I’m still here. He got his second chance.

Which brings me to the crux of this blog. I have a client, 26, beautiful, smart. She held a job handling insurance and all paperwork for a dental company for some years and then made a mistake; she’ll admit a big mistake. When her credit rating hit bottom because she had maxed out a few credit cards, she “borrowed” money from her company. As she was in charge of in-house funds, she thought she could quickly repay the fund without getting caught. Well, that was not the case. She was booked on a felony for stealing money, served months in prison, did hours of community service and took the various assigned courses. Her family refused to support her during and after the debacle. She was broke and homeless when she got out of prison. Her cousins, who had formerly taken care of her as a child when her parents split from each other and then Mom split from her, also refused any assistance. She hitched a ride to LA with a guy expecting “friendship” in return and had no choice but to stay with him until she could talk her way into a job and get out. She did get a job, earned enough to rescue herself. She also found a great and caring boyfriend. But no one will give her a chance at a job she knows well. At her job, she is a pro. She has gone on interviews and been asked back for a day of trial work. She is always told how competent she is and how impressed they are that she can just jump right in. In all her meetings she let the elephant into the room and admitted to her past indiscretion and the dues she was forced to pay. Even with that knowledge she had been brought back for a try out. And then again and again, the top dogs said she was too much of a risk to take on in the business.

She didn’t have sex with a president or kill anyone. She did not molest children or beat up her dead-beat mother. She pulled her life together and asked only that someone give her a chance. She offered to have the company hold her first few paychecks for security, but to a tee, all said no. Since when did the dental world get to put the bite on someone trying to right herself?

If we forgive Bill Clinton and Monica and every other politician, banker, plumber, car repair guy who may have deceived us or ripped us off, why not this woman? She deserves a second chance and I will stake my own career on her honesty and a lesson well learned.

Got a dental or medical practice in need of a top-notch bookkeeper? Let me know because while out of the scope of my practice, I cannot bare the injustices of others on any of us.