When the employees of Diablo’s Southwest Grill in Augusta, Georgia came to work in the morning on April 3rd, they saw their glass front doors looking like a “hurricane.” It turned out, there was a break-in at around 4am at Diablo’s Wheeler Road location, news that would make any owner very upset.
But Carl Wallace, the owner of the place, saw it as an opportunity to help the potentially troubled stranger and offered him a job. “To the would-be robber who is clearly struggling with life decisions or having money issues... please swing by for a job application,” Carl wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page and immediately won the hearts of the internet.
Amassing 4.5k reactions and 4.9k shares, Diablo's may have lost their doors, but gained many new fans praising the staff for their unorthodox way of dealing with such an unpleasant situation.
Diablo's has won the internet for asking a troubled burglar who broke into their restaurant to swing by with a job application
Bored Panda reached out to Carl Wallace, the owner of Diablo’s Southwest Grill on Washington Rd, Augusta who recounted the incident and told us why he opted for such an unusual, strongly empathetic way of dealing with the break-in to his restaurant.
The owner of the restaurant Carl saw the break-in as an opportunity to help the person who's probably struggling financially
Image credits: Diablo's Southwest Grill
“My initial reaction was anger and frustration... typical emotional response anyone would have,” Carl said and added: “After my anger subsided, I kinda thought about it from a different perspective.”
“Because it was Easter weekend, my thoughts turned towards forgiveness. I then thought about how dangerous this was for the robber, he’s risking his life and in our case didn’t get 1 penny,” the owner of Diablo’s told us.
The security camera recorded the break-in which happened around 4am at Wheeler Road location, Augusta
Image credits: Diablo's Southwest Grill
“So I decided to make a post offering him a hand up in life vs the typical cycle that hasn’t worked in 200 years. Crime... jail time... harder to land a job because of a criminal record equals back to life of crime and the cycle repeats,” Carl explained his job offering.
Image credits: DiablosGrill
When asked if the employees have heard from the burglar, Carl said that unfortunately not yet, “although an anonymous tip has given us a lead in the case,” he added.
The restaurant owner also said that the employees at Diablo’s have been “amazed at the outpouring of love and support shown back to us from our local customers and all the texts, DMs, and phone calls of gratitude.”
Many people praised the Diablo's Grill owner for this unusual and humane move, which has become increasingly rare nowadays
