A restaurant owner in Georgia has gone viral for offering a man who vandalized his restaurant a job.
Carl Wallace is the owner of Diablo’s Southwest Grill in Augusta, Georgia. The restaurant was vandalized early Saturday morning when a man threw a brick through the glass front door, Wallace told Nexstar.
The vandal shook the cash register, realized it was empty and ran out within 45 seconds, Wallace said, citing security footage.
But what happens next in the story is unusual: Wallace invited the vandal to “please swing by for a job application,” in a now-viral Facebook post.
“There are better opportunities out there than this path you’ve chosen,” Wallace wrote, providing his personal cell phone number. “No police, no questions. Let’s sit down and talk about how we could help you and fix the road you’re on.”
He said he’s been blown away by the positive responses to the Facebook post.
“I wasn’t trying to go viral,” he said. “It was just a human response to a bad situation and doing a small part for a better world.”
Wallace said the typical response “would have been anger and frustration, wanting the person arrested.”
But he wanted to “extend some forgiveness and give the individual a road and path for redemption.”
Wallace said if the vandal is caught, he doesn’t intend to press charges.
Damage to the door cost the restaurant about $1,000. It was able to open for business that afternoon.