A family has newfound respect for the honesty of their community, the notorious gang-infested Jane and Finch neighborhood of Toronto, after their tire business was accidentally left unlocked for three hours after closing time Saturday.
Security cameras showed five different people wandering into Tires Tires Ltd. over a three hour period after Mrs. Catala forgot to set the alarm and lock the doors.
They could have stolen tires, batteries or high-end parts costing thousands, but no one took a thing.
College Students Find $40K in Couch, Get A+ for Honesty
The grateful store owner, Diego Catala, was not surprised by the community’s honesty, “When I was looking through the video footage of people coming into the store and then leaving I had faith that nobody was going to take anything.”
Finally, after 3 hours, Dennis Kenny, a 53-year-old resident who was laid off last October, entered the shop, and after waiting 20 minutes, suspected possible foul play. He flipped the door sign to “CLOSED” and called police.
“It’s a high density, low income, high stress neighborhood,” Mrs. Catala told the Toronto Sun. “Everyone’s struggling to put money together to pay their basics. But, we never have any trouble here.”
Even so, she’s going to remember to flip the sign to ‘closed’ before she leaves next time.
For being a good Samaritan Kenny, whose tires needed replacing, was reward with a free set priced at $800.
(WATCH the video or READ the story at the Toronto Sun)
Story tip from Diane Cunningham
There was a similar case a few years ago when three or four young, black men entered an unlocked convenience store. The “gangsta’s” have given young black men a bad–and undeserved–reputation as thugs and thieves. Expecting the worse the store owner was pleasantly surprised while reviewing the store’s security camera footage and saw that all of them paid for what they took (it’s a shame that Michael Brown wasn’t as honest as these men) and held up a sign to the camera saying “We paid for everything.”