Every single one of us has a different story. It is easy to judge other based on what we witness for a brief amount of time, but this is not what we should do.
Police Constable Andre Owen works for the Sussex Police, and on one particular day, his shift was proving to be one of the tough days.
He started the day at work at around 7:05 AM. He was having such a difficult day and almost did not get to have time to eat. At lunchtime, he finally had an opportunity to get food in his system so he went to the nearest Burger King to buy himself lunch.
Just like any other customer there, the policeman was patiently waiting for his food to arrive. It was at that moment when one woman decided to come up to him to say something that went along the lines of “whilst you’re in here stuffing your face, there are criminals that need catching out there.”
Police Constable Owens did not like what the woman said. He was tired and hungry, and he had to hear those words from her.
Although the man was not in a good mood after the incident, he decided to leave it at that and brought his food to the police car. He did not make any retort or answered back to the woman who easily judged a man in uniform only trying to get his lunch.
However, Police Constable Owens made sure that his side of the story is shared as well, and he did this by posting on his social media account.
“To the lady that scorned me for buying food on duty… I’ve not stopped since 7.05am this morning, not even for toilet break,” he wrote on his Twitter account.
His shift was not easy, especially on that particular day, and the unkind remark he got made it all even worse.
“I’m over 100 miles from my station and I’m due off in 45 minutes… with a two-hour journey at least! #policearehumantoo,” he shared further.
He started early on that day and he was called to a serious incident shortly after he clocked in. The incident was in Brighton which meant he had to go to oxford to take care of the matter.
After his visit to Oxford, Police Constable Owens drove back only to find another incident down the road. A family needed help at M23 and the officer had to stop traffic to get them to safety.
At the end of it all, he had 45 minutes left in his shift but he still had to drive back for two more hours.
In an interview with Mirror, the officer shared more information about the shaming he received from someone who did not even know who he was.
“A lady eating her own food, kept staring at me whilst I waited. I collected the food and as I left she said something similar to “whilst you’re in here stuffing your face, there’s criminals that need catching out there”, I smiled, and just walked away without saying a word,” he recounted.
It is sad that people are quick to judge without even bothering to really know the person they are trying to bring down. This police officer knew better than to retaliate and shame the woman at that very moment, but he did want the public to know that, as he said it, policemen are humans, too.
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