Karma: just one of the many ways to distract yourself from the reality that things don’t line up like they should. The good die young, the rich get richer, the have-nots never have what the haves have. And so some people believe that the universe will eventually balance itself out.

Today’s story?

Basically a girl at work took some difficult shifts for another employee. That employee apparently wouldn’t take anyone else’s shifts even though she said she would help out if someone needed it. She also, apparently, tries to find someone to work for her at the last minute for the dumbest reasons; such as “movie Tuesdays.”

So the girl worked for this other employee, but that employee never took any of her shifts because she’s “busy.” (The “busy” part IS debatable, but I’ll never really know…)

Now, that employee needs someone to work for her, and this girl? She’s not gonna do it.

Why?

Karma

But not really.

You see, the idea behind Karma is basically that “the universe” or some unknown, higher power makes sure that you get what you deserve. If you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. If you do good things, then good things will happen to you.

This is not Karma.

This girl is just being a jerk. She knows she can work for her fellow employee. She probably would take the shift if it was anyone else. But she’s purposefully not taking the shift simply because she’s upset with that employee.

Now you might say, “sounds like Karma to me. The employee took advantage of people, never returned the favor, and now she’s getting what she deserves.”

Well, you’re wrong. And to make this post longer I’ll tell you why.

The employee says, “work for me and I’ll work for you sometime.”

You say, “sure, no problem.”

Then you need someone to work for you one day. So you ask your fellow employee. However, she says she can’t work for you.

It could be legit. People have lives outside of work. Think about all the other people who could have worked for her in the first place, and how many people legitimately had other stuff going on. It’s not mean or rude of her if she doesn’t take your shift the first time you ask her. It’s rude of you to expect her to.

Now, let’s say this happens four more times. You need someone to cover your shift, but she appologizes and says she is busy. At this point even I would be understandably upset. However you need to consider one thing: if Karma applies to her, then it applies to you, too.

So you have two options: forgiveness, or vindictiveness.

You can forgive her each time, understanding that she might just be busy every time you ask (or at least as busy as any of the other teenagers who work this job). You can forgive her knowing that she never meant to work one of your shifts if you needed her to. And you should forgive her, because it’s the nice thing to do. Forgiveness provides peace to your own soul. You don’t ever have to work for her again, although you should if you are able to. This will show that you forgive her, but also show that you are above petty little arguments which, in the long run, have no purpose other than causing emotional stress. You should get good, positive Karma from forgiveness.

Or

You could be vindictive. You can be mad at her. You can take this anger and focus it into talking about her behind her back. You can turn other employees against her. You can spread fibs or stretch the truth about her reasons for needing the day off. You can deny her requests and get other employees to deny her requests as well. And while it seems like, maybe, the Universe chose you to “stand up to her” in reality you’re just being a jerk. You are purposely being mean to another person. This anger you have towards her might cause others to become angry with her. It will drive other people to hate her. You might also deny her requests off (or cause others to deny her requests off) when she has a perfectly legitimate reason for needing the day off. You could ruin her life (which at this point is all relative as they’re all teenagers). And more importantly, you could be ruining your own life. Just how do you think it looks to other people when you go around badmouthing this girl? How do people begin to see you? Maybe a guy hears you talking about this girl and thinks about the time he asked someone to work for him so he could go to the lake with his buddies. If you talk about this girl when she’s not around, do you talk about him as well? Perhaps the managers will begin to think you just talk like this about anyone you don’t particularly care for. Especially if this isn’t the only person you are vindictive towards. They could decide that the negativity you’re spreading isn’t good for morale. You could possibly be reprimanded, suspended, or even fired. All simply because you couldn’t let it go. You had to teach this girl a lesson.

You claim it’s Karma. But in fact, it was you.

And if Karma is real, what do you think is coming for you?

-Diggs out

P.S. – I don’t believe in Karma. There’s too many people who never get what they deserve. I believe that one day God will judge us. He’ll take care of those who were genuinely good people. And He’ll also take care of the bad people. Both with forgiveness, if they choose to accept it.