Length can't keep himself out of trouble. Seven years ago, he was a legitimate Division I basketball prospect as a high school sophomore. Length had all the ingredients that were necessary to get to that level. He was 6'5 with long arms and ridiculous athleticism. The boy could fly. He could also handle the ball pretty well at his size. Length had one major barrier facing him, however; he wasn't very bright.
By all accounts, he was a brick in the classroom. Somehow he had gotten to the tenth grade without being able to read, or complete any sort of writing assignment. The basketball thing ultimately fell through because he couldn't maintain a 70 grade point average to play. It wasn't long before Length dropped out of school altogether.
I ran into Length many years later at the mall. He had gotten a job at Olympia Sports. We spoke about the possibility of him playing for me, and he expressed an interest in doing so. The only problem was that he couldn't pass the GED exam. With that obstacle standing in the way, Length resigned himself to being a sales clerk at Olympia.
After that conversation, I connected with some people in the GED prep world to see if I could help Length get over that hump. One of the local GED preparation programs had an open seat. All Length needed to do was call my contact and he was good to go. Prior to passing on the information, I decided to run a Google search on Length to see if he had been involved in any funny business. I didn't want to recommend somebody who would ultimately cause problems. Sadly, my search turned up a disturbing trend of arrests for larceny.
I decided to talk to Length about everything rather than just write him off. It seemed unfair for me to pull the plug on him without a conversation. After work one night, I decided to drop by Olympia so we could talk. I approached one of the sales representatives, who happened to be a former student at my alma mater, to ask for Length.
Me: Is Length working tonight?
Clerk: No. He doesn't work here anymore.
Me: What? Since when?
Clerk: Like last week.
Me: Did he quit? I'm trying to get a hold of him about something important.
Clerk: No. He didn't quit. He got caught stealing.
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