We have all called in sick before, right? Some days, you just can’t go in. Taking a mental health day is real, and beneficial!
Sometimes you go in, but just aren’t feeling it. I’ve been there more times than I can remember. You look at the clock and it taunts you. Your mind wanders and you start asking yourself questions.
Questions like, ‘what if I just leave? Will anyone notice’?
Or maybe you daydream about a fire or a bomb threat, or a gas leak. Nothing real of course, I’m not a sociopath, but just an idle threat from a disgruntled ex-employee to get half a day off work.
We don’t all get to do a job we love like I am right now. No, sometimes we just have to get out a little early. Sometimes you just need an extra half hour head start on your evening.
However, one Chicago security guard found out the hard way that you have to be careful how you secure that head start, lest you wind up behind bars. Let’s check the New York post for details:
A security guard who worked Chicago’s Lollapalooza music festival last weekend is accused of making fake mass shooting threats to get out of work early.
Janya Williams, 18, allegedly sent her supervisor an anonymous message via TextNow Friday afternoon that said, “Mass shooting at 4pm location Lollapalooza. We have 150 targets.”
The supervisor quickly contacted their supervisors and the Chicago police and the FBI were notified.
Janya no!! Come on girl, you got to know better than that! So many mistakes made there. Why wouldn’t you just leave? Just walk out? It’s just a security job! It’s not like you were performing surgery!
A #Lollapalooza security guard was charged for allegedly faking a mass shooting threat at the Grant Park music festival so she could leave work early.
pic.twitter.com/QC2K8eUEip
— No Jumper (@nojumper) August 4, 2022
I’d be remiss to mention, why the hell would anyone think a texting app like TextNow would be secure? Almost nothing you can put out in the digital world is anonymous! Think Janya, think!
When the supervisor told the team about the threat, Williams allegedly told the supervisor that her sister had seen a similar threat on Facebook.
After the supervisor asked Williams to send a screenshot of the threat, she is accused of creating a Facebook account under the name “Ben Scott” and posting a message that said, “Massive shooting at Lollapalooza Grant Park 6:00 p.m.” She then took a screenshot of the post and sent it to her supervisor, prosecutors alleged.
Ok, credit there. That’s pretty sly. Williams spoke up and claimed her sister saw a Facebook post. Not a bad idea to set up a back story and claim someone else saw it as well.
Again though, I keep coming back to the same question; why not just fake being sick, or just plain bounce early? Zero legal issues with giving a “peace out” and heading on your merry way.
The FBI, however, reportedly traced the TextNow message back to Williams’ IP address and iCloud, prosecutors said.
She allegedly admitted to faking the threats “because she wanted to leave work early,” prosecutors said, and was arrested for felony making a false terrorism threat.
She was booked into jail and is being held on $50,000 bail.
Oh, snap! Jayna got got! Nice try, girl. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t. At least no one was really hurt, and now Jayna doesn’t have to worry about getting off work early anymore!
This story syndicated with permission from For the Love of News