A community wraps their arms around a homeless man after a Facebook post shows him sleeping in a McDonald’s.
What We Know:
- Simon Childs, 21, was asleep in a booth at a McDonald’s in Fayetteville, Georgia. A customer came in saw him and complained to an employee. The customer took a picture of Childs and posted it on Facebook. The caption read, “Just another reason for me to leave Fayetteville. I was in the McDonalds in the middle of town and I saw this guy sleeping in the booth, I go and tell an employee that someone is asleep on their booth and her response was ‘oh yeah, we know hee hee, it’s ok and I said ‘not really but whatever.’” The caption was concluded with an angry emoji.
- Despite the posts intention of slamming McDonalds, it back fired after it was revealed that Childs was an employee at the restaurant. Childs was inbetween shifts when he was seen sleeping. The 21 year old is not only homeless, but he’s also a father. His mother had just died and he’d fallen on hard times.
- Since the Facebook post, local media hunted Childs down to tell his story. He told WSB-TV, “It kind of hurt to see my picture up there.” His story caught the attention of the community. People donated clothing for his son and two local chefs offered to loan him a car. “I didn’t think the community would even care enough to do that, but they care,” Childs told WSB-TV.
- Childs has received multiple job offers and a barbershop gave him a free haircut so he could look his best for the upcoming interviews.
- What happened to Childs was an example of “Stranger Shaming”. This is when a person posts a picture or video on social media of a stranger’s behavior that they don’t like. Usually stranger shaming backfires, just like it did in this case.
Childs is currently preparing for his interviews and is looking forward to finding permanent housing for himself and his son.
