One of the most painful experiences anyone can face is wrong accusations, and that's because before or if the truth is found out, such accusations would have left a dent on the victim's image. It's really not easy to get blamed for something you didn't do and watch it go on to damage your reputation and leave a scar on your emotions. Defending oneself against such can be really frustrating, and that's because once the narrative has been pushed, a lot of people go on to believe it without hearing your side of the story. It ultimately crumbles trust, negatively influences relationships, affects confidence, and ruins reputations. I've been a victim of this, and here I'll be telling about my experience.
I remember about two years ago I was wrongly accused of taking money meant for purchasing examination materials from students and spending it without remitting it to the appropriate body that is in charge of getting the materials. Hearing this accusation breaks my heart, and beyond that, it got me really angry because I had faced the same accusations from the same teacher the previous year before it was resolved by other colleagues who took out time to vet the numbers of students I had in my records compared to the one available in the classroom.
Seeing that happen the previous year, I decided within myself that I would look for a way to avoid being wrongly accused like that again, saying I'll create a transparent record that would make me not have any issue with the teacher who wrongly accused me. Basically what I did was write down the names of every student who paid to me into two books, one for me and the other for the teacher, so that once I remit the money to her, I'd give her the list as well, which would further help her recognize the students that truly pay to me from those who didn't pay but stood up hoping to confuse her since she's not the one they paid to.
Despite my effort to maintain transparency and avoid issues, the teacher in question frustrated my effort by refusing to take the list from me despite the fact that I told her I already have my own copy. To cut a long story short, on the day she went to cross-check each class to verify who has paid and who hasn't, about ten extra students who haven't paid stood up, leading to the hike in the population of the students I told her have paid, and immediately she started shouting and cursing, calling me a thief and several other names.
This was even in the presence of external supervisors who came to supervise the examination process, and seeing the damage such would cause on my reputation, I had no choice but to give her a taste of her own medicine, shouting back at her and stating the fact to clear my name of all accusations. Even though I'm not proud of how I shouted, I must say that had I not done that, then all that she said would have been perceived to be right, making me look like a bad example to both staff, students, and external supervisors.
Talking about how I felt, the first time such happened the previous year, I felt helpless because it was difficult to see anyone take my side until the truth was out. I also felt hurt, not forgetting that such a thing happening in front of the students almost made me lose my confidence because I didn't even know how the students would perceive me as a teacher who steals, but after clearing my name, I felt relieved and glad I did what I did as it went on to clear my name.
Even though I was proclaimed rude, I was able to clear that by saying such had happened the previous year and letting such play out continuously would tarnish my image, and I'd rather clean my name in such an unconventional way than let someone ruin it for me because of their unruly behaviors.
All photos are taken and edited on canva.