Hi everyone, this is my first post on here! I wanted to tell you about a rather disturbing thing that happened to me the other day. I (24F) am a French girl living in Germany, I moved here to be with my boyfriend about a year ago. A couple of weeks ago I started working in a restaurant and I am having the best time, I love my colleagues and really enjoy learning about food.
I work mainly with male colleagues, and among them was a very young Ukrainian boy (let’s call him Igor) who escaped from the war. Right away I noticed that he was very peculiar, always serious and silent, cold and impassive gaze. He spoke very little and didn’t know English well but he succeeded well in his work, was not afraid of anything and never asked for help. In short, he knew how to make do and get by despite being in Germany for only 3 months without knowing the language.
There were frequent rumors that he had serious alcohol and drug problems as he was often absent from his station and was always very pale; to another Russian colleague he had confessed to drinking a bottle of vodka every night to put himself to sleep. Before he worked in my restaurant he had worked with my boyfriend and he, too, confirms the same as everyone else.
The last night I worked with Igor he asked me if I wanted to take a walk with him after work since he was always alone and bored at home and I agreed. I know from the premise that I shouldn’t have but being a foreigner myself I know what it’s like to be really lonely and not be able to call any friends to hang out and have a chat.
First we went by his house to drop off some food and when I walked in I couldn’t believe my eyes. A huge three-story house with two luxury cars in the garage. The first thing he told me was to put my phone away, not to take pictures and not to tell anyone where he lived; it seemed very strange to me but not as strange as the jar full of cash he had in the kitchen. At that moment I started to feel uncomfortable and asked him if we could get out of there. Obviously the house was not his, but how could a Ukrainian boy his age afford such a place or have that much cash? Maybe some Ukrainian refugee program, I thought.
Once we left the house we continued the walk and he told me about his life, how he ran away from home at 12 and always had to work to get by and live where his friends could find a place for him. He told me that he was unable to feel affection or love and how the deaths of so many of his friends had made him unable to enjoy life. I felt so much sadness and compassion, such a young boy with such a difficult history and a future even more uncertain and unstable than the past. After talking for a while I said goodbye to him and went home.
The next day the only other girl working in my restaurant (we’ll call her Julia) came to warn me about Igor, told me how he made her feel uncomfortable when they worked together. He kept asking her out even though she was not interested, made inappropriate comments about her body to other coworkers, and stood behind her under the guise of “helping” her cut some vegetables. She also told me that more than once he had yelled at her. This really surprised me because he had been very kind to me, worrying about me going home alone because of the bad people I might encounter and asking me several times if my boyfriend was okay with our walk because he did not want to cause trouble.
Yesterday morning Igor sent a message to the boss saying that he was leaving town and would no longer be able to work for us. He didn’t even submit a termination notice or take his last month’s work money, he just left so suddenly.
I am very confused. Definitely a very ambiguous and potentially dangerous individual, especially from the things reported by Julia I lost a lot of compassion I used to feel toward him. However, I am very curious as to what happened to him. Talking to the boss I found out that he had provided a different address than the one of the house he had taken me to, which makes everything even more mysterious.
What do you think he was hiding? And why did he have to leave so suddenly?