I don’t doubt your story’s true. The key part is “30 years ago”. Before the rise of big data, social media and easily searchable offender registries.

I applied for a job that did a background check. They hired me.

During my onboarding, the HR person said I was lucky to be hired and brought up the fact that I had gotten a citation for having an open container of alcohol at a lake. 8 years ago. That was dismissed.

Imagine having a felony. Your “permanent record” is now a real thing.