Shifty-eyed Thief

It seemed like everyone had already stereotyped Johnny the first time they laid eyes on him. He couldn't enter a department store without the store detective keeping one eye trained on him at all times. He was used to people assuming he was up to no good and was the first to admit he was no angel. The preconceptions were mostly down to his appearance and his mannerisms. He was tall and thin with shifty looking eyes. He was perpetually scruffy with his torn jeans and the less than designer stubble on his jaw. He had a criminal record for breaking and entering. He'd done it just once and was unlucky enough to get caught. Johnny had learned his lesson and had never stolen again. That didn't matter. His parents, horrified by his behaviour had cut all ties with him. The well to do neighbours who had fussed over him as a child now turned away when they saw him on the street. Nobody cared that in the year since being released from prison, Johnny had not only never broken the law but was actually working with young people how were in trouble with the law. People saw what they wanted to see. Nobody saw Johnny the Youth Worker. Everybody saw Johnny the shifty-eyed thief.

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This exercise was designed to take a flat stereotypical character (i chose a shifty-eyed thief) and make them more three dimensional by giving them a conflict.