My gd went through this. She's a busgirl at the same place her mom waitressed until mom got fired. Customers would ask her "where's your mom we don't see her here anymore" gd would say she has a diferent job now (jail) but I'll tell her you say hello. She wouldnt tell them she was in jail but let the conversation drop and offer to get them more coffee or etc.when people would ask me I just said she's ok but working on some issues at the time. They were people who didnt know the facts. the ones who did know usually asked how I was doing along with kind words.