Yesterday my boyfriend Chris and I took my son shopping at a local discount chain. Chris is in the retail loss prevention/security field, so he is a trained observer. We were checking out and there was a lady and her two sons ahead of us. One of her sons took a Steelers hat off his head and said mom we have to pay for this. She turned and said ssshhhhhhhh and proceeded to lay the hat face up in the cart with the tags facing down. At the same time she was chatting with the cashier as a diversion and the cashier was busy ringing up her order. The next thing you know the customer puts her bagged packages on top of the hat in the cart.
Chris turns to me outraged. He waits to give the woman a chance to see if she is going to relent and take the hat out and pay...she does not. As the cashier starts on our order Chris tells her about the hat. The woman is still standing around and the cashier goes over and says Is there a hat in your cart. I think I forgot to ring it up. Sure enough the cashier goes in the cart and pulls it out because it is not in any bag. The woman waits for us to finish and then pays for the hat.
My son witnessed all of this and was quietly watching. After it was all over we talked with him in the car. The lessons we taught him was to not steal and if safety is not a concern to do what is right(turn the woman in).
If I was alone with my son I probably would not have said anything. I am a strong woman, but this woman was like an amazon. She could have taken me in a heart beat and I would have been afraid of the repercussions. These days you don't know what people are like.
What would you have done?
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