Years ago when I was still pushing kids in strollers, back when pushing kids in strollers happened. Before the attachment ‘carry your kid everywhere until they go to school’ crowd took over. Not judging at all so don’t stop reading and head to the comment page to yell at me just yet. I had huge babies, ok! Huge AND we drove everywhere so obviously we drove our kids everywhere too. phew dodged that…. I think.
On a shopping expedition, it happened. Now first let me explain, I’m not a shopper. I’ve never been a shopper, ok I was a shopper when I got my first credit card but I learned the hard way, the really hard way not to shop like that. So after that, I used the same stealy will I use to resist chocolate. I just don’t. Ok, chocolate has changed -but menopause people, back OFF.
I don’t shop. I know if I could, I would be in big trouble. I like new things. I like the feeling of having new things, they’re mine and it makes me feel good. Psychologists everywhere are rubbing their freudian beards muttering ‘verdy interrrresting’, I can feel it. Sorry I digress..
So picture it, family outing with baby in tow, wandering the outlet stores. Perusing all the nice things as you do. The King put a bag on the top of the stroller, just while he decided if he wanted it. (He has a bag thing… just let it go). We wandered some more, got distracted and generally window shopped our happy little selves until we were done. During this time little Grand Master D must have been fussing because I pushed the visor on the stroller back to check on him. Then it was off to have a nice little family lunch. We wandered a few more stores, spent about an hour or more before we headed back to the car.
By this time all the stores were closed. I strapped Grand master D into the car, unloaded all the baby crap into the seat beside him and moved around the back to fold the stroller and put it in the car. That’s when I noticed it. The bag, still sitting on top of the stroller. In the now opened visor! OMG! We had stolen it. The stores were closed. Now what? The guilt came washing over me immediately!
I was a thief
This was devastating to me. I have never stolen anything ever. I am the quintessential rule follower, ALWAYS. But right at that moment there was nothing I could do about it. The stores were all closed, so resigned to the fact I was terrible, we loaded everything into the car and headed home to examine our new bag vowing to return it to the store and make things right. A couple of weeks went by and we liked that little bag. So we decided to keep it.
We found ourselves at the same shopping centre a week or so later and I said to the King, lets go back to David Jones and pay for that bag. We entered the store, had another nice little window shopping experience and found another bag the same in the racks. This time I held it in my hand, I wasn’t going to fall for that again. Bad stroller.
We lined up at the cash register with all the other shoppers of the day and waited our turn to be served. When i was my turn I said to the cashier I accidentally stole one of these bags a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t want this one, I just want to pay for it. I swear the look on her face was like I had told her I was an alien from the planet Waznik and I was here to escort her back for research. Seeing I wasn’t getting through, I explained exactly what happened with the stroller and the bag and that I didn’t want to have the bag without paying for it. It’s not like the store needed my $20 but it was the principle. After a third attempt she almost understood me but still couldn’t understand why I was doing it. It’s just the right thing, I offered. So finally with my transaction almost complete, a woman behind me said “You don’t see that kind of honesty much anymore, good on you” to which I smiled and said something about it just being right.
I still don’t know if the young cashier really understood what I’d done but I felt much better about the bag and had no guilt in using it anymore. After that, whenever I used the top of the stroller to hold things, I always checked before leaving the store.
Comments 19
Ha! Same thing happened to me. I had my son in his stroller & I was using the stroller basket at my shopping cart. I unloaded everything at the checkout, or so I thought. Once we got back to the car, I loaded my goodies, the baby & when I went to fold up the stroller, a napkin holder fell out. Oooops! I felt so bad. Loaded baby up once more in the stroller & headed back to pay. The cashier was surprised by my honesty!
Author
Isn’t it interesting that honesty is a surprise!
Bwahahaha you’re the worst thief in the entire world 😀
Good for you.
Author
Yup, I’d never make a career criminal.
Author
Yeah probably! Not a bad thing to be 😉
Kudos to you for doing the right thing.
Author
Thanks, there was no other option in my mind.
Great job Molley for doing the right thing. Most people would have kept it and went on with their lives. Of course, the store worker was probably dumb-founded that you can back and confessed of the accidental mishap.
Nicely done lady:) I have returned extra money, gone back into stores to pay for things (target) even when I had a screaming kid and really really didn’t want to. I got enough bad karma – I don’t need any more.
Author
Thanks! I was pretty proud of myself..
That is funny. My daughter just had a similar thing happen, she was out with my 2yr old granddaughter and they accidently took a bracelet out of the store. When my daughter discovered this, she went back in and made my granddaughter give it back and say sorry. Nice post.
Author
It’s so easy to do! although at least now they have the electronic tags on most things so you get the immediate embarassment instead.
This is a great story. I love that you went back to pay for the bag.
I remember when my daughter was in the stroller, almost having this happen to me more than once. It is hard to keep up with everything when you are trying to juggle a stroller, kid, purse, bags, and shopping list.
Author
Thank you. It just felt right. The young cashier had no idea why I would do such a thing.
So…I shouldn’t try to recruit you into my band of thieves, then. Okay. Got it.
Seriously, I once walked out of a Sears store with a dustpan clutched firmly under my arm. Not because I wanted the dustpan, but because I’d picked it up, got distracted, wandered a bit, and then completely forgot about it.
It happens, and I can’t even blame my kids!
Author
Yes I’m a very bad dishonest person.Sorry. I can drive though!
I once discovered a purloined stuffed mouse in the bottom basket of the boy’s stroller after leaving IKEA… And I’m ending my story there!
Author
Hmm, which torture should I use to gain information….let me see
Kudos for honesty! You’ve set a great example for your children.