The World Isn't Always Honest

My kids had spring break this week and I decided to take Megan and Brandon shopping for a couple pairs of shorts. Megan's friend came along and she brought $20 and her Nintendo DS. Megan put her friend's stuff in her purse and we left to go shopping. Our first stop was Unclaimed Baggage. Personally, I hate that store. It's full of all kinds of clothes, electronics, books, you name it. The sell stuff that people left on a plane, or stuff the owner found at walmart or wherever at a great price. It's like a big flea market....just not my thing. But we went hoping to find some good deals.

Megan put her purse inside my purse as we went in the store. After a few minutes she got it out and she and her friend were looking at stuff while Brandon and I were at the electronics counter. Brandon and I looked at some stuff...then took off to get Megan and her friend. We didn't see anything we were interested in so we left the store and went to Rue 21. As we were walking in the store I noticed Megan didn't have the purse and I asked her about it. She said she gave it to me when Brandon and I were at the counter. I didn't remember her giving it to me...neither did Brandon.

UGH...We loaded back in the car and went back to Unclaimed Baggage. The purse wasn't at the electronics counter....it wasn't in the purse section, or by any of the clothes we looked at. I felt sick. I was irritated at Megan for not communicating better, and felt sorry for her friend who lost her stuff. The people at the store really tried hard to help us find the purse....but it seemed to be long gone. One of the employee's called the security guard and asked him to look at the security tapes. In my heart I felt it was hopeless because I figured whoever took the purse would have taken it and left the building. But...I figured we'd see what happened.

They took my name and said they'd page me when they found something out. About 10 minutes later they called my name and asked me to come to the front of the store. The security guard was standing their holding the brown purse. I was thrilled! Then he told me what happened. A young girl...about 10 or 12 picked the purse up from the lost and found counter....handed it to her mom...and her mom hid it in her purse....then continued to shop through the store.

The security guard found her, stopped her, and made her turn over the purse! I was so mad I was shaking. I wouldn't have been as mad if he discovered a kid had stolen the purse, but when he said her mother helped her daughter steal it I was livid. I wasn't very friendly to the lady...I asked her what kind of mother she thought she was....teaching her children to steal! The worst part was that the mother was pregnant.

The security guard asked me if I wanted to press charges...I said no. We did get everything back...It seemed pointless and I hoped the humiliation would be enough for her to learn a lesson. He did kick the lady out of the store.

The world isn't always honest...but I feel very blessed that we got the purse back. Many thanks to the security guard and employees at Unclaimed Baggage.