This afternoon, I took all three boys into Wal-Mart to pick out a toy for Noah's class gift exchange. While we were there we just "had" to look at the bicycle accessories, since both Noah and Jonah are asking Santa for new bikes. We were looking at the horns, lights, and reflectors when I noticed a man in his early twenties looking at the bike locks. I am normally not very observant at all, but this guy caught my attention. He looked very masculine, but was wearing a man bag.
I don't know about any of you, but my husband would not be caught dead wearing a man bag. I married a man who would rather walk around carrying a baby bottle in his back pocket than to carry a diaper bag, much less a purse!
Anyway, back to the guy wearing the man bag. I was letting the kids have fun with the bike horns when I saw this guy grab a bike lock off of the shelf, slip it deep into his man bag, zip it up, and begin to walk away. I stood there in shock for a moment wondering if I had really seen what I thought that I had seen.
Now let me ask you...what would you have done if you were in my shoes? Would you have said something to the young man? Would you have sought out an employee? Would you have looked the other way? What if your children had witnessed the incident? Would that have changed your reaction?
This is what I did.
NOTHING.
I looked the other way, instantly regretted it, and now I am up entirely too late at night replaying what I should have done and blogging about it. After thinking about this all day, I know what I will do if it ever happens again. What about you? What would you do?
2 comments:
You know, you could rectify this situation by recalling the time you were in the store and calling the store manager. Tell him/her about the incidentjust as you saw it, that way they could check the cameras if they choose to and the burden would be off of you shoulders. Explain your situational dilemma, or not,and apologize for(what you now feel was) your lapse in judgement. Just know that you may be called to identify the person and testify to what you saw. Just a suggestion to clear your conscience.
That's a good idea Michelle, I'm sure he could be identified. It's hard to make a decision as to what to do when you have small children with you, but I hate to think of someone getting away with what may the first of many crimes to come.
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