So, earlier I was in a store and I notice almost immediately at the end of one of the aisles, a woman's purse sitting in a cart full of crap. The weird thing was that the cart was unattended. The still weirder thing was that there were cupcakes in the cart in a plastic bag along with; a humidor, a man's black ski jacket, some fake red stemmed flowers and other strangeness. This was a department store that did not sell food, mind you. I was in that area of the store for more than a half hour and no one went near the cart or purse. And for most of the time the cart with the purse just sat there taunting curious me. I shopped around and it was now roughly 45 minutes later. I happen back and noticed that the cart was still sitting there unattended.
I went to the counter and told the saleswoman. She and I went over to the cart, opened the purse and took out the wallet. We looked about and saw a woman near the dressing rooms in the distance who looked like the person in the driver's license photo. We asked her if the cart was hers and she nodded with a scowl, yes. She appeared annoyed by our question. She then slowly went off in the opposite direction leaving the cart and purse sitting there. She did not stop at her cart or even walk that close to the thing. Wouldn't it be natural to check the thing at this point? She appeared mad rather than concerned.
The sales woman went back to the front of the store and I moved a safe distance from the cart. I watched the woman and the cart. At all times she was no less than 20 feet from the cart. She shopped and looked at merchandise as if the cart was not hers. Not once did she even look in the direction of the cart. Yeah, I realize that none of this is any of my business but... What was this about? My first thought was that it was some sort of sting and the first person to remove an item from the cart would be tackled to the ground and prosecuted as a shoplifter. The saleswoman and I suggested among ourselves that perhaps the woman had some sort of issue(s). Perhaps she had some sort of psycho-social problem that precluded her from being careful of her belongings or going about without cupcakes. Who knows?
I finally felt uncomfortable in the store and bid the saleswoman a good day. It still bothers me though.
What a very concerned customer you are, or should I say human being. Most would not have cared. Maybe the person could have been kidnapped, or fell out from a medical problem, dying helplessly on the floor, or maybe it could have been a 'Sting' like you said. But, I applaud your 'nosiness' or as it was stated, getting into someone's business! Hey, you just never know! There happens to be thousand upon thousands of people whose 'heroism' could be categorized as minding someone elses' business......And So It Goes!
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