Thieving Momma or Honest Mistake?

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Today Sophia and I went to the mall so she could play with the other toddling midgets. I left our umbrella stroller at the end of a stroller line up. Her diaper bag was in the seat and her Old Navy white fleecy jacket with blue hearts hung on the stroller handle. The play area isn’t that big so I was confident that I could keep an eye on our stuff as Sophia ran all over the place, besides what sick bastard steals stuff out of a diaper bag from a baby? I took off Sophia’s socks and shoes because it seems to be the rule in this play area and she takes off with them in her hands. I follow her and look up at our stroller every thirty seconds because I’m a paranoid freak. Piece by piece Sophia relinquishes her socks and shoes to me. I keep them in my pocket because the stroller I’ve been monitoring is over there. *points to the stroller with the white jacket on the handle*

Sophia makes her way over to where our stroller is parked and plays on the large plastic covered foamy toy nearby. I dropped off her shoes in the diaper bag and round to the other side I of the play area she went. I followed.

I looked up from my toddling midget watching to check on the stroller. Someone was blocking my view. As the woman passed by I noticed Sophia’s jacket was no longer on the stroller handle. I scooped up my toddling midget and walked over to a lady zipping her FOUR YEAR OLD child into Sophia’s eighteen month old toddler jacket. Right in front of this woman, as in five inches from her face, was her own umbrella stroller with her daughter’s jacket in the seat. “Excuse me, is that my jacket?” I politely asked. Roughly translated I meant, “Hey dumb ass, are you fucking blind? Can’t you see that jacket is busting at the seems. It clearly doesn’t belong to your child.” I know kids grow fast, but seriously growing three sizes in a couple hours is pretty fuckin’ rare, like it doesn’t happen at all. Ever! I don’t care if the kid has a pituitary gland problem. They simply don’t grow THAT fast.

I didn’t get a chance to see the expression on her face after I nudged her to examine the mistake as I was off chasing after my toddling midget who headed out of the play area entirely and round the corner. I heard her say to the other person with her, “They have the same jacket.” I retrieved my meandering offspring and the lady handed me Sophia’s jacket. “Oh I’m so sorry” she said.

I know that in daycares and kindergarten classrooms where kids are all about the same age and size that jackets and other belongings sometimes get lost, switched, or whatever. I remember it happening to me as a kid. But this woman clearly didn’t look in her own stroller before grabbing Sophia’s jacket, and then she failed to notice the extreme size difference even after zipping it up. I have no clue how she even managed to zip up a jacket three sizes too small. The sleeves stretched to their limit only came part way down the child’s forearm, just past the elbow really. Now I would understand if she had to manage more then one child, but she only had the one with her and there was another person standing to the side, the child’s grandma perhaps.

The mom put on the child’s rightful jacket on her. It was baggy. What do you think? Did she do it on purpose or was it an honest mistake? If you cannot comprehend why someone would want to steal a jacket that is too small, I smile at your naivety and offer you two words, store credit.

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18 thoughts on “Thieving Momma or Honest Mistake?”

  1. Did I tell you about the Red Full-zip Fleece Hoodie incident of 1978? I’m not sure how many years in a row it was by then, but it was not the first year I got a new red fleece hoodie in the fall. One other girl in my kindergarten had one. Mine, as you might guess, was a small (and still too big for me). Hers was a medium. It was time for recess. The other little girl got to the coat rack before me, grabbed my hoodie, and was off. I got there and only her medium jacket was left hanging there. And I knew without trying it on that it was WAY TOO BIG. So I refused to wear it. Kicked up a stink, even. Mild, meek little me. And my teacher thought *I* was being unreasonable. I stood up to her, though, ’til she made the other girl come back and we compared the labels, and sure enough, my parents had put my initials on the tag. Not to mention my small didn’t fit her. Little shrew.

    What pisses me off, 30 years later, is my teacher sent a note home with me for talking back to her, when I had been right. Bitch.

  4. There’s no way she couldn’t have known. That or she was too busy ignoring her child, and paying attention to the other person. How much you wanna bet her daughter was going “Mom, it’s too small” and she was ignoring her.

    • Sarah @ TM2TS – there wasn’t much dialog between her and the other person. I only assume they were together because the other person was just standing there watching the woman get her kid ready to go. I didn’t hear the daughter protest about the small jacket, but then again I wasn’t standing right there when it was being put on her. Thanks for the comment. :)

    • Family relationship advice – Now that I think about it more, it is possible that the child is the one that grabbed it and the mom didn’t see/notice, but it was still A LOT smaller and the girl’s actual jacket was still right THERE in her own stroller. I donno. Thanks for the comment. :)

  7. Did you read about the husband and wife who ended up with over $175K in their account due to a bank error, took off with the money and were buying a home in Florida when caught. They claimed they didn’t know, too. Yeah right…

    • Maggie – Whoa! No, I didn’t hear about that one. I wish the bank would make an error like that for me! Ya can’t *really* blame them for trying to use it though can ya? ;-)

  8. Ok, now, I’d be thinking like you all, but for the time I sat there watching my sister getting her two kids ready to go and asking herself and her two little girls where in the world Ashley’s shoes were. She looked all around the room, cursing as time got shorter, untill Ashley pointed to her feet and said “SHOES, Mommy!” To this day my sister has no memory of putting them on her feet. Parenting can be like that.

    Then I am also thinking about the I watched my mother getting us dressed after a day at the beach and diapering my little brother, at the same time talking to one of us. I’m not entirely sure how the salt got into the diaper bag, but that’s what Mom was shaking all over my brother instead of powder. When I tried to tell her, she wouldn’t be swayed, even as she LOOKED at it, went right on shaking. I guess the rational brain took over for what they now call “Mommy Brain” and she finally corrected the problem.

    It happens-people do stupid things when they’re sleep deprived and distracted, like the twit that nearly ran me over the other day. I don’t automatically assume they’re doing them on purpose. Glad you got your jacket back, though.

    • Agibean – hahahaha That’s funny! I guess some moms get “mommy brain” worse than others. I can’t imagine watching salt pour on my kid instead of diaper powder and not realizing it. But then again I only have one kid (so far). I’m guessing I’ll have worse mom brain issues than I do now if/when another one comes along. ;-)

    • elijahssong – It’s very possible that it was a mistake but the jacket wasn’t on *her* stroller. That’s the part that makes me bang my head against the wall. How can it be an accident when the garment in question wasn’t on her stuff? I donno.

      Thanks for the comment. ;-)