I was in a bakery waiting to be served this week. In front of me was a young woman, I would guess in her mid-30s. She was nicely turned out, wearing a pastel-coloured coat. I particularly noticed her makeup, it was flawless. She would easily turn heads. Standing beside her in my walking gear and cap, the contrast made me smile. She stepped to the side when she finished buying her two pies and I started to tell the shop owner behind the counter what I wanted to buy.
The next minute the owner called out to the woman, about to walk out of the shop, to stop. Quick as a flash the owner ran to the door and disappeared. A few minutes later she reappeared with a broad grin on her face, holding up a mobile phone. It appears the nicely turned-out woman had lifted the phone off the counter beside the till. I never saw her take it, never saw any movement in fact, although she did stand and hover to the side for a few minutes after she paid. My sister and I looked at each other in disbelief.
It happened so quickly, I suppose these things usually do. The owner told me the phone belonged to one of her regular customers who had left it behind earlier in the morning. She wanted to return it to her and had left it sitting on the counter near the till. I said her customer would be grateful for its return. Losing or having your phone stolen is a damn inconvenience.
The shop owner isn’t a big woman but she didn’t hesitate to spring into action. I guess she didn’t think there could have been a friend waiting outside who could easily have whacked her when she demanded the return of the phone.