Have you ever gone to a store and forgotten where you parked your car? What if you went to a store and you thought you remembered where you parked your car but it wasn’t there.

What would you do?

In this story, one customer is in that exact situation, and she wants a cashier to call the police.

The cashier thinks they need to do a little research on their own first.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

“Someone stole my car from the parking lot!!”

The store I work at is pretty small and the parking lot is small as well. The parking in front of the store and the parking on the side of the store are visible from the front register.

Overall our city is really safe. We don’t have much crime besides small petty theft such as people stealing small stuff like dove soap, razors, body wash etc…

My friend and I were both the shift managers on duty. I had only been a shift manager for a month or so at this point.

I was afraid of confrontation, and not really sure what to do in case of theft.

This is a big problem!

An old lady (OL) comes to me and she’s distraught. I ask her what’s wrong…

OL: I parked my car in the front of the store and now it’s gone!! I just went to get a prescription from the pharmacy and now my car is gone.

Me: It’s going to be okay, I’ll help you search for you car. Where did you park it?

OL: Right here in front of the store! It’s a small red car, and now it’s not there anymore!

Her car really wasn’t there.

Me: Okay let’s walk outside and see if it’s there. Is it the red car over there? *I point at a red car in front of the store*

OL: No, my car is smaller than that. I’m sure I parked it right here! I’m sure someone stole it, we need to call the cops.

Me: Are you sure you parked it right here in front of the store? Is it possible you parked it somewhere else, maybe on the side of the store?

OL: Yes! I’m definitely positive I parked it in front of the store, I remember it clearly. I parked my car in front of the store and went to get a prescription from the pharmacy, and when I came out my car was missing! We need to call the police, the longer we wait the longer it’ll take them to find my stolen car.

She wasn’t going to call the police just yet.

Me: Let’s go inside and I’ll ask the other manager on duty (OMOD) to look at the camera before we call the police.

I page OMOD, and tell her the situation. I tell her to go look at the camera and see if she can see this lady’s red car. OMOD goes to the office, and she looks at the tape.

Me: Ma’am, I’ll stay with you while OMOD checks the tapes.

OL: What?? You should be doing is calling the police. Someone stole my car, and you’re letting them get away.

Me: Ma’am I will call the police as soon as OMOD finishes checking the camera.

She was pretty stressed out.

At this point I’m nervous.

Should I have called the police when she first told me to?? I’ve never called the police before and I really don’t want to disturb them in case this old lady just forgot where she parked her car. Also, I’m not really sure if I’ll have to file any paperwork in case I call the police.

It’s a Sunday, and I can’t really call the store manager, cause he hates being disturbed on Sunday’s. (The store manager is a really nice guy [later he gets promoted to a bigger store and kinda turns into a jerk, but that’s a whole other story], but he hates being disturbed on Sundays, because that’s basically the only day he gets off all week.)

The car wasn’t stolen after all.

Thankfully OMOD calls me from the office phone, and asks me to look on the side of the store and asks if there’s a red car parked there.

I look out the window and I see a red car.

Me: Ma’am is your license plate number XYZ123.

OL: Yes!! How did you know?

The woman is still convinced she parked in front of the store.

Me: Ma’am you parked your car on the side of the store not in front of the store. It’s right there.

OL: No, I’m 100% sure I parked my car in front of the store. Someone must have taken my car for a spin and then they parked it on the side of the store. I definitely parked my car in front of the store. Check the cameras.

At this point OMOD comes out of the office, and she hears this.

OMOD: Ma’am I watched it on the camera. You definitely parked your car on the side.

This lady still doesn’t believe them.

Me: It’s alright. It happens, I can picture myself doing the exact same thing. Both sides of the store look exactly the same so sometimes it’s hard to remember which side your car is.

OL: No! I definitely parked it in front of the store. I want to see the camera. I know where I parked my car!

Me: Ma’am I’m sorry customers aren’t allowed to go inside the office to look at video, but I will check the camera as well. I’m sorry for any inconvenience.

I go inside to look at the camera, but as I’m walking towards the office the lady dashes out of the store.

In hindsight I probably should have taken her to the side of the store in the first place to see if her car was there, but she was so sure she parked it in the front of the store.

At least her car wasn’t really stolen! Instead of arguing about it, she should just said “thank you.”

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This man often forgets where he parks too.

This person knows how it feels to think you know where you parked.

Thank goodness they didn’t call the police!

Obviously, this is the logical explanation. LOL

The security cameras don’t lie.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.