A Different Kind Of Returner Burner

Awesome, Inspirational, Reddit, Retail, UK | Right | CREDIT: Doggoofborth | September 16, 2020

I work in an antique store. It attracts a sometimes eccentric clientele. I love it. A young man comes in, approximately eighteen or nineteen. He looks a little sheepish.

Man: “I’m really sorry, I think my mum accidentally stole these from here. I’m happy to give them back and I’ll pay for them as well. She doesn’t mean to, she just forgets she has them and walks out with them.”

The item in question is a little dog figurine and a small glass vase; neither of them very high in value. Both have tags on from the shop.

Me: “I’ll grab my boss.”

This definitely looks like I’m passing over the problem to him. I am. I hold my hands up but it’s his shop at the end of the day. And I had another lady in line to buy a large wooden cat statue, which she ended up needing me to carry to her car.

I returned to my till to see no one in sight. I served the next customer. Twenty minutes later in an empty shop the man and my boss came out of the camera room.

Man: “I’m sorry.”

Boss: “It’s okay. She looks like she just forgot they were in her hand. It’s an easy mistake to make when trying to remember everything else.”

The man hands my boss the cash to cover the items and my boss hands him the cash back.

Boss: “Listen you’ve returned the items. You are more honest than most of my regulars. Your mum messed up but you’re taking responsibility for it. That speaks about you as a person.”

The man broke into tears. My boss is a good man.

This story is part of our Feel Good roundup for September 2020!