Apparently, There’s A Fine Line Between Entitlement And Theft

One summer, I am the director and choreographer for half of a musical revue. Our part is full of comic opera, so it includes several pre-teens. They are fun to work with onstage but more than a little entitled offstage.

Dress rehearsal day arrives and I set my things in the room reserved for my cast. After going to pick up a prop for one of the songs, I come back to find one of the preteens zipping up my purse.

Me: “What are you doing with my bag?”

Preteen: “I was looking for my phone.”

She’s holding her phone in one hand and has the other hand in her pocket.

Me: “It wasn’t in my bag. What else did you find?”

She pulls out a $300 iPod.

Me: “I worked hard for the money to buy that and bought it last week. Put it back and don’t ever touch my things again.”

Preteen: *Sulking* “Well, it’s not like you really wanted it.”

She and her sisters were three of the kids of a successful restaurateur and had their own iPods already. They were not invited back.