Don’t Toy With Karma

Bad Behavior, Liars/Scammers, Physical, Reddit, Retail, Wild & Unruly | Right | CREDIT: Far_Attitude_2764 | May 10, 2022

I have a five-year-old girl who is best of friends with my neighbors’ daughter. The two are inseparable. My wife bought our daughter a toy a few weeks ago as a reward for doing all her chores and being awarded “Student Of The Week” in her kindergarten class. She immediately took it over to the neighbor’s house, and the two girls loved to play with it. It’s one of those toys that come with accessories, slime, stickers, etc.

Since then, this particular toy has been featured on a very popular morning talk show and is now pretty hard to find. My daughter’s friend’s birthday is the day after Thanksgiving, and my daughter asked me if we could buy her best friend the same toy as her gift. We couldn’t say no to her request for her best friend, so we started looking online to see if we could find one. After a few days of no luck, a very popular big box store had some in stock at a store about thirty minutes away. I hit the road to try and get my hands on one before they were all gone.

This is what happened when I got there, and I still can’t believe it happened.

I got to the store, grabbed a shopping cart because I was going to grab a couple of other things while I was there, and walked straight to the toy department. I looked around for a few minutes before I finally saw the toy I was after. There was only one left, so I grabbed it and put it in my cart. I was so glad I finally found one. I started to walk away to continue shopping when I heard a voice behind me.

Woman: “Um, excuse me, but that toy was mine. I put it down and was coming right back for it. Do you mind?”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. I have been looking for this toy as a gift for a very special little girl, and it was on the shelf, so I’m sorry, but no. I’m going to buy it.”

She instantly shot daggers at me with her eyes.

Woman: “Excuse me?! I was here first and I need it more than you. I have a customer that ordered it and I need it now, so please hand it over.”

That’s when it struck me: she was a reseller and had promised something she didn’t have.

Me: “Oh, well, that’s not my problem, but maybe they have more in the back. You should ask someone that works here.”

I went about my way to finish my shopping. As I was walking away, the woman snipped:

Woman: “You’re a real jerk, you know that?”

Me: *Sarcastically* “Maybe, but I got what I came for. Have an awesome day.”

And I walked away. I made my way to the laundry detergent aisle and quickly forgot about the woman. A few minutes later, as I grabbed some detergent and dryer sheets, I stopped to check what else was on my list, and the same woman entered the aisle.

Woman: “Ugh, there you are. Listen. I asked an employee, and they said there aren’t any in the back and they don’t know when more are coming in. I would appreciate it if you would do the right thing and just give the toy back to me before I find a manager and tell them you took it out of my hands.”

Me: “Huh? What are you talking about? This toy was on the shelf and nobody else was around when I picked it up, so please leave me alone. You can’t have it and that’s it.”

I tried to walk out of the aisle when this woman stepped in front of my cart, reached into my cart, and tried to take the toy. I quickly pulled the cart back.

Me: “What is your problem, lady? Get away from me.”

Then, she tried again, but this time I put my hand on the toy before she could grab it. She then dug her nails into my arm before I smacked her hand away with a loud:

Me: “WHAT THE F***, LADY?! GET AWAY FROM ME!”

This is when the woman went into overdrive. She instantly started screaming for help at the top of her lungs.

Woman: “HELP! HELP! HE’S ATTACKING ME! HELP ME, SOMEBODY!”

Naturally, a bunch of people quickly came over to see what was going on, and there I was, a 6’3” man with tattoos and a shaved head and beard standing there as she threw herself on the floor screaming for help. I thought to myself, “This is going to end badly for me.”

Two employees were a couple of aisles over and came running. Now there were a few people and the employees looking at this woman on the ground pleading for help and screaming for someone to call the police. The employee asked what happened while helping her up from the floor and she immediately lied.

Woman: “He attacked me and took items from my cart!”

Me: “This crazy lady is lying! She attacked me, and then she threw herself on the floor to get me in trouble.”

A manager showed up and asked what had happened while the woman was standing there with crocodile tears saying I had assaulted her over “her toy”. I quickly denied the false accusation and demanded the police be called. The manager had the police called and I waited right there. The lady had a crowd of people around her, consoling her, and they were all looking at me like I was some sort of woman beater. All the while, she was telling everyone around her what a monster I was and that she intended to press full charges against me for assault.

After ten or fifteen minutes, two police officers showed up and started to ask questions about what had happened. I explained what had happened from beginning to end, and she told her twisted fairy tale. The officers asked if the security cameras had a shot of the area. We were escorted to the manager’s office, and while one officer reviewed the footage with the manager, the other officer asked for our IDs and stepped out of the office — more than likely to do a warrant check, I assumed.

This is when glorious Karma showed up.

After a couple of minutes of the officer reviewing the camera footage and her continued lies about what happened, the officer asked the woman:

Officer #1: “Ma’am, I’m only going to ask this once. Would you like to change your story about what happened?”

I instantly smiled from ear to ear.

Woman: “What are you talking about? He attacked me and I want him arrested!”

Officer #1: “Ma’am, that’s not happening.” *To me* “Do you want to press charges for assault, sir?”

Me: “F*** YES!”

The woman went pale as a ghost. She went on a tirade. Just then, the second officer came back into the office, handed me back my ID, whispered something to the other officer, and then asked the woman to stand up and put her hands behind her back. They arrested her for an outstanding felony warrant along with an assault charge.

What an awesome outcome. The manager apologized to me for all the trouble as the woman was led out of the office in cuffs. The officer photographed the scratches on my arm for evidence, gave me a copy of the report for court, and wished me a nice rest of my day. The manager even gave me a $50 gift card that I used to pay for my purchase, and I went about my merry way.

All this over a toy and self-entitlement.

This story is part of the Thanksgiving 2022 roundup!