New Friendship: Not Unlocked

I come home one Sunday to find that I have not got my key. A nearby relative has a spare, but I can’t get hold of them. A friend also has a spare but it turns out they are on holiday. I ring around and visit everywhere I’ve been all day, and I search the car and car parks — everywhere I parked or walked. Nothing.

Eventually, I call an emergency locksmith, and a few hundred pounds later, I’m inside and have a new lock.

A few days later, someone posts online that they found some keys — my keys. I reach out to them so I can collect the keys and we meet at a public place.

Me: “Thanks for this.”

Woman: “Oh, that’s okay. I know how annoying it is to lose keys.”

Me: “Where were they, by the way?”

Woman: “Oh, [Supermarket], just by the entrance.”

Why didn’t she just hand them in to the supermarket?! I left my number there and could have spared us both the trouble of meeting out of the way. But whatever, at least I have my other keys.

Me: “That makes sense; I was there when I lost them. Crazy, I swore I looked there just after I lost them. Maybe someone kicked them out of the way.”

Woman: “Oh, no. They were right in the doorway. I must have been there just before you came back.”

Wait. She had these for two days, didn’t hand them in, didn’t do anything until today, and cost me hundreds of pounds and worry?

Me: “Okay, well, thanks. Maybe next time, just hand them in to the shop?”

Woman: “Oh, no. I would rather sort it out myself. I like to see people happy collecting their lost things.”

My face was not a happy one. I tried to explain that she would have been better just leaving them there if she wasn’t going to do the right thing. She just called me ungrateful.