Wait, Who’s Having The Cops Called On Them?

I work at a large craft store and it was almost closing time. I was at a register waiting for stragglers to check out, and I had my back toward the exit, which is right behind the registers. There was nobody coming up, so I was looking around, and I noticed a woman walking quickly behind me toward the exit.

By the time I saw her, she was already turning toward the doors and walking into the foyer which leads to the outside entrance, and I only saw her back and a little of her side, enough that I noticed her arms were crossed over her chest like she was holding something against it. I didn’t think much of it and just yelled, “Have a good night!”

I guess she was so focused on getting out of the store that she didn’t notice me standing there, so when I spoke to her, she startled really badly and dropped what she was holding. It was a little vase that cost like ten dollars. So, immediately, I walked toward her out into the foyer. I don’t know why she stayed there; she could have just booked it and I wouldn’t have followed her.

Me: “Are you planning to pay for that vase?”

I said it kind of in a snarky way, but it was late, and I was too tired for this bull.

Woman: *Huffy* “Yes.”

I picked up the vase to bring it to my register and check her out.

I don’t know if that set her off or what, but she suddenly got PISSED and snatched the vase away from me.

Woman: “I paid for this! Stop putting your dirty paws being all over my property!”

I already knew what this was going turn into, so I went to the registers, picked up a phone, and paged for my manager. A couple of my coworkers came up to the registers.

Woman: “She tried to steal my property, she accused me of shoplifting, and she yelled at me!”

They all knew she was lying already because I’m a very quiet, shy person, and I’ve never raised my voice, let alone yelled at someone at work.

Woman: “Call the cops! She physically cornered me and I was afraid for my life!”

Now, this woman was five or six inches taller than me and bigger in general. There’s no way I could have intimidated her that much.

My coworkers and I just let her carry on until my manager got there, and it turned out that he had been suspicious of her earlier and had been checking the cameras. She tried to start her bullcrap on him about having me arrested and stuff.

Manager: “I already know you haven’t paid for anything. You need to leave and stop harassing my employees.”

Woman: “I’ll be calling corporate!”

Manager: “Go ahead.”

She stormed out after that.

The kicker of this whole thing was that she was wearing what seemed like expensive clothes and nice jewelry, and when we watched her leave, it was in a car that looked pretty new/expensive. And she was trying to steal and make a big fuss over a little ten-dollar vase?