It doesn't have to be a stranger who knocks on your door, how about a delivery person. At one time while living in a townhouse in CA I ordered furniture, one being a headboard for our king bed on the second floor and the other a china cabinet for the dining room on the first floor.
Two men who were very polite and efficient brought the items in and I accompanied them to the second floor and made sure all was okay before we went downstairs.
When they were finished I signed the paperwork and just as they were ready to leave the shorter and younger of the two said he was going to run upstairs and check the headboard one more time to make sure it was solid. No problem...yet.
A few days later I opened the jewelry box on my dresser to remove something I wanted to wear and noticed several items missing. I had two raw gold nuggets that were given to me when I was child by my father which were from the gold mine his parents had in South America, and two gold chains. Those nuggets meant a great deal to me, not for their value, but for the sentiment attached to them.
I notified the police department and the owner of the furniture store. A detective came to the house, wrote everything down and said he was going to stay on top of it, gave me his phone number and asked that I call him after I talk to the owner of the store.
The owner of the store was a whole different matter, had the audacity to say he couldn't accuse anyone since he had no idea who did it. What? There were two men, one of which I am sure took the items when he went back upstairs before leaving. One was African American and the other was Caucasian and it was the African American who went upstairs. He also said he can't accuse anyone because it would be considered discrimination, I guess he thought he was talking to someone who was stupid, which I wasn't.
A few days after my conversation with the owner of the store, he called me and said, "You will never believe what I found in an envelope on my desk this morning, two gold nuggets and one gold chain, and I have no idea who put it there." Of course I told him he had to be joking but he was not going to give in. He told me the African American man worked his way up from a stock boy to a management position and the other man always does a good job. No matter, one stole my jewelry and he was going to protect them no matter what. I did mention that there were two gold chains and he said since only one was returned I should tell him what the other one was worth and he would send me a check, which he did. He mailed the items to my home, special delivery, insured.
I contacted the detective and told him what transpired and he said he wanted to get the guy nd would go after him. I said no, since they have my name and address I would just as well leave it alone. He was no too happy but he understood. To this day I will never understand why the store owner insisted on protecting an employee who stole from a customer unless he warned the fellow if anything happens again he will turn him over to the police, I will never know.
The moving finger writes; And having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line Nor all your Tears Wash out a Word of it. Omar Khayam
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