Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Red Trolley

When I worked in a warehouse, I bought a shiny new red trolly after the old one had finally pissed me off enough. It was red with pneumatic tyres. One day I lost it. I had no idea where it went, so back I went to using the old one.

Later that day I walked down to the corner shop to get a burger, and guess what I found on the side of the road? A shiny new red trolley. It must have been mine. Someone had swiped it and loaded it with those books. They were the books sometimes left in workplace staffrooms to purchase via an 'honesty system'. So, I took the books off it and wheeled it back to my warehouse.

After about 20 minutes a frantic woman came to my door looking for her trolly. We had a little conversation about how awful thieves are. I couldn't believe the gall she had to come looking for the trolley she had stolen from me. After she left to continue her search, my manager came back from doing some deliveries. Unknown to me, he had borrowed the red trolly. I now had two shiny new red trolleys. One, mine, and the other I had 'stolen' off an innocent girl trying to deliver books door to door.

I ran after her with the trolley and said I snatched it off some teenagers who were playing with it in the storm drains.

She thought I was a hero... which was a nice feeling.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So you were dishonest with her after being upset at her because you thought she had stolen the trolley from you? And the false sense of heroism from the dishonesty made you feel like a hero?

mothpete said...

No, I said she thought I was a hero. I felt like a dumb shmuck. This was about ten years ago.