Normally, I’m a bit of a wimp and I try to avoid confrontation, especially if I’m considering confronting a man dressed like the leader of a motorcycle gang. But I was mad and that made me brave (or maybe just stupid). So, I confronted the biker. He had obviously stolen my money and I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
My shopping cart was overflowing as I approached the checkout stand at Pic-N-Save (now called Big Lots). It was late fall and I was buying all kinds of goodies for the upcoming holidays. Pic-N-Save was always a great place to purchase cheap decorations and crafting items. But, during “Door Busting Sales” their advertising tagline rings particularly true, “Pick a little and save a lot.”
I love to people-watch. So, while I waited to be rung up, I studied the other folks in the checkout line. In front of me was a sweet looking grandma of a gal, probably in her late 70s (now that I’m in my mid-70s, she doesn’t seem that old). She wore really thick prescription glasses and was fidgeting with a handful of carefully clipped coupons. (I admire people who have the discipline to clip coupons. I have tried to do that, but I’m such a scatterbrain that the coupons never make it to the store before they expire).
Anyhow, the coupon clipper and a heavy-set checker were reviewing her bill, item by item. It was obvious the older lady was making sure each item had been recorded accurately and that she’d received full credit for all of her coupons. (I have a theory about store checkers. Unless the bill seems completely out of whack, I don’t review it. I depend on karma and assume that I get overcharged about as often as I get undercharged and things balance out in the end.)
Standing behind me in line was a tattooed titan who looked liked a character right out of the movies, maybe Easy Rider or Hell’s Angels on Wheels (you can take your pick). When I first entered the store, I noticed a classic ol’ hog, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, parked up close to the entry. From this guy’s appearance, it was obvious he was the owner.
The burly old biker had a red bandana tied around the top of his head. Long stringy clumps of mostly grey hair fell from the sides of the bandana and dusted the top of his well-worn black leather jacket. His jacket was festooned with colorful embroidered patches, mementos no doubt, of previous riding events he had participated in. His motorcycle goggles hung loosly around his neck and his t-shirt, barely visible beneath his jacket, sported some kind of message. The biker’s black leather boots were dirty, and as he got closer, I could smell rank sweat and stale cigarette smoke. A ring of dust, which perfectly matched the outline of his goggles, gave his weathered face an almost ghost-like appearance. I gave him a smile as we moved forward towards the checker. He nodded and grunted a low response. His eyes were bluish grey.
“NEXT!” barked the seemingly overwhelmed checker towards the two of us as coupon lady finished her business and edged her basket towards the exit.
The checker was dressed in a bright orange company apron with giant front pockets. She wore a tilted name badge with “Sue” scribbled with black marker under the printed words, “Hi. My name is…”
She had a sad face and sad eyes. I instantly felt sorry for her and wanted to brighten her day.
“How you doing today?” I asked cheerfully. And then, in an attempt to show empathy, I added, “Boy, this place is packed…looks like they’re really keeping you busy.”
“I’m fine,” she muttered back unenthusiastically, “Welcome to Pic-N-Save.”
From Sue’s sarcastic reaction to my upbeat greeting, I wouldn’t have been surprised if her car had a bumper sticker that read, “Thanks for refilling my ‘fed up with you’ meter.”
Sue wasn’t happy but she was fast. She rang up my purchases in rapid fire succession:
“Twenty-two Thanksgiving swizzle sticks, eighteen gold glitter picks, three elf wreaths with battery-operated eyes, one dozen small, one dozen medium and eight large holiday bags, tissue (variety pack), etc., etc., etc.”
Not looking up at me once, or acknowledging my presence beyond our terse greeting, Sue continued counting my items, ringing them up on the register and shoving them into a couple of oversized plastic bags that began to bulge at the seams. So as not to slow down the progress, I took five $20 bills out of my wallet and placed them on the counter as Sue was finishing. (I don’t usually pay with cash. But we had a big neighborhood garage sale the day before and my wallet was bulging with twenty-dollar bills.)
Just then, from outside the store, we heard the loud screech of car breaks and the bang of something big and heavy hitting metal and glass. The whole building shook with the sound.
“What the hell?” someone yelled.
People started screaming and everyone turned immediately towards the source of the noise, the front of the store.
It only took a nanosecond to surmise the situation. A driver had failed to put on his brakes and a big black sedan had run smack dab into the front bay window of the store. (Now that’s what a call a door buster!) Shattered glass, metal shopping carts and holiday decorations flew in all directions as frantic shoppers scrambled away from the oncoming car. The black sedan eventually came to rest on top of a giant, tinseled plastic Christmas tree. Comically, despite the mammoth tree topper that had just flown in from the parking lot, the twinkle lights continued to blink.
Instantly the store was a chaotic mess. The police and fire department arrived with sirens blaring, which greatly added to the noise and confusion. But, thankfully no one was hurt and eventually the store returned to its holiday activities, and “Joy to the World” could be heard playing, for the umpteenth time on the store’s overhead speakers.
Once things calmed down, I turned back around to the checker and looked down at the top of the counter. During the melee, my five $20 bills had disappeared.
“Did you pick up my money?” I asked the checker, who’s day had clearly brightened up with the excitement of the accident.
“What money? I didn’t see any money. Are you sure you put your money down on the counter?”
“Yes!” I answered matter-of-factly, looking down at my still open purse. “I put five $20 bills right there.”
I don’t know why I thought pointing to the spot would help.
“Well, I didn’t see any money and it’s not there now. So, I don’t know what to say.”
Just then, I thought about Easy Rider standing next to me. Instantly, I knew what must have happened. The biker had taken my money during the excitement. He was the culprit.
The cheerless checker was getting frustrated with me because I was now holding up the line. Shoppers were anxious to get home and tell their family members about their near-death experiences while trying to pick a little and save a lot.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to pay or you’ll have to leave the stuff…that’s all there is to it.”
Normally, I’m a bit of a wimp and I try to avoid confrontation, especially if I’m considering confronting a man dressed like the leader of a motorcycle gang. But I was mad and that made me brave (or maybe just stupid). So, I confronted the biker. He had obviously stolen my money and I wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
As I boldly turned to accuse him of taking my money, the biker calmly said to the checker, “Miss, why don’t you look and see if you accidently put the money in with the items you shoved into the plastic bags?”
The biker’s question did not improve the checker’s attitude.
“Fine,” she huffed. “But I’m telling you there wasn’t any money on that counter.”
With that, Sue grabed up the biggest bag and dramatically dumped out all of the contents. Everything went spilling onto the top of the counter and onto the floor. All my purchases.
And the five $20 bills.
Upon seeing the missing money, the checker smiled meekly and raised her shoulders up, as if to say, “Whoops.”
Obviously, I was happy to see my money. But, I was also mortified to think how close I had come to accusing this innocent guy of being a thief. Even worse, I was basing my accusation on nothing more than his looks. I was embarrassed, even if the biker didn’t know what I had ALMOST done.
“Do not judge my life story by the chapter you walked in on.” –Lessonslearnedinlife.com
The biker helped me load my purchases back into bags and he quickly paid for his one item, a ceramic figurine of a Chihuahua.
“It’s my mom’s birthday. She loves Chihuahuas,” he said laughing. “I’m on my way over to her place to clean-up before tonight’s ride.”
He went on to explain that he just rode in from the desert. “That’s why I’m such a mess.”
I thanked the biker for helping me find my money and for collecting all the stuff that had fallen onto the floor. When we got to the parking-lot I complimented him on his motorcycle.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling. “Tonight’s our big annual ride for abused kids. I’ve been doing it for years. See?” He pointed proudly to a series of matching patches sewn on his jacket and his t-shirt which I could now see. It read, “We ride for the kids.”
I wanted to give the guy a big hug. But he waved me away. “I appreciate the gesture…but I don’t think I smell too good.”
We laughed as I thanked him for his service. Jake Roland, the guy that I had imagined was the leader of a notorious motorcycle gang, was a retired plumber and a Vietnam vet from Palm Springs. I had let his appearance shape my opinion of who he was. Obviously, there was more to this man’s person than his clothes had led me to believe. Like they say all the time, and I had briefly forgotten, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
When I got home, I looked up a saying I once read by an American novelist, Lauren Oliver. I believe her words fit the situation perfectly:
“I shiver, thinking how easy it is to be totally wrong about people, to see one tiny part of them and confuse it with the whole.”
Yep…you shouldn’t be fooled by what you see on the outside because what’s on the inside is very often a different story.
The sound was faint, at first, but with time and footsteps, the child’s cries became strong and fluctuated from a loud scream to a slight whimper then back to hysterical wailing. Obviously, as parents and grandparents, the sound was disturbing.