I go to a small local gym every Thursday morning at the same time. DD goes into the creche. It's a very cliquey gym, but very close to my house and we can walk there easily, plus it has the fab creche. I've been going there for 18 months but am still made by fellow gym users to feel like a "newbie". They all seem to know each other. The gossiping chat in the changing room whilst I am trying to get dressed drives me insane. But I digress!
Today it was very quiet in the gym and changing room due to half-term. Most of the gym users are mums or pensioners. There was a most a handful of other people in the changing room. So, to make it easier for me (as I'm pregnant and visibly so) I got my clothes out of my locker and put them on the bench and the shoes tucked underneath whilst I showered, with my bag locked in my locker. There was oceans of space on the bench and other benches for other gym users to put their stuff.
Had my shower, came back, got dressed but left my shoes under the bench, still tucked underneath, and went all of three yards away to dry my hair and do my make-up for ten minutes. My bag was still locked in my locker.
Went back to the locker/bench. No shoes. I emptied out my bags. No shoes. I emptied the locker. No shoes. I got down on my hands and knees. No shoes. Emptied my bags again, tipping them upside down. No shoes. Start to cry (pregnancy hormones). No one talks to me or asks what's wrong. I think I must have left the shoes at home, must be imagining things (preggy brain) so repack my bags, put on my trainers and leave the changing room.
In passing the reception desk, I mentioned to the (lovely) receptionist that I had probably left them at home, but if anyone handed in a battered old pair of Converse-type shoes, please could she let me know. She said "hang on" and then produced them from under the desk. They had been left on the desk, she didn't see who by. I explained what had happened and she said this happens a lot there. One of the ladies who works in the creche has had her stuff handed in too.
The thing is, very few people were in the changing room, and everyone in there sees me in there every week and must have noticed I'm pregnant. Many of them also leave their things on the benches whilst they shower or even whilst in the gym/pool, let alone when they dry their hair. I wear the same shoes every week and use the same locker every week. Creature of habit!
I'm now feeling a bit 
(probably pregnancy hormones) to think that someone might have done this to make some kind of petty point or, worse, to make me feel like some kind of outsider.
The thing that also annoyed me was that I spent ten minutes searching for the bloody shoes, which made me late to pick up DD from the creche and which has had a knock-on effect on the rest of our day (late home for her lunch, she was too tired to eat, so she fell asleep, still eating lunch now at nearly 2pm...).
AIBU to think that my shoes were clearly not "lost property" when they were tucked out of the way for just a few minutes, and to want to punch the do-gooder who took them in the face be annoyed at whoever did this?
That made me feel better, thanks for listening!