To be pleased the the Policeman gave this rude, ignorant woman a lecture in front of people.

[Oldsu]

My DH is manager of a charity shop, this week I have been helping him out as he is short staffed and I have 5 weeks holiday as apposed to his 4 weeks so have used up my spare week to work in the shop.

Yesterday a woman dropped of a bag of donations when I was sorting it I found an envelope stuffed with money (600 quid to be precise) TECHNICALLY we could have put it through as a donation as policy is anything in a donation bag belongs to the charity, however it was clear it was a mistake, so 3 of us counted it, put it into an envelope signed it and DH locked it in the safe.

He also sent an email to his area manager asking what the policy is if customer didn't come back, made a note in the shops diary and made a phone call to the police, everything by the book and documented as it should be.

Today the woman came back in she forced her way to the front of the queue shouting 'where's my money I want my money'. So I spoke to her explaining her money was safe, its in the shop safe but only the manager has the combination and he has gone to the bank but he wont be long.

She went ballistic red in the face and spitting, accused me of stealing her money and demanded I gave it back to her NOW, again I tried to reason with her but she wasn't having any of it and stormed out saying she was getting the police, I was shaking at this point.

DH came back 5 minutes later and calmed me down. 1/2 hour later she came back with two Policemen one went up stairs with DH came down five minutes later with the envelope, she just snatched it out of his hand he stopped her and made her count the money in front of him, again she turned to go without even a word, the Policeman then stopped her again and told her to apologise to me , gave her a very stern lecture in front of everybody about wasting police time.

DH said he showed the Policeman the entry in the diary and the email he had sent his AM and that he had reported the find to the police station. to prove we were not going to steal it.

And I thought my old man had a cushy job just sorting through old clothes

Good on the policeman.
Glad she's being made to reflect on her appalling behaviour to you both.

I'm amazed she managed to find a policeman!
She probably called them on her phone from outside.

Policeman probably didn't force her to apologise in practice, just advised it really emphatically. Though if she continued kicking off he could have done her for breach of the peace, wasting police time etc so I guess that was an implied sanction.

I don't think it matters that it was forced. The point is that, having dashed off all self-righteously to summon the police and throw extremely nasty allegations around, she was brought up short and made to realise that she was the one in the wrong, not OP, and she was made to acknowledge it. That would be good enough for me.

Maybe she was mad, and old. Maybe she donated clothes after a bereavement

Nice way to talk about people

Sorry you got the brunt of her rudeness

BTW, before anyone accuses me of "Political Correctness Gorn Mad", I've worked with people with mental health problems and people with dementia, as well as living in a big City, and it's mtg experience that when people act very irrationally, it is because they are gripped by irrationality

Good on him. The police may not be able to force an apology under law. But he is also a person. As a person any of us can choose to point out when someone is being rude, especially when that's causing upset to others.

it's mtg experience that when people act very irrationally, it is because they are gripped by irrationality

But also some people are cunts.

Well, of course, but if I go round thinking people are cunts I might just take it personally all the time and feel and behave like a cunt myself

The Politically Correct brigade on here need to get down off their high horse. A woman was rude, she got her comeuppance. GOOD. Fuck debating apology vs police procedure. Some people really have no common sense.

Ah, wonder when the Brigade would march in.

There are Brigades for everything now. Like "Accusing someone of being in a Brigade Brigade"

You could wear hats with pom pons on, swirling your "grips" in your hands

There's a Goady Brigade too.

I'm glad he did too. Do you know his badge number? You could call and thank him.

I've often wondered about the Politically Correct Brigade. Does it have a uniform and a headquarters? Is there a rank hierarchy? What are the criteria for joining? Only I've never actually seen it, I've only read messages on social media and the Daily Mail comments going on about it.

Augusta

Yes, they live in Lonny Left Land, and their secret handshake involves hand-wringing.

They identify other members by the pearls they wear

Loony!

Not relevant, but someone called me old to my face, think it may have been an ugly old bitch, at the age of 24

Assume i'm supposed to be one of the politicially correct brigade.

Perhaps my point was too subtle to be understood by some. Perhaps they just like taking offence at random things that are in no way offensive. Whatever. I know why i was asking and it was nothing to do with political correctness or high horses or thinking the woman was right in any way. Which i thought i had already made clear.

Or maybe just maybe Martha she was a cunt.You know people like that actually exist.Think everybody just jump to their command.

Im glad the Policeman had a bit of common sense and maybe teh woman will think twice next time.

Or maybe just maybe Martha she was a cunt.

Not sure what your point is, or why its directed at me. I never said any different.

Blimey it all goes on in that charity shop, doesn't it OP?

Guns, hand grenades and now this.

At least it keeps you all on your toes

Having said that, it was a horrible thing to happen and the Police were right to make her apologise.

Guns and hand grenades??? Hmm.....

What should have happened:

Woman realises that somehow she's left an envelope rammed with cash in the charity bag.

Woman panics and hopes it's not been taken as a donation.

Woman goes to shop to hopefully reclaim the cash.

Shop assistant explains that the cash is safely locked away, and that the manager is the only one who can access it, and will be back shortly.

Woman is massively relieved, waits for the manager, gets her money, thanks them for their honesty and for taking care of her expensive mistake.

FIN.

Oh OP has form?

Ds2 is a "special" with the Met, he says when people get irrationally angry etc and are generally OTT they try and get them to calm down and get them to apologise for their behaviour to the "victim" to diffuse the situation, if they just carry on ranting and behaving badly they get arrested. The idea is if someone is generally a reasonable person that has momentarily "lost it" they will calm down when the error of their ways is pointed out to them by someone "in authority" and the suggestion of an apology is a way of pointing out generally how unacceptable their behaviour is.

Apparently it works about 60% of the time and cuts down on arrests (and paperwork)

Op did the woman leave the shop calmer than she had entered it?

In one sense, Martha is right - the policeman could not have forced the woman to apologise. If, when he stopped her and told her to apologise, she had refused, I doubt there is anything he could have done - other than to escalate the situation (arrest her for breach of the peace/threatening behaviour, perhaps - I don't know).

By telling her to apologise, and giving her the lecture, he resolved the situation without having to take things further - which would have caused further hassle for the OP and her husband, and extra paperwork for him. I think it was an excellent and practical solution.

Birdsgottafly - if you had accused a charity shop worker of theft, been verbally violent towards her and left her shaking and in tears, would you really refuse to apologise? The Hillsborough reference is vile - as is your belief that it would be OK to abuse an innocent person and refuse to apologise to that innocent person you have abused, because of the actions of an organisation. Why should the charity shop worker pay the bill for what South Yorkshire police did and did not do??