(Got popcorn? this might take a minute to tell)
My boss was ringing up a customer at the front of the store. I was in the employee area heating my dinner, but could see the front of the store. This cardboard cut-out (like 5 feet tall !!!) started to walk away under a guy's arm, behind my boss's back. It's a cardboard-backed picture of a girl in a quasi-sexy costume. This blond-haired college-aged guy had snatched it and went straight for the entrance to the mall; 20 feet away.
The theif and his GF were in the costume store browsing a few minutes earlier. But the GF was gone now, so I think she went to get the car.
I yelled at Rick, and chased after the guy. I told the guy to stop and he did(!) and I lied to him, telling him that my boss already called security and he needed to stop and wait for security to arrive. So we stood there together one foot outside the mall's main entrance, next to the starbucks.
I pulled out my cellphone to call security, while the guy waited. I asked the mall operator "Have yall already sent security to mall entrance near the Barnes and Noble?"
She said she would (she could tell I was talking in front of the guy). I told the guy that the operator said the security guys were right around the corner. My boss switched with me, so I went back into the costume store.
A moment later two security guards brought the guy into the store with the cardboard girl and Rick. The girlfriend came along pretty quick too. So I think that's who the thief was text messaging.
The girlfriend said "He didn't' do it maliciously. It was a prank"
Rick said, "It doesn't feel good to the guy who gets pranked. Do you want me to go into the parking lot and 'prank' your car?" LOL
The security guards filed some paperwork and the guy is considered trespassing if he ever enters our store again. If we see him in the store or lurking near the front, we can call the real police (not mall security) and have him arrested. The security told the guy and his GF that it doesn't matter WHAT he takes, stealing is serious and he could have been arrested tonight for what he did. the guy didn't seem to take any of it seriously, but did look a little worried until the security guards let him leave.
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In other news: Elaine is only one week into school and there is already a little drama. Her new teacher, Miss Monroe, has her class recite a 'Pledge to the Earth' every morning. I didn't know about the pledge until she sent home a note to ALL the parents saying that she has heard that some parents wanted to know more about the pledge that the kids say every day. She typed out the words to the pledge on this note she sent home. Jim talked to Miss Monroe this morning and asked that Elaine not participate in this activity. He gave his reasons to Miss Monroe, which I'm sure he'll blog about in detail. She seemed surprised, but didn't argue. Before he left the classroom, he noticed a discrepancy between the note she sent to parents and the poster in class... the 'Pledge to the Earth' poster in her classroom (which is hand-written and laminated) ends with the word "Namaste". It's a Hindu word that literally translates to "I bow to you", among other things.
So the class recites a pledge to the earth that ends with "I bow to you"??!!
Let's say I was a teacher, hypothetically. I wouldn't be allowed to have a poster that says "Amen" on it, right? Or even include Jesus in Christmas projects. Elaine attends a typical state-funded elementary, so no one should be allowed to teach any kind of religion to the kids, besides their parents. Jim emailed (a very carefully worded and nice) email to Miss Monroe to find out what 'Namaste' means. We looked it up online, but are curious what she THINKS it means.
Jim says there are a few possibilities:
1. She might not know all the meanings of the word and might just know it from Yoga class. Evidently lots of yoga classes say it to end the class.
2. It's how communication is commonly ended with Hindus, so she might have copied the pledge from some source and kept the phrase without looking it up.
3. She knows what it means and intentionally put it on the sign in her classroom.
My advise from Regina is to just have Elaine moved to a different teacher's class, while it's still early in the school year, since other classes don't recite this pledge daily or have the poster.
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