Theft at the Restaurant

I have to admit... For dinner tonight, I ate at the same restaurant chain that I ate at yesterday. I had to since it was so conveniently located just down the street from my hotel and the fact that it offered "To Go" options.

I made a stupid mistake while I was at the restaurant. The server brought me my food and drink and then she walked away with my credit card that I had taken out of my wallet. I set my wallet down on the counter and adjusted everything to make it easy when I would walk out of the restaurant. She came back with my receipt and the copy that I needed to sign. I was so hungry that after I signed my copy, I didn't even put my credit card back in my wallet and picked up all of my things and then went to car.

I got back to the hotel, ate my food, and then went to put everything away and found that my wallet was not in my purse. I looked all around and could not find it. I went out to the car and could not find it. So, I called the restaurant and they had it! I immediately got in my car and drove over to the restaurant. I was so thankful that they had it, I thanked them and then walked out without even looking in the wallet.

I got on the freeway to then go to my college fair of the night. While driving, I looked in the wallet to get my money ready for the parking structure I knew I would be going in and my wallet was empty of any money! I had $40.00 in my wallet when I went to the restaurant, but now it was gone! I was so upset, both at the person that stole the money and myself for making such a stupid mistake.

As soon as I could pull over to make a call (since we need to be hands free while driving in California), I called the restaurant to talk to the manager. I explained that it was a stupid mistake on my part for leaving my wallet, but wanted to let her know that $40 was taken from my wallet. Instead of apologizing for my experience, her first response was, "It must have been a customer because I know none of my employees would have done that." I was shocked by this response and said, "well, again, I want to admit that it was a stupid mistake and I just called in case it was one of your employees so that you knew that you might have a thief in your restaurant." Again, she refused that none of her employees would steal.

I'm sad that I lost the $40, but really upset that there was no sympathy for my situation. I'm also upset that this manager would not admit that it could have been one of her employees.

It's not cool that someone stole my money! This is definitely a time that I'm hoping karma is real!