A few posts down I wrote about my "Question of the Day," which I post every day on Facebook. My wife, Kathy suggested I post this last night as a question on Facebook. I hesitated, but decided to bring it to my blogging audience for 2 reasons; One is the fact that there will be a larger audience since I post links to my blog post on my FB page, and two, this will be more than the 420 character limit on a status update, which is how I normally post my daily question.
Our son has bipolar disorder and some severe learning disabilities. This has made him unemployable and he is on disability. Although he lives on his own, I have to help him manage his finances, which means some of my days off from work are spent helping him do his grocery shopping as well tending to other needs he may have.
Yesterday we got to the end of his shopping and he wanted to go into one more store. Because of my actions, the store will remain nameless. Because of the weather, Kathy and I both had aching legs and decided to sit this one out. I went into the store and after giving my son some guidance, gave him the money he had left. I thought he put the money in his pocket. I went back out into the car. After several minutes, I went back into the store to see what was keeping him. He told me that he had dropped his money and when he went back to pick it up, another customer picked it up and said that they would take it to the front of the store and give it to the cashier, which they didn't.
I went back out to the car to let Kathy know what was happening then returned into the store. I asked the cashier if there had been $32.00 returned to her, she said no. I then cupped my hands around my mouth and proceeded with the following "ATTENTION, MY SON IS MENTALLY CHALLENGED AND HE DROPPED 32 DOLLARS INSIDE THIS STORE. THIS IS HIS SOCIAL SECURITY MONEY. IF YOU HAVE IT, PLEASE RETURN IT TO HIM. THANK YOU!" Yes, I was being a human public address system at that time.
Now the money was returned and the lady gave my son some terse comments. The store management, to say the least was embarrassed. After realizing what I did, I was embarrassed. I don't think I will return to that store anytime soon.
Did I do the right thing?
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