You Lose Your Bag In A Store...How Do You React?

Post Reply New Topic

This happened to me once. I left my bag on a bench in a big store, with my home keys, phone, purse... And when I went to the customer services desk, they denied it had been handed in.

In fact, they seemed to have no interest at all in helping me. I just filled with this immense pressure inside, and stamped my feet on the floor and went off into the clothing department and started throwing things across the floor. I threw my bags of shopping across the foyer, in a mix of rage, panic...a meltdown I am assuming.

Security was on the verge of taking me to the police station to see what to do next when suddenly a guy behind the customer services desk, (who did not like me as I once upset a colleague by telling her I considered the store to be part of the rat race) pulled my bag out from a drawer there. He had it all along and had lied about it, even with me stood crying and stamping.

SO ... How would you react if you left your bag somewhere or could not find it while out ?

I would freak out and get very anxious and then be very mean to the staff if they did to me like they did to you until they give me my things

Besides dealing with the lost item, I felt there were a couple of subquestions, here:
dealing with the stress
dealing with passive-aggressive customer service.

I internalize stress, which can be dysfunctional for another set of reasons. (Think, whackamole.)

Ideally, customer service would have been more helpful, and my first line of inquiry, had I lost a bag.

Loss prevention should have the store covered by cameras and could usually scan the entire premises, with the glance of a monitor.

Had the bag been stolen, they should want to know, as soon as possible.

In the usual chain stores, it should be a concern of district managers, that you wouldn't trigger any insurance liabilities with the store.

If my help was particularly nasty, and if I had been well-behaved, I would take only as much time as I needed to be articulate (not taking forever, but not under the gun). And, I would file a written complaint at the corporate website.

I'm concerned that you may have burned a bridge, by throwing things on the ground.

That was mean of that person. I once left my purse at a store and I didn't realize it until I got to the mall and couldn't find my purse and then I realized I left it behind so I had to put my son back in the car and get in and go back to the store. I drive calmly and park and then run inside with him and tell a cashier I left my purse in the cart and if anyone turned it in. She calls security and she asks me what it looked like and I tell her and the security comes to the front and asks for my name and date of birth and I tell him and he hands it to me.

I just learned something, if I ever lose something and they say no one turned it in, just throw things to get my way but I will make sure I will not throw anything breakable. That might get me my thing back I left behind if they were lying. Brilliant. But then I will clean it up and leave the store.


I actually would have believed the staff if they say no one saw it. I would just assume someone saw it and took it. I would report it to them and expect them to look on their camera and I would have called the police and report the incident and that would have been it.

I did have my wallet stolen once and it was a hassle to replace my cards and I looked on the bright side, he didn't get much from me and I didn't have my checkbook, at least he didn't take my purse and at least he didn't take my Nintendo 3DS and games and my identity didn't get stolen, he only wanted money. I found humor in all this, all that work to manipulate me and only got was a cell phone he cannot use and whatever he got with $14.90 and his gas. My husband and I lost nothing from the bank, the gas station lost their money and so did Cricket and he probably got caught but who knows. I did report it and two months later, my stuff was mailed back to me minus the debit and credit card and my dad's card and my target card and gift card, bus pass, but everything else I got back but not wallet and I didn't care. At least nothing much was taken from me and it was a lesson I learned. I did panic at first and was cursing and swearing when I couldn't find my wallet so I ended up calling in sick because I didn't have my honorary citizen card and my driver's license so I was stuck at home. I spent that evening calling the bank to cancel my card and y dad called the other bank to cancel his card and I called Target to cancel my card and Wells Fargo. I didn't throw anything because I knew it wouldn't give me my wallet back, I only yelled and cursed from what I remember. I never called the store to tell them my wallet was stolen there to see if it was caught on camera but I think it happened at the last minute I left because I had it in my hand and then I put it away and started leaving. I didn't know it was stolen until the next day when I was leaving for work and it wasn't in the diaper bag so I assumed my son had took it and put it somewhere and now we had to look for it. My husband called the bank back when we couldn't find my wallet and he talked to them and then my husband asked me if I went to the AM/PM gas station and I said no and then he asked me if I went to 3 different ATM machines and I said no and I then knew my wallet was stolen and I stopped freaking out over not being able to find it and they didn't get much from me. I just looked on the positive side and knew the other rewards cards and my library card were replaceable free of charge and my mom helped me through it because of all the anxiety I was having and didn't know what to do and my parents helped me with the phone calls. Then I was laughing about it because the man tried to hard to get my wallet and didn't get much. I was happy the store did their job by putting the card on fraud alert when he did a major purchase and it didn't go through because of no proper ID. Places will ask for ID when you do a major purchase with a card. Then he tried to go to different ATM machines for money but didn't know the PIN number and I think the third machine ate the card and my credit card was expired and I still had the new one at home and I had no checkbook. I wonder what his reaction was to all this and especially when he found his phone he just got was shut off because the payment didn't go through. My husband thinks he probably got caught and my dad thought he was probably going to get caught now. But I will never know.

OMG i feel so sorry for you to have been in that situation, and to go through it with people like that. What bunch of low life bastards, just terrible terrible people. I don't understand how people can be like that I'm glad you got your bag back though, but still i hate how they hid it and acted as if your bag weren't there. They'd deserve some type of punishment for what they did, as what they did actually would be considered stealing. If i were you, and if my gut feeling told me they were hiding it, i would ask a person in the shop to borrow they're phone, tell them that i needed to call my phone since: "I asked the people who worked here if they had found my bad here, but they didn't so i believe someone has taken it. my wallet and phone etc. if i call it someone might answer if they maybe have taken care of it for me", then when i'd call my phone, woops I'd hear my mobile phone ringing from the drawer in that shop - that would have been hilarious - and you would have the person who's phone you borrowed also witness how terrible. big thief's and liars the people who worked there are. I wish i could have been there when you were in that position, i would def. have helped you out find a way to teach them a lesson or at least shame/ embarrass them.
Oh and something else, also i think you def. could have gotten compensated money for what they did to you, had you reported it, at least i'm pretty sure you would get that here in Norway.

I have forgotten my shopping bag once (not my handbag) - but it did contain clothes shoes with a total value of ca. 1100 Norwegian kroner's (about $ 160,-). I forgot it at an Italian restaurant, had put my bag under the table, after finishing eating, we left to find another place to get some drinks. 30-40 minutes passed by there, and then suddenly i realized that i had forgotten to bring the bag with me, that i had left it at the restaurant. I ran as fast as i could back, went to the counter and asked if they had found a bag with such and such clothes and shoes in it, i had barely finished that sentence, before i saw a familiar face behind the man i was taking to (the guy who had waited us) he smiled and "disappeared" under the counter, then quickly came back to sight again with my bag in his hand. I was very relieved to see they had taken care of it/ hid it behind the counter so that other customers wouldn't take it

Wow, that store associate sounds like a real a**. I would have reported him to management. Then, I would never return to that store again.

Well, incidentally, the guy responsible for having my bag and not saying, was eventually fired for stealing at the store, (which was actually the UK Asda, run by Walmart, lol) so he obviously was not such a great character to begin with.
I didn't actually damage anything during my meltdown, put the clothes I had thrown back, and the shopping I had flung was my own that I had already bought and nothing got broken.

It was a cleaner who knew me who had eventually found me in a bad state in the clothes section and took me back to the customer services desk.

To lose my home keys was just, my worst nightmare... no way of getting to safety, was how I viewed it and no way to call anyone who knew me as all numbers were on my phone.

Losing things is horrible for me and causes melt downs

I think what you did was an excellent reaction - very envious I couldn't have done that - I always take it out on myself.

What a complete di@khead - did this store guy do it on purpose to wind you up?

I would most definitely freak out, especially if we are talking about my backpack I take everywhere. It has my favorite things in it and on it that comfort me. If I was to lose it, I'd end up having one of my meltdowns. D: In fact, my dad was at the VA once, and I actually walked out of the waiting room with it sitting in the chairs. There was a guy who was nice enough to come out and tell me my bag was there before we walked away. So, I went back and got it and thanked him.

I've lost my bag, and many other things, lots of times, so I don't freak out anymore. I would if it had my wallet in there, but I don't usually carry my wallet to places. I actually lost my phone a few weeks ago and everyone thought it was funny how I didn't care because, well...I lose things a lot. I unfortunately, have not found my phone yet.

It has happened to me a few time with my wallet or car keys. At first I go ballistic and then have a total meltdown and acted like someone who wasn't normal, once I even started crying. One time in a supermarket I went into such a crazy mode security called the police, police came, they couldn't communicate with me, at first they where thought, they eventually called a family number after searching into my cell phone, and when my family told them that I had autism then the cops became nicer and helped me looking for my wallet and found it, it was returned to a cashier who hadn't hand it yet to the store security, everything in it was there except my 10 euros (around 13 dollars) bill.