Receptionist at car dealership baffled when an entitled mother 'takes things too far.' UPDATED 2X

When this employee at a car dealership is upset with a customer, he asks the internet:

"A random mom confused me at work. What do I do?"

I work at a car dealership as a receptionist, one of my duties being greeting customers when they enter. I am a professional artist on the side and I've been busy with some commissions lately so since it's not busy at the dealer, I started working on my iPad mini.

It's old and I'm working on upgrading but I currently can't afford to, so I live with it despite the battery life being really short and I have to basically keep it plugged in at all times.

During my lunch I was in the waiting area doing more work when a kid, a little girl no older than 4, came up and watched me work.

This happens a lot when I draw in public and usually the kids just ask a lot of questions, but this NG (nice girl) was very quiet and just had a look of amazement, so I just let her be.

Her mother, the EM in the story, was nearby at a salesman's desk working on purchasing a new car, which is a long and no doubt boring process.

The salesman working with her walked away, which at my dealership they do very often to retrieve paperwork, talk to the sales/finance managers, etc. She looks over at me and her kid and asks her "what are you looking at?"

Her kid points at my screen and says "she's painting puppies!" (I was working on twitch emotes of a streamer's dog). I sort of show my screen to EM and she then asks her kid if she wants to draw, which the girl excitedly said yes.

I expected EM to pull out a paper and pencils or at least ask if I can get some for her too, but she just looked at me expectantly.

When I realized she was waiting for me to hand her my iPad, I said "oh, she can't use mine, but I can get her a notepad and pens," but apparently that wasn't good enough.

She sighs and says "just let her draw a little bit, I'm almost done here anyway," which I knew for a fact wasn't true, they were waiting on bank approval for a loan, which can take anywhere between 5-30 minutes, and even then they'll be here longer for finance paperwork, detailing, etc.

I start to explain that this is part of my work and she scoffs, saying I'm just doodling puppies and it was selfish that I wouldn't let NG doodle on my device too. Poor NG was just looking at her hands, looking quite embarrassed.

I then pretended my lunch was over and got up to spend the rest of my lunch at my desk. I couldn't see her behind a huge truck on display, but I can hear her grumble to NG about who knows what. Whatever, pretend like I didn't hear so I don't mess up this sale for my coworker.

Some time later, nature called me and I got up to use the restroom. I left my iPad on my seat so it'll stay plugged in and put a notepad over it to try to cover it up somehow. My desk is a wide crescent shape with no drawers to keep my things safe, so this was the best I could do to somewhat hide it.

I was in the restroom no longer than 3 minutes, but when I got back, only my charger remained! My iPad and Apple Pencil were gone! I looked over to the lady, who had her large purse suspiciously in her lap now instead of on the floor beside her chair like it was before.

I was panicked because a lot of my work is on that iPad that I needed! I went to my sales manager, SM, and told him the situation. He told me he would take care of it, but to be patient for now. I went back to my desk full of anxiety and my stomach doing backflips.

SM went to the desk where EM was to work out the deal. They're far enough that I can hear their voices but not pinpoint what they're saying, but I did hear her eventually yell "HOW DARE YOU? I WOULD NEVER STEAL!! DO YOU WANT TO LOSE THIS SALE??"

I immediately got up and went over behind the lady so SM could see me but she couldn't. He tells her he understands but my iPad went missing and he wants to make sure no one currently in the building has it.

That's when I remembered the Find My feature on all Apple products. My iPad was connected to the deaker's WiFi, so I pulled out my iPhone and pressed "Play Sound" for my iPad.

Her purse started dinging. She tried to play it off as if it's her ringtone and SM stared at her, as if daring her to answer it. Thing is, with the Play Sound feature, if I keep pressing it, it will keep pinging. I made my presence known and told her to give my iPad back.

That's when she stopped playing dumb and just said "just let NG have it, her birthday is coming up and I can't afford a present for her since I'm getting this car!"

SM said he was happy to cancel the deal so she can instead buy a birthday present for her child and to return my iPad or he'll call the police. She practically threw my iPad at me, where it hit me in the gut, and took NG from the waiting area to leave. Poor thing looked at me with the most apologetic look on her face before leaving with her mother.

SM might've helped me, but he's not exactly the nicest person. From now on, I'm not allowed to bring my iPad to the dealer, I have to either leave it in my car or leave it at home. Whatever.

EM took my Apple Pencil with her since she left in a hurry, so I'm gonna stop by the Apple Store after work to get a new one, but until then I'm stuck with my pens and notepad.

EDIT: I GOT OFF WORK AND TIL APPLE PENCILS COST LIKE $120, THE FIRST GENERATION. THE ONE EM TOOK I BOUGHT SECONDHAND FOR $70 WHAT THE HECK

Edit 2: I'm off work tomorrow but my SM called the police and filed a report today using the info we have on file for EM.

I really don't like getting involved with the law because it makes me crazy nervous, but I pulled through and answered the detective's questions. As far as I know, They have enough info and evidence to reach out to EM to get my pencil back.

So many of you have been so sweet in offering to send me replacements, offering discounts, and even alternatives until I get my pen back, but I already bought a new one after work like I mentioned. I do intend to make EM comp me for the money I spent on it. Will keep y'all updated as this story develops!

Before we give you OP's update, let's take a look at some top responses:

Tell her entitled ass that if she do not give you your Property back in the same condition it was in when she stole your belongings or reimbursed that 120 that you will farther call the police and report it stolen and or take her ass to Court and she should not over step your boundaries ever again.

Why should you come out your pockets don’t be a enabler demand your respect set those terms in place so she don’t feel comfortable With getting away with stuff like this She’s just gonna keep trying get over on you!

fascinatony writes:

The fact that she had the nerve to ask a stranger to let a child use an expensive piece of technology is bad enough!!!!

But she went all the way to try and steal it for her kid…. As if you wouldn’t know it was her….. insane…/ def call the cops and file a report…. Just to make her life miserable……

crepaaa writes:

As someone who's also into drawing and really wants to get an iPad, I know how expensive the prices can be.

Don't let this witch get away with your apple pencil! They're pretty hard to get where I live, idk if the situation is the same for you but PLEASE try to recover it ASAP! Also I rly hope your iPad is ok and without any damage!

And now, OP's update:

Hi all. It has been a stressful and anticlimactic week. I came back to work on my day off on Monday to talk to the police. EM apparently doesn't live in the county, she came here to try to buy a car that isn't available in her area, so they had to reach out to the police department there to talk to her.

They took my info and told me to fill out a police report online so they can get started, which I did.

The next day, the shooting in Texas happened (RIP those little angels), so the police assigned to my case deemed it not important enough and placed it on hold to do a two day shooting drill that commenced the following day (Wednesday and Thursday).

I finally got word back yesterday, on Saturday, that the EM has been contacted and told to either give the pencil back or be charged with theft. I don't know what her reaction was, whether she went to the police or they went to her, or what kind of conversation they had, but I do know she handed over the pencil.

Two of her county cops just came into the dealer a few moments ago and gave me my pencil. They then told me that next time if I can do it myself, then confront the EM myself, and I was capable of doing so because of the info we had of her.

However, they did say that they can proceed with the charges for theft if I wish to do so, but say I should think about her child and that she returned the pencil anyway.

Honestly guys, I don't want to make this political, but at this point I was exhausted and did not want to deal with the police or anyone in the legal system further. I just thanked the cops, offered them coffee, and sent them on their way.

I really don't know if that was the proper procedure for police work, or if we're all stressed because of what happened on Tuesday. I live in a dominantly Hispanic area, and the tragedy hit us all exceptionally hard. I don't even have the energy to be angry anymore, I'm just really tired and happy to have my pencil back.

Now I have two. I'll probably give my newer one to my little cousin who wants to follow me in my art footsteps. She doesn't have an iPad, but her sister does, so maybe she can let her use it on it. idk.

I wish I had a more juicy and righteous story about how EM was arrested and paid me money because of a stupid decision she made, but the tragedy humbled me to my core. All I have to say now is take care of yourselves, I love you, and thank you for reading.

Edit: I know that if I followed the advice of the police it would've done more harm than good and it's extremely dangerous to do so, which is why I was pretty surprised they brought it up. Maybe they thought it wasn't worth the trouble over an Apple Pencil and I could do it myself next time. idk

Edit 2: I made the decision to not press charges for the sake of my mental health. Please stop saying I should pursue it further. I’m not going to, I’m instead going to trust that being contacted by the police was enough for her to be shaken enough to realize her actions have consequences.

Readers continued to weigh in on OP's updates:

Cops aren't there to help you. They're there to protect the private property of the wealthy, corporations, and the government; and to preserve the status quo.

My uncle's cabin got robbed, lost thousands of dollars in tools, several firearms, and an engine. Cops knew.the guy who did it. Had proof hed been selling them at.a pawn shop. But they "didn't have time" to track him down despite knowing where he lived and where he worked.

But he stole something from the local meth dealer a month later and they burned down the guys house with everything inside. Lost all put shit, but he's living in his car now.

Nobody has been charged for any of this. But hey they caught a black guy with a lb of weed and a baking scale last week so I'm sure they deserve all those millions we spend on them.

guarddog65 writes:

Cops aren't there to help you. They're there to protect the private property of the wealthy, corporations, and the government; and to preserve the status quo.

My uncle's cabin got robbed, lost thousands of dollars in tools, several firearms, and an engine. Cops knew.the guy who did it. Had proof hed been selling them at.a pawn shop. But they "didn't have time" to track him down despite knowing where he lived and where he worked.

But he stole something from the local meth dealer a month later and they burned down the guys house with everything inside. Lost all put shit, but he's living in his car now. Nobody has been charged for any of this.

But hey they caught a black guy with a lb of weed and a baking scale last week so I'm sure they deserve all those millions we spend on them.