So my favorite toy in the world is a little talking and dancing Walle toy that I got during one of my business trips to Amsterdam. It was the year the movie came out and I remember watching the movie and being awed by it. After the screening the folks at Disney gave each of us trade show members a bag of goodies and this little Walle was in it. I have gotten a lot of promo items over the years and pretty much I either take them out of the box and enjoy them for a while, give them to family who I think might like them or immediately get rid of them because they are dumb. This little Walle has been my favorite item of all time. I had it at home but when Baby Girl was born I took a lot of my movie stuff to work to display in my office. Every once in a while when the mood strikes I would push the button that would make Walle sing or dance and basically, his little dancing would make my heart smile. Walle is like a little piece of heaven.
Anyhow, fast forward to January 8th. I am pretty anal about dust and organization so when it slowed down at work a bit I took a moment to dust my bookshelf and that is when I see that a few things were out of place. Knowing that I wouldn't organize the things as they were presently organized, I quickly moved things back to the way I put them, only to discover that my big Walle was missing. I screamed out to my co-worker and he was bummed because everyone who met my little Walle loved it. He happened to mention that even he played with it last week. Heaven I tell you, heaven. So I tell another co-worker, who is the office manager and he calls security. I felt funny reporting that a toy was missing but I was pissed off that they didn't take anything else except my favorite toy and that they went to the trouble of moving things around so I wouldn't notice. If they had taken anything else I probably would have let it go. Oh did I mention that this now made me feel uncomfortable in my office since I know knew that my privicy had been invaded?
So I fill out the reports. I happened to be leaving work early for the week and before I leave, I write a little note that says "I know what you took and who you are because the camera on my computer caught you taking it. Please return it and I won't press charges."
Low and behold when I come to work on Monday morning my Walle has been returned and there is a note in Spanish next to Walle. I had a co-worker translate and I was sadden to learn that a lady (assumably the cleaning lady since they are the only ones with keys) took the item to give to her son for Christmas. She apologized and said she had never done anything like that before. I never in a million years thought I would see Walle again and now he was back.
The story on the Post-it broke my heart. I am not sure I can look at Walle again knowing it was ripped from the hands of another child. But alas, his mother decided to take it and I don't condone stealing. I wanted to help this poor mother and get her toys or even a Walle but a lot of things happened at work that day that lead me to believe that perhaps the note was a fake. Plus, I had to report to security my item was returned and they wanted to know the story and by reporting the facts I am pretty sure that they know who it is. I am now left wondering if this person will be fired. After all they did return it? Or did they return it because they got caught?
Basically, I really don't know what the true story is except I have Walle back and security is dealing with the problem. I had facilities stop cleaning my office so no one can get in any longer and I moved the spare key that I had.
I took my beloved Walle home and showed him to Baby Girl who immediately fell in love with him too. Now Walle is back home and I am praying that another child isn't hurting from this toy. I guess int he end people make their own choices and this person chose to take something that didn't belong to them. I would have liked to give them a second chance but then with all the things that happened after that note arrived I couldn't believe that that note was accurate.
I was put in a what to do situation. I hope I did the right thing.
Anyhow, glad Walle is back as I truly love him.
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