Living the Waking Dream

Living the Waking Dream…

by Drew Bankston

I don’t always write. Well, I do write a lot, but it’s not how I support my family, yet. My regular job is as an Asset Protection Detective in a department store. What that means is that I do my best to prevent people from walking out with merchandise that they haven’t paid for. The biggest question that I get from people when I tell them what I do is, “Are you very busy?” My answer is always the same, “yes”.

It’s amazing but someone steals in the store everyday. I don’t always catch everyone, but I do catch many and most are prosecuted. The other day there were two women in my store. The entire scenario is a long story, but I’ll keep it short. These two women were working together. They had a bunch of kid’s clothes and some men’s activewear. They also had a stroller and a three month old baby. They took all of the clothes into a fitting room and came out with nothing but the stroller. I looked in the fitting room and there was nothing in there but some empty hangers. Either they were great magicians or shoplifters. I chose to believe the second choice.

As I would do, I stopped them as they exited the store and asked for our merchandise back. The woman pushing the stroller became very verbally abusive, tried to run me over with the stroller and refused to cooperate. Now, here’s what really got to me. She stepped to the side of the stroller and picked up her baby and yelled at me to just take the clothes. There were no clothes in the stroller. I again told her that she needed to return the stolen property. At this point she reached down under the stroller and retrieved a backpack stuffed full of clothes and threw it at me, knocking me backwards. She and her friend then ran. She used her baby to protect herself. That really irritated me as a parent. Not only was she mad at me for stopping her and recovering our merchandise, which she obviously felt entitled to, but she put a small baby at risk.

What is wrong with people? She tried to take almost $800 worth of clothing, probably to sell it to someone else. 

I work for a living. It’s not a glamorous job and sometimes not very rewarding. I also write and hope someday, that it will be my main source of income. I write because I love to entertain, educate and make people feel good. I have bills to pay and a family to support. I don’t steal from others. I’m honest and no matter how bad things get, I find ways to make it work without resorting to thievery or possibly hurting my children! I love my family.

I believe in helping others. I love to make people smile and laugh, and I believe others should do the same. It doesn’t cost anything and it sure makes other people feel good. Everyone goes through bad times, but those bad times don’t last forever. With a little help, encouragement and a pat on the back, we could all go so much farther. I know that someday my writing will put me in a position where I can help so many others. I hope that, in some way, it does now. Do what you can to at least put a smile on the face next to you. It might come back around when you need it the most!