"Am I going to jail? Tomorrow is his birthday!"

It started with a shoplifting call. A man and woman were being observed via camera stealing CDs with a small child. I got there and found a man and woman in the loss prevention office and a three year child running around. The woman was crying crocodile tears. Clearly she's 'remorseful' after getting caught. She was begging to pay, to be let go, and that CPS had just placed the child in her custody. This caught my attention. I did find a toy monster for the child who was having a grand old time. He clearly had no idea what was going on. I gave him the toy after telling the store I would buy it for him if necessary (they were kind enough to let him have it, so in the end the only one who got free stuff was the child). The woman kept whining and crying about the kid's birthday the next day. I asked her if any of this dawned on her before she decided to steal rap CDs. I then told her if she's going to bring a child to a theft then nobody has any sympathy for her so she can knock it off. She then said she had never been in trouble before. I already knew she was lying. Nine out of ten people who say that have criminal records and sure enough, she had been arrested for assaulting her own mother. She's a real winner. The guy she's with is a felon from Louisiana. His only form of identification was a Louisiana prison ID. This couple is a sure winner. I really try not to be judgmental, after all I'm nowhere near perfect nor will I ever be. However, there are just some people I'm way better than. Hell, there are some people whose lives are way less valuable than my pets! Anyhow, we call the woman's mother to come get the child. When she gets there, she's mad as hell! She gets in the office and she looks at her daughter and says "I'm gonna beat your ass! Ya'll leave the office, give me a few minutes alone!" As the woman is being escorted out of the office her mother whacks her upside the head "yeah how's that feel?" Oh damn! I got in between them and calmed the grandmother down and told her she had a beautiful grand baby and to focus on him, not her daughter. I did call CPS and let them know what happened. I later learned that the child is the nephew of the thieving woman. The mother had her parental rights terminated by CPS and placed him with his aunt who was trying to adopt him. This stunt will throw a monkey wrench into that plan. I just hope that child gets a sense of right and wrong as he gets older. I know he won't remember me, or the toy I gave him. I just hope he doesn't grow up to follow in the footsteps of his family and become another hoodlum.