It was one week in to Kara's new job in a shoe warehouse. She had to take the job there to pay off the huge debts she'd got into at college. This wasn't the kind of work she had expected to end up with but living in a small town as she did and being unable to drive as yet, she had no choice. There wasn't a great number of jobs around. She had expected to be working in the office but they always wanted her on that cold and dusty warehouse floor instead.
She really hated the job and the pay was bad. The weekends were slow and only two members of staff came in on a Saturday. Today it was her and the manager. He was a friendly enough kind of guy, Kara thought. He was probably in his 40's. He had grey hair and was starting to lose some of it. He wasn't really attractive but he seemed quiet and maybe a little shy.
As usual, when she arrived she signed herself in and her boss, David followed behind, locking the door on his way as always to stop passers by just wandering in.
It was dark and cold and Kara dreaded another 9 hour shift as she walked through to the staff room and put down her bag and coat on one of the chairs. She put on the kettle and made a cup of tea for herself and David. Then she walked through to the office where David gave her the first couple of picking lists for the day. She sighed and walked out on to the freezing cold warehouse floor.
She put on the radio and the huge, noisy heater and began to follow the lists and collect the shoes for the different shops. As she did so she dropped a box on the floor. She admired the shoes that fell out. Feeling disappointed that on her wages she could never afford anything like that she shoved them back in their box and continued.
Then a thought crossed her mind. She thought to herself that they owe her a pair of shoes like this with the amount of work she does for them.
She couldn't believe the thoughts that were passing through her mind. Was she really considering stealing from them? She kept telling herself it was a bad idea but as fast as she tried a plan was formulating in her mind.
She went back to the staff room and made herself another cup of tea. This time she brought the tea and her bag out onto the warehouse floor. She left them on the desk in the corner of the room. Then she picked up another picking list and went towards the pair of shoes of her choice. Quickly, Kara took them back over to her bag, took them out of their box and stuffed them in. They just fitted and she took the empty box back over to the shelf and swapped it all around, ensuring it would be quite some time hopefully before anyone noticed the shoes missing. Then she took her bag back through to the office and hid it under her coat.
A week passed. She grew increasingly nervous at work; sure someone would soon notice the shoes missing. Then Saturday came round once again. By today she had almost forgotten her escapades of last week. She followed her routine as usual in the morning and got on with her picking while David sat at the computer in the office. Lunch came and went and then she too got her chance to sit at the computer in the warm office and do a little work in there which she quite enjoyed. It was a far more pleasant environment that that warehouse.
Then David broke the silence in the office.
"I saw you on Friday night at the pub."
"Oh, did you?"
"Yes. I was there with a couple of friends. Not for long mind."
"Oh right."
David kept typing as did Kara but he kept the convosation going.
"Nice shoes I saw you wearing."
Kara realised he was talking about the same shoes she stole. She didn't let herself panic, thinking he probably hadn't realised. People in this place always seem to notice what footwear you have on and be able to tell you where you brought it and how long ago.
"Thanks."
Kara was hoping that was the end to it. No such luck as David's reply reflected what she had feared.
"They were the exact same as the ones that went missing from this warehouse sometime last week."
"Are they, oh no one told me about that."
"Well no but I have a feeling those were the shoes which went missing."
"Why would you think that."