Do you think I’m wrong to feel suspicious?

Very helpful staff. Very odd thing for an innocent thing for a person to do but could just be a fluke?

Horrid thing to happen mistake or not. Nothing you can do about it now, though. Try and put it out of your mind, easier said than done I know.

If the woman had bad intentions, she'd have taken your purse out of your bag and left the store promptly. She must also have been discombobulated for some reason? Very unsettling, but tell yourself all's well that ends well.

I agree with Retread. Strange incident, but if she was dishonest, she’d have been off with your unattended bag in a flash.
Years go, in a hair salon, I saw (in the mirror) a woman putting on my Mac, ready to leave. I was out of the chair in a flash and she was very apologetic that she hadn’t noticed the difference, even though it was very obvious!

Please don’t overthink it chicken or dwell on the ‘what if’s’. It’s over and done with now and you sound a bit stressed, probably because your DH isn’t well?

Thank goodness .
I think that the lady was innocent-she would have taken your valuables and left .
You'd be amazed at the things that people do .
I left my dozing Father in a wheelchair to go to the loo .
Came back to no wheelchair and no Father in sight .
Another lady was happily pushing his wheelchair chatting away .

Retread

If the woman had bad intentions, she'd have taken your purse out of your bag and left the store promptly. She must also have been discombobulated for some reason? Very unsettling, but tell yourself all's well that ends well.

I agree and it seems alls well that ends well

Also agree with Retread. Happened to me and I was the 'guilty' party. I was so engrossed trying to remember what I needed that I just put an item in the trolley near to me and off I went completely blind to the fact it wasn't my trolley. The other trolley owner found me and we had little laugh over it. Just put it down to we ladies are usually having to think about 101 things

Was anything missing from your bag.

ClicketyClick

Also agree with Retread. Happened to me and I was the 'guilty' party. I was so engrossed trying to remember what I needed that I just put an item in the trolley near to me and off I went completely blind to the fact it wasn't my trolley. The other trolley owner found me and we had little laugh over it. Just put it down to we ladies are usually having to think about 101 things

Glad to hear I'm not the only one to have done that 🤣

Have you checked with the bank as well, chicken, just to make sure?
Perhaps she was miles away, doing her shopping on autopilot.

Esmay Sat 17-Oct-26 17:23:18
That did make me laugh! A case of dadnapping. I wonder how far she'd have wandered around before realising she had the wrong man? Or perhaps she preferred the look of your Dad to the man she took out with her.

Weird. Have you checked your credit cards and balance?

Esmay

Thank goodness .
I think that the lady was innocent-she would have taken your valuables and left .
You'd be amazed at the things that people do .
I left my dozing Father in a wheelchair to go to the loo .
Came back to no wheelchair and no Father in sight .
Another lady was happily pushing his wheelchair chatting away .

I have to chalk that up as a daft thing not even I have done (& I've taken people in chairs now & then)

Taking someone elses trolley I do fairly regularly, but only when their shop's a bit like mine & never for more than a minute...

Sounds like you both had an off day. If the other person had bad intentions they would not be wandering around with your trolley and bag.

Thankfully chicken. you got your bag back. It was surely a genuine mistake. A real thief would have grabbed the purse and been halfway home in the time. Wouldn't they?

I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, just relief.

Maybe she’d just had a flu & Covid vaccine & was feeling all confused 😳
Really though, you think she would have noticed the brightly coloured bags & your handbag!
Where was her handbag, if she had shopping to pay for (I suppose most people pay on a phone, so no bag necessary).

I must say I have done it, grabbed someone else’s trolly but either I have quickly realised, or they have.
I’ve even sat in someone else’s seat at restaurant before realising I was at the wrong table, back in the day when I liked a drink & was probably pissed 😂
Maybe the person was starting with Dementia, or deep in thought, who knows 🤷‍♀️

Difficult to know if it was just an accident. Either way, the short time that you were searching for your trolley and handbag must have left you very stressed and upset.

I let myself into another person's car once. No idea why the lock worked.

I sat in it for a good few minutes waiting for the person I'd gone shopping with.
I was getting fed up waiting...
After a while I noticed something on the back seat that I didn't remember putting in the car earlier.
I puzzled over this for another minute and slowly, oh so very slowly the truth dawned... and so like a thief I crept out and closed the door gently and sheepily ... and moved half a dozen cars up the car park and got into my own car. 😬

Then there is nearly getting into the passenger seat and realising it's the wrong man in the drivers seat....I drive now so thats unlikely, but there have been some funny moments.

as long as no money has been taken out of your account there have been enough here (like me) who have taken the wrong trolley..

So try and think, how kind the staff were, that they had taken care of you both.

I think she could definitely have been trying to steal from you but was discovered before she got out the door.

It could also have been an innocent mistake and she just wasn't paying attention but I agree that it is definitely cause for suspicion!

If she’s picked up the bag and went for the way out it would have been obvious that she was stealing the bag. However, if she was just pushing it towards the way out she had the excuse that she’d made a mistake. Years ago we parked our car outside a pub and went in but only for a few minutes. Not what would be expected. When we went back to our car someone was sitting in it. He got out and, instead of running away walked towards us saying that he’d got into what he thought was his car but someone must have stolen it. Because he didn’t run away we believed him and it was only when he had walked away out of sight that we looked at each other and said ‘he was either going to steal the car or looking to see if there was anything in it to steal’. He got away with it because he didn’t behave how we expected a thief to behave. We even offered to drive him to a police station to report his ‘stolen’ car. An offer which he obviously declined. It was nearly sixty years ago but I can picture it now.
‘

I know what you're saying, MayBee70. Thieves can be very slick and convincing.

When I go to any supermarket I am amazed at how many people are literally in their own world.

All special awareness is lost, people will merrily block an aisle with their trolley, stand inspecting something for what seems like an age to then put it back again, a classic is bumping into someone you know and stand chatting whilst nobody can pass you or get to the goods behind you.

Honestly it is like they walk in and lose all awareness so this woman getting the wrong trolley is not a surprise.