When Someone You Work with is Pretexting

It was my second day on the job at the nicest department store in the mall. It wasn't necessarily a job I wanted, but it was filling space between my other jobs. I was to be working with a really nice lady who showed me all around our department. She helped me with the register when I got confused, and in the process began telling me her life story. I listened to her ramble about her other job where she was the manager of a store. I heard how she had worked in retail for over fifteen years. She was clearly attempting to brag, but it wasn't really impressing me. It did however make me think she knew more than I did.
Halfway through our shift she came across a really nice DVD player on sale. She said her daughter really wanted one for Christmas, but she wasn't sure if she should buy it or not. I shrugged. It wasn't really my decision. She kept going back and forth.

Then, as if I didn't know the story of her life already, she decided to tell me how all her credit cards were maxed out, and that she couldn't find her card for our store. Which basically meant she shouldn't buy anything. My opinion was that if she was really as in debt as she said she was she shouldn't buy it. She went off to take a break and I was left at the register.
When she came back from her break she told me she had found a temporary store credit card and asked if I would ring her up. She handed me the card. I looked at the very unusual name on the card and looked at her nametag with her very common name. She told me the name on the card was her real name. I shrugged, it was late at night, it was my second day, she was rushing me, and not to be racist, but black people often have strange names. She bought the DVD player and I was never on another shift with her again.

About two months later I stopped getting called to come into work at that store. I had been wondering why when I received a call from the local police station. "Were you working Nov 2?" As if I remembered. The officer named the lady I had been working with, and asked if I knew her. I told him I had worked with her once. He asked if I was aware that she had used a different credit card. I told him I hadn't. I was so flustered I couldn't remember a thing. Bit by bit I remembered her buying the DVD player, so I told him as he continued to question me. He said I was a suspect with her because I had rung her up! He was calling me first because she had a history of cases like this. He wanted another opinion. I answered the rest of his questions and never heard from them again. I'm assuming they caught her.

The entire incident really bothered me for at least another month. I never knew if the police were going to call again, or if I was going to have to testify. The officer had said I might. I didn't know if anything this lady had told me about herself was true. I felt mortified that I had been so gullible. I had faith that she was going to help me get used to my job. She had been so nice.
In retrospect there are certain things I should have realized. She was overly friendly and told me her entire life history in one night including her credit card issues. How many people do that? The fact that she had been in debt should have been a red light for me. When she handed me someone else's credit card I should have gone straight to my other boss, but how was I supposed to know my first boss wasn't trustworthy. It is tricky sometimes to tell when someone is lying to you or not. Perhaps after hearing this story people who work in retail will think twice before they ring suspicious people up.