I stole a pair of boots from the Goodwill store where I worked, for the thrill of it

I was 18 years old and I worked at a Goodwill store in a wealthy coastal town in Northern California. I think it was 1990-1991.<br><br>I had been working there for six months and was fairly familiar with the workflow and different areas of the store. I’m a woman and was then, and I had long hair which I had tied back at the nape of my neck.<br><br>I worked in the back of the store in an area where items that had been purchased at Goodwill’s outlet sort of place (where people can buy things by the pound… a lot of old rags, broken things, etc.) were sorted. I sorted the items into categories, like clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. The items that were sorted were then put into these bins and rolled out into the store.<br><br>I usually worked with a few other employees in that area, so there was a bit of a safety net. Usually, nobody paid much attention to us back there. So I would steal the items when nobody was paying attention. I would stash them in these cardboard boxes of old rags that nobody wanted, which we called sweeps. I didn’t usually steal much.<br><br>One day I found these white vinyl boots that looked like pirate boots. I thought they were the coolest boots I had ever seen. I didn’t steal them, though - I took them to my supervisor, who was an older woman, and asked her if she knew what to do with them. She said to just put them in a bin with the other shoes, and she would roll them out later.<br><br>I didn’t want to steal the boots in the sorting area, because I felt like I would be caught for sure by the other employees. So I put the boots in one of the rags boxes, planning on taking them out when I rolled the box out into the store. I was pretty nervous and fidgety.<br><br>I rolled the rags box out and parked it in the middle of the shoe section, and then sat down on the floor next to it. I started picking through the rags, looking for the boots. An employee walked over, saw me going through the box, and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was going through the sweeps.<br><br>He asked me why I was going through the sweeps, and if I was looking for something. I said, “No… just looking for cool stuff, like old t shirts or whatever.” He kind of looked at me suspiciously, so I kept going through the box.<br><br>Just as he walked away, I felt a vinyl boot. I pulled it out, and it was the right boot. I shoved it under my skirt and felt around for the left boot. I found it, and my hands were shaking. I shoved the left boot under my skirt, too.<br><br>I struggled to my feet and made my way to the front of the store. At the front of the store, there was a kind of vestibule with a bench and a mirror. From that spot, you could see everyone who came into the store, and you could also see everyone who was standing behind the front counter.<br><br>I went into the vestibule and sat on the bench. I pulled the boots out from under my skirt and looked at them. They were so cool. I put them on, really quickly, and walked over to the mirror. The boots looked so cool on me. They were a bit big, but I thought they looked great. I thought, “I stole these boots, and I got away with it.”<br><br>I ended up hiding the boots in my car and driving home with them. I don’t even remember if anyone noticed that I was wearing boots… I think I had on socks that matched the color of the boots, and maybe my pant legs were long enough to cover them.<br><br>I wore those boots for years. I never threw them away, and I still have them in a box in my garage. Every now and then, I think about them and smile. I think I might have even worn them to my wedding.<br><br>I’m so glad I got away with stealing the boots, even though I feel bad about it.