“I’ll just take this candy bar, it’s not a big deal.”

How many of us can confess to doing this?

Most people can say they have experienced this at least one time in their life. Whether it was from a candy bar to a water bottle, we’ve done it. Although, we know it’s wrong, we think it’s something small so we won’t get caught.

However, it always tends to be the moment you least expect, to get caught.

And for my cousin, this was exactly was she was thinking.

This past Tuesday we decided to go to CVS around her house to buy makeup. As we were searching for what to buy, she noticed this eye shadow she wanted.

“I’m just going to take this,” she said.

With no real reason as to why she decided to do so, she hid it in the sleeve of her jacket. We continued shopping and even paid for all the stuff we bought. As we approached the exit, a man stopped right in front of us.

“I’m going to need you guys to come to the back with me and take that out of your sleeve.”

At that moment, I was beyond scared and wanted to run out of the store. I had never been in a situation like this and wasn’t sure what was going to happen to my cousin. When we got to the back, he made us take off our jackets to see if anything else was stolen.

He then went through her purse and as he was searching he found something interesting. He pulled out a “Detective Daughter’s” badge.

“Wow, your dad is a detective? He must be proud, he raised you right.”

“C’mon, is that necessary,” she responded.

Furious that my cousin talked back, he stormed out the room. Although, my cousin said it in the most peaceful tone, the man was just mad that she responded to his comment. He then came back and made us sit as he filled out some paperwork.

When he finished, he told us that we had to wait for the manager because he wanted to have a word with us. At that moment, I was relieved because I figured we would be out in no time.

Oh, how I was wrong.

Shortly after, two cops appeared in the room. They came in and asked everyone else to leave. They told her that they were angry they got called for something so minor.

“If it was up to me, I’d let you go. Seriously, its 5 dollars,” they said.

However, the guy was persistent on pressing charges. Which made sense, as we pieced together why he stormed out the room after my cousin responded.

“Her dad is a retired detective, I want to teach him a lesson,” yelled the man.

Therefore, the cops had to do their job and arrest my cousin. They took her to the precinct right next to her house and put her in a cell for hours while they filled out all the paperwork. She got fingerprinted and was given a court date.

All for 5 dollars.

There are approximately 27 million shoplifters (or 1 in 11 people) in our nation today. More than 10 million people have been caught shoplifting in the last five years, according to the National Learning and Resource Center.

I’m pretty sure thousands of those people have stolen something that wasn’t even valuable.

Not only did my cousin get arrested, but she also has to appear in court and now has something on her record. Hopefully, the charges get dropped or she can find a way around it.

Was the eye shadow worth it?

Absolutely not!

Therefore, the next time you think about taking something, think again. Don’t ever think getting caught will never happen to you.

Remember, nothing material is worth getting arrested.