A Job #2 Mystery

Paging Inspector Clouseau...

So there I was at job #2 yesterday preparing for the day and setting up for the wait staff. One errand sent me to the basement and as I rounded a corner at top speed almost slammed into a... baby carriage! Imagine my surprise, I thought, WTF?

Then it all came back:

Memorial day weekend a young couple, apparently with a baby, chose to dine at the restaurant. It was raining so they covered the little darling with plastic more to protect the expensive Pram than the little one, I think. However, the state fire code frowns on baby strollers or carriages of any sort in restaurants and the couple had to leave the carriage in the corner of the entryway.

It was a busy Sunday night, being Memorial weekend and all, and no one noticed until the end of the night that the carriage was still in the entryway covered with plastic. To be sure the little one was not left "by mistake" (ahem!) the interior was checked carefully. No baby, thank G*d. It appears the family and their party had a few too many margaritas and simply forgot the pram and left. They would have had to see it on the way out. Hard to miss something that big. You'd think it might have triggered a memory, no? Well, no.

So everyone assumed the couple would return Monday to retrieve their expensive treasure for their bundle of joy.

When I arrived for work that Tuesday morning I saw a mound of plastic on four wheels and had no idea what the story surrounding it was. Clearly, the couple had not returned for the pram Monday, but everyone was convinced they would be back for it. By Friday it was annoying and in everyone's way, so the owners decided to store it in the basement until the family returned for it.

Now people leave strange things (not only sun glasses, hats, scarves) in restaurants - oh the things left behind and the stories I could tell - but they're usually retrieved quickly.

My almost collision was a shock. What sort of parents would leave an expensive carriage at a beach resort restaurant? Maybe they got drunk that night, but surely would have remembered something that large was missing sooner or later. Three weeks on, it remains in the basement.

Out of sight, out of mind, perhaps? Or, something more...Imaginations are going wild on this case.

More later
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