Ds, 10, dd2 and I are in this boutiquey little toy shop. I've picked out something to buy for us and am looking around, dd is playing with little toys on the floor, and ds is playing with this game out on the front counter. There was another puzzle/game on the counter that apparently had 6 magnetic pieces to it; there were other people in the store, up at the front, etc. The clerk, about 19yo, asks ds if he knows where 2 of the puzzle pieces are. He says no. She tells him there are supposed to be six and now there are only four, and she was just playing with it before he came in so she knows there were six there. Does he know where they are? He says no again, that he wasn't even playing with it. She asks him if he maybe put them in his pocket.
I'd been observing up until this point. I could hear what my mother's reaction would have been ("you empty your pockets out right now young lady!") and also noting that a. my son's never given me any reason to think he's stealing, b.I can read him pretty well and I don't believe he was lying, and c. it would have been a pretty pointless thing to steal.
So I stepped in and pretty much reamed her. She almost started crying and explained that it was only her second day.
I have mixed feelings about it now. Thoughts?