Three seconds
That's all there are, in the moment, to choose a course of action. It's not a hard and fast rule and I made the number up, but the length of one deep breath is what I had to work with. I saw the boy pull money out of my hat, I saw him hide it, and I made eye contact.
I chose to do nothing.
It wasn't worth my time to raise a fuss over €2, though I took careful note of his hand to keep my accounting accurate. I'm ashamed to say I was curt with his age cohort for a short while afterwards, but performing for and winning over young people is one of my great joys and I recovered fairly quickly. I refuse to let one bad apple spoil my evening, and looking back I made the right call.
But I memorized his face and I'll take care not to give him a second opportunity.
I chose to do nothing.
It wasn't worth my time to raise a fuss over €2, though I took careful note of his hand to keep my accounting accurate. I'm ashamed to say I was curt with his age cohort for a short while afterwards, but performing for and winning over young people is one of my great joys and I recovered fairly quickly. I refuse to let one bad apple spoil my evening, and looking back I made the right call.
But I memorized his face and I'll take care not to give him a second opportunity.