The Refund I Didn’t Deserve

I was skint and trying to look like I had my life together. I bought a decent drill set online, used it for a weekend of cash-in-hand work, then boxed it back up and marched into the shop acting offended. I said it was missing bits and that the battery was “clearly used” when I opened it. The lad at the counter barely glanced, just tapped keys and handed me a refund slip. I did it again a month later with headphones I’d worn on the train, and once with a coat after a wedding. Each time I told myself it was a victimless win against a big chain. But it wasn’t. It made me slick about lying, and I started suspecting everyone else was doing the same.