I recently went to an event. The event was held inside the mall I frequent a lot. Upon arriving at the event, I saw my good friend G who is also covering the event. Of course, since I've been going to many events, I never really imagined that something bad would happen to me while I was there.

As always, I was excited with what they offered. And so I went on and took pictures and participated at the event. I was pretty happy with what I saw that I wanted to purchase an item from them. But as I look in bag to find my wallet, it wasn't there at all! Of course I was in panic and alerted those I knew at the event. Apparently, the event was open to public (to which I didn't know and wasn't informed) and that anyone could come and go as they please. I thought that since big celebrities were arriving, there would have been at least a guard on standby. There wasn't any even before the celebrities started arriving.

I was in panic! I went to check my car if it was there but no avail. It wasn't. So I went back to ask for help. But since everyone was too busy with the event, nobody was able to help me. I was at lost. I called up R to pick me up and help me sort this situation for me. The money I was suppose to use for paying my cellphone bills was there as well as some cash and cards. I felt my knees weakening since I was really trying to save money and couldn't risk losing any much less replacing my credit cards.

I went to ask the attendant at the cashier for the numbers of Metrobank and Citibank since I didn't know their numbers, the attendant gave me a BDO number instead. She told me that I could call BDO to ask for Citibank and Metrobank's number. I was dumbfounded. Since I lost my wallet during their event, shouldn't she ask someone from her fellow employees if they knew those numbers? Didn't she know how important it was for me to have my credit cards blocked and reported? Of course, she didn't.

The event commenced to my surprise with hardly anyone aiding me among their people. Note that the people there are from the store itself and those from the brand that is sponsoring the event. So there was an adequate amount of personnel to spend time in helping me out to report the problem. But no, I had to wait for the event to finish before someone approached me with my insistence.

I was offered Php1500.00 to help me get by for the rest of the day since all my cash was in wallet.. Of course, I appreciated the offer. I even told one of the event organizer however she saw fit to resolve this situation would be most welcome. To no avail. After I was handed the money, I was left alone with only momentary "ok ka lang?". What was I to say, right?

I really wanted to cry then and there and even when the event happening but I fought back my tears. I was worried on how I would replace everything I lost in my wallet. And some of the personnel even commented that my bag isn't the appropriate bag because it didn't zip close. My bag was the Ralph Lauren open tote bag. Like it was my fault for having a bag like that. Mind you, I use that bag in a lot of my events and many bloggers can attest to it but I didn't lose any of my stuff.

When R arrived, I was near breaking down. He approached a guard to help us out in reporting this incident. That was the only time I saw a guard within the vicinity of the event.

At the Customer Relations Office of the mall, a personnel from the store was called. He explained that he wasn't aware of what was happening and to the tone of this speech, the store shouldn't be accountable to what happened to me. I reinterated to them that they lack the security that is required when having an event. I was crying almost the entire time as I voiced on how disappointed I was with how they handled my situation.

They waited for the event to finish before anybody approached me. :(

Of course nothing happened to my complaint. R suggested that we look into the bags of the people of both the store and the event organizers. I was put into a situation of looking into other peoples bags. Do you know how humiliating it was? I didn't want to but R said its the best thing to do at that point. Of course, we didn't see the wallet. As for me, I couldn't help but just weep.

The owner of the store even looked annoyed with us and couldn't even be bothered. What she did was just tell me that she had no problem with us looking into her employees' belongings. It was really really humiliating being amongst these people, helpless, wallet-less and defenseless.

I'm sure they they felt that I was negligent of my stuff but I certainly wasn't. I didn't leave my bag alone and the only time I did was when I was getting fitted for their products and my bag was just literally beside me. Shouldn't they have enough security? Shouldn't they have guards on stand-by knowing that major celebrities and endorsers are arriving at the event. Couldn't they have at least informed me in their e-mail that the event was open to the public?

The bottom line is, my wallet is gone and I would never see it again. But I do sincerely hope that the next event that they have, they will be more diligent of the people they allow in.

As for everyone else, just be more than aware of your belongings. This is a hard lesson learned and I hope that no one will ever experience this again. I just hope that the next time this happens, they won't make me feel like its entirely my fault.

No love left from me,
Shen