absentee begging

LIZ SAYS: Parisiens are well known for their attitudes, some would say snobbery. Personally, I usually like it because I find it entertaining. They have something to proud of to be sure. Paris is a beautiful city.
Here, is an example of something I have never seen anywhere else. Beggars just leave their belongings, sign and cup while they disappear for hours.
This weekend I decided to try to find a great pair of good looking walking shoes. There must be billions of pairs of shoes in Paris, so why do I always have to resort to Nikes when we really want to walk all day? It certainly limits my wardrobe!
Anyway, we stopped at a shoe store, I went in and immediately fond a cute pair of mod Arches with arch supports. Cute and supportive, Had I found the god shoe? I hopped into the store like a flash. There was one customer, an older woman with her bored husband. There were many people looking at shoes, but she was the only person being waited on. There was one salesgirl. The woman was running her ragged. She was interested in one pair of boots on this 80 degree day and they did not seem to have her size. She wanted them and was not leaving.
There were 3 ottomans to sit on. One ottoman was occupied by the woman looking at the boots, one by her purse and one by her sunglasses. I slid onto the ottoman and put her glasses to the 3-5" to the side of my body. She glared at me for about 30 seconds and said nothing. I could feel the heat of her stare. She then turned to her husband and back to me. She looked at me and said "But what of my lunettes?" in french. Lunettes are glasses. Apparently, I had taken her sunglasses' chair.
I was thoroughly amused, later. At the time I was incomprehensibly stunned. You know, that sort of cartoon, "Huh?"
C'est la vie en Paris!