An entitled woman took the lounge chairs my 8-year-old daughter and I had reserved and put our towels in the trash—but karma found her just twenty minutes later.
My daughter, Mia, 8, wrapped up her latest chemo cycle only eleven days ago.
She lost her hair. She spent her birthday attached to an IV instead of at the trampoline park she’d looked forward to for a year.
Once her oncologist finally said “we’re done, for now,” Mia’s wish wasn’t for gifts or a party.
Just a quiet question asking if we could visit somewhere with a pool, “like a regular kid.” That day, I booked us a two-day stay at a resort an hour from home.
We followed the resort’s instructions and reserved our lounge chairs the previous evening—towels clipped, room number on the tags, just as staff directed.
We left to get smoothies. Fifteen minutes at most.
On our return, our seats were taken. A woman in a designer swimsuit lounged on one, sunglasses in styled hair, her boyfriend occupied with his phone on the other.
Our towels sat tossed in the nearby trash can.
“Excuse me,” I tried. “Those were our reserved chairs.”
She didn’t bother to glance up. “Reserved doesn’t mean anything if you’re not sitting in them.”
“We were only gone ten minutes—”
“Not my problem.” Only after glancing at Mia—bald head, thin arms, the hospital bracelet—did her expression twist. “Honestly, maybe try someplace a little more… appropriate.”
Intense anger rose inside me, impossible to express.
I silently retrieved our towels, relocated to regular chairs farther back, and did my best to salvage Mia’s long-awaited pool day.
Twenty minutes passed. A resort employee wearing a polo winked at me and then approached the woman’s chair, carrying a blue box.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said. “You’re our 500th guest this week. We have a special gift for you.”
The woman instantly straightened, eagerly reaching for the box.
She opened the lid.
Her scream silenced the entire pool deck. 
Full story. An entitled woman took the lounge chairs my 8-year-old daughter and I had reserved and put our towels in the trash—but karma found her just twenty minutes later.
