Robbery is Annoying

Some time during last night, my car was the target of entering.  I won’t say breaking, because the driver’s door lock has been malfunctioning since the last time somebody decided to pilfer items from the interior (such as the ash tray which was full of coins and the dealer says the part is $78 to replace).

Ever since then, at random times, if the door does manage to lock properly, I cannot use the key to open it again.  I have to go around to the passenger door, unlock it, then climb in and reach across to unlock the driver’s door from the inside.  It is worst during cold weather, and I am dreading any future ice storms.

So, much of the time, I just leave the driver’s door unlocked, especially in the driveway of our quiet neighborhood.
When I went out this morning to take the trash container to the curb, I noticed the light on for the trunk of my car.  The lid was ajar about 6 inches.  As I got closer, I realized the interior overhead light was also glowing brightly.

Thank Goodness.  If the battery had drained and died I would be much more p*ss*ed off than I was already.
I look through, noticing that my usual junk was not in the usual places.  Missing was the $8 flashlight in the glove box, a pair of son Chris’s sunglasses from that little console between the bucket seats, and a faded red blanket from the trunk.  Strangely enough, almost $2 in coins was still in plain sight in the holder.

When I got back in the house, I mentioned it to Husband, he asked about his car which seems fine, since it was locked properly.  Then I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast and got ready for a TA Sub job in a 4th grade classroom.

After school, I stopped by the police station and said I wanted to file a report, just in case there were other folks getting bothered by somebody who doesn’t know how to leave property alone.  Rather than just handing me a form on a clipboard and saying please fill it in like the clinic does, I had to answer questions back and forth through a little hole in a bullet-proof window around the receptionist’s desk.

Let me tell ya, a flashlight, sunglasses the kid has forgotten about, and a really old faded blanket purchased at a yard sale was not worthy of so much annoyance as me standing there.

The officer says that car burglaries seem to increase with cooler weather.

However, Husband says our neighbor’s car was also riffled through, also with piddly stuff missing.  I’m not sure if a police report was filed by them, but we will have to be alert and careful.  And I’ll have to remember to lock the trunk so that the little lever by the front seat will not be able to open it.

An idiot or two can sure spoil a good life for the rest of us.

~~love and Huggs, Diane

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 10/05/09 at 09:00 PM
  1. Those items are so insignificant that I have to wonder... do you suppose it could have been a homeless person who stole your stuff?

    I imagine if I were living on the street a flashlight, blanket and sun glasses might come in damned handy. The fact that they left the money makes it seem like it was an act of necessity more so than greed.
    Posted by Les  on  10/06/09  at  01:34 AM
  2. Ever since the first break-in, I don't keep much in the car. The cd player hasn't worked since before we bought it used. Not much in there to steal, really.

    My speculation is that roommates were having a domestic argument and one of them stomped out without thinking to grab more than a hoodie, and then found out how cold it gets at night in October on the prairie.

    This morning it is raining. If the weather was like this yesterday and my car got soaked because a character left doors hanging open, then I would be even madder.
    And today's job is at the junior high down the street .8 mile, so I leave by a different door to walk to work.

    ~~Diane
    Posted by MrsDoF  on  10/06/09  at  06:37 AM
  3. Sorry for all the hassle of it all; I was thinking the same as Les-homeless person. It's so sad in today's climate/economy (call it what you will) that no one's possessions are safe anymore. It seems the whole mental outlook of society is: "What's mine is mine and what's your's is mine." (no admittance of what's wrong anymore).
    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  10/06/09  at  11:03 AM
  4. Neighbor sent an e-mail reply
    Diane - thanks for the message. My husband reported our incident to the police too.
    Same thing happened. Except they also had a smoke in little whitey sitting under the tree.
    That drives me crazy because cigarette
    smoke smell makes me nauseous.

    I think someone has sat in the van last
    year periodically and had a smoke - because I have smelled it before.
    So - we are all going to try to lock the cars after we drive them.
    I am less concerned about them getting into the cars than I am about them getting into the garage and stealing our bikes. I love our bikes.
    ~~Later, R H

    and I think the same thing about our bicycles over here

    Diane
    Posted by MrsDoF  on  10/06/09  at  11:25 AM
  5. Who ever the culprit was it was an annoying thing to put up with. Anytime this happens you feel violated.
    Posted by momma  on  10/06/09  at  01:16 PM
  6. Sometimes criminals do some amazingly asinine things. If it's out of necessity then I would be less pissed, but it's still annoying regardless. The worst is when the dumb criminal doesn't realize the car is unlocked and breaks a window to get in.

    My sister's car was busted into about 200 feet from a police station. The car was a complete piece of trash so I'm surprised anyone would of broken into it. They took the stereo which looked nice, but was really worth about $20 from a pawn shop or maybe $40 (if lucky) on eBay. Just stupid.
    Posted by webs05  on  10/06/09  at  07:59 PM
  7. About 7 years ago some folks with a painful life, in the middle of the night, took the Canadian flag from the front of my house, stuck it into the front lawn and tried to burn it. (Being nylon, part of it melted, but they failed miserably to totally burn it.) Then they rifled the trunk of my car, stealing a low-end Black & Decker drill.

    The whole thing bothered me at the time, but more than the property loss was that the burned the Canadian flag on the evening that a cowboy US pilot in Afghanistan killed four Canadian soldiers with "friendly" fire. Somehow the loss of a flag and a drill seemed insignificant.
    Posted by WeeDram  on  10/06/09  at  08:08 PM
  8. this is where our economy has brought us to. Even insignificant items are up for grabs!
    Posted by caroline  on  10/07/09  at  08:52 AM
  9. The economy has BROUGHT us to this? BS

    The whole concept of circumstances CAUSING things is a big problem. To truly address the core issues, it's important to understand that people act in this way (as I indicated in my previous comment,) out of pain. No one can fix the pain but themselves. But it is usually the case that it takes someone or something external to help them get on that path.
    Posted by WeeDram  on  10/12/09  at  06:59 PM

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