h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've had a couple of cartridge pens nabbed while at work. Each was bought for less than £1.50.
I once picked up a scarf in a pub that had been near the pile where we'd all put coats & bags. Some of my friends had left early, so I assumed it belonged to one of them. It took a couple of weeks to catch up to all of them and established that it didn't, so I had a new scarf.

I've only had things stolen by people I know, unfortunately.

The most annoying theft was during a move- a couple cartons from my record collection "went missing". The people helping me claimed not to have moved them, but I didn't find them at my old place, so I can only assumed that my "helpers" took them. That was both annoying (having lost some irreplacable titles) and a bit hurtful.

I've also had friends on more than one occasion fabricate stories to get money from me- in a couple of instances claiming it was to help out third parties who appear never to have received it. I consider deceiving a friend to get something of theirs from them to be theft; a real friend would just *ask* you for whatever they wanted and be done with it.

I had the windscreen wipers nicked off of my car which had been parked outside of a friends house overnight. I didn't notice when I set off home. In fact I didn't notice at all until I was doing 70 on the motorway and it started to rain.

I went climbing with some friends to the Peak District once. Four of us shared a car, and left overnight gear in the boot while we went climbing. When we came back, everyone else's stuff had gone, but not one bit of my tatty stuff had been touched...

Didn't know whether to be relieved or worry that my stuff was so manky.

sprout

>Most embarrassing thing I've _not_ had stolen...

Some so-and-so broke into my car once and nicked the radio...

Thing is, he'd rifled through the glove compartment and taken all my cassettes out, and then just left them in a neat pile on the driver's seat, he'd even taken the cassette out of the radio before he legged it!

Oi! Mr Thief! What's wrong with my taste in music then?
<


More or less the same as for me. Back in '98-'99 I live in a house that got turned over 3 times in six months (we moved out after that).
On the last occasion additional to my stereo the left all my films and CD's except for a select few. Rather amusingly to me the only video they nicked was Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space.

So the film they nicked was the official 'worst film ever made'
And they left the Godfather, Taxi Driver, Star Wars, Terminator etc behind

Oh and they nicked my leather jacket too

This is all good stuff people - and I feel sharing the pain will help to heal the hurt! but it has reminded me that I had a Dave Matthews Band cd stolen from me a few years ago by an ex-flatmate (who flat out denied even though it couldn't be anyone else!) and I still haven't managed to replace - I loved that cd.... maybe I'll get onto amazon!

It was pretty annoying when I had car stolen. But living with a thieving toerag as I did for years it's surprising what I *didn't* have stolen.

At the moment one of my Stephen King books is missing - it's a double issue and that's really annoying.

When I was burgled several years ago, they took all the CDs that were out in a pile by the stereo. Managed to get most of them replaced by the insurance company, but one deleted title in particular really rankled. Don't suppose anyone has a CD of Food, Sex & Paranoia by Furniture that they could rip a copy of for me?

They took the TV and the video (yes, it was a while back) but left the stereo. Clearly they were confused by the equipment on top - one of those things that played the large, black CDs we used to get!

RF

Most annoying thing I've had stolen - a tent, from the back of a bike in a campsite... We rode up to the campsite, left the bikes, walked 20 yards to the farmhouse to book in and when we got back five minutes later some toerag had nicked the tent from the back of the bike... We then had to ride 40 miles back home at 7 pm...


----

Most award for the stupidest burglar I've ever run across...

Our restaurant was broken into once. They got in through the kitchen and pinched one of two microwave ovens we had in there... The one they pinched was worth about £70 - the one they left (which was right alongside it) was worth about £3000.

Then, they got into the bar area, they stole a hi-fi which was sat on the corner of the bar... Rather than reach under the bar to unplug it, they got a _metal_ handled chef's knife fromt the kitchen and cut through the mains lead... When we got to the restaurant all the fuses in the place had blown, half the mains lead was still there and the chef's knife was on the floor behind the bar with a ruddy great chunk of the steel blade melted away.
I was quite surprised not to have found a well-done burglar on the floor as well.

get your own back on thieving toe rags!!

when you get new white goods unpack them carefully and repack the old one, then stick on the packing note and leave it outside your front door as if ti has just been left by the delivery firm,

soon some one will save you the bother and expence of taking the old machine to the dump by nicking it

Ah yes, the good old-fashioned way of disposing of unwanted white goods...

Leave it (whether fridge, cooker, washing machine) outside on the street.

After one day, it's still there.

After two days, it's still there.

After three days, it's still there.



After 4 days...gone!

RF

No sign needed here near Houston. We replaced our water heater (about 5 foot tall drum, natural gas fired), and put the old one out for the "heavy trash pickup" the next morning. It was gone before the sun went down. Metal recycle, I guess ...

A friend of mine had a break-in a while back. Among other things, they took his wide-screen TV. It would seem, however, that they decided it was too much bother, since he found it (undamaged) in a bush a short way down the road.

<< One day I left the really nice suede draw string bag, I kept them in, outside the front of my best friend's house. When I came back to look for it, they were gone. I was six. It still hurts.>>

I know how that would feel! I lost a necklace once, I've no idea where I got it, I was about 6 or so, it had black beads... I think my sister threw it into a hedge, and despite my begging him to do it, my father wouldn't cut the hedge down to get the necklace. (I can see now why he wouldn't, but when I was a child, I had a massive sense of injustice about it. )

Years and years later, I found a very similar necklace in a shop, and I just had to buy it, black plastic beads. It's just very special!

Vicky

>> My truly worst loss from stealing was my marble collection. <<



LOL.
Oh help! Stop!

My belly hurts.
Effers has lost her marbles!

I bet Elgin stole 'em.

~jwf~

This is true.

Thank you for taking that as well as you did.
I have too often failed to amuse you in the past.

~jwf~

PS: ...and for what it's worth I actually empathised with your loss. I think many children are harmed by their first encounter with the awful truth of thieves in our midst; it is one of the first giant steps we take toward becoming uncaring harmful adults.

peace

just brilliant. *chuckle*

I doubt Effers is the only hootoo researcher to have lost their marbles!

She certainly isn't! I lost mine 30 years ago, but I got a certificate to say I got them back.....

Novo