getting over inconsequential theft
Sam
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
today i spent quite a bit of time at a coffee house working on a paper.
First theft- a 72 year old-looking man swiped a fresh pack of cigarettes. I'd left them on a table outside because i was sitting out there with them and went in to get a cup of coffee. this happened in the space of less than 5 minutes.
Second was my laptop charger. I'd left it where I was working and took my charged laptop out with me to sit and work outside for a bit.
Guess what happened.
I was left with a nearly completed paper to submit and no battery, and someone took the charger.
A fucking charger. I'm inclined to believe that this was done out of spite. Who the fuck needs to steal a charger? do you need to be stealing if you can afford a macbook?
I seriously think whoever did it did so to jeopardize my work and screw me over. There's really no point in swiping a charger, none that I can think of.
Here's the thing. I have a spare charger at home. I managed to find a girl nice enough to let me juice my dead laptop back to life so I could finish and submit my work. I bought another pack.
So why am I ruminating over this and constantly thinking about ending that decrepit old fuck's over extended life? and the same goes for the charger thief.
First theft- a 72 year old-looking man swiped a fresh pack of cigarettes. I'd left them on a table outside because i was sitting out there with them and went in to get a cup of coffee. this happened in the space of less than 5 minutes.
Second was my laptop charger. I'd left it where I was working and took my charged laptop out with me to sit and work outside for a bit.
Guess what happened.
I was left with a nearly completed paper to submit and no battery, and someone took the charger.
A fucking charger. I'm inclined to believe that this was done out of spite. Who the fuck needs to steal a charger? do you need to be stealing if you can afford a macbook?
I seriously think whoever did it did so to jeopardize my work and screw me over. There's really no point in swiping a charger, none that I can think of.
Here's the thing. I have a spare charger at home. I managed to find a girl nice enough to let me juice my dead laptop back to life so I could finish and submit my work. I bought another pack.
So why am I ruminating over this and constantly thinking about ending that decrepit old fuck's over extended life? and the same goes for the charger thief.
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People who steal often steal just for the thrill of it. Doesn't matter if it's worth much.
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I'm assuming this was a 60w MagSafe charger? If it's any consolation, they stole it because those things sell for $60 used, not for spite.
Just take the experience and learn not to leave anything that you feel that you can't live without unattended.
I just find it really strange someone would leave stuff laying all over a coffee shop. I wouldn't even consider the cigarettes a theft since they were left outside, unattended. The power adapter was theft, but just one of opportunity. They may have known what is was ,or they may have just seen your shiny Apple product and decided they wanted it.
Probably not the H/A you were looking for, and no, it shouldn't happen, but it does so I'd start keeping a closer watch on your stuff in public.
To the OP, I was in a pretty similar situation a while back where I was the victim of a petty assault, rather than theft and the feeling of personal indignation was so much greater than any physical damage or any concerns for my safety. I was furious for days that these people would just randomly assault a complete stranger for no reason. I went over the event again and again in my head, each time getting angrier and more incensed about what had happened.
You say in your post that this happened today, so let me assure that you will get over it. You'll be pissed for a while probably, but that's perfectly natural. Make sure you realise that whoever did this wasn't doing it out of spite against you personally - one of the reasons people are able to carry out random acts of theft and violence is precisely because they don't think of the effect it will have on the victim.
This wasn't an attack aimed at you, it was a randomly fired shot which hit you mostly out of bad luck. Talk it over with your friends and family, have a few cathartic rants and leave it a few days.
This is natural and it will pass.
Realize that you weren't victimized because of who you are, but rather because you presented a very clear opportunity. Do something to vent this frustration, but you have to realize that it's an isolated incident and as long as you're careful it won't happen again. Try and find the humour.
Thank you, Rubacava!
Sorry if this seems harsh but I've been innendated with messages from a friend of mine about his iPod being stolen today, so I've not got a great deal of sympathy for people that bitch and moan about stuff getting stolen.
In short: It happens. Get the fuck over it!
I just keep all my shit on me at all times and try to report or stop any thievery I see. And that's really all you can do.
It's also likely that if you just left your stuff in those places unattended, someone felt they had been forgotten. I think it's easier for people to rationalize stealing if they think someone left something behind. "Well, someone lost this...there's no name on it. They probably wouldn't find it anyway. I guess I might as well take it."
I wouldn't even call the cigarettes theft...they are such an insignificant amount of money in the grand scheme of things that the old guy probably thought someone forgot or lost them, and they're so cheap that it honestly isn't worth the effort of going back and searching where you've been for them.
Did you leave anything else with your items to make people think they were attended? Individual items with nothing else around them are much easier to assume they've been forgotten.
If this helps you understand why you are bothered, perhaps it will also help you to let it go.
(Yeah, and don't leave your things unattended. And don't smoke.)
I still think it's fairly inconsequential. What are they now, $5-6 bucks? It's annoying, but it doesn't hurt the bank if you can afford to buy them in the first place. I still don't even know if I'd call it theft if the guy just thought someone left them behind. I doubt the guy was going out of his way to steal or hurt the OP...he probably just didn't think about the OP much. It doesn't make things much better, and it was inconsiderate of him...but I don't think it was a malicious act.
Look, there are petty, malicious, selfish, and mentally-ill people all over the place. If it's any consolation, these folks probably didn't do it specifically to spite you, they're most likely completely indifferent to your existence, if they were even thinking of anything beyond their own immediate desires.
If you have property you care about, don't leave it laying around in public places where you don't know and trust and everyone likely to be there.
i still laugh at idiots who leave brand new laptops unattended while they use the bathroom at starbucks
The OP does not need to "get over" himself. Also, "get the fuck over it" does not work because everyone has pride. You really think that anyone with any fragment of self-respect will accept a vicious verbal lashing like that? No!
A better thought to have is that, one of these days, the thief/thieves will likely get thrown in jail and/or punched in the face for their thefts. What comes around goes around, as they say. Who knows, it just might happen.
And one would have to be sick to find any humour in this.
Where did you buy those glasses? That rosey tint is just lovely.
First of all you have to accept personal responsibility for what happened. Second of all, learn from your mistakes and don't let yourself down in the future.
When bad things happen you can either feel bad about it, or learn from it.
Lesson: don't be so forgetful; and don't treat a public domain like it is your own.
I still leave my door unlocked to my apartment and my car for the most part though. I don't know. I can't imagine being stolen from or anything and if I am, well the person obviously needed it more than me.
No offense man, but I can't imagine my house catching fire, and I still own smoke alarms.
I have C02/smoke detectors, but I use an electric stove and live on the 4th floor.
No, stuff shouldn't be stolen, but leaving your door open is asking for it. I have a wireless router at home that has WEP. I know it's not strong security, but someone would have to choose to break into it to get access. Leaving your door open is inviting someone to take your stuff, just like having an open network.
I stupidly left my car unlocked one morning after working super early and getting back home around 7:30 am. Probably just tired and didn't think about it.
Some stupid crackhead rifled through the entire thing.
What did they take?
so yeah, I hate thieves alot.