The Daily Peeve / Rant

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Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore

I've sometimes left my wallet in my cart, I leave my door unlocked sometimes, I have packages delivered to my address when I'm not home unless they are high value. Nothing has ever gotten stolen that way. Ok really the only theft I've ever encountered other than some fraudulent attempts on a credit card, is there was awhile that people liked to break into my car, maybe partly because at that place it was in the back where it wasn't visible, maybe because I got some expensive radios on advice once and they got stolen a few times. It's been over a decade. I don't have expensive radios, my car is no longer in the back, it doesn't get broken into.

I DO have a car steering wheel lock, I don't want a car stolen, that's big money and a big pain, even though I have some theft insurance on it so I wouldn't take the full hit.

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We’ve had a car stolen too. It was a giant pain. We didn’t have any insurance on it other than liability (of course) and that’s fine because we can take the hit. This was one of those times where I didn’t put the club on because I was wrangling dogs. Anyway DH found our car parked about a mile away. He had been driving up and down streets looking for it for a few days because that was The criminals did—Steal the car. Dump it soon after.

That was more than $1000 in repairs to the steering column. It’s kind of interesting adventure because even though we made a police report, the police did not find the car, we did. And then when we found the car we had to call the police because it was registered as a stolen vehicle and we dare not drive it because they might pick us up in this “stolen vehicle” Ha ha. They sent the police van that helps victims get cars with damaged steering columns started, but that technician was unable to help our car. So DH went home got his tool kit and came back and got the car started. He Was definitely the hero in this saga.

Sorry ILfor all the hassle. We had something similar happen. They stole the car at 2:30pm on a Sunday afternoon and the police found it about a mile or so north of our house with a liquor bottle in it. Husband was so sad. He had already picked out the new car and was going to buy it the next day. Thankfully they just ran it out of gas.

I have always locked my door even in the 70’s in a town of 2k. Besides stealing you could come home and have someone in your house. I can’t imagine not looking for a diamond ring in my garden. We have only had one package stolen. We have a small porch with a gate attached to the front and most people put the package there and it’s really not noticed. I wouldn’t live in a high crime area. Because our big dog is gone and my husband will be gone for a month we bought SimpliSafe security system.

Lately there have been a number of thefts of vehicles in the county. Mostly people leaving the keys in the car. Or, people leaving their cars unlocked with the garage door openers inside. Then, the thieves have access to the house too (if garage is attached). My motto is to err on the side of caution. I always lock my car. One time I was unloading Christmas gifts and groceries and ran into the house. There were people jumping out of their car to grab what was in my open trunk. I could not believe it! They did not get anything thankfully. I have even locked my car in the garage (not intentionally). It is automatic with me.

I routinely lock my car wherever I go, lock the car in the garage, double check that the garage door has descended when I leave and do a tour of the three doors before leaving the house and each evening to ensure that they are properly locked. To me this is common sense, nothing more. I also do a quick tour that the stove is turned off, my cell phone is on the charger, any perishable food is in the fridge, and make sure that nothing is left unattended. Again, this is common sense.
If I place my purse in the shopping cart, I have the straps wrapped around my wrist and the opening zipped up. Is common sense not really as common as I thought?

Honesty compels me to edit and add that I have forgotten each of these steps on occasion. Usually an interruption of the routine is all it takes.

Only 5% of theft actually involves a break-in.

How hard it is to get a repair person to call back never mind do a small residential job. A national handyman chain could do a booming business in this area.

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Originally Posted by Yppej

How hard it is to get a repair person to call back never mind do a small residential job. A national handyman chain could do a booming business in this area.

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I hear ya. It has been IMPOSSIBLE to get people--plumbers, carpenters, electricians--up here to do work, and then when we finally get one, they want to do what they want to do. I have a mess of power strips in my pantry and I asked an electrician, who was here for another thing, to sort it out and install a socket, and his response was, "This is just a camp. This isn't a real house. You don't need to have it perfect." And I told him, "This isn't a 'camp' to us. This is our home." But he didn't take the job.

Our plumber installed an outdoor shower, but it was the cheapest way possible, with serious aesthetic flaws. But I was afraid to argue, because it took me months to get him there to do it.

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Originally Posted by iris lilies

That’s all very nice, but I wonder if you would act that way if you lived in a high crime neighborhood like mine.

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You're right. I think I am slightly naive, but not THAT naive. Up here in the middle of nowhere I'm more afraid of encountering a raccoon than a thief.

I do recall one thing that was stolen that I was really upset about, and it also makes my point that security is an illusion. My DH never gave me a diamond engagement ring because I already had one that I inherited (the one that I later lost in the garden). He gave me diamond earrings instead.

I'm not good about taking care of things, but on a whim one day while at work I thought, "I should get these earrings cleaned." So I took them to the jeweler near work, and they said they'd get back to me in a few days.

Well, few days went by, and then a week and then two, so I called them. They guy who answered said, "Let me get the owner." The owner told me that the store had been broken into one night and jewelry had been stolen, and my earrings were among those things taken from the store. They had gotten the criminal--a drug dealer from Paterson, NJ--but the jewelry, what was left of it, was tied up in the trial as evidence. She didn't know if my earrings were among the things recovered.

I waited months for the trial to be over, and I got a call from the local police saying that they had my earrings. I was overjoyed! I hadn't told DH about this at all, not wanting to upset him. When I went to pick them up, the cop handed me a box with earrings, and confirmed that they weren't my earrings--my earrings had never been recovered--but the jeweler was "replacing in kind." Well, no way were these earrings anything like mine. Plus they had none of the sentimental value of mine. I was so disappointed.

Here I thought I did the right thing--bringing them to a reputable jeweler. They were as safe as could be, I thought, but they were stolen anyway.

A lot of times our sense of security is based on illusion, or bias, or prejudice. Things happen. More kids are killed in swimming pools than by gunfire. So I'll accept that life is capricious, and I'll take reasonable caution, but earrings in a safe place doesn't mean they're safe, and leaving your bag in a vulnerable place doesn't mean it will get stolen. That's life.

But, I will never again buy good jewelry.

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Originally Posted by NewGig

That my town road agent or someone is not well organized and does lousy planning!

Earlier this year they cut ditches across our road in several places to apparently put in new culverts or something. Then they filled in the ditches and marked the edges with cones on each side. They did this in about 5 places.

Then they did Nothing? And apparently planned to just leave it til next spring. They’d used the allocated materials and manpower I guess, so needed to order more and the budget to turn over.

Several of us complained.

So this week started with the entire town’s road crew out there, and we now live on a dirt road, 6 or 8 inches of the stuff. They’re working really hard to give us a single, flat road surface. God only knows what it will be like with ice on it, or with frost heaves, or just 3” of asst snow and ice?

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One of our neighbors wrote a letter to the town, complaining. And it got results.
I take it back. What they did was lay the dirt for a new roadbed.
They repaved our entire road!

Never underestimate the power of speaking up and saying something! It's a characteristic that neither my husband or I are good at remembering.