On Friday, I was so damn relieved for the weekend to be here. It had been the longest week ever, and I was ready to let loose and relax and have a good time. Little did I know, trouble was lurking in a dark corner waiting to piss on my hopes for a great weekend.
Friday night was fun, in that I got to spend some time with my friends. It was mediocre, in that I was tired as fuck, and that made me not enjoy as much the time I spent out at the bar. Friday nights are hard for me to go out because I've been working all day and I'm just worn out by the time evening rolls around. But I digress.
Saturday morning, I woke up, the day was sunny, and I was looking forward to a morning and afternoon of shopping. Much to my extreme dismay, when Bob and I walked out to my car, we saw that someone had broken one of my windows and stolen my stereo and CDs. Now, my initial reaction was a mild one. It was a bummer, definitely, but I didn't lose it or overreact. Cars on my street had been broken into for the past 3 weekends, and I guess I should've taken some precautions so as to not be a victim of theft as they had been.
Having said that, I was still upset about it because not only had my day been instantly ruined, but the CDs in my car were gone and that will be a pain in my ass to replace them all. Kate and I discussed this: why in the hell would anyone want to steal someone's collection of CDs?? Honestly, what is the thief going to do with them? They can't very well sell them, as there are no CD cases, and as Kate pointed out, the only person who really benefits from the CDs is the person who owns them. So why steal those? People are stupid.
Bob made a good point as well. He pointed out that it wasn't like I drove a Mercedes and actually warranted a break in. I drive a fucking '99 Corolla. What the fuck?? I don't have anything anyway! Why would you break into my 7 year old Corolla?? It just doesn't make sense to me that people take the time and the risk to steal from people who have little or nothing to begin with. What a bunch of fucking savages.
The other thing that really bothered me about this incident was the interaction I had when I called the police to file a report. The first thing the officer says to me when he arrives is "yeah, unfortunately people leave valuble things laying out in their cars and that's just asking for someone to steal them." Hold on, whoa. In my head, I'm like 'Oh, so I guess I'm the asshole for having a stereo in my car, as well as CDs. Geez, of course it's my fault! Hell, what was I thinking??' But, I was willing to overlook that small dig on my competency as a car owner. At the end of the interaction, when the officer is finishing up things, he basically tells me that even though he's going to let the night shift know about the countless thefts happening on my street in the recent weeks, there probably won't be much that they can do. Afterall, they can't patrol Compton Street 24 hours a day. Alright, alright. Now c'mon. What he's telling me is that I pay his salary so he can do NOTHING about this problem. And let's remember that this "problem" has affected nearly 7 or 8 people at this point in time. AND NOTHING'S BEEN DONE, AND APPARENTLY WON'T BE DONE ABOUT IT. It was after this that I really started to feel some anger and frustration about the entire situation. I was not angry with the cop, I was angry with what he said. At the very least, he could've lied to me and told me what I wanted to hear, which was "we will try to take care of this issue." So now my faith in law enforcement is low, along with my faith in general humanity.
On the upside of things, the broken window damage was minimal, and there was no damage to my dashboard when the thief or thieves took out my stereo. On the downside of things, I have to eat the cost for repairs since my deductible is higher than what damages would turn out to be. And again, I also have to replace all my CDs. Ugh.
So I spent my Saturday assisting my dad with remedy-ing the car situation; we built an aluminum pane to replace the glass until I can get a glass pane. That was fun. And my beloved dad also put my factory stereo back in so that I don't have to drive around in utter silence. What a saint.
I was determined to not let this debacle ruin my Saturday and still had high hopes of going out and having a good evening drinking myself into oblivion. But that didn't happen when Bob and I ate a late dinner and then decided to just stay in because we were both so tired. I did, however, get to watch 'The Big Lebowski' that night, which is something I've been meaning to do for weeks.
And today, Sunday, was all in all pretty good. Bob made me pancakes for breakfast, and I got to see my little nephews all evening.
So now what? Well, I'm not very enthusiastic at the idea of parking my car at my apartment. It's not like my landlord can really do anything seeing as the street is city property. And you can bet I'm jumping for joy at the fact that I just renewed my lease for another year. So what's left? Well, I guess I can only hope that through efforts taken by the local police, this thieving will stop. And if that doesn't work, maybe some good, old-fashioned vigilante justice action will help stop the break-ins.
Friday night was fun, in that I got to spend some time with my friends. It was mediocre, in that I was tired as fuck, and that made me not enjoy as much the time I spent out at the bar. Friday nights are hard for me to go out because I've been working all day and I'm just worn out by the time evening rolls around. But I digress.
Saturday morning, I woke up, the day was sunny, and I was looking forward to a morning and afternoon of shopping. Much to my extreme dismay, when Bob and I walked out to my car, we saw that someone had broken one of my windows and stolen my stereo and CDs. Now, my initial reaction was a mild one. It was a bummer, definitely, but I didn't lose it or overreact. Cars on my street had been broken into for the past 3 weekends, and I guess I should've taken some precautions so as to not be a victim of theft as they had been.
Having said that, I was still upset about it because not only had my day been instantly ruined, but the CDs in my car were gone and that will be a pain in my ass to replace them all. Kate and I discussed this: why in the hell would anyone want to steal someone's collection of CDs?? Honestly, what is the thief going to do with them? They can't very well sell them, as there are no CD cases, and as Kate pointed out, the only person who really benefits from the CDs is the person who owns them. So why steal those? People are stupid.
Bob made a good point as well. He pointed out that it wasn't like I drove a Mercedes and actually warranted a break in. I drive a fucking '99 Corolla. What the fuck?? I don't have anything anyway! Why would you break into my 7 year old Corolla?? It just doesn't make sense to me that people take the time and the risk to steal from people who have little or nothing to begin with. What a bunch of fucking savages.
The other thing that really bothered me about this incident was the interaction I had when I called the police to file a report. The first thing the officer says to me when he arrives is "yeah, unfortunately people leave valuble things laying out in their cars and that's just asking for someone to steal them." Hold on, whoa. In my head, I'm like 'Oh, so I guess I'm the asshole for having a stereo in my car, as well as CDs. Geez, of course it's my fault! Hell, what was I thinking??' But, I was willing to overlook that small dig on my competency as a car owner. At the end of the interaction, when the officer is finishing up things, he basically tells me that even though he's going to let the night shift know about the countless thefts happening on my street in the recent weeks, there probably won't be much that they can do. Afterall, they can't patrol Compton Street 24 hours a day. Alright, alright. Now c'mon. What he's telling me is that I pay his salary so he can do NOTHING about this problem. And let's remember that this "problem" has affected nearly 7 or 8 people at this point in time. AND NOTHING'S BEEN DONE, AND APPARENTLY WON'T BE DONE ABOUT IT. It was after this that I really started to feel some anger and frustration about the entire situation. I was not angry with the cop, I was angry with what he said. At the very least, he could've lied to me and told me what I wanted to hear, which was "we will try to take care of this issue." So now my faith in law enforcement is low, along with my faith in general humanity.
On the upside of things, the broken window damage was minimal, and there was no damage to my dashboard when the thief or thieves took out my stereo. On the downside of things, I have to eat the cost for repairs since my deductible is higher than what damages would turn out to be. And again, I also have to replace all my CDs. Ugh.
So I spent my Saturday assisting my dad with remedy-ing the car situation; we built an aluminum pane to replace the glass until I can get a glass pane. That was fun. And my beloved dad also put my factory stereo back in so that I don't have to drive around in utter silence. What a saint.
I was determined to not let this debacle ruin my Saturday and still had high hopes of going out and having a good evening drinking myself into oblivion. But that didn't happen when Bob and I ate a late dinner and then decided to just stay in because we were both so tired. I did, however, get to watch 'The Big Lebowski' that night, which is something I've been meaning to do for weeks.
And today, Sunday, was all in all pretty good. Bob made me pancakes for breakfast, and I got to see my little nephews all evening.
So now what? Well, I'm not very enthusiastic at the idea of parking my car at my apartment. It's not like my landlord can really do anything seeing as the street is city property. And you can bet I'm jumping for joy at the fact that I just renewed my lease for another year. So what's left? Well, I guess I can only hope that through efforts taken by the local police, this thieving will stop. And if that doesn't work, maybe some good, old-fashioned vigilante justice action will help stop the break-ins.
