Somewhat Sad and Aggravating Day

[tuold]

There's a local antique shop where I buy most of my estate pipes. The lady who runs the shop has always been very kind to me, gives me great prices and lets me know when something comes in I might be interested in buying.
So she tells me there is a nice WDC meerschaum pipe in its original case. Of course I'm interested!
Before I could get there, four young men and a women come in the shop and fan out. While the female distracts the lady by asking to see some jewelry from the under the counter the others start stealing whatever they can fit into their pockets. After they leave she takes inventory of all the missing items. One of them is the WDC meerschaum that was taken out of its case and stolen.
This really makes me feel bad because she's such a trusting person and I know her store operates on a very thin margin. Plus, a fine pipe is now in the hands of someone who will never appreciate it.
She gave me the empty case, saying she doesn't want to be reminded of the experience.
Of course a police report was made but I'm sure they will never recover her stuff. I'll be watching Ebay for any similar pipes listed.
It really sucks to realize from time to time that thieves like this operate with impunity. Shame.

 

[anthonyrosenthal74]

How else do you expect them to pay for their meth? Get a job? Freaking losers. :x

 

[hoosierpipeguy]

That is very sad indeed. I hate thieves as it isn't just what they take, but also the emotional loss to those robbed. I hope by some miracle these scumbags get caught.

 

[shanegreen]

There is a custom knife maker I know of who shipped out a 600 dollar knife that was never received. It was stolen out of his mail box and found on ebay selling for 100 bucks.

 

[ukbob]

Only one word for people like that. Scum.

 

[jzbdano]

My brother-in-law got his tailgate stolen from his pick up while visiting his wife in the hospital. He saw it on eBay a couple weeks later and local detectives arranged to buy it and arrested the rather nice looking young couple. They had 8 other late model tailgates in their garage. Scum bags.

 

[mikethompson]

You never know, that stuff has to be sold somewhere, when it gets listed or pops up hopefully they will get caught.
Similar thing happened around here a few years ago. A couple of people broke into a house and stole furniture and whatnot when the owners were on vacation. They looked for houses that didn't shovel their driveways after a snowfall. Anyway, about a week later it was all listed on kijiji (like Craigslist for Canada), and the cops went with the owners to look at it all and arrested them.
This story could still have a good ending!

 

[sumusfumus]

tuold, et al..... Sorry for your loss of peace-of-mind. Disgusting to even read through these comments.
Very disheartening and demoralizing to see all the parasites in our counter-culture society thrive on the sweat and efforts of others. The "entitlement mentality" and no personal accountability is now a part of today's DNA. It's become a norm, and we are told that we must tolerate this feral behavior. For decent folks, it's unacceptable.
Personally, I'm fed up to the gills with all this kind of BS! I can no longer watch the news, and absolutely despise the direction that this country has taken over the years, and especially, over the last decade. I'm old enough to remember the way things used to be.
...."Can't you see the sun's settin' fast, on our town, on our town"......Iris Dement
Frank

NYC

 

[giacomo]

Sad beyond words. My heart goes out to the shop owner.

 

[snagstangl]

Sad story indeed and sounds like some dumb kids. I seriously doubt this goes on with impunity, they will get busted and charged. But... it is just stuff. Its not like they pushed her down or physically injured her. There is always more stuff, stuff is replaceable. Many people thrive off the sweat and efforts of others, your boss, the company you work for, walmart, heck your kids are doing it right now.
Scumbags? They aren't torturing small animals and children, lighten up folks, you can't take any of this stuff with you.

 

[seacaptain]

My wife works in retail and I think you'd be surprised at the amount of theft that happens in most stores, and not just bad neighborhoods either.
The sad fact is, society doesn't really care that much about property crime anymore so we tolerate it and just add it in to the cost of doing business.
The post above is a perfect example of how much society tolerates property crime, and why we have so much more of it than we used to. "It's just stuff".

 

[deathmetal]

The sad fact is, society doesn't really care that much about property crime anymore so we tolerate it and just add it in to the cost of doing business.

To me, the principle is more important than the dollar amount.
Parasites and sociopaths destroy trust, hope, and faith in others.
Exile 'em to Mexico.

 

[shanegreen]

It was not long ago that if you stole a man's horse you would find yourself hung before you got to the jury. That led to innocent people being hung.

Nowadays, there are all sorts of people trying to get something out of stealing from an honest person in all different ways. I am starting to wonder how much of that happens on ebay, because it seems to be a sea of amature (not all) business people combined with people looking for a deal. This is sad to see when an honest and kind woman has this happen, thinking that this woman can be anyone we know. There are also bad sellers on ebay that will send you something damaged, and dance around every way possible not to sign and accept a return.There is no doubt a level of stupidity on the sellers part to risk their reputation for a few extra bucks, but they do. Then there are people who do desperate things due to circumstance, and turn from their ways either before they get caught, or after, which is why we have the ladies and gentlemen of the jury who ponder over every little detail, but sometimes fail. At the end of the day we can only hope the best for the lady, but also hope the thief will turn from their ways before they go through a system that punishes, but doesn't necessarily turn them over to a better way in a battle that just cannot be completely won without such a high level of security that we would all feel like we are in some sort of prison.

 

[tuold]

The thing that bothers me the most about the whole thing is that the thieves planned this. It wasn't like a shopper who saw something shiny and decided on the spur of the moment to lift it. They were organized. That makes me think they will keep doing things like this until they get caught.
I have to admit my faith in humanity has been shaken recently not only by this, but other current events. I feel like I need to make something good happen to counter all the bad news. I'll get a bowl of something tastey burning and see what I can think of.

 

[seacaptain]

The thing that bothers me the most about the whole thing is that the thieves planned this. It wasn't like a shopper who saw something shiny and decided on the spur of the moment to lift it. They were organized. That makes me think they will keep doing things like this until they get caught.

Sure they planned it. And they'll keep doing it until they get caught. The problem is, when they get caught virtually nothing will happen, and they'll be right back in business the next day.
Any attempt to severely punish theft brings the "it's just stuff" crowd out of the woodwork to defend them.

 

[snagstangl]

Theft charges, even low level, under $100, makes it difficult to get a job. But hey that is virtually nothing.

Maybe I should have said a proportional punishment, which it sounds like removing a hand or exile makes more sense then repaying the damage with money and required service to the community you harmed.
Well I better get back to walking around walmart with the rest of "it's just stuff" crowd so I can jump in if someone gets busted for stealing and inform the police "it's just stuff" at which point they will put the handcuffs away and get back in the squad car.

 

[seacaptain]

I notice the "it's just stuff" crowd always has two distinct traits.
1. It's never "just stuff" when it happens to them.
2. They never offer any of their "stuff" to theft victims.
It's easy to be compassionate when it doesn't cost you anything.

 

[seacaptain]

Maybe I should have said a proportional punishment, which it sounds like removing a hand or exile makes more sense then repaying the damage with money and required service to the community you harmed.

Like I said, my wife works in retail (for over 25 years) and she has dealt with more theft than you can possibly imagine.
Not once, and I repeat - NOT ONCE - has anyone EVER repaid anything they stole from the places she worked. So this "repaying damage" nonsense is a myth. It doesn't happen.

 

[warren]

I hope she had protected herself by having insurance in place. Also, she can claim such loss in her tax return. The feelings of personal invasion and loss of the belief in the goodness of humanity are not so easily corrected.

 

[snagstangl]

In my state the repaying nonsense is called restitution. When you get convicted of a theft, you are required to pay that back and it is added to your court costs and fines. If you don't pay the court costs and fine within 30 days then the DOT suspends your drivers license until it is paid back. As court costs and fines are repaid restitution has priority and is paid first. It is unfortunate not all states give that priority.