Sierra - Strawberries, Duggars, Strawberries

[SamiKatz]

5 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

Sierra posted that someone stole "Mark and I's wallets" (I guess grammar isn't on her homeschool agenda). I try to never ever blame the victim [and I've had my wallet stolen even though my quiver is empty], but a bad little voice inside me still says "maybe if you didn't have a boatload of kids you could pay more attention to your wallets."

 

I doubt having less kids around would have prevented Sierra and Mark's wallets from being stolen.  That's on the thief and not them in anyway.

[SapphireSlytherin]

1 minute ago, SamiKatz said:

"Mark and I's wallets" (I guess grammar isn't on her homeschool agenda).

I know people with GRADUATE DEGREES from legit universities who say that shit. Lots of people don't understand possessives.

[catlady]

11 minutes ago, SamiKatz said:

I doubt having less kids around would have prevented Sierra and Mark's wallets from being stolen.  That's on the thief and not them in anyway.

Yes, I don’t know the circumstances behind the theft, but I don’t want to engage in victim blaming. I do hope they refrained from carelessness, i.e. left their wallets unattended in a car or some such, but that doesn’t give the thief the right or privilege to take them.  

[SamiKatz]

8 minutes ago, catlady said:

Yes, I don’t know the circumstances behind the theft, but I don’t want to engage in victim blaming. I do hope they refrained from carelessness, i.e. left their wallets unattended in a car or some such, but that doesn’t give the thief the right or privilege to take them.  

I left my purse on a bus one time with $600 dollars in it (I lived at home at the time and my parents insisted on me playing my room and board in cash), and when I got it back the cash had been stolen.  Yes, I was careless and left it behind, but still no reason for someone to take the money out of it.  My mother, who is now elderly and forgetful, has left her purse behind on a bus two or three times and each time has gotten it back with everything inside (including her cash).  Getting your wallet stolen is a huge pain, so many cards to cancel and replace.

[catlady]

About 20 years ago, I went to a store on my lunch break. There was a cart in the parking lot with something in the child seat. It turned out to be a purse. I took it straight to the service desk in the store and just said, “this was outside.  the owner will be coming back for it soon.”  I never even looked inside it. 

[NakedKnees]

Hoo boy. I think I've had wallets stolen a grand total of about eight times. Living in LA and then Santiago Chile, learning from experience is just par for the course. I now haven't had one stolen in about five years (a streak!) but I'm now habitually crazy defensive with my bags and never keep valuables in outer pockets.

It sucks and is embarassing but the last three or so times weren't that painful for me. I'm very much in the habit of keeping just the bare necessities in my wallet. I change out cards and such a few times a week. 

I am super curious as to what happened to get BOTH wallets stolen. I feel for them- what a headache- and certainly don't blame them at all. But not gonna lie: I want details.

[Snarkasarus Rex]

They didn’t have to be careless to be an easy mark.  It’s pretty damn easy to be distracted by 6 kids, and it only takes a few seconds to swipe a wallet from a purse when the owner isn’t looking. 

[FecundFundieFundus]

My husband usually holds my wallet for me when we're out running errands and on rare occasions when I'm carrying a purse, his vital stuff goes in with mine. It could be that the thief hit one but got both.

[nst]

11 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I know people with GRADUATE DEGREES from legit universities who say that shit. Lots of people don't understand possessives.

i think i might be one of them 

[Iamtheway]

I’ve had my wallet stolen once. In Paris. It was a pain because I had to get a new drivers license and had some other stuff that needed to be replaced. Had time to cancel my cards before they could buy anything though and only had very little cash in it. 

It was pretty much my own fault though. I was close to the Eiffel tower (so lots of tourists and people around), I took it out to lend my friend a coin (basically showing everyone where it was) and I kept it in my backpack (like an idiot). I am much more careful now. 

We also had a bag stolen from a bus in Italy once. It was a nice bag and it held our nicest clothes and shoes since we were travelling home from a wedding. Still angry about the dress that I had only used once and was impossible to buy. It was so pretty!

[nvmbr02]

I have had my sunglass stolen twice. Once at a little shop in Venice when my oldest was a baby and I was distracted and another time at a local supermarket when I placed them on top of my reusable bags while looking at produce. A lot of theft here and a lot of shoplifting in the supermarkets so I usually am careful and keep my sunglasses on my head and my wristlet/wallet attached to my wrist and phone in my pocket for that reason.

I do have a good story to share. While we were living in Italy we were preparing to go on vacation and needed our passports along with some cash. While we were running errands we decided to stop at the local castle to grab some pictures of our daughter since she was looking especially cute that day. While we were leaving I put the baby in her carseat and we started off. Another car in the parking lot started honking and waving at us. We thought they were just being friendly and waved back. About an hour later I realized my purse was missing. I had around 2 thousand euros in my wallet along with all of our passports and we were supposed to be on a plane the next evening. Shortly after we got home my husband got a call from his supervisor that my purse was on base. Turns out I had put the purse on the roof of the car (something I didn't usually do) and the family in the car took it to the local police department. They saw the military ID inside and turned it into base security forces who then looked up my husband and contacted his shop. Thankfully all the money was inside, completely untouched. I will always be grateful for that. I have since found a few wallets in shopping carts and one phone and I have always turned them right in, without even looking inside. I have no idea if they made it back to their owner's but I sure hope so. 

[Jana814]

I once found a hard copy receipt from the DMV in a book I was about to read. Not sure if it was suppose to be a bookmark or not. I turned it into the library because this was something someone might want to keep for their records. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

Knock on wood, I've never had my purse/wallet/passport/ID stolen.

But I'm insanely anal about keeping track of my shit. I never put my purse in the grocery cart (I always ALWAYS keep it on my shoulder, zipped). I don't leave it "out" at work (it's in a drawer under my desk), even though I trust my co-workers, our office is open so "anyone" could just walk in. I don't put it on checkout counters, and I use ApplePay on my phone 99% of the time, so my wallet rarely leaves my purse anyway.

When traveling, I keep my passport & wallet inside a pouch that I wear around my neck and under my clothing. My "travel purse" is a cross-body bag that is always worn across my body (and not just hanging on my shoulder), with the bag toward the front. In big crowds, I cradle the bag with my hands. I don't wear backpacks or keep anything in my back pocket. I learned the "no back pocket" rule from DH - he doesn't put anything in his back pockets, and he calls those "sucker pockets" because that's how SO many get pickpocketed in tourist areas.

 

[NakedKnees]

I'm going to share my worst and best stories of getting my wallet robbed. Worst is behind a spoiler because content warning- it was a somewhat violent/sexualized and traumatic robbery.

Spoiler

Worst: I'd been living in Santiago for a little less than six months. I went out and had several drinks with friends. I'd had a super busy day, and my purse had an obscene amount of valuables in it: TWO cell phones, wallet, a good amount of pot I'd just bought (which cost decent money), and many sentimental items. I got in a cab for a seven-ish minute ride home from the bar... and fell asleep. It was an accident but I still beat myself up about how dumb that was- never, ever, ever do that. Next thing I remember, I was being shoved out of the car while my jacket was being pulled off of me, in an unfamiliar neighborhood, with the cab driving away (and my purse in it). Someone else had gotten in the backseat with me since the driver couldn't have done all that. Luckily, there are enough hills, mountains, and distinctive buildings in Santiago that I was able to orient myself and eventually find a good samaritan cab home, since I didn't have any money. Honestly, the worst thing about this was trying to figure out if I'd been touched or anything like that while drunk and asleep (I don't think I was but I'm still afraid I could suddenly remember something). The second worst thing was losing a diary I had in that purse. I've kept diaries since I was about seven, and that's the only lost one. It covered the end of University, traveling through Chile and Brazil, deciding the stay in Santiago permanently, and breaking up with my boyfriend of several years. 

Best: someone took my wallet out of my purse at a crowded mall in the Los Angeles area. I cancelled all my cards and ordered a new ID... then about three weeks later, I got a call that my wallet had been found. I'd actually filled out a little "if found" card that came with the wallet! It had rained and someone found all of its contents spread out in a gutter over the course of a few blocks. Again: three weeks after I lost it! The cash and cards were gone and I'd already ordered new ID, but it was fun to get the wallet and a bunch of rewards cards back, although some were destroyed by water. It was also nice to meet the guy (a little old man from Vietnam) who called me up about it, and get to tell the story. I could only give him $20 because I was working minimum wage at the time, but he was really nice.

[Iamtheway]

For our holiday this year we bought a safety bag. A cross shoulder bag with steel mesh inside so it couldn’t be cut open and little hooks so you could lock the zippers. It also had a pocket where you could put your cards so they couldn’t be scanned from outside the bag. We kept all our valuables in it. 

[lizzybee]

My dad had a laptop bag stolen out of his vehicle while Christmas shopping at the mall a few years ago. The thief was definitely disappointed because there was no laptop in the bag just a bunch of irreplaceable notes/work stuff he kept in that bag that didn't mean anything to anyone but him. He was pretty frustrated, understandably. I do laugh at that disappointed thief though. Thinking he'd bagged a laptop only to find a bag full of papers. ?

[Iamtheway]

One of my friends had his car broken in to while parked outside another friends house. They stole his boots with his expensive custom made soles and a book he was almost finished with. Another friend had their wheels stolen outside that same house. Dodgy neighbourhood. 

[Shadoewolf]

@NakedKnees I had a similar experience to your 'best' story. Purse was stolen out of my cart at the grocery store while I was strapping Oldest into her carseat as a baby. Someone found it in a drainage ditch like months later and turned it in to the local PD who called me. All I can say was mud, everywhere!  People suck!

Now I keep it crossed over my body from shoulder to hip, zipped and with a carabiner to latch the zipper to the shoulder strap ring. Big city living and all that!

[PumaLover]

When we were living at our previous house, my daughter and I were playing Pokemon Go and she found a wallet in our gutter. (We lived on the main street of town). We took it down to the police department and she had to fill out a form and everything. She was really proud to be able to do that. I don't remember if we looked inside or not.

I have never had my wallet stolen but we've had people steal our credit card numbers several times. Luckily our credit union is great about keeping up with that and will cancel our cards at any sign of fraudulent activity. They once cancelled our card while we were on vacation, and I was trying to buy rocks at a gem and mineral store in the middle of nowhere in Arizona, LOL.

I always use a cross body purse but lately have been feeling lazy so I just use my backpack. I go to the ice rink about once a week and there's no safe place to leave it. I'm thinking I may just start leaving my wallet in my car, hidden under the seat. Don't know what is worse, risk of car break in or random public skaters who might get into my bag. 

Lastly, funny (kind of) story about car break ins. My best friend parks in her driveway and someone smashed her window to steal her gym bag. All that was in it was sweaty pair of socks, LOL.

[SapphireSlytherin]

4 hours ago, PumaLover said:

I go to the ice rink about once a week and there's no safe place to leave it. I'm thinking I may just start leaving my wallet in my car, hidden under the seat.

Around here, parking lots for ice rinks, gyms, trampoline jump rooms, fitness trails, etc, are frequent targets for thieves. They'll break into cars, even if nothing's visible, just to CHECK for valuables. Under the seat and in the glove box are the first two places they're going to look. Then they pop the trunk and look in there.

 

May I suggest just taking your driver's license and a credit card, and leaving the rest of your purse at home? Put those in your pocket, along with your house/car key and you won't have to worry. I don't recommend leaving your house key in your car, either - if they do get into your car, they'll find the registration/insurance info which has your home address on it; they could take your keys and let themselves into your house while you're out playing.

 

[FecundFundieFundus]

Someone smashed my car window to get a wallet with my ID and about 53¢ in it. $200+ damage for a bunch of nickels and pennies in a $1 wallet! I was job hunting and didn't have any cash. 

Tbh I don't do anything more than cover up stuff we leave in the car with a sweater. No one has broken in since we moved from the crappy neighborhood. I keep a list of our credit card help line numbers at home and in my phone just in case, but otherwise live my life normally. It's not worth the stress to obsess about how to thwart thieves every time I leave my house.

[curlykate]

I never keep valuables in my car....the most I ever have in there is a few coins from my coffee run amounting to less than a dollar. I also always leave my doors unlocked. We have a lot of car break ins in my city and I find it’s just better to leave it unlocked. The thieves always seem to try the handle first and if it’s locked break the window. I’d rather avoid a broken window if I can. Several times my door has been open and contents tossed, but my neighbour has had her windows broken twice!

[Iamtheway]

We had our car broken into once as well. I’m assuming by kids since we found lollipop wrappers on the floor. They broke both the doors (whyyyyy?) and snapped of the stick for the wind screen wiper (which is just unneccesary). They didn’t steel anything though. Since there was nothing to steel except some cd:s. Obviously not Dolly Parton fans. 

[Sky with diamonds]

Nearly a year ago, my purse was stolen right from my balcony. It never turned up. I had to replace a few cards which was a pain in the you know where. 

[adidas]

I found a wallet in my gym car park recently - I opened it to see if there were contact details so I could return it, but it was a university student who lived on campus so the address wasn’t one I could deliver it to. It was the weekend and the uni student service desk was closed so I took the wallet into the gym desk and asked them to page him. When I left a while later they said he hadn’t claimed it so I went home and posted on the Facebook University lost and found site, asking the guy to contact me so I could tell him where his wallet was.

You wouldn’t believe the number of his ‘friends’ messaging me, wanting to know where it was so they could collect it and give it to him. One girl was particularly insistent and she got really angry with me when I wouldn’t tell her where I’d handed it in. I kept telling her that if he was her friend, she could contact him and pass on my contact details, then I would tell him directly. Eventually he contacted me on FB and didn’t even say thanks. It turns out the insistent girl was actually his friend, and they were annoyed that I caused a delay in getting the wallet back to him because I wouldn’t tell her where it was. Apparently I was the one who caused him hours of unnecessary stress by refusing to tell possible strangers where his wallet was.

The other criticism I got was that I didn’t take it to the police station. Valid, but since it was in the gym car park I just thought if the gym called him over the pager he might still be there. I was genuinely trying to help. Never again. Next time I’ll take it straight to the police and they can deal with it.