OMG. ROBBED.

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Our apartment was broken into last night, and for the (relatively) small amount of stuff that was taken, they sure made an unholy mess. My girlfriend came home at 11 PM to find that the lock had been crowbarred off the door.

Turns out there were several break-ins in our building - obviously people looking for drugs and / or easily pawned stuff. The police were as helpful as they could be - younger officers, very sympathetic, who cracked jokes with us and even took some forensic photos of the bedroom, which looked like a bullldozer had driven through it. (Who wrenches the door off a goddamned Ikea wardrobe???)

The cops left at 2:30 AM, we cleaned until 4:30 AM.

I'm passing out of the "missing my stuff" mode (about $1200 worth of various CDs, DVDs, books, shoes***, and bric-a-brac) and into the "feeling utterly fucking violated" mode.

*** Shitheads took my ultra-rare old-school suede Pumas. Fuckety fucking cocksucking motherfucking ASSHOLES. If any of our shit turns up at the makeshift flea market that regularly appears on our block, HEADS WILL BE BUSTED.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

jesus christ, dude, that's fucking horrible

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

That's really rotten, esp. about the irreplacable stuff. That's the worst part. If you like, I will track these people down and cut off their external genitals.

― Abbott (Abbott), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

Aside to Momus: not really.

― Abbott (Abbott), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

Did you have insurance on your missing media items?

― Abbott (Abbott), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:51 (nineteen years ago)

That sucks bro. You've got that new job - move out of that fetid shithole already!

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 19:53 (nineteen years ago)

Did you have insurance on your missing media items?

Nope. *CRY.*

move out of that fetid shithole already!

That is a distinct possibility, but we'll need a few months to make it happen.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:41 (nineteen years ago)

i'm sorry Tantrum The Cat, that really sucks

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

My condolences. That fuckin' sucks.

They stole your shoes?!

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

Damn. Sorry to hear it. :-/

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sorry Ian, that's horrible news. Moving west of Yonge = a good idea, as Thermo mentioned.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

really really sorr to hear about that, tantrum. i've never been burgled but i've had things stolen from me like several bicycles and you just want to scream and cry and then kill!

― wogan lenin (dog latin), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:52 (nineteen years ago)

They stole your shoes?!

Indeed. A near-mint pair of black suede Pumas that had only been worn 3 times since I bought them earlier this year.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

Also, thanks for everybody's condolences.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

i have had my house burgled, it is a terrible violation. i am sorry you are going through this. it felt much worse than i had ever imagined it would.

― estela (estela), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

I had a paid of sude shell-toed adidas stolen from my family's car while on a road trip in high school. They had just been discontinued, too. I also lost all my nirvana and pearl jam cds in this same burglary. : (

That violated feeling is a total dud. Sorry, Tantrum.

― researching ur life (grady), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:00 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sorry, man, that sucks. I've had my place broken into, but nothing was taken (it turned out later they made 900 # calls) -- and it still unnerved the fuck out of me for weeks.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:06 (nineteen years ago)

uh yeah some burglar wanking it on your phone is a little loco

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:19 (nineteen years ago)

It's awful being ripped off. Our car got broken into in the parking lot of a remote state park in Maine. They stole my husband's wallet w/credit cards and my backpack which had my hairbrush, my book and my PRESCRIPTION BIFOCALS in it. HAVE FUN WITH MY MIDDLE-AGED GLASSES, ASSHOLES!!!!! They missed the cash, though. That was hidden in a different place. Nyaah nyahh.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:21 (nineteen years ago)

uh yeah some burglar wanking it on your phone is a little loco

Yeah, I didn't know that until I was over the break-in -- the charges showed up like two months later. It was a kid in the building, I think, but we never found out for sure.

― Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:30 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, that's awful. And, god, taking that much's worth of stuff is bad enough, but limited-edition pumas :((( I don't know why but, to me, that feels kind of icing-on-the-cake horrible.
My parents' place got broken into about six months ago - the insurance covered what was taken, which wasn't all that much (though it did include a laptop), but my mum still gets pretty fretty about leaving the house with no-one in it, whether it's the middle of the day or overnight.

― ampersand, hearts, semicolon (cis), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:41 (nineteen years ago)

better locks solve ALL these problems

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:45 (nineteen years ago)

Dolphins with lasers.

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

Lasers that criss-cross to form protective glowing meshes around your door.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

But of course the dolphins would need to place to project the lasers from, which is why I recommend a moat.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

And amphibious ninjas

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

Well you've already got the moat, it would almost be an oversight not to.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

Wait you mean like ninjas with gills? I didn't think they existed yet!

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:09 (nineteen years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/705000/images/_705631_ninjaturtles300.jpg

― researching ur life (grady), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

Tantrum I'm sorry for being so whimsical on this thread. It's my kneejerk auti-defense against stuff like this.

― Euai Kapaui (tracerhand), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:15 (nineteen years ago)

It's okay - I could use a laugh!

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

tantrum - you're in toronto?

much sympathy goes out to you for this.

i'm in SF, i was burglarized over a year ago (august 1st 2005). i lost rare records i'll never replace, they tried to steal my desktop computer which then crashed a few weeks later from damage incurred during the burglary, losing all my data anyway...they even stole a skirt my GF had bought just that afternoon, right out of our closet.

all that stuff we lost, we either replaced or got over. what i never really got over was the loss of feeling safe in my home. i still bolt upright whenever i hear loud sounds in the middle of the night. that truly is the part that totally fucking sucks.

― something less threatening (heywood), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:51 (nineteen years ago)

Check ebay - maybe the idiots won't try to re-sell the stuff locally.

Good idea to keep lists of what you've got and then check with places who might re-sell them. Then again, a lot of these thieves hold onto shit until a certain time passes.

― what does it mean to you? (section241), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 23:53 (nineteen years ago)

The sight of a crowbarred door is very ugly.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 12 October 2006 00:07 (nineteen years ago)

holy shit dude. that's terrible! was anything essential, do you need anything? not that this area is the best, but if you're seriously looking to move, i think there's still a good unit left in our building - like top floor, next door. he charges us 1k per month (for a largish 2 bedroom w. skylight etc) so I'd imagine over there would be similar.

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 12 October 2006 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

:-(

It certainly changes how you feel inside your own home, which is the worst part of burglaries. Crowbarring the door also takes it to a different level altogether. It's the irreplaceable and sentimental things which really suck and also trying to remember all the titles of CDs/DVDs. I always keep a list now when I get a new title. Am a bit bemused about the stealing of books though; are thieves getting more literate?

Good luck with it all, and hope the dirty robberers are caught and given a good seeing to.

― salexandra (salexander), Thursday, 12 October 2006 01:02 (nineteen years ago)

Some people I know were burgled for bed linens. They figured someone was getting married.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Thursday, 12 October 2006 11:56 (nineteen years ago)

Or maybe they were just really really tired.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

xpost: Kim - thank God, but no, they didn't take anything essential. The bathroom and kitchen were untouched, so maybe they ran out of time? I dunno.

Like I said to Thermo, it'll be a while before we can really think about moving. (Although 1k for a largish 2 bedroom sounds pretty darned nice indeed.)

The original lock was replaced that evening by the superintendent, and they're installing a second one today. I'm looking at a) apartment insurance and b) some kind of alarm system - not that lightning is gonna strike twice, but hey.

Thanks again for everybody's sympathy, seriously.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:07 (nineteen years ago)

This really really really sucks. Sorry to hear it.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:16 (nineteen years ago)

DAMN. Sorry to hear about this... Getting burgled is a brutal feeling. Only happened to me once, and it still pisses me off (lost loads of signed/irreplacable CDs, etc). I don't even know what thieves do with CDs/DVDs now - aren't used shops strict with ID these days? Worth making the rounds though - you never know! I recovered some of my CDs when the dumbasses tried to sell them to a used shop where friends of mine worked...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 12 October 2006 12:33 (nineteen years ago)

Dude that sucks!

Time to go west young man.

― Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

when I was burgled it helped me to remember that this sort of thing is really random--it's a crime of opportunity against property, not a targeted crime against me.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 12 October 2006 13:19 (nineteen years ago)

very sorry to hear about this--another set of fingers crossed that you can get your stuff back!

― patita (patita), Thursday, 12 October 2006 15:00 (nineteen years ago)

when I was burgled it helped me to remember that this sort of thing is really random--it's a crime of opportunity against property, not a targeted crime against me.

That is good advice. Ms. PixieCat and myself have been trying to bear in mind the kind of desperation that junkies live in (and really, I can't see anyone else making this kind of mess).

I do wish we could move right away, though. It's a simple question of money. :(

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

When my family was robbed, it was absolutely a targeted crime. My parents live literally in the middle of NOWHERE. The thieves watied until my family left the country, then broke in and stole all of MY tapes and CDs (not everyone's, just mine) AND my dead brother's stereo. The TVs were left, the VCRs were left, the computers were left, none of the silverware or jewelry was taken, just my tapes and CDs and a stereo of high sentimental value.

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

A good professional thief "profiles" his or her victims before breaking in. I've been burgled a number of times and it was clear that they knew a bit about the lifestyle and possessions that me and my roommates had. Often they call a number of times to see if anyone answers the phone, which means they have also obtained your phone number. If they're really good, they'll tear up your shit to make it look like someone else did it. But these people are generally more "professional" than a purse-snatcher on the street.

― what does it mean to you? (section241), Thursday, 12 October 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

Please tell me you alterego raps are still available.

― Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Thursday, 12 October 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

i was robbed once. it was real quick. id gone with my friend down to the local mall to pick something up. we'd been gone for 15 minutes max. my bedroom had a balcony that looked over the front yard. when we got back i saw the balcony door wide open and a gazillion of my cds all over the front lawn. of course, me being me, i assumed someone who didnt like me had broken in and thrown all my shit over the balcony.

anyway, they'd taken all of the tvs, the stereos, the 7 year old answering machine, the 8 year old vcr etc etc everything electrical as well as all the cds of mine they could get which turned out to be around 350 or so. they were obviously interupted while taking my brothers computer (he and his wife lived downstairs at the time)because it was half pulled out from the wall. both entrances (brothers and mine) were crowbarred. cops came by and said the trick was that these peeps would have had someone follow me to the mall and call the guys in the house to let them know when we were coming back, hence the half pulled comp.

the cool thing was that we had this great 'new for old' contents insurance so everything they took, which was mainly crappy and old, got replaced by shiny new stuff. best shopping trips ever. the cds were especially fun because they hooked me up with a cd distrinution warehouse and gave me a contact so i got to pick out 350 new cds and because i couldnt come up with that many right away i got to call this woman whenever i thought of another one and it would be one my doorstep in a couple of days. sweet stuff.

also the cops really liked my pregnant barbie and laughed when i pulled off her stomach, pulled the baby out and put the flat stomach on.

― sunny successor (katharine), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

Please tell me you alterego raps are still available.

Oh yes. It's worth mentioning that all of my music gear is kept in an office space in an entirely different neighbourhood, so I still have all of that stuff.

I'm still pissed off, though.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Thursday, 12 October 2006 20:59 (nineteen years ago)

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