A Peaceful Drive to Work

The BBQ Pit
1

I had a very quiet, peaceful drive to work early this morning. Just me and minimal traffic, singing softly to myself in my neat little car with the big engine.

Ordinarily, I like to listen to the news on NPR in the morning. Or I look for a weather report so I can see if I’m dressed appropriately for the weather, which at this time of year, I rarely am. Sometimes I like to listen to my favorite radio station and sing along.

This morning was different however. Why, you may ask, was it so quiet and newsless and musicless in my car?

BECAUSE SOME ASSHOLES STOLE THE FUCKING STEREO OUT OF MY GODDAMNED CAR!!!

What kind of a turd-breathed ass wipe steals a $200 stereo/CD player out of an old car? My car was locked and in my garage. And while I think it’s a cool old beast to cruise around in, it’s an OLD car and not of much interest to anyone but me. Why, why, why???

Not only that, but the bastards apparently tried to tear the entire dashboard off the car with a fucking screw driver before realizing that they could pop the stereo out without any effort. So my old Jaguar has probably $1000 worth of damage to the temperature controls et al, all over a $200 stereo.

If they’d knocked on the door and asked me, I would have given them the bleeding $50 they’re going to get for the thing in a pawn shop.

They fucked up the seats, smashing them all the way forward to look in the backseat for more valuables. They left the glove compartment and both doors open, and they did something evil to my interior lights so that they won’t come on. They they smashed a tail light.

And now, even though there are MUCH worse things that could have happened (theft of the entire car comes to mind, or of course bodily harm) I feel like a fucking victim. I feel completely violated, nervous about the locks on my doors, and furious that I now have to go out and buy all kinds of theft protection devices. Of course, this is a ridiculous thing to do. It’s too late for theft protection devices and there’s nothing left in my car to steal. But I’m under the impression that it’s just what you DO when you’re a theft victim. Overreact. Which is exactly what I plan to do.

Goddamn it, who had to ruin my perfectly happy, ordinary Friday morning by trashing my pretty little car!? I’m getting some sort of evil weapon, like a tazer and I’m going to sit around and wait for assholes to come near my car. Yeah…I’ll sit out all night. Then after I zap them, I’m going to go through their pockets and remove all their good bits with a rusty screw driver.

Anyone want to help?

-L

2

You have my full symapthy for the loss of your stereo. Been there, had it done to me, including the dash repais, and it sucks.

Can I add one thing though - you’ve got great taste in cars.

3

Thanks. That’s one of the reasons I think I’m pretty lucky. They could have stripped a LOT of parts off that old XJS and made a lot more money than they’ll get for my CD player. Good thing criminal punks are such dumb asses.

Somehow, being lucky in this department doesn’t make me feel any better.

-L

4

Their insensitivity has overbite. I’m really sorry about your car, SW. With a Jag like that mebbe we should call you SexyDriver. Just a couple of suggestions here…

  • Fingerprints? Maybe they have a prior or will recommit in the future.

  • On your next stereo, get one with a removable faceplate that renders it inoperable to a thief. Oh, and keep the serial number.

  • Return to the scene of the crime? I’d hate for you to have to campout with seething anger as a companion. Get an alarm and remember, like you apparently already have, that it’s just stuff.
    I’ve got an old SL with the big engine. For some reason I doubt I’ll be sleeping well tonite.

See 'ya in the fast lane!

5

Guess what? My stereo HAD the fake-out face plate. Another reason for me to be irritated. I hope I didn’t pay extra for my stupid stereo to get THAT handy device.

I’ve got a screw driver they left behind for fingerprints. I doubt if the police will take the issue quite THAT seriously. I mean, they’ve got better things to do than hunt someone down for vandalism and “theft under $200.”

Yeah, it’s just stuff. It’s more the being “violated” part that gets to me. Not so much the “stuff.” But I have to admit to being pretty attached to my silly old car. I hate that it got damaged over such a low cost piece of equipment.

Go out and protect your car! Sleep with it! I love big engines :slight_smile:

One thing about sitting out all night waiting for the criminals to return to the scene of the crime. Maybe if I sit outside on a cool night, with my puppy by my side, contemplating the beautiful back end of my XJS I’ll feel better in no time.

-L

6

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by SexyWriter *
**

**

Ummm, are we related?

Final thought: When you’re ready to go in just rig up a Claymore.

7

Sorry to hear about your car. You have every right to feel outraged, not only did they steal and vandalize, but they entered your property to do so. IMO, this is much worse than an opportunistic theft in a parking lot.

You didn’t mention, but hopefully your insurance will have no problem covering the damage (sans deductible). If you have the funds to spare, as little as $200 will get you an alarm system. Have one put in while the repairs are being done, it may help with your piece of mind.

8

Sorry to hear about it SexyWriter, been there just a couple of months ago. I think these guys go after older and cheaper cars since their less likely to have alarms. I got lucky, very little damage to the dash and one broken rear window.

Make sure you tell the cops, who knows, they may take it much more seriously than you think. I had no evidence to give them, and not much damage, but I gave a report anyway. You sound like you’ve been hit with more damage, you have evidence and this is also breaking and entering, since the car was in your garage, right?

It’s a very odd feeling to walk out to your car and suddenly realize that you’ve been robbed.

9

Rich and poor, fancy or not so fancy, no one is safe from theft.

About five years ago, I had a Pioneer Cassette Player stolen out of my 91 Dodge Dynasty in my apartment parking lot. It was an old cassette player in an old car! Still some asshole decided to pry open my door, unlock it and tear apart my dashboard to get at the radio. I just couldn’t imagine why someone would want such a piece of shit cassette player out of a piece of shit car. If they were lucky they would get $10 for it tops!

The only part of such a theft that makes any sense is that the chances of getting caught are slim at best. The cops could care less about investigating or taking fingerprints. All they did for me was take a report over the phone; they didn’t even bother to look at the car. If someone did see someone suspicious outside my car, chances are they would have run away before the police got there. Also cops don’t patrol neighborhoods and apartment complexes like they used to. In my two years of living in an upscale neighborhood I have only seen a cop in my apartment complex once, and that was to track down a bank robber.

With my brand new car, it is supposed to have some fancy security on the CD player so it won’t work outside my car. The question remains if a stupid criminal might steal it and not even get $10 for it.

10

i’m coming back later for those more expensive parts. if you want, just send me $75 (i accept paypal!) and then i wont bother you further!

just kidding, and i know, that was a terrible joke!

one question: how did they get to your little jewel of a car locked in a garage? you are right about the cops not caring about the theft of the sterio, but breaking and entering is something else…

11

Damn, that sucks. I hurt for you, and can empathize, since my own car was broken into a few months ago. Nothing really taken, but the passenger window (of my convertible!) was smashed, so I know what the violation is like.

You said your stereo had the face-off feature, but not if the face was actually off. That only works as a deterrent if you actually take the face off and take it into the house/office with you.

If Boston cops are as overworked as Atlanta cops, they won’t bother taking fingerprints off that screwdriver and you’ll never hear anything else about it. If you want to torture yourself you can probably look around and find your stereo for sale at a nearby pawn shop in a day or so.

12

Guess what? I’m happy to report that you are WRONG! I came home, hoping to stop here before I went to the police station to file a report. But when I got here, the cops were already outside my house with a neighbor who was ALSO a victim.

I told them that I was next. They filed a report, then told me that they have my stereo at the police station!!! I seriously can’t believe it. I figured the cops would say, “Dang, too bad your stereo’s gone. Have a nice day.”

I got really excited when they picked the screw driver up out of my car with gloves on and put it in a plastic bag for evidence. I started singing “Bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do…”

Apparently, an officer on patrol came across the guy who was systematically going up and down streets in my neighborhood taking whatever he could pry off with a screw driver. When he saw the cop, he started running…leaving both his car AND the bag of goodies behind.

They’ve got him in the station now and are trying to get him to 'fess up. I seriously can’t believe this ended with good news. I figured I was just without a CD player and that was that. It made me feel so good to know they had it.

Of course, they can’t return it to me yet, because they need it for evidence. But I had to go to the station and ID my property.

God I love the smell of handcuffs.

-L

13

Glad to hear, SexyWriter.

[hijack]
Why does everyone accuse the cops of being beuracratic pigheads, but praise them when they catch the dumb hoodlums who failed through High School?
[/hijack]

This reminds me of my (possibly) favorite Doonesbury strip of all time. It consists of Mike Doonesbury facing the readers, asking, “Wouldn’t you like one of those ‘No Radio’ signs for your car? Well, now you can! Just clip out one of the signs below, appropriate for three different enviroments: Urban, Suburban, and Rural!”

The signs read:

Attention Criminals: No Radio In Car
Yeah, that’s right. There’s no radio in here. Go look somewhere else, you theiving hoodlum. Have you ever thought about getting a job, you punk? Have a nice day. :slight_smile:

Attention Strangers: Radio In Car
A real nice radio too. Multiple CDs, megawatt speakers too. Cost a fortune. Eat your heart out!

Attention Strangers: Radio In Car?
Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t. The way I see it, it isn’t any of your business.

14

What a fucking idiot. He’s lucky he didn’t get shot.

Oh you do, do you? ::jingle jingle:: :wink:

15

Wow! Three emotions now war within me. I’m happy for you, astonished at the outcome, and ever so envious.

16

Well, Fiver I’m the first two of those things. Happy and astonished. Seriously, who ever gets a radio back once it’s been taken from their car? What are the odds?

Unfortunately, I just went to pick up my stereo and it’s a bit damaged. This asshole was a real whiz with a screwdriver. I can’t get it in myself to see if it works, but I’m thinking it probably still does. Damage doesn’t look THAT bad. We’ll see.

I also noticed that the neighbor’s nice black BMW has a window missing out of it. That made me sad. It’s such a pretty car and they’re such nice people.

I have to say that I’m quite impressed with the police in my area. I don’t have much of a pre-conceived notion of what cops are like, other than that I think they’re underpaid. I sure have a higher opinion of them now. It was nice simply to have the issue taken seriously and be treated with respect. Don’t know why I didn’t EXPECT as much, but I really didn’t.

Anyone know how to install a car stereo?

-L

17

The screwdriver got left behind in my case, too. I still have it, in fact. It wasn’t discovered until a few days after the break-in, and I decided not to bother the police with it after I had picked it up and handle it. It’s sitting on a shelf in my kitchen, now, behind the toaster. I see it almost every day.

My car was broken into last November. Smashed driver’s side window, but no damage to the dashboard. The stolen CD stereo had a removable faceplate, but I wasn’t always diligent about taking it in with me.

Now I’m ritualistic about taking it with me. That and putting The Club[sup]TM[/sup] on my steering wheel. I know it doesn’t make my old car theft-proof, but it will assure that if it is ever stolen, it will be by someone with considerable incentive.

The worst part was that it was broken into during a particularly hellish week for my car. On the Sunday of that week, the radiator developed some problems while I was taking my mom to the airport. Fixed. On the Monday of that week, my car was bumped in the left front corner by someone changing into the lane in front of me, apparently without checking to see if there was anyone (like me) there. Left front corner all fucked up. Then on the Thursday of that week, the car was broken into, the window smashed and the car stereo stolen.

On the Friday of that week, I lost my fucking mind. I decided that whoever wrote the Book of Job was pretty much right on the ball.

Thank goodness for insurance. The car looks great today, and the stereo is actually a nicer model than its predecessor.

18

A happy ending! :slight_smile:

19

Priceless!

And I totally agree. I’ve had my home broken into 3 different times (not where I live now) and I SO know the feeling of violation you’re talking about. Sadly, in my case, no one was ever caught and I never recovered my old family heirloom jewelry and the cash and clothing that was stolen. :frowning: I despise theives as much as I hate murderers. They’re all pigfuckers. I hope this guy gets serious time once they add up the value of all the stolen property and damage he caused. And I hope he gets raped in prison, too. Yeah, yeah, I’m a heartless bitch. So sue me. I just hate these fuckers.

I really appreciate your consideration in avoiding stepping on my penis - Spiny Norman
Jeg elsker dig, Thomas

20

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Shayna *
**

Well, welcome to the pit, where it’s cool to be a heartless bitch. I’m still hoping they pry all the good bits off this guy with a rusty screwdriver, even though I got my stereo back.

Having your home broken into must be ten times worse, not to mention 50 times scarier. I’m so sorry that happened to you! What a pisser!

-L