I Pit the Stupid Bitch who won't help me get my cell phone back

The BBQ Pit
1

This has been the WORST 4th of July weekend ever. Last night, Mr. Frail and I went to the Taste of Chicago to see if we could grab some food before the fireworks. We knew there would be overhwleming crowds, and I was prepared, until I got in the middle of it. Oh, crap…I started to panic, because I’m short and don’t want to get crushed, so Mr. Frail and I got out of the mess and headed to the Museum Campus. The plan was to meet some friends out by Adler Planetarium before 9:30. We were running a little late but were going to make it just in time.

But then…the fireworks started five minutes early. Instead of sitting down where we were, Mr. Frail insisted we run down to the Planetarium and find them before the fireworks were over. At 9:30, we had reached Adler, but it was dark (duh) and we couldn’t find them. Mr. Frail used my cell phone to try to call them (some 20 feet away, of course), but it was too loud and they didn’t hear it. I put it back in my bag and convinced Mr. Frail to sit down with me. It was dark, and when the phoen slipped out of my bag (I had it on my lap), I didn’t notice. I was in a skirt, so I asked if we could move up a row so I could hang my legs over the side and not feel all scandalous about how I was sitting. We did, and though we were only a few feet away, we didn’t notice someone grabbing my phone from where it had fallen out of my bag.

After the fireworks, I realized my phone was gone, but we found my friends and tried calling my phone from their phones. A girl kept answering and hanging up. I mean, she would answer nearly every time, but hang up when I explained that I was the owner. At first I thought she was just stupid. We left a voicemail with Mr. Frail’s number so that she could call and tell us where she had my phone. We got nothing, so we eventually went home. I sent a text message to my phone from my computer, saying “Please call [Mr. Frail’s number].” The Stupid Bitch sent me back an email saying, “no.” I sent another telling her that I would disable my phone immediately and to please help me, then I disabled my phone via the Cingular site.

I’ve heard nothing today. Now, why the HELL wouldn’t she help me? It’s the fucking fourth of July weekend, and I have no phone whatsoever. I can’t call my family. I can’t even get a replacement phone until tomorrow. The phone has run out of charge by now, service is locked, and the phone is useless to her. Doesn’t she know how much she’s hurting someone, for basically no gain on her part?

I guess shit happens. But I simply can’t understand someone not helping a person get a lost cell phone back. It falls in with basic human decency, and Stupid Bitch has none. What’s the cheapest way to get through this? I’ll be going in to work late tomorrow because I’m going to Cingular first thing. I’d have spent today going anywhere in the city to retrieve my phone…which has all my numbers, my pictures…everything. Fucking Stupid Bitch! I hope the same thing happens to her some day and that karma just kicks her ugly ass and laughs.

2

I thought I had lost my phone at the fireworks, too. But I had left where I got dinner. I got my phone back.

Moral: Don’t lose your phone at the Chicago fireworks display; lose your phone at a restaurant.

3

Sorry to hear that, and I hope that karma smacks her ass.

Do you have backup applications in the States? I back up my cell phone every now and then, so I get my numbers, pics, etc. I would be completely lost without the phone, even more so than my computer.

4

If I were you, I’d check my bill ASAP. Dumb bitch may’ve made some ‘free’ calls.

5

Can’t she just change the chip and use the phone?

6

My cell phone was stolen once and it took me a couple of hours to get it deactivated. When I got the bill the next month, I called all the numbers I didn’t recognize and told each person that I just wanted them to know that they had a thief for a friend. Nasty of me, I guess, but I was pissed.

7

Nope. The phone’s serial number is required to obtain service, and it is now flagged as lost/stolen.

8

But the phone’s serial number is on the chip. Thieves can use a scanner to pull another serial number out of the air (from another phone initiating a call) and make the stolen phone use that number. Stolen hardware, stolen service.

It’s likely that the twit is just so selfish that having “free” calling for an extremely short time seems like a better option than returning the phone, though.

9

Your point of view is a bit fucked up. She’s not helping you to get your lost cellphone back because she FUCKING STOLE IT. Duh. Why would you expect someone who stole your phone to return it?

Sam

10

I don’t so much think of Stuipd Bitch as a thief, just someone who saw a cell phone on the ground and picked it up. It’s not like I was walking along and she reached into my bag and pulled it out. I never said I was angry at her for picking it up; it was my fault that it was lying on the ground. I just didn’t notice until too late.

So yeah, maybe I’ll be all vindictive and call any numbers she called while using my phone to tell people what a bitch this girl is. But truth is, I don’t think she stole it, just that she found it and doesn’t care to return it to its rightful owner. Same as if I found, say, a watch, and decided to keep it despite seeing a “LOST WATCH” notice posted in the vicinity. It’s not thievery, just assholishness.

YMMV, of course, but I never said she STOLE the phone.

11

This is cool. And I don’t know if it would’ve occurred to me, but if somebody ever steals my phone, I’m so doing it. Just for the childish satisfaction.

As for you, GaWd, I don’t think the OP is particularly stupid for assuming initially that someone just found her phone. The first thing anybody does when they’re missing their phone is call it; lots of phones find their way back to their owners that way.

But I can’t believe the bitch actually texted back “No!” when you asked her to call Mr. Frail’s number.

That’s just fucking funny.

12

You called the number, she answered a ringing phone she knows is not hers, you said you were the owner, and she hung up.

She stole the phone. If not earlier, very clearly at that point she was a thief.

That’s why she’s not returning it. You might have tried explaining that you were going to have it disabled and that she wouldn’t be able to reuse it and that she could leave it somewhere for you to get and that you wouldn’t press charges. Maybe you would have gotten it back then. Probably not. You probably would have had to give her money, because she’s a thief.

13

Why can’t it be both? That’s my vote.

14

Bwuh? Does not compute. She stole the damn thing, Millit.

15

Unless she’s extraordinarily stupid or naive, she knew the phone, and any service available through it, wasn’t hers. Picking up the phone is not theft, but using the service is (she didn’t pay for it, and you didn’t give her permission to use it). You contacted her about returning it, and she refused, so she knows that she has your property and is willfully holding on to it. “Finders keepers, losers weepers” doesn’t cut much ice beyond third grade - sounds like theft to me.

16

You do realize that most cell phones have a gps locater in them. If you have the particular featur turned on (as apposed to having it set to 911 only) you can call up your service provider and ask for the coordinates of the last couple of calls…

17

I hate to state the obvious, but your cell phone has been stolen. You should report it stolen to your cell phone company and to the police.

18

No. IIRC, US phones do not use a SIM card. The subscriber data is stored somewhere within the telephone.

19

Thanks. But does it mean they can’t switch to another phone company while keeping the same phone? And if they can, couldn’t the thief do the same?

20

Ok. I understand, now.
By the way, of course, she’s a thief (and the person not returning the watch he found despite knowing who is the real owner is a thief too).