# Things that disappear other than socks **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 18, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738 "2024-05-18T15:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/61 "2024-06-14T13:22:11Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The vaporizer could easily hide, but the flashlight should be noticeable, wherever it is. I wish I could blame any of this on the pot. Excellent weed will cause this. Any chance a mischievous spider monkey is involved? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/62 "2024-06-14T13:27:08Z")
Just a cat, and she’s never been larcenous. This is seriously fucking with my head. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/63 "2024-06-14T13:31:16Z")
Do you wear a bathrobe? In the winter I sometimes do and have lost things that were in my robe pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/64 "2024-06-14T13:56:07Z")
I’ve checked every pocket in the apartment, and my car. I can’t convey how seriously weird this is. Afa the vape goes, as soon as I realized I couldn’t find it I ordered a replacement, which will undoubtably make the other appear post haste. But the flashlight. I wonder if there are cases of split personality where one is aware he’s the evil one, and plays tricks on the regular personality. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/65 "2024-06-14T14:02:49Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > This is a recent one, and it’s starting to freak me out. I recently bought a Dynavap vaporizer, and I kept it on a table to the left of my recliner. I heard a thud and looked and the vaporizer was gone, presumably on the floor. I found the cap in front of my recliner. The rest is gone. I turned the chair upside down a bunch of times, shaking it and probing it’s innards. I’ve lifted and looked behind everything in the living room. It gets worse. To check every nook and cranny I was using a flashlight and at one point I took a break from searching and, this is no shit, the fucking flashlight is gone! It is a vaporizer, after all. It’s interesting, however, that after it vaporized itself it was still capable of vaporizing the flashlight. I wouldn’t let small children or dogs near that area. (If the cats fall into it, I suspect they’ll be able to get themselves back out.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/66 "2024-06-14T14:15:09Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I’ve checked every pocket in the apartment, and my car. I can’t convey how seriously weird this is. Years ago I couldn’t find my hearing aid one morning. It was driving me batty, as I expanded my search and looked more and more places. At some point I looked under our couch and that’s where it was, in dozens of tiny pieces. Loki, now our oldest dog, was a puppy then. She got my $3500 hearing aid, took it under the couch, and destroyed it. That was the first and only destructive behavior she ever exhibited. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/67 "2024-06-14T14:24:18Z")
Wait a minute: > [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Just a cat, and she’s never been larcenous. Maybe she hasn’t been before; but nevertheless I strongly suspect the cat. (Give her a pat for me.) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/68 "2024-06-14T14:35:52Z")
Whenever she’s curious about something I’m holding, I’ll let her take a sniff of it. She didn’t care for the vaporizer, so I don’t think she swiped it. But I’m about to carefully sift her litter box. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/69 "2024-06-14T17:21:43Z")
If she disliked it enough, she may have buried it – possibly in the litter box, possibly elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/70 "2024-06-17T20:10:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Loki, now our oldest dog, was a puppy then. She got my $3500 hearing aid, took it under the couch, and destroyed it. That was the first and only destructive behavior she ever exhibited. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my dog once chewed up my bruxism night guard. Apparently, no matter how often you clean them, they smell like chew toys. They need to be kept completely out of reach. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/71 "2024-06-17T20:16:25Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > chewed up my bruxism night guard. Apparently, no matter how often you clean them, they smell like chew toys. They need to be kept completely out of reach. Happened to me also, except it was cats. Same for hearing aids-they must be tasty cat hockey pucks because I have $5,000 worth I haven’t seen for 4 months after I just once left them within my cat’s reach overnight. Old house, furnace floor grates in every room, no doubt down there somewhere. Unlikely to still be functional if I could somehow retrieve them. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/72 "2024-06-17T21:33:03Z")
I have the solution to missing pens. I only use fountain pens, and over the past twenty years, the expensiveness of my taste in fountain pens has escalated. Now I don’t think I own a pen worth less than $150. I keep track of them very carefully. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/73 "2024-06-18T01:18:19Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I have the solution to missing pens. I only use fountain pens, and over the past twenty years, the expensiveness of my taste in fountain pens has escalated. Now I don’t think I own a pen worth less than $150. I keep track of them very carefully I’m not about to try that one in my house. One of the cats gangs up with the dog: the cat knocks pens and pencils off desks and tables onto the floor. The dog then chews them up. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/74 "2024-06-18T08:41:20Z")
Ah well, cats. I do not have cats. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2024, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/75 "2024-06-18T08:43:24Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my dog once chewed up my bruxism night guard. Apparently, no matter how often you clean them, they smell like chew toys. They need to be kept completely out of reach. After three night guard destructions – and it only took one minute of being accessible – I realized I wasn’t going to get to wear one as long as that particular dog was alive. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/76 "2024-12-03T19:21:11Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > As every mechanic knows, the 10mm socket. > **[18M views · 177K reactions | Can’t ever take your eyes off the 10mm Socket...](https://www.facebook.com/reel/1112152083956558)** > > Can’t ever take your eyes off the 10mm Socket 🤦‍♂️ #infamous10mm #10mmsocket #10mm #missing10mm #pooltable. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/77 "2024-12-03T19:41:22Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > And 9/16 sockets and wrenches. I don’t lose them, but I’ve found many, many of them. Always 9/16. Many years ago I was doing some sort of minor repair on my car when I dropped the socket into the engine compartment. I expected it to fall out the bottom, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on the garage floor, so I have to assume it landed on some part of the engine but was stuck somewhere where I could neither see nor reach it. I eventually just accepted that it was gone for good. But it wouldn’t surprise me if some time later I hit a pothole or something, and that socket came dislodged from wherever it was hiding and fell out onto the street. So that’s my theory as to where they come from, although I have no idea if the one I lost was 9/16. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/78 "2024-12-04T00:57:28Z")
I had a turn signal bulb go out so I went to AutoZone(?) to buy a new bulb; asked them if I could borrow a socket to replace it right there in the parking lot. The bolt is in a recessed channel so after the initial loosening I was just using the socket by hand as the borrowed wrench wasn’t deep enough to clear the channel, changed the bulb & tightening it up, by hand; on my last turn I lose my grip & it bounces down a (by design) hole in the metal. Now I can’t pull the taillight assembly out to retrieve it because it’s 94% tightened. I go in & return the wrench to their parts tray & hightail it outta there before they realize they’re missing a socket. I go home & get mine out; mine are longer so I use my socket & quickly pull the bolts & pull the taillight up & out where I see the socket sitting all the way at the bottom. I sit down & easily reach up from underneath & grab it & then reassemble everything because the next day I’m again going to be in the area of the store so I did return it for the next poor schlub who needs to make a parking lot repair. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/79 "2024-12-04T01:44:15Z")
There’s an old joke in there. I don’t care about losing umbrellas - I just stick a note on the handle with my address saying ‘If you find this umbrella, don’t bother returning it. Just keep it, and send me $5’. So far, I have received $475. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738/80 "2024-12-04T02:35:07Z")
Underwear. I totally don’t understand how it disappears, but there’s some supernatural force that makes it so. Some years ago I bought two packs to replenish my supply, and just recently discovered that the number in current circulation as I took them out of the dryer was just one more than the total of new ones I had purchased. What happened to all the others? No one knows. Further proof of the supernatural is that one of the packs I ordered recently turned out to be way too small, but since already opened, they weren’t returnable, so I stuffed them into a plastic grocery bag thinking I’d use them for cleaning rags. I used one the other day. Later I looked for the rest of them. They had disappeared with all the others, presumably into the fifth dimension, even taking the plastic bag with them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-disappear-other-than-socks/1001738.md?page=5)