Well, my car got broken into.

[asthmaticeog]

First, just so it's out of the way: MOTHERFUCKING FUCK.

So OK, after work there was a bit of a drinky drinky gathering to say farewell to our web designer, whose last day was today. So I got to my parking lot after many beverages, and oddly, my tail lights were on. When I got closer, I saw that my back window was smashed, and everything was strewn about - insurance and title papers that had peviously been in the glovebox were now on the floor, yadda yadda. I couldn't turn the lights off, since the break-in guy broke that switch, which was also the switch to turn on the headlights, so I couldn't drive home, since hey, no headlights. Great. So I called the cops and waited the requisite hour. The cop actually never showed up from dispatch; after an hour of waiting, I managed to flag one down who happened to be passing by - aaaah, Cleveland. So I filled out the report for insurance (I'm NOT paying this shit out of pocket, fuck that), and the kind officer said that if my hazards worked, I could drive home sans headlights if I turned them on. I got home and disconnected my battery so it wouldn't die due to my tail lights being unable to go off. So now it's going to be the window, all this electrical shit and god only knows what else.

I'm going back to the bar, now.

On edit: the only thing they stole - MY CIGARETTES!

[qnr]

1. I empathize. That happened to me once, and due to circumstances

that aren't worth going into in your thread, I lost all of my photographs from all seven continents, and souvenirs from my recent voyage to South America, New Zealand and Antarctica.

Good luck and maybe there were cameras that caught the idiots that did it.

Edit: spelling correction

[Floogeldy]

2. I hate fucking criminals who destroy property.

[Blue-Jay]

3. Might as well leave it unlocked.

Fucking pricks.

[asthmaticeog]

4. No shit.

I couldn't help but think about all the EXPENSIVE cars that park in the same lot, whose owners could surely afford to absorb this kind of shit more readily than my broke ass. But NOOOOOOOO, they had to go for MY car.

"Hey, let's pick on the guy with the 8-year-old Honda! It'll be really hilarious to go to the trouble of breaking into a car, risking apprehension, to fuck with a guy who clearly has approximately dick to his name - and plus, wouldn't it be wicked-ass if we got a whole pack of smokes out of it for our trouble?"

Thieves are dumb.

[radwriter0555]

6. When I lived in los angeles I NEVER locked my cars, ever. And I made sure

that I never left anything of value in them at any time, any place.

Now, I always locked the car doors when I WAS IN THE CAR...as a preventative for carjacking!

I figured if they wanted to steal the car, why not? I had great insurance and could get a new one!

And I did. My Isuzu Trooper was stolen, so... they paid for my car rental for a month, paid me off and I bought an Explorer.

Of course that was when gas was about $1.50 a gallon.

I then bought a miata and a scion and I never, ever locked them. And they were never ever broken into or stolen.

Seriously, what's the point in locking the doors?

Way bad bummer about your experience. A totally suck experience to have to go through... glad you're okay though.

I can't imagine why they would trash light switches and stuff... people are so nuts.... I hope it turns out okay for you.

[Blue-Jay]

32. "Locking your car door only keeps honest people honest."

My stepdad (former detective) always says that.

If someone wants to get in your car, they will. You might as well let them get in with minimal damage to your property. The assholes who screwed up EOG's car sound more like malicious brat kids looking to fuck with someone and do damage though.

[JVS]

5. bummer

[WCGreen]

7. I thought Jane Campbell had cleaned up Cleveland.....

[dolo amber]

22. Dude, I've only lived here three months....still....

[hfojvt]

8. that's the great thing about crime

$600 worth of damage, $300 worth of hassle, anger and freaking out, all to get $5 worth of stuff.

And people wonder why I hate big cities.

[HEyHEY]

9. Fuckers

The fact they wrecked your lights for no reason is the real shitter.... when I come to Cleveland, I'll bring some of the hard lads from Terminal city and we'll hunt them down, how's that?

[asthmaticeog]

14. Hard lads?

There was no better way of putting that?

[johnnie]

30. You're coming here?

[HEyHEY]

38. Some day

I will...some day

[johnnie]

40. That would be cool

We'll have to meet up for a few cold ones.

[HEyHEY]

41. For sure

That'd be rocking

[WCGreen]

42. Hard Lads......

What the hell you got going up there HeyHEy.....

[HEyHEY]

43. Just the boys I grew up with

Once you get em wound up... there could be trouble

[WCGreen]

44. I know what ya mean......

[Shine]

10. That totally sucks! I am sorry you are having to deal with this.

Hang in there and good luck.

[RebelOne]

11. Why didn't you find your fuse box and pull the fuse

for your tail lights? I used to do that for my windshield wipers because they wouldn't go off. So I pulled the fuse and put it back in when it rained.

[johnnie]

12. Man, that sucks

For a fucking pack of smokes? Well, then again...

Where was it at?

[asthmaticeog]

15. The parking lot is on Main...

you know, that hill down from West 9th into the Flats, underneath the Rt. 2 bridge?

And a pack of smokes can turn around for good money if you Wet 'em and sell 'em loose.

[johnnie]

16. At 4-5 bucks a pack

There is no need to wet 'em.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I am so sorry *hugs*

[ProfessorGAC]

17. Just Happened To A Lady At Work

Monday, she said that over the weekend that her car was broken into. Must be a bad weekend or something.

Happened to me once, too. Back in about 1983. Really bad thing was that they did $900 of damage to steal a $125 radio. THe damage is truly the bummer when this stuff happens. You have my sympathy and empathy.
The Professor

[Fenris]

18. It's one thing to have your car broken into...

It's quite another to have it broken into by an incompetant thief.

[hyphenate]

19. That's terrible!

And you just know that the insurance isn't going to cover it all.

About the cigs--maybe it's a sign from god to quit smoking! j/k!

[Cathyclysmic]

20. holy fuck!

I don't know what to comment on first..the crappy understaffed Cleveland police (thank ,Jane Campbell, thank you) ..the fact that all they took were cigs(what a hell of a drug).

If you need anything(like rides or beer), let us know.

[Zuni]

21. they stole your smokes?

fucking bastards

[dolo amber]

23. You're gonna look adorable

on your bike in a snowsuit.

Seriously dude...what a sick fuckin' drag.

[Magrittes Pipe]

24. No offense, but I'm glad you decided not to come over last night.

Like we need any more stress.

Oh -- and or something.

[asthmaticeog]

26. LOL!

Actually, if I came to visit, I wouldn't have stayed at the gathering so late, and might have gotten back to my car before it got broken into. So really, this is all your fault, Hedges.

[Magrittes Pipe]

28. No offense, but it was worth it.

[bridgit]

25. that is messed up, we live downtown & sacto has it's shit parts...

no doubt, for that matter we come back out to find odd, smudgy hand & fingerprints all over the windows, hubby has a red blinky light in there so, you know = whatever; but that's still messed up.

sometimes i think we have indeed & for certain achieved a classless society bar none, boy, we need to be careful what we ask for

[Left Is Write]

27. They broke into your car for CIGARETTES?

There are a lot of creeps and losers out there.

I had a car stolen from my apartment building parking lot. It was parked right in front of my living room window, and it was stolen within 15 minutes of my arriving home.

The cops found it half a mile away, sitting up against a tree behind the Piggly Wiggly, lights on, motor running, doors open.

[JimmyJazz]

29. I'm sorry.

[terrya]

31. I'm sorry to hear that.

That's awful.

[eyesroll]

33. Damn, that sucks.

I take it there's no way to catch the perpetrator?

[asthmaticeog]

34. Not likely.

[MountainLaurel]

35. You so have my empathy

Our scooter was stolen on Sunday night, for the second time in the past 4 months. They used bolt cutters to get through the 1/2-inch steel cable that secured it to a street sign post (the cable was looped through a heavy-duty motorcycle lock).

The last time, the thieves removed the front wheel because they couldn't break or cut the motorcycle lock that went thru the wheel and around the sign. We got it back the same night because our neighbor saw the theft as it was happening and called the police. The thieves turned out to be two electric company employees in an unmarked company van.

What kills me is that I live in what is supposedly one of the safest neighborhoods in DC.

[XNASA]

36. Life in the big city.

Whaddya gonna do?

From one person who has had their car broken in to a few times, to another.....that fuckin' sucks.

[Beware the Beast Man]

37. Holy crap, dude.

Thanks, Mayor Campbell.

[redqueen]

39. Damn

Sorry to hear that...

[TheProphetess]

45. That's horrible!

I'm sorry that such a shitty thing happened to you.

[Merrick]

46. Something similar happened to me

they stole my stereo, which I noticed right off when I got in the car and the wires were hanging out all over the place. So, totally exasperated I reached for my pack of smokes above my visor only to discover them missing - that's when I got really pissed. I mean Christ, they could've at least left me one on the dashboard the heartless bastards.

and it also didnt help that I was on my way to jury duty.

[-..__...]

47. The thing that really sucks about thefts of that nature...

is that the thieves cause more monetary damage to the vehicle than the replacement cost of what is being actually being stolen. That plus the headaches and inconvenience if the car is rendered inoperable for any length of time.

Check this piece of work out...

(NSFW: Language)

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/wmv/carthieframpage.wmv

Then again, things could have been much worse; check this maniac out!

(NSFW: Language)

http://baitcar.com/videos/oncoming

"Auto theft is not just a property crime, but as you will see in this video, it presents a very clear threat to the safety of the public. This incident occurred in on June 6, 2004 when a well known 28-year-old car thief drove up to a parked bait truck in rural Langley in a stolen vehicle. (Between the years 1997 and 2004, he had been charged with 123 criminal offences.) He dumped the first stolen vehicle and then stole the bait truck. As he drove off in the bait truck, the suspect pulled out a loaded handgun and tried fourteen times to fire it indiscriminantly out the window. It appears that the gun was jammed and he was unable to fire it, but his body language indicates that he fully expected it to. The suspect then began casing cars and stopped numerous times to break into three vehicles in order to steal property from them. Soon a police officer who was dispatched to the location of the bait truck in the City of Abbostford arrived on scene while the suspect was out of the truck breaking into cars."