Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Thieves and Geeks

The Boys & Girls Club where I work was broken into last night, and our safe was ripped off the wall. Someone came with a crowbar and probably other heavy-duty tools, because they did major damage to solid-core wood doors and metal doors. They basically had to tear out the locks and handles, because the doors are too massive to kick down. The thief (thieves) got away with maybe $400, and a flat-screen computer monitor. That's it. However, they did steal the ring of keys for the front desk, but those only open doors inside the Club; unhelpful for someone trying to get inside the building without breaking in. In total, the loss is about $1,500. The thieves did a large about of damage to abscond with so few funds.

We've jimmied the exterior doors closed (the thieves tried a couple different places before getting inside), cobbled together funds so we could do business and make change, and are hoping for better times tomorrow.

The police, however, aren't holding out much hope for finding the culprits unless they try this again. Having worked here for well over a decade, I'm almost as angry about the intrusion as if it had happened at my own house.

On the humorous side, as I manned the concession stand after school this afternoon, I overheard a gaggle of first-grade boys playing a cross between Star Wars and Transformers. One boy kept correcting another's pronunciation ("Obi Kenobi"): "No! Obi WAN Kenobi! Get it right!"

Then, out of the blue, "I'm Obi Wan Kenobi, and you're my robot."

This pronouncement led to a scuffle, in which a "Storm Trooper" was beaten down to the gym floor and refused to stay dead.

Miniature geeks unite!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Know what you mean. I get angry whenever we get ripped off by "sign-switchers" at the store.
The kids were funny! I remember having a big fascination with Star Wars as a kid(and, sad to say, Buck Rogers)

Strider said...

You Gotta love little kids!

Pappy said...

I hate thieves. My house was burglarized not far from where you work when we lived in the Fort. The major part of my insurance claim was for the double French doors the idiots tore up when they broke in. I still hold out some hope that the police will identify some of my property and I will get to pay a visit to the thieves' house one dark night. Pappy

Phy said...

Dude, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm strangely reminded of Mel Gibson in Payback:

[Porter shoots a hole in Fairfax's suitcase]
Fairfax: Hey. What the hell are you doing, man? This is...
Bronson: [on speakerphone] Fairfax? Fairfax!
Fairfax: No, no, it's all right, he's just killing my alligator bags and shooting holes in my suits. Man, that's just MEAN. That's MEAN, man.

Keanan Brand said...

Jade - Hey, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (who else remembers the whole title?), the old Battlestar Galactica, Lost in Space, Star Wars, Star Trek, all those shows captured my imagination, made me think "What if?" and opened my mind to crazy possibilities. I'm glad to know there are other generations caught by the wonder.

Strider - Amen!

Tex - I didn't know you'd been subjected to thievery. I hope you do get to visit the culprits on a dark night. Wear the bike leathers and the bandanna; gotta look bad enough to scare the fritters out of 'em!

Phy - Absolutely. (laugh) Whoever it was knew exactly where to go and what they were after, because they left the computers and other gizmos alone.

I've been surprised by intruders at the Club before. They came while I was working late, and I think I scared them more than they scared me. One time, I turned out the lights, locked the office, and there was a figure standing in the darkened game room. My heart about stopped, but I did the first thing that came to me: I lowered my voice and said loudly, "Who are you, and what're you doing?"

The man froze, stuttered, and came out with, "I'm here to get my nephew's backpack."

Me: "How'd you get in?"

He: "Through the gym door."

Me: "Then you'd better leave the way you came."

And he did. I don't think he took a backpack with him, either.