The Episode of the Purse

[osprey_archer]

Two days ago my purse was stolen, and I’ve spent the time since calling: the police, the bank, the credit reporting agencies, Amazon (to deregister my Kindle), the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and God knows who else in my quest to repair the damage.

I’ve been waiting to get mad about the whole thing, because generally speaking I can get a good grudge on (ask me about the customer who wanted extra hot shots! THERE IS NO EXTRA HOT SHOT BUTTON, MOTHERFUCKER, THE BARISTA ENDED UP ADDING HOT WATER SO I HOPE YOU LIKE THE SWEET SWEET TASTE OF DILUTION), but mostly I just feel puzzled.

They left my keys sitting neatly in the front seat of my car. The purse was not in the car when it was stolen, by the way, so this means that they went out their way to find the car specifically in order to leave the keys there. Were they hoping to steal the car too, but when they saw it, they went, “Oh no, this car is too old to be worth the possible jail time?” But just because you don’t want the car that doesn’t mean you have to leave the keys where they’re easy to find. Was there a brief flare of conscience? What is your motivation in this scene, purse thieves???

Anyway, there was very little cash in my purse, most of the physical objects in there were old and kind of battered, and the bank has already dealt with the fraudulent charges, so monetarily the loss has not been too bad, knock on wood. I’m a little bitter about losing my little notebook with my carefully tabulated garden notes, my lists of films directed by women (both seen and to-see), and my Spacebunny stickers, but them’s the breaks.

I already broke out my next notebook (I keep a stock; I’m now using my ”Nevertheless She Persisted notebook, which I’ve been impatient to use with the upcoming election etc.) and I managed to reconstruct my film list from my DW posts. Did you know that I’ve watched forty films directed by women this year? C’est vrai!

asakiyume, I’m going to have to put The Mystery of the Secret Cove on hold till I’ve got a new Kindle (which will happen by September; Briarley royalties will cover it). I know it’s possible to read Kindle files on the computer but it’s just not the same.

Comments

[sovay]

I am sorry your purse was stolen by people who confusingly draw the line at car theft or even by people who don't.

[osprey_archer]

I remain very puzzled although also glad that I still have a car.

[asakiyume]

Oh my God that really stinks! I'm so sorry!

I knew you'd be able to recreate the film list because you keep good records here, but it's horrible to lose a physical record with your handwritten notes. And the garden notes! Makes me mad.

I will send you more spacebunny stickers.

And understood about The Mystery of the Secret Cove. Dammit. What rotten luck.

[osprey_archer]

I lost my to-read list too, although honestly in some ways that's freeing. So many books accrue that it can get overwhelming. How does the list never get shorter???

I got your letter today and it reminded me that the book's title is actually The Secret of Saturday Cove. Clearly I'm very rattled if I can't even remember book titles!

HOORAY FOR SPACEBUNNY!

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, I'm sorry, that's the kind of thing nobody needs! Glad you've done well at the damage limitation but still. :-/

THe keys thing is very baffling indeed. You'd think if they were that way inclined they could have left the obviously useless-to-them stuff like the stickers and notebook while they were at it.

I'm sorry, though. <3

[osprey_archer]

Right? If you're going to leave the keys ANYWAY you might as well ditch the notebook too, purse thieves. I can see why they'd think the Kindle might have some resale value but the notebook? Who buys a used notebook?

[missroserose]

What a strange tale! I would feel pretty puzzled, too, though not sad that they'd left the keys.

Brian and I had a couple of Amazon items stolen from our entryway a year or two ago. This is not unusual, especially around the holidays when people are ordering a lot of expensive gifts, but our instance was a little strange. Rather than absconding with the whole package, they ripped a couple of boxes and envelopes open and made off with the contents...and, most strangely, left a tin of homemade cookies (?!) in one of the empty boxes for us.

I couldn't really get that upset about it, as nothing they stole was particularly valuable—clearly they needed those fleece-lined leggings pretty badly! But it was strange.

[osprey_archer]

They brought cookies with them to leave in the boxes after they had ripped them open and stolen the stuff inside? WHAT. That's so strange. I guess in that case they really were having pangs of conscience and trying to assuage them with cookies.

[amaebi]

That's a wonderful story. Thank you!

[amaebi]

I'm so sorry for the loss, and the inconvenience, and the impingement on your time, and the general upset. :(

[osprey_archer]

It was kind of a bummer, but honestly it could have been much worse and... I do have an excuse to buy a new Kindle now. So that's something.

[littlerhymes]

Ugh, that all sounds like such a hassle, I'm sorry!

And I am glad you got your keys back but... also... mystified... The Case of the Returned Car Keys?

[osprey_archer]

I know, right? Various people have suggested that they probably wanted to see if there was anything worth stealing in my car, which is quite probable, but even so they didn't have to leave the keys behind. So it was nice that they did that. Although also weird.

[ladyherenya]

Oh no, that's awful! I'm glad to hear it wasn't an even bigger inconvenience for you.

The bit about your car keys is very strange. I wonder if they wanted to check if anything in your car was worth stealing?

[osprey_archer]

I expect that they did. I also expect they were quite disappointed, because there is nothing of any value in my car unless there's a hot black market in Starbucks aprons.

[silverusagi]

(catching up on LJ/DW...)

Oh no! It's always upsetting to lose things, especially things that are yours like the notebook. Re: the keys: I wonder if your purse was stolen by teenagers? Like, someone who couldn't drive, or knew they'd be able to hide the purse contents (plus anything worthwhile in the car) from their parents, but could hardly show up with a car?

[osprey_archer]

Yeah, that's possible. I have no real reason for believing this, but I do think it was teenagers, because I feel like someone older and more experienced would have at least taken some of the electronics, you know? But honestly who knows how the criminal mind works.