Why are the thieves after me?

Argh, first someone got a hold of my university credit card number somehow, and then I received a call today from a faculty member. "Where's the LCD projector for my classroom?" he asks. I'm guessing it is not sitting there locked down to the cart where it has been for the last couple years, and sure enough, I go to the classroom and find the busted up lock that used to secure it, but the projector is gone. Knowing this is a classroom in a wing of our building locked down with card access from 6:00 pm to 8:00 am, that means the projector was stolen either:
1) off-hours by someone with card access (i.e. an "inside job"), or
2) by someone who walked into an actively used university building between 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, intentionally broke our lock with tools he/she brought (it required either a hacksaw or some bolt cutters) and then stuffed the projector into a backpack and walked out with it.

The amazing thing is this is the second projector people have stolen from our building! The thieves probably hear about us as some rich university with a multi-billion dollar endowment and think it is no big deal to come here and steal some $1,000 video projector since "that rich, snobby place can afford it". Well, the university may have billions in the endowment portfolio, but we are now short one projector for classes and seminars that are being taught today and tomorrow, and $1,000 is a big deal for our daily departmental IT operating budget. No, the university as a whole may not suffer long term, but I get to suffer for the rest of the semester until we get a new projector since I am in charge of most of the projectors for the classrooms for the building. Thanks a bunch, Mr. Crook!

This happened only a couple weeks after my last scrape with the criminal element here at work, when our accounting lady called me and asked if I had been ordering shoes online with my university VISA card. Since I buy one pair of shoes every 1 or 2 years, the answer was an adamant "NO!". Sure enough she printed out my transaction list and it showed bunches of charges I had never made. What I find amazing is that someone would steal a corporate credit card and then buy clothes and shoes. The idea completely baffles my mind since I DESPISE buying shoes and clothes, and cannot imagine a criminal getting hold of someone's card and the first thing they think of buying is $300 worth of shoes. For that reason alone if the criminal is caught (I signed an affidavit that I would prosecute them if caught!) they should be severely punished and forced to wear nasty shoes and clothes. They are definitely mentally disturbed and deserve to be as unstylishly dressed as I am!

Comments

Anonymous said…
In the olden days there were bounty hunters for tracking down the crud amongst society. I earnestly believe every school should hire a part-time bounty hunter to watch for and catch these types of crud in the act. With modern day surveillance equipment it would be worthwhile to "salt" some classrooms with some "pilferable" items and set a trap. And the consequence of getting caught needs to be publicized. It would establish a little hesitation at least on all but the most desperate. It is annoying as all get out that you can't set a laptop or backpack down for 5 minutes without some crud grabbing it. If I thought about it long enough I could rationalize taking the guy caught in the act and delivering him to the stoning pit for the assembled student body to "administer justice." O for the good ole days.
11:10 AM
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