I just got robbed. :(

[Nanohedron]

Yeah, that's a tough one. I understand your reasoning behind that. So long as your hospitality isn't jeopardising your fellow tenants in some way, then you simply have to bear the probability of false pretenses from time to time. But if letting them in DOES make it easier for them to prey on others in the building, you have that to consider, which IMO is a responsibility of greater importance than one's personal religious practice.

[izzarina]

But if letting them in DOES make it easier for them to prey on others in the building, you have that to consider, which IMO is a responsibility of greater importance than one's personal religious practice.

I think this is a very good point, Cranberry. I do understand your reasonings...I tend toward that myself. But, if your actions very well could put others in danger, I think that you would be called to avoid them. The greater good is always more important than the good of one, and I don't think any religion would teach otherwise.

[djm]

I let people into my apartment for religious reasons. I have never turned a stranger away, and even though I locked my doors when I left this morning, if people came tonight I might let them in.

You cannot be a person of property and an open hospice to all and sundry at the same time. These are two conflicting paths, and you must choose one or the other.

djm

[gonzo914]

To: Mr. C. Berry
From: Bureau of Sympathy Administration, Fipple Flute Division
Date: 6 March, 2008, 0900 hours
Subject: Supplication for Sympathy # 2008-04-06A-1

Greetings. We at the Fipple Flute Division of the BSA have received your Supplication for Sympathy dated 05 April last and have assigned it the reference number 2008-04-06A-1. Any further correspondence with this office should contain this reference number to expedite servicing your application.

We fear we must defer consideration of your Supplication pending the receipt of additional information, to wit:

Of what type of crime were you the victim? You state in your initial Supplication “My apartment was just robbed.” We fear there is some confusion as to terminology, and this is causing us to wonder whether this was a violent crime or a crime against property. Apartments are not robbed. People are robbed. Apartments are burgled. Which were you? Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need clarification as to the difference between robbery, burglary and theft. It is our thought that the term “robbery” in this case is inaccurate and a bit strong. You were the victim of a theft, and maybe a burglary.

We base this conclusion on the fact that later you indicate that the perpetrators gained entrance to your apartment for said robbery/burglary/theft through the application of guile rather than force. This will have an adverse effect on your sympathy award, as the degree of violence employed in the entry bears directly on the amount of sympathy awarded. In your case, it appears there was no violence or threat of violence. This is in direct conflict with your initial contention that you were robbed. We suggest you withdraw one or the other statements.

Additionally, we need to know more about the perpetrators. Who were these people? Total strangers? Co-workers? Someone you met at the chautauqua meeting? Meth-crazed hillbillies? Except in cases of homicide, the farther they are from your immediate social circle bears directly on your award.

Your Supplication is currently in “Pending” status and will remain so until we receive your response to these queries. Should we not receive a response in 10 calendar days, your Supplication will be rejected.

Once we receive your response, we will act on your case, but we should warn you that the award may not be as much as expected, and that you will likely not receive enough sympathy points for a new digital camera (1000 points per our last catalog). Sympathy points are awarded based upon many factors – severity (loss of limb or life versus loss of property), preventability (think Darwin awards, which get very few sympathy points), felony versus misdemeanor, frequency (We are inured to stolen backpacks and keyed SUVs), and finally, standing of the supplicant.

It is in this last area that you may have difficulty. We have checked our records, and we find that you have made several supplications to this office over the past few years. Your standing has deteriorated due to sheer volume. When you came here, you had a potential sympathy standing of 24 karats, same as everyone else. However, this standing can decrease with too frequent supplication, and yours has deteriorated to less than 2 karats. Once a person has depleted their standing to zero karats, they are downgraded to the status of “Professional Victim,” and except in the event of surviving a plane crash or appearing on CNN to describe the noise the tornado made, all Supplications from Professional Victims are awarded at our bulk rate, which is based on verbiage at the rate of .001 sympathy points per 1000 words. I should tell you that you are very close to being downgraded.

Still, a lot of the boys down here at the office, and I include myself, enjoy your tales, and if we were allowed to award points based on creativity, you’d have that new camera in jig time. (Ha-ha – a little fipple flute humor there.) And so, we eagerly await your response.

[dubhlinn]

To: Mr. C. Berry
From: Bureau of Sympathy Administration, Fipple Flute Division
Date: 6 March, 2008, 0900 hours
Subject: Supplication for Sympathy # 2008-04-06A-1

Greetings. We at the Fipple Flute Division of the BSA have received your Supplication for Sympathy dated 05 April last and have assigned it the reference number 2008-04-06A-1. Any further correspondence with this office should contain this reference number to expedite servicing your application.

We fear we must defer consideration of your Supplication pending the receipt of additional information, to wit:

Of what type of crime were you the victim? You state in your initial Supplication “My apartment was just robbed.” We fear there is some confusion as to terminology, and this is causing us to wonder whether this was a violent crime or a crime against property. Apartments are not robbed. People are robbed. Apartments are burgled. Which were you? Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need clarification as to the difference between robbery, burglary and theft. It is our thought that the term “robbery” in this case is inaccurate and a bit strong. You were the victim of a theft, and maybe a burglary.

We base this conclusion on the fact that later you indicate that the perpetrators gained entrance to your apartment for said robbery/burglary/theft through the application of guile rather than force. This will have an adverse effect on your sympathy award, as the degree of violence employed in the entry bears directly on the amount of sympathy awarded. In your case, it appears there was no violence or threat of violence. This is in direct conflict with your initial contention that you were robbed. We suggest you withdraw one or the other statements.

Additionally, we need to know more about the perpetrators. Who were these people? Total strangers? Co-workers? Someone you met at the chautauqua meeting? Meth-crazed hillbillies? Except in cases of homicide, the farther they are from your immediate social circle bears directly on your award.

Your Supplication is currently in “Pending” status and will remain so until we receive your response to these queries. Should we not receive a response in 10 calendar days, your Supplication will be rejected.

Once we receive your response, we will act on your case, but we should warn you that the award may not be as much as expected, and that you will likely not receive enough sympathy points for a new digital camera (1000 points per our last catalog). Sympathy points are awarded based upon many factors – severity (loss of limb or life versus loss of property), preventability (think Darwin awards, which get very few sympathy points), felony versus misdemeanor, frequency (We are inured to stolen backpacks and keyed SUVs), and finally, standing of the supplicant.

It is in this last area that you may have difficulty. We have checked our records, and we find that you have made several supplications to this office over the past few years. Your standing has deteriorated due to sheer volume. When you came here, you had a potential sympathy standing of 24 karats, same as everyone else. However, this standing can decrease with too frequent supplication, and yours has deteriorated to less than 2 karats. Once a person has depleted their standing to zero karats, they are downgraded to the status of “Professional Victim,” and except in the event of surviving a plane crash or appearing on CNN to describe the noise the tornado made, all Supplications from Professional Victims are awarded at our bulk rate, which is based on verbiage at the rate of .001 sympathy points per 1000 words. I should tell you that you are very close to being downgraded.

Still, a lot of the boys down here at the office, and I include myself, enjoy your tales, and if we were allowed to award points based on creativity, you’d have that new camera in jig time. (Ha-ha – a little fipple flute humor there.) And so, we eagerly await your response.

Cruel, bitter and brutal.

But hilariously funny....

and a lot of truth there as well.

Slan,
D.

[Charlene]

Cranberry - I've been burglarized twice - once just after my mother died and again just after my father died. The first time my husband and I had been out and came home, heard the back door slam just as we opened the front door, and found the drawers pulled out in the bedroom. They had come in through a bedroom window and they took mostly costume jewelry, but what really upset me was they got my school ring and my mother's opal ring. Now, yes, the opal was really in bad shape and didn't have much "fire" but I liked that ring. The second time it was my parent's house before I got everything cleared out. They came in the basement window and stole some model airplane supplies, engines, etc. We are pretty sure that was the kid from across the street. We did get the model supplies back from the police eventually.

Now if anybody got in and took my record collection, or my whistles, or a certain painting I have --- I would really have to hunt them down and hurt them!

[WyoBadger]

Hey, Cran. Sorry to hear about this, man.

Forget about the butcher knife--it's a very, very impractical weapon, and except for the possible intimidation factor will do you little or no good. Pepper spray makes a lot more sense, especially for a pacifist, because it will protect you, but it doesn't harm the attacker. It just makes them helpless until the cavalry arrives. Think about that, OK?

I understand the desire to help people out, and sometimes that involves taking some risk. But risk should always be calculated. These people were not in an emergency and did not need your help.

"Be shrewd as vipers, and innocent as doves." The two are not mutually exclusive.

Peace--
Tom

[flanum]

but one of the people asked me a lot of questions .

Aha!
kept you distracted while the other perp was going through stuff! an old one!

sorry to hear about it. think of it as a valuable lesson learned!

[Lambchop]

but one of the people asked me a lot of questions .

Aha!
kept you distracted while the other perp was going through stuff! an old one!

Flanum makes a good point. I don't want to scare you, Cran, but you need to be aware that these people might have been casing the place. Windows, living alone, etc. That all points to information-gathering in preparation for coming back. They were looking to see what you had and a way to get in.

Nicking the camera was likely just an opportunistic thing.

I once came home to find a burglar in my apartment. He exited out the back door, which he'd kicked in -- frame and all, when I came in the front. He hadn't had a chance to go through everything, so he came back . . . three times.

The landlord had replaced the door in the wall and installed a piece of pipe over it and blocked it with the freezer. He said the guy would be back. Sure enough. I could hear him slamming the door, trying to get it open again. I couldn't sleep and was fearful of coming home, so I had to move.

Religious hospitality requires that we shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, and feed the hungry. Those people were none of those things.

The concept does not extend to people who are needy in that they need to harm us or relieve us of our stuff, nor does it apply to people who have commercial reasons for wanting to cruise our territory, like Amway salesmen and people looking for rental property. It doesn't apply to children selling school chocolate (definitely do NOT let them in!), nor to Jehovah's Witnesses, nor to anyone else who is there for reasons other than cold, hunger, or nakedness.

And if they ARE cold, hungry, and naked, toss a $10 bill, a sandwich, and a blanket out the window and tell them you'll call a cab to take them to a shelter.

Better yet, volunteer at a shelter so you can fulfill your religious urges in safety.

Benedictines are famous for hospitality, you know, but they don't extend it as far as the candlesticks on the altar.

Take my advice, my friend! You don't want to end up like me, a pathetic specimen forced to live on the 10th floor of a condo in a gated community to reduce the likelihood of someone climbing in a window.

Edited to add that, should you really want to let someone in, go with the Jehovah's Witnesses. They're a safe choice and you can try to convert THEM.

[Paul]

Heh...

Sorry to hear about it Cranberry. Just last month I had a brand new IMAC boosted out of my car while I was in Home Depot on the way home from the Apple store.

It makes you feel violated and helpless as you realize that you;ve been had, but as was pointed out in the thread before, at least you and your pets are safe and sound.

In time the feelings youre having will dull but you will have learned from it, no doubt. It'll be okay, man. Just be careful who you let in your home in the future.

Best,
Paul

[Jack]

Yeah, the cops told me that they might have been looking around to see how my building was laid out for future robberies. They told me that they'd patrol more the rest of the night that it happened, but I wasn't even home anyway. I'm still having trouble sleeping, but it's better tonight than it was last night.

Thanks, everybody.

[Lambchop]

Cran,

You can sleep in comfort, I think. If they asked all those questions, they're not going to come back while you're there. They want to be sure you'll be gone.

Do some of those pets have value? I know some snakes and such do. Maybe that's what they're after.

It's unfortunate about that camera, but perhaps you can get a new one soon. I wouldn't be surprised if you got some "Chiffy" donations to that Paypal address you posted last week.

[Flyingcursor]

I'm glad you weren't hurt.

[jkwest]

Cruel, bitter and brutal.

But hilariously funny....

and a lot of truth there as well.

Slan,
D.

Good lord, I was rolling in tears from that one!!!!

Sorry Cran...don't let strangers into your room...

[Aanvil]

Yeah, the cops told me that they might have been looking around to see how my building was laid out for future robberies. They told me that they'd patrol more the rest of the night that it happened, but I wasn't even home anyway. I'm still having trouble sleeping, but it's better tonight than it was last night.

Thanks, everybody.

They will come back in a week.

I had my second break in to my office last Thursday... twice in as many weeks. First time they didn't get anything but this time I lost a helluva lot more than a camera I'll tell you that. They made a general mess of everything too. I'm having to work off of my laptop.

I'm sealing up windows now. Its the only way. Alarms and cameras only keep out the non criminals.

I'm shooting the next person thats steals as much as a paper clip.

Fu'ken bastages. Stealing my means of making a living they are.

Cran.

NEVER let anyone you don't know into your home.

I don't care what kind of sob story they give you.

Did I read that part right? That you would still invite someone in if they came to your door?

Son, they got a word for people that don't learn from their mistakes.



gonzo914... icy fun that was.