I received a call from the alarm company at 1.30am this morning. The alarm was going off at work, a front door violation. This has happened before – punks drive by and toss a rock or shoot out the front door and nothing else happens. I told them to not worry about it, but if there was motion in the showroom to give me a shout back. I received a call a few minutes later – showroom motion. Crap. Send the cops, I will be there in 20 minutes. I arrived to find this scene.
Common thing for me. I deal with this every two years or so. This time it was a bit different though. The criminals broke through the front door, went to where my till was located and got the small bit of money that sits there. The amount of money they got was pretty small, about $500 or so. I had been getting lax about bringing the till home and I paid for it this time.
But even at that, a simple cost benefit analysis of this activity isn’t showing me too many benefits. Yes, they got away with some money, but to me, the chances of getting caught (which will soon be going up after I get some digital cameras installed) do not outweigh the benefits of $500 or so.
I guess others do not analyze things the way I do, or are so desperate that this is what it boils down to.
I am almost positive this was done by an ex-employee. I dropped their name to the cops as I have been noticing that this person has been getting in trouble lately. We will see.
Ah, the joys of owning your own business.
Bummer. Cameras a good idea but no matter what you do your cost of doing business goes up.
Some years ago Dan when I had my own business I would get periodic calls at odd hours. It was almost always the wind blowing the windows to the point the foil on the glass would break.
Then you are presented with a dilemma – show up before the cops unarmed, show up armed holding a gun when the cops show up (!!!!) or try to show up after.
I decided to compromise show up with the gun in my holster.
You think that was the guy you fired for being “too proud”?
Tatyana – I doubt it and no need for the quotes on too proud – I have a decent idea who it was. No matter, next time they will hopefully smile once they are on candid camera.
Jonathan – this is correct.
Bill – that is a conundrum that I think about a lot. I think if I beat the cops here and had decided to pack that I would most likely open carry a firearm as that is legal in Wisconsin and would serve notice to the cops that I was armed. Easier for me to draw too. Conceal carry just got passed and I am not sure how the notification of cops thing will be written up in the final rules.
Dan, quotes are customary when relaying somebody else speech. At least, that was my intention.
Hope you insurance will compensate you for the damage.
Tatyana – ah got it on the quotes. I doubt the damage/theft will be enough to file a claim, I am thinking it will be under the deductible but haven’t heard from the insurance folks yet.
Maybe they’re just Keynesians out to jump start the economy?
Maybe the cops should see whether Paul Krugman has an alibi for that time period.
Update, my deductible is $2500 for theft/burglary. I am eating this one.
But even at that, a simple cost benefit analysis of this activity isn’t showing me too many benefits. Yes, they got away with some money, but to me, the chances of getting caught (which will soon be going up after I get some digital cameras installed) do not outweigh the benefits of $500 or so.
The vast majority of crime these days is committed by drug addicts who have very short time horizons to say the least. They’re only deterred by the high likelihood of immediate arrest e.g. arrest before they can get high.
Conversely, those already high under cocaine or meth, will feel arrogant and invulnerable and will significantly underestimate the chances of getting caught.
Either way, it leads to people committing crimes with poor risk to gain ratios.
@Shannon – I am pretty sure meth has something to do with this fyi.
A long time ago, a very long time ago, I was friends, sort of, with a guy who owned the popular men’s clothing store at USC. His name was Stan Hall and he was a good guy. He had only black salesmen, for some reason and they were very well dressed and gave good advice. (This was the 1950s) USC has been in a marginal neighborhood since WWII. Stan had so many breakins that his insurance was canceled. He finally had a speaker in his bedroom So noise in the shop would awaken him. Finally, he gave up and sold out. A few years later, I ran into him at Wilshire Country Club in LA. As we chatted, his Rolls Royce pulled up. I’m afraid my jaw dropped. He had sold the shop and invested in real estate. Anyway, there is a lesson in there some where.
MK: I hope you are doing well! I have had computer issues and so blog commenting and reading has gone by the wayside.
– Madhu
PS. Your memory rocks. I do not remember the names of anyone practically from my past. Hmmmm
– Madhu
That sucks. At least it didn’t happen while we were at the game. Hope you catch the guy. Likely if you know who he is even if they don’t get him for this he will get caught up in something illegal soon enough, anyways.
@Carl – exactly, eventually all of these f!ckers get caught for something. Man I need some sleep though been up since 1.30 this morning.
My family has a cabin on a river lot with a boat dock that we would use most summer weekends. Years ago we started having problems with break-ins during the week when no one was around. There wasn’t anything to steal of real value other than the booze. My Dad got really pissed about this after a couple of times so he had a surveillance camera and recorder system installed.
A few weeks later my Mom & Dad returned from the cabin and my Dad was stomping about, obviously very angry. I asked my Mom what was going on and she kind of laughed and said that there had been another break-in and they stole the surveillance system!
Moral of the story: leave nothing of value and take the booze when you leave.
We also have a small business and have been broken into it seems on a cyclic pattern: when local hoods get out of jail or return to the area, or school is out or starts. We installed an alarm after the last time; the damage and loss was too great, and our insurance insisted on it.
What is maddening about these incidents is the well meaning people, who while trying to console me, try to find excuses (like the economy, people are hungry) to justify the behavior. The cops don’t play that game, at least the ones that answered our call. The one said: you have some real pieces of s*** in the area.
That’s what I think, people who come at night and bust up your property and make a mess are not hungry. We are not in the food business, and what food we had they left.