The bastard got away!!!

[ForeverAutumn]

So, I go into the office today to get some work done and take my Assistant out for a nice Christmas lunch. When you walk into our office, there is a reception desk, that is only manned sometimes. Behind reception is a bullpen-type area where our assistants all sit. To the left of reception is a long hallway lined with offices. My office is the very first one, next to the reception desk.

Because I am the first office and because there is seldom anyone sitting at reception, I am always very aware that my office is the least secure. So, I'm careful to always ensure that my purse, cell phone, and other valuables are hidden in drawers.

Except today.....

I was getting ready to leave for lunch. I happened to put my purse and coat down on my desk and then leave my office to see if my Assistant was ready to go. Myself and the 5 assistants were standing around the bullpen chatting, when we noticed a guy calmly stroll into our office, walk past the reception desk and into MY office.

I started to walk over to see what the hell he was doing as he quickly walked out of my office. I asked him, "can I help you?", as he turned towards me I could see that he was hiding something under his coat. I tried to step in front of him, but he bolted past me. Me and one of the assistants started chasing him and yelling. We chased him out of our office, past the elevators to the stairwell, where he dropped my purse just as he bolted through the stairwell door. I stopped to grab my purse and make sure that he hadn't had time to take anything (he hadn't), while the assistant continued to chase him. She realized that she wouldn't be able to keep up, so she grabbed an elevator while I went back to the office to call Security.

She went down to the lobby, but no-one in the lobby saw anyone of his description leave the stairwell. Our one Security guard stood in the lobby where he could watch the stairwell and both entrances to the building, but the guy never turned up. We figure that he probably took the stairs down to the parking garage and made his escape.

Nothing is missing from my purse or office and the Assistant will be pleasantly suprised by the lovely Christmas floral arrangement that I'm having delivered to her tomorrow as a thank you. So the story has a happy ending. But we're going to have to seriously think about better security measures for our office.

[kexodusc]

Geez, nothing like a little Christmas drama to get you in the holiday spirit.
Glad nothing serious resulted from this. Bold guy, strolling into an office to rob you.
My office light blew out today. That was my excitement. Doesn't quite compare to yours...

[tin ear]

Geez -- Glad yer OK. Now I'm kinda glad for the no excitement at my office, boring as it may be. :eek6:

[ForeverAutumn]

Geez, nothing like a little Christmas drama to get you in the holiday spirit. Glad nothing serious resulted from this.

No kidding. It didn't even occur to us until afterwards that the guy could have been dangerous. Lucky for us, I think that he was just a scared kid looking for cash. He left my expensive cellphone/PDA and my laptop sitting on my desk.


Bold guy, strolling into an office to rob you.

We thought so too. It's not like the office was empty. He walked right past us! What did he think, that we wouldn't try to stop him? There's a couple of big guys in our office too. The thief was lucky that the whole thing was over before they realized what was going on.

[ForeverAutumn]

Geez -- Glad yer OK.

Thanks.

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeezh.

Glad you're okay, and that it turned out relatively less bad than it could have been.

[Bernd]

Glad you're alright FA. Now enjoy the time off.

Peace

Bernd:16:

[GMichael]

Geez FA. I'm glad you're OK. Also glad you got everything back.
Geez

[rob7]

Glad you're ok. Also, glad you stood up for yourself. Will make him think twice next time.

This happened to my wife when we were dating. She was the receptionist in a very small office. Her purse was stolen by a maintenance guy, or delivery guy or something. She had put it behind the desk, but sometime during the visit, she went into her boss's office. Came out and the guy was gone. Didn't notice the missing purse until later. Couldn't really prove that he actually took it vs. her losing it, so she never 'reported' it. Pain in the rear for her to cancel and replace everything.

That would have been a nightmare at this time of the year.

Happy Holidays

Rob

[GMichael]

About 15 years ago I was working at a very large company. Being in the office directly across the hall from the security department I felt safe. I left my digital diary on my desk and ran down to the mail room for 5 minutes. When I came back it was gone. Security didn't see anything. They did an investigation but came up empty. The thing was only worth about $30 but had all my contact information for my suppliers in it. There were numbers in there that I never did replace.

[topspeed]

The most important thing is that no-one got hurt and you got your stuff back. These punks have got some ballz on them these days.

Glad everything worked out. Now go enjoy your time off!

Merry Christmas!

[bobsticks]

"Tis the season to be a thieving,heartless bastard. Glad you're O.K., FA.

[markw]

There's a lot of this going around. At the local college where I turor there is currently a thief lurking among us. It started in the library where a girl had her purse on her deak and realked to the printer, about 20 feet away, and when she returned, her purse was gone. This scenario repeated itself several tmes in the next few weeks, but also in the bookstore, cafeteria and even in the commons. After the first two incidents the SGA started placing "decoys" with someone watvching but he was still getting away with it a,atleast as of two weeks ago.

but, just like you, I wonder what they can do ifthey catch him. Legally, they can't touch him, at least physically. Neither can the campus rent-a cops.

Again, I'm glad you're safe.

"They" might wan to consider having someone at the front desk at all times during business hours if for no other reason than for the physical safety of their employees. This could result in an interesting lawsuit should someone get hurt.

[ForeverAutumn]

"Tis the season to be a thieving,heartless bastard. Glad you're O.K., FA.

Thanks for all your good wishes guys.

You know, right after this happened, my initial reaction was that this guy was, indeed, a thieving, heartless, bastard. And a big part of me is still thinking this way. But then there's another part of me that wonders how much pressure Christmas puts on people to provide gifts for other people. Enough pressure to make them want to steal?

I'm not excusing this guy's actions by any means. But Christmas is a commercial. And the pressure to give your loved ones nice gifts is huge. What if you can't afford to buy gifts for people...for your kids? Stealing isn't the answer, obviously. But I can see how the temptation might be there.

This guy boldly walked into an office full of people, I have to assume, with the intent to steal. Otherwise, why would he have been there? He didn't know that my purse would be just sitting there. He couldn't see it from the front door. How desperate must he have been to do something like that and take that chance?

...just me being philosophical in the after-shock...or maybe just the holiday spirit getting the better of me. :confused5:

[ForeverAutumn]

"They" might wan to consider having someone at the front desk at all times during business hours if for no other reason than for the physical safety of their employees. This could result in an interesting lawsuit should someone get hurt.

Okay, so here's the irony in my story...

We have two sales offices, one in the downtown core and one out in the suburbs. This incident was in the suburbs. One of our out-of-town sales guys was in the office visiting and asked us if he needed a key to get into the bathroom...which you need to have in our downtown office. We teased him about that, tellling him that we aren't downtown and we don't have to worry about that sort of thing where our office is. Well, it was less than 10 minutes later that this butthole tried to run off with my purse. :rolleyes:

Our lease is up at the end of February and our office will be moving into our Head Office, which is locked up like Fort Knox. So it's not likely that anything will be done to secure our current office in the meantime. We'll just have to be more alert. And you know what they say.....the world needs more Lerts. :)

[audio_dude]

arg, why...WHY!! stupid petty theives... you gotta wonder whats going through their heads... maybe he was on drugs or something? or a dare from friends, or a gang or something...