I got shopped for Christmas!

Memnok

New member
My wife and I were not very proactive with the Christmas shopping this year. With only 7 days left till Christmas we only had one or two small things for the kids. So we asked grandma if she could sit with the boys while we went to town and did some shopping.

After dropping the boys with grandma we drove to Toys-R-Us. Two hours later we emerged with several bags containing a little over $300 in toys for our two boys and several nieces and nephews.

Neither my wife nor I had eaten dinner, so we though we would take the rare opportunity to have a quiet dinner for two. We drove about a block to the Red Lobster where I dropped my wife at the door.

The big Dodge Mega-Cab is kinda tough to park in small cramped parking lots, so I headed to the end of the lot and parked amongst the other 4x4’s, and SUV’s.

About an hour later we emerged with full bellies and waddled out to our truck to find the passengers rear window smashed in. To our dismay we looked inside and found that someone had stolen Christmas.

As I took inventory of the damage to my pickup I found that these particular thieves required more than one try to find a window they could break. In addition to the shattered right rear window, the right front and left rear windows had both been struck numerous times, causing several long cracks. It would appear that these two windows put up a valiant struggle.

After getting over our initial shock we decided to head back to Toys-R-Us and replace what we could. Of course this time our shopping went much faster because we had a list of things we liked; the receipt from our purchase an hour earlier.

While I stood in line at the checkout counter for the second time that day I began to think about where our stolen toys may find themselves on December 25th. Our toys may change hands several times, payment for this or that, but they are only really good for one thing; making kids happy.

So it occurred to me that the child receiving those toys this Christmas will not know where they came from. They will wake up Christmas morning and find wonderful toys and worm cloths. They will be excited to see Santa Claus stopped at their house.

And isn’t that is what Christmas is really about?
 
Wow, that's awful what happened just before Xmas...

At least you can manage to buy more gifts without problem, it would be a sad christmas for your kids if you couldn't :(. But, fair play to you looking at the silver lining!
 
Unlucky mate :( i hope you catch whoever it was, as no theif deserves to get away with it, but it sounds like you may not, so i hope you enjoy christmas, then just put this sucky event behind you.
 
That's horrible :(

My dad had his car window smashed before and his car radio stolen when I was 16 and we were fishing near by so we heard the window smash. We drove around to where the kid lived to find him, but couldn't find him (luckily for him) but I'm pretty sure he got what was coming to him ;)

Really sux tho, when something like that happens you become over-concious of leaving stuff in the view of people aswell :mad: (well for a few months after at least)

Hope the people get caught, does insurance cover the loss?
 
An amazing viewpoint on it. Don`t quite know how long it`d take me to even think about that.

I`d be pretty quick to check if Red Lobster have some cctv going on.

It is one thing that who ever receives them will get the benefits, but I`d hope by all accounts that they would also learn sometime where they came from and by what means. But then would they care ? And would they grow up with it instilled in them that this is how u obtain christmas shopping.

Scumbags tbh.

Do think u have a very gracious attitude to it tho, more credit to u.
 
name='equk' said:
Hope the people get caught, does insurance cover the loss?

I don't think so. Most auto insurance policies only cover the vehicle and originaly installed equipment. Things like laptop computers, CD's, big speakers, and amps are not usualy covered. I'll be calling in the morning to ask though!

name='Rastalovich' said:
An amazing viewpoint on it. Don`t quite know how long it`d take me to even think about that.

I`d be pretty quick to check if Red Lobster have some cctv going on.

It is one thing that who ever receives them will get the benefits, but I`d hope by all accounts that they would also learn sometime where they came from and by what means. But then would they care ? And would they grow up with it instilled in them that this is how u obtain christmas shopping.

Scumbags tbh.

Do think u have a very gracious attitude to it tho, more credit to u.

Most kids want to believe mom/dad are good people. Kids (and people in general) will justufy just about anything before they will believe someone they love is a bad person. Once someone justifies mom or dad's actions, it makes it easier for them to do the same things.

So you are correct, when they grow up they probably would not care even if they knew. But, for today, they are still kids.

Would it shock you more to know I've been a police officer for over 10 years? :D
 
Spose it`d flip it on it`s side if it were kids doing the stealing.

Or some1 who`d sell the stuff cheap just to satisfy their meth habit.

Didn`t sound like some1 organized enough to make a simple break in, sounds like they made a meal of it.

Being an officer, u`ll know more than any1 that some1 experienced in this would be a quick smash - grab - gone. With the right tools on them (tyre iron etc, brick in a bag). An elbow won`t always make it :p

I aint shocked :) Got alot of respect for police & fire services from around the north tx area, and in general really. Not as vacant/absent as the ones over here.
 
name='Rastalovich' said:
Being an officer, u`ll know more than any1 that some1 experienced in this would be a quick smash - grab - gone. With the right tools on them (tyre iron etc, brick in a bag). An elbow won`t always make it :p

Well Rast, you seem to know a lot about this sorta thing... and weren't you in the USA recently?

I think you did it, :nutkick: arrest him!
 
Take comfort in knowing you have the receipt. If their kids dont like their presents, TOUGH!

Well done on taking the high ground though, if you gave the toys to a charity they would probably end up with people in a similar situation anyway so as long as the insurance pay out for the windows :)

Would still contact the police though
 
name='Rastalovich' said:
Spose it`d flip it on it`s side if it were kids doing the stealing.

Or some1 who`d sell the stuff cheap just to satisfy their meth habit.

Either could be true. But like I said, even if they get traded for meth today, then sold for cheep tomorrow, in the end they will go to a young child. What else are you going to do with toy cars and pogo-sticks?

name='Rastalovich' said:
Didn`t sound like some1 organized enough to make a simple break in, sounds like they made a meal of it.

Being an officer, u`ll know more than any1 that some1 experienced in this would be a quick smash - grab - gone. With the right tools on them (tyre iron etc, brick in a bag). An elbow won`t always make it :p

You would think so. But when I tried to clean up the mess I found something I had never seen before. The glass has a really, really tough layer of flexible plastic in the center. The glass is all shattered, but still stuck to that sheet of plastic. I put some gloves on and tried to pull it off, but it is really strong. I think you would need a pair of heavy duty cutters, like tin snips, to cut it. I have broken car windows before to rescue people stuck inside, but I have never seen anything like this. That's why I think they moved from window to window.

name='Rastalovich' said:
I aint shocked :) Got alot of respect for police & fire services from around the north tx area, and in general really. Not as vacant/absent as the ones over here.

Thanks. It is always good to hear it. Believe it or not, it matters.

name='Kempez' said:
Have you called the Police? I hope you have :)

Contents should be insured, $300 isn't so much

Ya, but only because I know the insurance will require one. The outside of the truck is dirty and wet because it was raining all day. The inside surfaces are all textured, so prints are not gonna happen (this isn't CSI!!!). Nothing taken has a serial number that can be entered into the state Automated Property System (APS). So the reality is the report will get stuck in storage and shredded in three years.
 
name='llwyd' said:
Take comfort in knowing you have the receipt. If their kids dont like their presents, TOUGH!

NICE! I like the way you think. I think I'll even pass that along to my wife.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ok with the idea the toys may end up with kids who may not otherwise get a Christmas. But I'd love to have a chat with mom/dad/brother/uncle who does their shopping! :D
 
Sorry to hear things have turned out like this but all I can say is I have huge respect for the way you have handled the whole situation :worship:
 
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