My apartment was just robbed. I let the people in, trying to be a good citizen. They took my digital camera and nothing else. They didn’t physically hurt me or any of my animals. I called a friend, panicked, then the cops after she insisted that I call them. I am physically fine but I am in the middle of one giant panic attack that has lasted for two hours. I don’t know what to do. I feel so unsafe being alone that I walked to campus to the only building that’s open 24/7, and I’m sitting a few feet away from Public Safety right now.
Be strong, guy. They took you’re camera. You’re okay. Your animals are okay. It’s a camera. Breathe. Stay the night with a friend if you need to. You’re okay. And breathe.
It’s Spring Break and all my friends are gone. That’s why I came to campus. I called my closest friend, who is in Tennessee at her sister’s house. It’s the emotional part that is affecting me most.
Yep, that’s what the breathing’s for.
Sounds like you’ve found a clean, well-lighted place. Get yourself a beer if you need to. As my dad would say (because he’s a dork), chillax.
Yeah, I’ve been broken into, more than once, and it’s hard not to take such a thing personally. However, please, it could have been worse, perhaps much worse, and that’s what I could say to you, right now.
Glad to hear that you are OK.
You should expect to feel shaken, upset and violated. This is normal. You have been victimized by someone who consciously set out to rob you and could have been very willing to hurt or kill you. That’s not something that can or should be taken lightly.
Even after a number of years, I still remember well all the emotions I went through after I was mugged in Washington, D.C. And the time a group of thugs trashed my backpacking gear while I was waiting for a ride.
I did get over it, of course, and I think I have learned some things about personal security and self defense. One thing: don’t believe that any of this is your fault. No matter what steps we take to protect ourselves, any of us can be victimized. But, if it’s any consolation, you can do many things to lower your risk.
Hope they get caught and put away for a long time.
Sorry to hear it. Possessions are fleeting, but we are still called to honor other men’s goods, and when that call is violated it can be devastating to the one so violated.
Tough luck, Cranberry, old chap!
At least they didn’t take much.
When my sister’s house was done over, a neighbour discovered it and called the police, and my sister. The neighbour said “Oh my God, they’ve ransacked the place!”
When my sister arrived and saw it she had to say “Well, no, it’s much the way I left it…”
My husband and roommate were robbed in their home by a couple armed guys shortly before we got married. He calmed down about being in that setting after…um…a few months or so. It’s horrible. Your panic attack feelings are normal.
Charlton Heston would tell you to arm yourself to protect against such occurrences.
djm
Makes sense to me.
You LET THEM IN? Cran? Did I read that right? You definitely have to be a little more careful about that. You should have a pretty good description of the perps to give to the real police, but it doesn’t make good sense to let strangers into your home these days. Sometimes, even after you get to know them. 
Always a very unsettling experience. Good to hear that you’re unharmed and that only your camera was taken. With no more info, I’ll tell you flat-out that that last bit strikes me as odd.
I’m not understanding this part. I’m not wanting to sound unsympathetic, but couldn’t you have left your door locked until they got tired and went away?
They asked me questions about my apartment, saying they wanted to rent an apartment in my building, wanting to see around so I let them come in, and they robbed me. I didn’t even realize the stuff was missing until they were gone. It was very quiet, very silent operation but one of the people asked me a lot of questions that I thought about a lot after they had left. She said “Do you live alone?” “How many windows do you have?” etc. I thought she was asking to get a feel about living in my apartment building, not to rob me.
Oh, I see.
Don’t ever fall for that or anything like it again. Showing apartments is the caretaker’s responsibility - there are reasons for that, as your own case so vividly demonstrates. I should know. I’m caretaker of my own apartment building. If I found out that a renter did that just because a stranger asked, I would be quite troubled on a number of levels.
It sounds to me that those folks were just trying to see what they could get away with on a lark.
I’m not saying that the following little rant has anything to do with your reasoning, but it’s a factor in a lot of cases where innocent people get unfairly used: anger avoidance. To let a stranger in out of not wanting their displeasure is no good reason, particularly if theirs is a weird request. It’s not your sin if you refuse. Refer them to the caretakers. If they don’t like it, just remember that it’s always a mistake in cases like that to think, “I made him/her/them angry.” Not true. They make themselves angry, and for nothing more than having their gambit foiled and not getting what they want. They’ll get over it.
Actually, it’s not about anger. 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. I’m currently struggling with it, after last night. I’m also struggling with my pacifism. I want to carry a butcher knife around now (too bad I don’t have one).
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.
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.
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
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. 