Thursday, February 26, 2009

Invading my little world.

If you're local, you know we're having another big snow storm. Since the ones that hit in the afternoon and run through the evening commute have been bad on the commuters this year, my manager suggested that we all leave as soon as was possible. I chose to leave when M got up from her nap at daycare. Since it was only 3:15 or so, I decided to go to the grocery store. We're running low on a few things since I decided to shop the fridge this week instead of the store. Great chance to get something fun for dinner and some staples.

We took the back streets and made good time getting to the store. I grabbed my wallet, put it in my pocket with a reusable bag, thinking that I would be so good. At some point while shopping, M mentioned my purse. I said yes, people have purses at the store. Lately she's been talking about purses, so we talk. I guess I should have listened to her. When I got to the checkout, my wallet was missing. A quick check confirmed it wasn't on the floor anywhere. It had been stolen.

I am relatively sure I was pick pocketed on purpose, and it didn't just fall out of my pocket. I think the reusable bag made my pocket bulky enough that I didn't notice it was missing right away, and having M with made me distracted. I feel like a dolt.

I apologized for leaving my things, and headed home quickly to cancel my cards. Before I had made it home, my check card had already been used at a gas station across from the grocery store. A common way to check if a card is active, according to a woman at one of the places I had to call. I canceled all of my cards, then filed a police report. (the officer said often people call before canceling anything, I did it in the right order)

The things I can't replace/recover are an iTunes gift card, three fifty in cash as in 3.50), and the wallet. It was a very nice Coach one, a gift from my friend who I performed the wedding for this summer.

The worst part, other than feeling like an idiot for breaking my routine and putting myself in this position in the first place, is that this person has my address. Credit cards have been left at stores, canceled as a precaution. That I can deal with. However, this is the most personal a theft has ever been for me. I had a tape deck (yeah, I know, idiot though it was a CD player I think) stolen out of my rusty Honda when we lived in South Minneapolis, but this unnerves me more. I'm hoping the license was tossed out with the collection of receipts and other junk in the wallet.

Tomorrow I visit the DMV at lunch, replace the license. I just don't know if I can ever replace my feeling of relative safety in my own home.

4 comments:

April said...

aw, stink :-(

Syl said...

That sucks. I am so a-n-a-l about security, I can't even sleep alone at my house when my husband is out of town. I don't know what I'd do if my license was stolen. Yet, my address is all over the Internet in various forms. Weird, huh?

becky s said...

Oh no! I almost always put my wallet in my back pocket so I don't have to take my purse into the store. Did someone bump into you, or do you think it fell out?

Anonymous said...

Gosh, that stinks.

When I had my purse snatched (back when I lived near the U of M), one of the neighbors came out, handed me a phone, and said "Call the bank" - good thing I did, because they got my checkbook, and within 15 minutes or so, the person was trying to cash a check at the USBank on Lake. The bank already had the checks flagged as stolen, but unfortunately the person took off before the bank could do anything. I ended up changing my bank account numbers, got credit reports, had the RMV flag my license as stolen - and had to get the locks changed on my apartment since they got my house keys (! - the management company was the second call, and they changed my locks immediately). The funny thing about the license - a few months later my weather-worn license was mailed back to me with a note saying that it was found in some bushes.

Theft is no fun at all.