Did anyone else ever have their coat stolen during the winter?

[*Jen*]

Maybe someone mistook your coat for theirs? I've made that mistake when I brought one jacket, but accidentally picked up someone else's because it looked like one of my other jackets.

I've done this twice in the last 2 months In both cases, alchohol was involved, my jacket had been moved from its original position and not by me and in both cases, I realised within 10 seconds of putting it on and returned it to its rightful owner.

Other than that, I had my jumper stolen once at school. We had a uniform and I'd taken my jumper off when we had PE and left it in the locket room, and it just vapourised. It turned up in lost property some time later.

It's horrible that you lost your coat (and money) in winter, but if someone took it on purpose, from a clinic, then it's just unbelievable. Let's hope karma gets them

[Rex]

No, but I had a pair of jeans stolen from me this fall while I was at the gym. (Totally forgot to snark about it) Someone jimmied my lock. Thank God I had the foresight to put my cell phone, wallet, cash and house keys in a wall locker with a key. They didn't steal my toiletry kit though .

[JAF]

A few years ago my cousin had her full length leather coat stolen at a Funeral Home. To me that's as bad as having an item stolen from a church.
The coat was never recovered.

[BaileyCatts]

I'm sorry that happened to you. What the hell is wrong with people.

Never had a coat stolen, but did have $165 stolen right out of my wallet while attending a bridal shower at someone's house!

About 20 years ago when I was working at K-Mart, I accidentally went home with another workers coat that looked exactly like mine (we even bought them at the same place). We hung our coats in the breakroom and I didn't even realize it until I got home and noticed there was nothing in the pockets, and I knew I had some papers in the pocket. I of course wore it back the next day and saw the girl and told her what happened. At least she had my coat to wear home.

[gkelly]

On another occasion I had a bathrobe in the back seat of my car. It belonged to an actress in a play I was directing that we were using as a costume, and my car was the most convenient place to keep it between rehearsals. But I didn't lock my car and one day it wasn't there any more. This was in winter and I assume some needy person in my neighborhood saw it as a good opportunity to get warm. So I had to buy the actress a new bathrobe. At least it cost a lot less than a good coat.

[Bev Johnston]

What I was told that a delivery guy had come through, asked the concierge if the coat belonged to anyone, he said he didn't think so, so the guy took the coat home for his family. But they got it back from him and sent it to me.

Whether that was the true story or not, one way or another that concierge really dropped the ball.

That sounds made up, doesn't it? Most people would assume that the coat belonged to the person who owned the suitcase. I bet the concierge stole it and then had an attack of conscience.

My son had a coat with our local NHL team logo on the back. It disappeared from school in November and mysteriously reappeared in the lost and found in May.

[hollygrove]

I used to work at a community college which had rows of coat hooks along the walls by the door. It was very easy for someone to grab any coat and leave without attracting any notice. As others have noted, it was invariably a nice leather coat or whatever jacket was in style at the time, and these NEVER turned up later in the lost & found. Someone even stole an English instructor's leather jacket from the hook right behind her while she was talking with students at the end of class.

So yes, it's a common problem. Actually, a community college was an excellent place to steal desirable clothing since so many students come to class directly from work.

[Rob]

My suit jacket was taken from a closet at a hair salon. We knew it was a mistake because there was a different black suit jacket still there. Funny thing was that mine was a size 12 and the jacket left there was a size 4. The lady came back later that day to get her jacket and return my jacket. She confessed that she must have been really spaced out because she wore mine back to the office and didn't notice until a colleague pointed it out. Way too big and different fabric from her skirt. I didn't even bother to try on her size 4 obviously.

[Aceon6]

To prevent the accidental/prank coat swipes, I turn the coat sleeves inside out and pull my scarf through when I hang the coat. That way, the other person has a second to think "Hey, this one isn't mine." I know of at least two occasions when it's worked.

[mon125]

Once, my friends and I were having drinks and dancing at this nice bar. It was not crowded at all and I was next to the chair where my spring coat was. It was good I was so close, because I saw clearly when two girls, nicely dressed, walked by and grabbed my coat. I just followed them and I asked nicely if I can have it back. They said that they thought it was their, I said OK and I got it back. Since then, I never leave anything in unattended in the back of a chair or in those racks next to a door at restaurants.

[numbers123]

I generally keep my coat with me while in a doctor's office or other open area. But I put my keys and other items in the coat pockets. I did leave a coat on an airport transport taxi in Atlanta and forgot about it until I was checked into the hotel. Called the company back with the taxi number (I had it from the receipt) but no one ever found it.

On the stealing clothing or other items from lockers at school...my son lost his leather jacket at school as well as a couple of other items. He had been out of school for the last month of school for a variety of reasons. At the end of school, we called about it. The staff said you are welcome to come look for it in the lost and found. We went - there were about 35 big trash bags full of stuff from lockers - from one wing of the school, they would make no guess on the number of bags they would end up with after going through all the lockers. Things like cell phones or those expensive sneakers or coats that had been abandoned. The school staff said this was typical of what they clear out each school year

[KatieC]

A few years ago my aunt had her winter boots stolen from a church pot luck supper. She was mad because they were really warm boots and she lives on the prairies.

[FunnyBut]

In college, many years ago, I once left a brand new suede jacket on my chair for 5 minutes after class ended, and when I came back for it , it was gone. At the time, I consoled myself that hopefully it went to some student who could really use it, but I was quite hard on myself for doing something so careless.

It was a Members Only jacket. Since Will and Grace made it a running joke for Rosario's outdated clothes, I am now

To the original poster, I'm so very sorry you lost a jacket in the cold of winter.

[ryan2k50]

I used to work at a community college which had rows of coat hooks along the walls by the door. It was very easy for someone to grab any coat and leave without attracting any notice. As others have noted, it was invariably a nice leather coat or whatever jacket was in style at the time, and these NEVER turned up later in the lost & found. Someone even stole an English instructor's leather jacket from the hook right behind her while she was talking with students at the end of class.

So yes, it's a common problem. Actually, a community college was an excellent place to steal desirable clothing since so many students come to class directly from work.

I have at least three girls winter jackets that I have in the last few months from schools. Two of these were left in a playground and one I found while I was walking home just off the side of the road and it was near another school. One has a name on the inside tag and the other two that happened to be Columbia winter jackets and look fairly new showing signs of wear from playing no doubt.
I still have these and tried a different way without going to schools. I posted them online in a "lost and found", e-mailed the schools in question the link to the jackets. From there I've been receiving responses but none could really prove that the items belonged to their daughters. Have I done this the right way?
There is a mother who is trying to claim one of the jackets for her daughter. She got the name brand correct and even the color and size. However she couldn't remember if the hood was detachable or not. She wasn't even sure if her child left it at the playground or on the school steps. I didn't tell her where I found the jacket so I'm not sure if I should just continue to keep it. If you were this mother what would you do?
I was reading the posts and picked my interest since I found kids jackets. I think they were probably expensive when purchased brand-new, I'm not sure what to do.
Expensive winter jackets and odd that nobody claims them.
Also I should mention that the mother was furious at the thought of me having her daughter's winter Columbia jacket. I didn't believe her so I decided to keep it. Should I let her have it?

[numbers123]

when in junior high school, my kids started wearing hoodies only to school. When I finally got an answer from them on why and aren't they cold, they told me that locker theft was the driving issue. To prevent your coat or expensive clothing items, you needed to wear them. Coats were too expensive to leave in a locked locker and too heavy to wear all day.

I tend to keep my coat with me, even in doctor's offices, restaurants or other public places. Occasionally will use coat check, but even then the coat check clerk can mix up coats.

[michiruwater]

Also I should mention that the mother was furious at the thought of me having her daughter's winter Columbia jacket. I didn't believe her so I decided to keep it. Should I let her have it?

Yes.

Getting the brand, color, and size correct would have been enough for me. Why would she necessarily remember if the hood was detachable or not, if that wasn't an important feature for her and they never detached the hood?? And if it was left by her kid, and the kid didn't quite remember, how would she? It's easy to be confused about which of several locations you may have left something. Happens to my keys all the time.

You said it was odd nobody claimed them... but it sounds like people did and you just kept them anyway.

[ryan2k50]

Yes.

Getting the brand, color, and size correct would have been enough for me. Why would she necessarily remember if the hood was detachable or not, if that wasn't an important feature for her and they never detached the hood?? And if it was left by her kid, and the kid didn't quite remember, how would she? It's easy to be confused about which of several locations you may have left something. Happens to my keys all the time.

You said it was odd nobody claimed them... but it sounds like people did and you just kept them anyway.

just a mother claiming one of the jackets belonged to her daughter. I will probably give that one to them. But what about the other two? The others are Columbia winter jackets and I checked the value on the website; $150 each brand-new. Honestly how can some kids be so irresponsible to leave expensive items without realizing they're missing? They must have been cold without their jackets and should have realized that they were missing.

[marbri]

just a mother claiming one of the jackets belonged to her daughter. I will probably give that one to them. But what about the other two? The others are Columbia winter jackets and I checked the value on the website; $150 each brand-new. Honestly how can some kids be so irresponsible to leave expensive items without realizing they're missing? They must have been cold without their jackets and should have realized that they were missing.

But you wrote:

From there I've been receiving responses but none could really prove that the items belonged to their daughters.

Indicating more than one contacted you.

Fwiw I wouldn't necessarily know if my kids jacket hood was detachable but I would know the size, colour and brand and just that it had a hood.

Give the one mother the jacket and send the rest of them to the school instead of keeping them. At worst they will end up with some child who could use a coat.

Kids forget things all the time. Also if they were that cold they wouldn't have removed the jacket and left it lying somewhere. Probably got caught up playing, bell rang and they went back to class and by the time they realized it was missing and went to look it was gone.

[milanessa]

Because that's what kids do. Sounds to me like you're looking for justification to keep them or sell them. Next time maybe you should just let them stay where they're at.

[nypanda]

ryan2k50 -- you don't have kids, do you?

They get hot, running around, playing, so they take their jackets off and they're still hot when they leave, and....there you go. Money means nothing to kids. We are now forcing our seven-year-old daughter to purchase replacement uniform sweaters (at $65 a pop!!) from her allowance if/when she "looses" hers at P.E. That's helped.

I think it's admirable that you're trying to return the coats...I'd probably just drop them at the nearest school lost and found and hope for the best.