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

[ryan2k50]

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.

I wouldn't sell them for sure and you're right I probably should have left them. One of the mothers stated "my child has her DNA imprinted in that jacket so go have it checked". I think she was being sarcastic.

[ryan2k50]

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.

thanks but should I still feel responsible after having the jackets for the past few months? That's a good idea to force your daughter to replace the uniform. They should be given some sense of responsibility. But not to overdo it lol

[Matryeshka]

Errr...yes, you should still feel responsible as you're the one who took them in the first place.

Next time, leave the jackets there or turn them into the school office. Why are you hanging out at schools taking jackets if you don't have kids that go there and you don't work at the school? I would really like to know.

[my little pony]

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?

you dont believe her because she cant remember if the hood is detachable or not? i'd be mad at you too. you sound like a stolen coat collector.

[numbers123]

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.

Do you have kids? I would consider myself fortunate to be able to recall that the coat was a size ___ and might have been black or brown or maybe a dark blue. Trying to remember if it had a detachable hood would be a stretch. Unless the coat was for a toddler or preschooler, then I might know.

Why are you collecting the jackets - the first place a parent is going to look is a lost and found at the school.

My son once lost a leather jacket that was $$$. We went to the school lost and found. There was a huge assortment of items: coats, hats, gloves, school letter jackets with the kid's name on them, cell phones, expensive shoes like Nikes, DCs, AirJordans, etc. With the exception of the letter jacket with the name on it and perhaps cell phones who might have a traceable phone number, I doubt that parents could specifically describe those items in enough detail to suit your criteria.

[agalisgv]

Ryan2K50--you really need to return the jackets. Give the one jacket to the mother who contacted you with the correct size, and return the other jackets to the people who contacted you or to the school.

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

This reminds me of a time I had my wallet stolen out of my purse at a powwow. I was just incensed that at a community event, someone would do that. So the powwow MC let me speak over the microphone, and I went off on how this wasn't the Indian way, and if someone really needed the money, they could have just asked instead of taking it. But now I had no bus money home, and the least they could have done was make sure I had bus fare.

Five minutes later my wallet was returned with bus money to get home

You get what you ask for I guess

[Garden Kitty]

I can't recall if the hoods on my jackets are detachable or not.

[Marlowe]

Your loss reminded me of a story my Dad told me when I was a kid; he told it to me because I was about to hang my jacket on a hook in a restaurant. When he was a young man, he had a beautiful camel hair overcoat that he had saved his money to purchase. And he was in a restaurant in NYC - hung his coat up on the rack, and when he went to get it after dinner, it had been stolen.

I remember thinking that he must have really prized that coat - something he had saved for - because as young as I was I remember how, although this was a lesson for me, it had been a huge disappointment to him that someone just lifted his fine overcoat.

Many years later I came across a photo of Dad with one of his cousins - it was probably taken in the 1930s - he was wearing a beautiful long light camel hair overcoat. I thought, "That's the coat someone stole from you!" And he never bought another camel hair overcoat.

So, I guess I would say that people have been stealing coats for at least 80 yrs... and you are not alone in feeling whatever it is you are feeling about the injustice. But, I want to say "Thank you" to you for giving me this chance to remember my Dad and his story.

[mysticchic]

I've have had 2 softball glove stolen this year out of the dugouts. One of the nights was church league! They also took the 20.00. These gloves are worth about 90.00 each and takes a year to break in. I'm lucky, a lot of people have had their 300.00 bats stolen. And on the back fields they found at least 20 men's wallets in the creeks every week.
ryan I would return the coats. Gee 4 post and you have more neg rep then some of the worst trolls on here.

[Jaana]

Never happened to me, because I always take my coat along when visiting a doctor, etc.

[MacMadame]

I can't recall if the hoods on my jackets are detachable or not.

I'm wearing a jacket right now and I couldn't remember if it had a detachable hood!

(I checked and it does.)

[Louise]

Whether it's a coat, cell phone or whatever, I have to say I find it very frustrating when people decide to pick up something that isn't theirs. Eventually someone will realize it's missing and retrace their steps only to find nothing and probably no way now to find it. If you see something that doesn't belong to you, LEAVE IT.

I had a very expensive coat taken from a Xmas party last year. I had owned it for only about two weeks. It was probably intentional. I usually just leave my coat in the car when I go to parties now. The feeling of being stolen from is pretty crappy. Especially when you know it's from someone that you socialize or even worse are close to.

And Ryan, if people are calling you wanting to claim them, why do you now decide to be the arbiter of rightful ownership. Those coats do NOT belong to you, and if someone calls and wants to pick one up, it's one less coat you need to worry about cluttering your closet. Give them their freaking coats back. And if it wasn't theirs, you did your part. It's strange you would just keep them when people are claiming them. What's the purpose?

I hate the US and the need for people to pick up things that don't belong to them. As much as I dislike alot of the strict laws in Singapore, let me tell you Singapore is a DREAM when it comes to something like this. I was at a restaraunt there last year and two hours after I left I realized my wallet was gone. I went back to the restaraunt and in PLAIN VIEW there was my wallet on the ground. No one picked it up. I wish the US would adopt more harsh punishments for petty crimes . But that's another story, and belong in PI.

[OliviaPug]

I had my boots stolen when I was a kid. I had put them on the steps leading to our side door (not even remotely within in plain view) because they were wet and snowy. When I went to retrieve them ... gone! Soon after, I noticed our neighbor's daughter wearing them. My mother confronted the mother and she outright denied that they stole my boots and claimed they were her daughter's boots. About a week later (after the snow had melted away), my boots showed up on the steps where I had left them ... and they had been peed in!!!!! Talk about obnoxious! But I think that tale was told in my family for many years ... and we laughed about it. So, not a complete loss.

O-

[gkelly]

Five minutes later my wallet was returned with bus money to get home

Did you know by whom?

[DickButtonFan]

I lost my cell phone once at the university I went to. I knew I had left it in the bathroom so I went to check and it was gone only 5 minutes after I had just been in there. I had to go into an office nearby and sure enough they had my phone. I really wish they would have just left my phone where it was, I have no idea how they found it that fast it's not like there were many people around.

This reminds me of an old bf I had, he would go into clubs and if he saw a cell phone unattended he would just take them and then wait for the person to call the phone and demand $50 for the phone. This is one of the many reasons why he's no longer my bf .

Usually if I see something unattended the last thing I want to do is grab it or touch it. I'm sure the person will be back to get it.

[Prancer]

I lost my cell phone once at the university I went to. I knew I had left it in the bathroom so I went to check and it was gone only 5 minutes after I had just been in there. I had to go into an office nearby and sure enough they had my phone. I really wish they would have just left my phone where it was, I have no idea how they found it that fast it's not like there were many people around.

But they didn't know you would be right back nor did they know who would be coming in the restroom next. I'd have taken it to the office, too, and expected you to be grateful that it was safe and sound.

Guess not.

When my kids were little, I was always distracted and often did stupid things, like leave stuff behind. I left my purse three or four times, left my wallet behind twice--no, three times--and once ran after a child at lunch, got distracted getting food for said child and only remembered that I had left close to $75 in cash sitting on the table when I saw it sitting there when I came wandering back a good 20 minutes later.

I got the purse and wallet back every time, completely intact, and no one touched my pile of money (it was all ones and fives, which is why I had it all out--I was trying to get it sorted). My husband refers to all those good Samaritans as enablers, because they have made me think that people are essentially honest and good and no one will steal my stuff. It's true; I always think I will get something back if I lose it somewhere and I've been wrong only once (death to whoever took my mp3 player!).

[genevieve]

I lost my phone at SA last year - I think it fell out of my pocket. I went to lost & found and that's where it was (I'm sure it was only turned in because it was an ancient and crappy ohone no one would want ).

Years of working at a theater means that 1) I always pick valuable things up in public buildings and turn them into lost and found if the owner can't be easily identified and 2) if I lose something and can't see it by retracing my steps, I go to lost and found. I had no idea that I was "stealing" things by making efforts to get them back to the owners

I wouldn't take coats home, post them as found and then interrogate the people trying to collect them though. That just sounds like the poster wants nothing more than to berate the parents for not teaching their kids to look after their stuff better, which is creepy.

[numbers123]

Last week, I was at the doctor's office and when I went to leave I noticed someone had left their purse sitting by a chair. I took it to the receptionist and said that I was sure someone would be looking for it sooner or later. Today when I was at physical therapy, someone lost her scarf. I gave it to the receptionist.

I would hope that someone would do the same for me.

[oleada]

I lost my phone in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Of course, I'd been out drinking my woes away because my car had been broken into You can file a missing stuff report, but it cost $25 dollars and that's probably more than my crappy phone deserved. I called it, and no one answered and eventually, I'm assuming my battery died. I also lost my shoes in the same cab, and now that really hurt because they were fabulous BCBG heels.

With the cost of getting a new phone, and losing the shoes and paying the deductible for car repairs, it was the most expensive weekend I've had, ever.

[Prancer]

That just sounds like the poster wants nothing more than to berate the parents for not teaching their kids to look after their stuff better, which is creepy.

All parents run into people like that at some point. The key is to nod a lot while thinking, "Oh, kiss my ass ."

I would hope that someone would do the same for me.

Yep; one reason I expect other people to turn in my lost stuff is that I always turn things in myself.