Theft
We were all shocked this week when my co-worker's wallet was stolen out of her backpack. Claudia and Mike share an office next door to mine. These offices are in a hallway with several faculty offices and are just a few feet away from the lab. We make an effort to keep the office doors closed and locked at all times, but it's easy to become lax.
However, on Wednesday around lunchtime Mike found an unfamiliar young man standing in his office. The young man seemed flustered and said that he was looking for "the woman who works at this desk", gesturing to Claudia's desk. Mike is a nice, honest guy, so though he found it strange that this guy had entered the office on his own, he offered to take the him to talk to Claudia directly. As they stepped out of the office, Mike noticed the man put a pink object in his pocket. The man talked to Claudia and said that he was a psychology major and was interested in doing some undergraduate research. After he left, Claudia mentioned to Mike that it seemed kind of strange that a psychology major would be interested in working in a microbiology lab AND that the guy just seemed kind of weird in general. That prompted Mike to mention the mysterious pink object in the guy's pocket. Claudia rushed back to the office and checked her backpack (which was hidden back behind her desk) and sure enough, her wallet was gone. That's right - this guy found the office unlocked, rifled through Claudia's backpack, pocketed her wallet, and then stood there and had a conversation with her WHILE her wallet was in his pocket. Crazy.
Here's comes the amazing part: Claudia and Mike called the police. When the description of the guy went out over the radio, there just happened to be an officer sitting in his car in the parking lot of a grocery store close to campus. He saw a guy who matched the description walking into the grocery store and detained him. The police drove Claudia and Mike over to ID the guy and sure enough, it was him. The guy was arrested and Claudia got her wallet back. Amazing. I was so impressed with the UF police. In the HOURS of discussion that resulted from this mess, we learned that several people had seen this guy wandering around that day and all had offered to help him find whatever he was looking for instead of suspecting him of trying to steal things. So now we've all learned to be more careful AND suspicious.
However, on Wednesday around lunchtime Mike found an unfamiliar young man standing in his office. The young man seemed flustered and said that he was looking for "the woman who works at this desk", gesturing to Claudia's desk. Mike is a nice, honest guy, so though he found it strange that this guy had entered the office on his own, he offered to take the him to talk to Claudia directly. As they stepped out of the office, Mike noticed the man put a pink object in his pocket. The man talked to Claudia and said that he was a psychology major and was interested in doing some undergraduate research. After he left, Claudia mentioned to Mike that it seemed kind of strange that a psychology major would be interested in working in a microbiology lab AND that the guy just seemed kind of weird in general. That prompted Mike to mention the mysterious pink object in the guy's pocket. Claudia rushed back to the office and checked her backpack (which was hidden back behind her desk) and sure enough, her wallet was gone. That's right - this guy found the office unlocked, rifled through Claudia's backpack, pocketed her wallet, and then stood there and had a conversation with her WHILE her wallet was in his pocket. Crazy.
Here's comes the amazing part: Claudia and Mike called the police. When the description of the guy went out over the radio, there just happened to be an officer sitting in his car in the parking lot of a grocery store close to campus. He saw a guy who matched the description walking into the grocery store and detained him. The police drove Claudia and Mike over to ID the guy and sure enough, it was him. The guy was arrested and Claudia got her wallet back. Amazing. I was so impressed with the UF police. In the HOURS of discussion that resulted from this mess, we learned that several people had seen this guy wandering around that day and all had offered to help him find whatever he was looking for instead of suspecting him of trying to steal things. So now we've all learned to be more careful AND suspicious.
posted by Laura at 8:55 PM
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