On the ground at the gas station yesterday I found a perfect-condition slap stapler and this equally new pliers-type tool which I later learned to be a Malco J-channel cutter. I, of course, know what a slap stapler can be used for, but I wasn't familiar with the J-channel cutter:
formatting link
got the blue one.)
With sheet metal as the material, it makes two parallel cuts 13/16" (despite the fact that the page says it's a 5/8" one) apart, making a tab. If you press harder, it cuts the tab out, making a notch. The depth of the tab or notch can be a max of an inch, but is adjustable with a stop. It's a well-made tool. I've been playing with it, making lots of paper and cardboard notches here in the office. And I know specialty tools are expensive. But I don't do siding. Is there anything I can use this tool for?
About a month ago I found a perfectly good American Express card on the ground at the gas station. I called AmEx and gave them the number, they canceled the card and I destroyed it. Good thing it wasn't you that found that guys card!
Nehmo I'd be glad to return them to the owner, and I really feel sorry for the poor guy. But you don't understand. Despite being a block and a half away from a police station and being right downtown, this is a very bad gas station; it's the BP at 900 N 5th in Kansas City, Kansas. When and if you go there you get swamped with aggressive panhandlers and people proposing to sell you crack. Actually, I don't get gas there. I was walking when I saw these tools and they were over a small wall from the gas station in a spot of grass before an adjacent parking lot. I perhaps was misleading when I said "on the ground at the gas station".
I don't think these were *lost* items. I imagine someone stole these tools. Then the thief decided they were unsellable and dumped them.
I have strong ethics regarding stolen goods. I never buy anything nor have any dealings whatsoever with anything I think might have been stolen.
And I know I'm asking for the racist flame when I report this, but the station is all black.
No, you are asking for a reality check. "I have strong ethics..." but apparently have no problem at all with -possesion of stolen property-. At this point you are a thief whether or not the items were stolen to begin with. You picked up and kept stuff that doens't belong to you. You stole them from where they were found. Proper action is to turn them into the police. They probably were stolen and the police may have a list showing them to be part of a burglary.
In alt.home.repair on Sun, 27 Jul 2003 10:57:06 -0500 "Nehmo Sergheyev" posted:
As I said, admittedly after the paragraph following, not this one, but it applied here too, I might have been making a weak point or a strong point. However you could probably stop by when you had nothing in the back of the truck, park next to the door and not as far as the pump. And you did end up calling them and if you had had their tools, you would not have to deliver them. You could arrange to meet them somewhere, including at the police department. If these things are not big, and you explain, you might even have bee
I always believed that.
Because I have been in the situation of finding something, and I did wonder who was watching. And in a couple cases, unrelated to finding something, I know people have been watching, not with any malice but watching nonetheless. Boring stories to illustrate my point. A) When I was 23 I was hitchhiking though Mexico and Central America. I met a tall blonde Belgian, not my type, but we agreed to meet at the zoo in Mexico City at the entrance. I got there a little early and when she wasn't there, I went to the other entrance. She got there a few minutes later, and some guy told her "He went to the other side". I'm not blond but we were obviously tourists. B) Later, in San Jose, Costa Rica, I went with my Chicago roommate's fiancee to the doctor, and while she was in with him, I went across the street to some store. When she came out, some guy told her, "He's in there". C) I think there have been other occasions in the US.
The start of your letter bothered me but the middle was nice. I thought of going back to weaken the tone of my reply to the first part, but didn't. I wonder if I had if it would have changed the tone of your whole reply.
I don't think that should be the limit, but that's why I looked up the phone number for you. It took under 5 minutes with
formatting link
If I just say Kansas City KS they start at the center of the city and 900 N. 5th street doesn't seem to far from there. (Actually some of the street addresses seemed to be farther away, or they don't think the center is at 000 N. 1st. The entry gave a distance of 2.39 miles, from something, and it was on the second page, maybe the 20th entry.
I suspect they don't like most of the crowds either, certainly not that they harass people. It probably costs them business, for one thing.
I feared the lack of the number would make it too much effort to call them.
I don't think there are/were many Amocos around here, and if there was one that I saw and it changed to BP I wouldn't think anything of it.
To make it easier for you to find when you looked it up. Switchboard called it an Amoco, so the phone book might too.
You're afraid of black people? Black panhandlers and crack dealers are worse than other panhandlers and crack dealers?
But you've been there, on foot no less. You could have had that guy drop you off somewhere else and taken a bus into town, or a taxi. You could have rushed through instead of stopping to look at things. You only mention above that you're afraid they'll take something from your truck, but iiuc the same valuable thing isn't always in the truck, which probably means nothing valuable is in the back of the truck sometimes.
B) Blacks themselves don't say that the owners, managers of gas stations or their mechanics are dangerous.
They'll even meet you.
So much for "I have strong ethics regarding stolen goods. I never buy anything nor have any dealings whatsoever with anything I think might have been stolen."
And you're going to match them in impoliteness. They've dragged you down and you have them to blame for it. No need to get back up again, when you have them to blame. I guarantee you there is not the level of dishonesty in Kansas City you think there is or there would be far more crime. Once in NYC they arrested one guy for purse snatchings in the subway, and while he was in jail the rate of purse snatchings and similar things in subways went down by 30%, counting the whole city. It only takes a few people to commit a lot of crimes. And most of the people are doing their best
I do but I lived in a n'hood about 40% black in Chicago for 2 years, and 12 years in Brooklyn near downtown in a n'hood that was 75 or 80% black, mixed income, including public housing, and I road my bike whereever I wanted. Sometimes I walked downtown, through an even poorer n'hood.
In Baltimore, I go all over downtown and everywhere with my top down 7 or 8 months out of the year, and I've never had a problem, not even an unkind word. There have been three times I was concerned, and I list them below***.
Other than insurance, there is little point in filling out a report. The thief himself won't turn in those items. You remind me that I did once find a radio on the curb. It was very basic, AM only I think and I assumed the owner changed radios and just left it on the curb because he was lazy and for someone else to have (People in NY make a point to put the good trash on top so that people can take it. They don't have much storage space so if even a small 12 inch tv breaks (even 30 years ago when they were more expensive) they fix it right away or put it on top of or beside the trash. Often they make a point to put it out early, so people have 3 days to take it before the trash guy comes. Once riding home from the beach, I saw a 9 inch tv on top of the trash, on a Sunday. I was trying to figure out how to attach it to the little luggage rack on the back of my 10-speed, when the housewife came out with some rope so that I could tie it on. She told me it was probably just one tube or a fuse that was bad, and she was right.
Until you mentioned the radio story, I was sure the owner put in on the curb. Now I'm thinking it might have been a thief who took it out and decided he didnt' want it. No, he would look first rather than get caught taking out something he doesn't want. But even if I'm wrong, I thought it was thrown away, when you actually think yours was stolen.
Is your standard of what to do, dependent on what someone, someone else even, has done to you? If you were beaten up in a mugging, you could beat someone else up?
What does the vast unlikelihood of getting back your car radio and battery have to do with property not your own that is before your eyes? There is a legal procedure for that, totally within your power to implement. That someone stole your stereo and battery is an excuse. In Brooklyn, someone stole my radiator! And things were stolen from my car before I learned better. And in some areas, people don't replace their radio, use a portable, and put signs in their window "No Radio!" Should we become thieves because others are thieves? If so, where will thievery end?**
**Based on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s statement about hate.
You must be mad at me. I did. The law is the same everywhere in the US, with minor differences, mostly in the amount at which it applies.
I gave the law. I also told you to call the police and find out what the law is. They'll know any details.
Then don't go and if no one claims them, they will be auctioned. It's a rationalization to say "I seriously doubt." Loads of people report thefts, because they are angry, because they hope to get their stuff back, and because they want the insurance to pay. Specialized tools are a lot easier to identify than car batteries and even radios.
If they are auctioned, someone who wants them enough to bid will get them. I've never been to Kansas City but I"ve been to bicycle auctions in Chicago several times. Looked for mine the first time (stolen when I left it locked with something at a public place for 4 days when I went home for Thanksgiving). Bought a replacement that day, and had so much fun bought 3 more at other ones, to sell to incoming college students.
I gave it because I wanted to point out the sort of amendment that might be present in other jurisdictions (states?).
Don't you feel better now? One down and one to go.
I don't know why you gave the story of how you got the stuff if....yes maybe I do. If everyone were silent, you might figure we endorsed your rules. Like our endorsement matters.
*** a) going to the cash machine late at night, because the cash machine is an obvious place for someone looking to steal money to hang out. b) once I was downtown and my car showed 0 miles left in my gas tank and I couldn't remember where the nearest gas station was. I first came to a 7-11 and the guy getting into his car that I asked was I think unfriendly, and unhelpful when I asked. The second guy told me where the gas station was, a half mile away, total 1 mile from where it said zero. c) when my car was towed and I had to walk from the subway 3 long blocks the the towaway place. Again, I figured anyone who realized everyone going to this place had 200 dollars in cash would consider my route a good place to rob someone. I asked about this at the cashier, and she I was the first guy to come by foot. Everyone else got a ride. Either they have more friends than I do, or they don't notice their car is towed until they get home from work and their friends are home too, I don't know. So if I was the only one, I guess my route was not a target route. Not only would being robbed cost me the money, but I wouldn't be able to get another
200 dollars from a cash machine on the same day. And if they took my card and id, that would slow me down too, and I'd have to come back a second day and be without my car another day
Meirman
If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.