Getting Your Car Broken into
The class ends at 10PM. I thought I parked my car in a lit enough area to not have to worry about any shit-heads messing with my beloved 2012 Honda Civic (Scooter). As I ascend the 45 degree angle San Francisco street, I noticed broken glass on the ground where a car was parked. “Sucks to be that guy.” I said to myself. Little did I know, 50 more steps would change my tune.
I got into my car and turned it on, but something seemed off, the feeling you get when you leave for vacation but can’t help but think you left something behind. A draft came through, and as I looked around I saw gas receipts scattered on the passenger seat, noticeably less spare change in my cup holder, but they weren’t done there. All of my sun glasses were taken from the center console, along with the car charger I bought a week prior. The worst of all was the piece of shit took the 25 dollar gift card out of the Mother’s Day card I was going to give to my mom. I don’t know if the drugs wore off at that point or what, but they saw fit to leave the card itself behind.
They broke in through the tiny window by the seat behind the driver, reached in and opened the door. People get robbed, it’s a fact of life. However, the thought of some random person rummaging around my car made me sick to my stomach. There was a feeling of violation skipping hand-in-hand with inconvenience, because it was just one more thing that I had to pay for.
You wouldn’t believe how much glass lay scattered about, even for a tiny window. SO, in my experience of getting my car broken into, there’s a few things you can do to prevent this crap from happening to you, AND what to do after if it does happen. BEFORE: Make sure there’s nothing laying around inside of your car that looks valuable or worth stealing. I had a plaid shirt and a Carhartt jacket in the back seat. May not seem like much, but to someone that sleeps in the cold streets every night that looks worth breaking into. Doors locked of course, park in a lit area, or an area close to people walking. If nothing else, install a self-destruct security sequence. You’ll have peace-of-mind that if you don’t have your valuables, at least nobody else will.
Disregard that last suggestion, I’m still a little salty over the whole matter. If/when this does happen to you, simply get home. Tape some paper over your window hole if it makes you feel better. Call your insurance if the window is expensive to replace. My deductible is a shitty $500, so I just coughed up the money out of pocket. There’s window repair guys/gals that can drive out to your location. It cost me $75 to get it replaced (plus a tip because the dude that came out was really nice). Rant, ohhhh you gotta rant after it’s all done and your new window is installed. It’s infuriating, and having windows surround you in your car is the best place to “lose your shit.” Give a good yell, curse the gods, curse the person that broke into your car and all the drugs they must have been on.
The final step is to come to terms with the fact that you’ll never see your shit again. It sucks, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up the daydream of what you’d do to the person if you saw them walking around with what CLEARLY is your stuff. You also have to come to terms with who that person is, a scumbag. They’re more than likely homeless looking for anything to survive, or make their survival a little easier. Mental illness could have played a role, someone could have smoked a little too much crack and decided to smash everybody’s windows that night, or it could simply be chalked up as bad luck. Whatever it is, what happens happens and you don’t have to like it. You live with it, get past it, and blog about it if need be to help.
