Lost or Stolen?

[Raffine]

You reach for your favorite pen/cup/pillow and it's not in its usual place. Do you immediately assume you've lost it - or somebody stole it?

Does this say anything about your character?

This came up at work today when someone could not find a CD on their desk and immediately insisted it had been stolen, probably by the janitorial staff. It went as far as them insisting I contact the janitorial staff and give 'em the third degree until one of them broke down into a sobbing blob and confessed to the theft. Fortunately before I gave in and called, another search of the desk revealed the CD had been knocked behind the desk by a pile of papers that the person had shifted around earlier today.

For the record - I always immediately think it's been stolen, despite the fact that's very, very rarely the case. 

[Menaaard!!!]

I usually presume I have lost or misplaced it; which is almost always the case. When it's not the case, it is because someone else may have found it lying in the floor, or it was in their way, and they put it somewhere that I normally wouldn't expect it.

Stolen is a rather extreme concept to me. If my pen or a CD were missing...why would I feel that someone has stolen it? That would seem to presume me to be awfully important and these small items to be more important than what I think of someone's character. I'd rather take the chance of being wrong that I lost something than to think that poorly of someone, and be wrong.

I've only had one item stolen in the past several years, and that was my good laptop. It was not a case of 'where did I put it', it was in a specific location after a move, then it was no longer in that location, or anywhere to be found. It was sitting with the majority of my camera equipment; luckily only one digital camera was taken from that.


I used to be real bad about thinking my mother had misplaced stuff of mine when I took care of her. With her dementia, she was real bad about putting something somewhere and then having no idea of where she put it, or even knowing about how something got from one side of the house to the damnedest place on the other.

She was not trying to misplace stuff, though at the time I had a paranoid feeling otherwise. She was just confused; and it often, unfairly, became a bad habit to think that she was responsible when I couldn't find something.

[Allhallowsday]

Well I got somebody 'round this house who likes to move things around... for some reason!!

[meQal]

I almost always assume I either lost or misplaced something. Mainly cause I got nothing worth stealing in my home. However my socks and underwear is a different story. I always assume my cats stole those cause they like to drag them out of the laundry and leave them all over the house. We have found them in places you would never expect like the cat box, their favorite hiding places, and even a pair dragged out into the front yard.
My kids still claim stuff was stolen. Just the other day the TV remote got misplaced and my youngest told me that someone had stole the remote. I looked at her and said it was just misplaced but she insisted it was stolen. I then explained to her that I seriously doubt somebody was going to break into our house, pass up the electronics, jewelry, my swords, and my wife's purse just to take a TV remote. However if she was so sure it was stolen, I would check to see if the sherriff department had issued a neighborhood alert about a TV remote thief being on the loose in the area.
My wife however is cruel at times, she likes to move stuff around where I can't find it because she knows I have short term memory issues. I think it's her way of getting even for making her watch all the bad movies I watch.

[Jack]

I always assume I've misplaced it.  That just makes it all the more satisfying when I spend forever looking for something and then finally find it, where my wife put it 

[Mr. DS]

At home I swear there is an evil gremlin that has stolen several pairs of sunglasses and on numerous occasions, my cell phone and I-Pod.  It returns the phone/I-Pod but keeps the sunglasses as momentos. 

For work I usually blame someone for my missing stapler or hole puncher.  Of course its usually on my desk where I left it. 

[AndyC]

If something goes missing, I assume one of three things. Either I misplaced it, my wife tidied up and put it somewhere, or my daughter wandered off with it and left it on the floor somewhere. Actually, I had a couple of movies that were returned over a month late because Ro helpfully reshelved them with the other DVDs, and I assumed they'd been returned.

If nobody knows where the missing item is, I usually look under the couch cushions, then under the furniture.

[CheezeFlixz]

If something goes missing, I assume one of three things. Either I misplaced it, my wife tidied up and put it somewhere, or my daughter wandered off with it and left it on the floor somewhere.

Ditto ...

But my wife doesn't tidy up, she'll set something else on top of it.

I never assume it's stolen, I live in a area where if you drop your wallet full of money it will be returned full of money and no one here locked their door, then again everyone here is an excellent shot.

[meQal]

But my wife doesn't tidy up, she'll set something else on top of it.

My wife cleans that way as well. Her other thing is she tosses stuff to the side if it's in her way at the time.

[Doggett]

I bet the people who assume that it's been stolen are the same people who, 200 years ago, assumed that suspicious women are automatically witches and must be burned.

...where the hell am I going with this...

[ghouck]

I work with inmates daily, so I'm supposed to be paranoid. . 

[InformationGeek]

I also assume that either I misplaced it or somehow, my mom took it and misplaced it.

After 3 years, I still can't find my video tape of Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind!  I bought it while I was out shopping with my parents.  My mom took the bag with the video tape into her room and it vanished into thin air!  I saw it once in there, but when I asked for it, she said I couldn't have it yet.  Well guess what, I still don't have it!

Speaking of things that seem to disappear, an entire cardboard box of VHS tapes disappeared!  It really sucks because most of the tapes have things I had shows taped on them.  I mean, really, where the heck the box go!?

[Javakoala]

I'm the only person I know who, while standing in one place, lost a box cutter and had to spend nearly 30 minutes shifting every single thing in my reach to find it. And still didn't find it. When I decided to go to lunch, I knocked over a pile of stuff that I had gone through 3 TIMES, and it suddenly reappeared.  My boss swore I was goofing off in spite of the fact she had gone through that same pile as well.

The only thing I have assumed was stolen as a brand new bag of pistachios I had on my desk at work. The next day, it was gone. Everyone said it was my fault. I returned with, "We work in a high security federal office with security officers wandering around on an hourly basis. Every one of you can see my desk. Why the hell would I assume theft would take place under those conditions? And for a bag of NUTS?!? Not my fault. Someone owes me $6, dammit!"

I now lock up my pistachios.

[AndyC]

Anybody else think it's really ironic that we lost our DVD of Finding Nemo?

[Raffine]

I now lock up my pistachios.

"He's locking up the pistachios. I repeat: he's locking up the pistachios. OK, troops. Time to switch to Plan B."