Gone in Sixty Seconds

Life in the big city just got worse. We were robbed yesterday in broad daylight, right under our noses. Someone walked into our office during lunch, walked right past the front desk person carrying a box under his arm, to the only office with a laptop and walked right back out with that laptop. Delivery/maintenance men are in and out all day long and since this person was dressed in similiar colors to a bldg maintenance he didn’t set off any alarms. Well, actually he did.

As he was walking out of my boss’ office the person in the next office came out to check the printer. He sees him and starts following him out to the elevator area. The guy walks down the hall and coworker calls out to him, then the guy bolts down a back stairwell that’s basically never used.
There’s a couple of things that strongly smell of inside job.

• We are on the 6th floor of an 8 story building. Our office door is solid wood with no windows looking in. For all that person knew our front door could’ve opened into a room with 30 people right there….UNLESS they had been in before. We have less than 10 employees total.
• My boss (the victim) had just left for lunch 10 minutes earlier and HE SAW THE GUY hanging around near the elevators. He thought he looked suspicious and didn’t want to get on the elevator with him so he came back to the office, only 15-20 feet, checked the door then left down the elevator.
• The thief must’ve known that a) my boss who he just saw was now gone meaning his office which is as far away from the front door as you can get was now empty b) that he had a laptop sittin in the open and that he wouldn’t raise suspicion in those color clothes.
• He was wearing white shirt and brown pants - maintenance colors - although no one got a good enough look verify if it was an official uniform. He had to know where he was going and that he had time to get there and back before anyone thought twice about him.
• Two weeks ago he and his wife (both my bosses) were robbed at knife point (okay, box cutter point) in the parking garage. He got a couple hundred bucks then. The parking space, where it happened, has our company name on it. Maybe somebody put 2 + 2 together and saw a bigger target.
• Building management has changed recently and the replacements are not well liked by tenant nor employees. Some longtime employees (maintenance men…imagine that) have left in the past month.

To add insult to injury this is right across from LAX and TSA, the airport security company, has the entire floor above us. What really sucks is that my office looks right down the hall so I even saw the guy myself. However I sit at my desk without my glasses because my monitor is so close it hurts my eyes.

The security desk to this building is about 30-40 yards from the front door, plus the building provides overnight parking for airport visitors so strangers in the building is nothing new. Oh well, at least the ass hats did the important things like lock all the restroom doors a month. Gotta stop those lunatic toilet paper thieves at all costs. No key - no pee, suckas! This probably means we’ll be moving when the lease is up so I’ll have to wire a new office in the near future….man, I hate that.
On a positive note Belle was concerned enough for my safety to call as soon as she could. Kinda neat to have someone that gives a shit, unlike in past RELATIONSHIPS (which according to Webster means “the connections between or among persons, nations….go figure) where actual feelings were more a liability and irritant than anything else.