ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area WORK TRUCK STOLEN!

Just to let everyone know, yesterday, I got my white 88 Chevy full size King cab work truck which had a rack, ladders, tool boxes, tools, wire, etc on it. It was stolen from a Home Depot store in Chandler, AZ. I have heard they are coming up from Mexico and they sit in the parking lot and wait. The only thing they did'nt get was my tool pouch, Milwaukee battery drill, Fluke meter, and one 7 ft ladder, which I had left on a job.

Oh boy, what can I say?

I guess I've been lucky as I've never had anything like that happen to me, so I can only imagine how devastating it must be.

My sympathies to you.

You have my sympathy, aldav! Good luck getting back on track. I(maybe we) should learn a lesson here. I usually don't even lock my truck at Home Depot!

Insurance? Even with it that would still be hard to take. I've had my tool pouch since I was 13 years old. If I ever lost it I'd need therapy to use another one. Let alone a whole truck. Lost all my fishing stuff out of my boat in the back yard once but nobodys ever been low enough to steal my tools, a killing offence around here.

Unfortunately, your story about HD parking lots sounds familiar. I have heard this one many times before, although it usually involves just tools being stolen from trucks, not the entire truck. They are notorious in my neck of the woods for thieves. Evidently in other parts of the country as well. In fact, the police used to wait at a Pep Boys across the street from one (near where I used to live) with a pair of binoculars, because they knew how bad it was. Don't know how many people they caught though.

A fatwau on the infidels....

Thanks for the heads up with respect to home-repair stores. If the vehicle heads south, I wonder if Los {no steeking badges} Federales will bat an eyelash.

"Cooperation" between the two countries’ border stations seems variable at best.

[Proceed only if you’ve read every page of DrBukk and are still bored to tears.] aldav53, not to make a bad situation worse, but when I read “…didn’t get…my tool pouch, Milwaukee battery drill, Fluke meter…” for a moment I thought, there’s no chance he wore all that stuff into the store, is there? I saw that happen only once at a supply house a good while back. Some old hayseed gets out of his work truck wearing his tool belt, saunters in and slings his leg up over a stool. This particular supply house would sell just about anybody anything; ‘double end column’ if you looked like you’d still thought you were getting it “wholesale.”

The counter guy who happened to get him was a crusty old dude close to retirement. (That may have been the only job he'd had, ever.) Toolbeltman says, "Gimmuh' sum tew-twhen-nee wahre!" Veins stated popping in the counterman's neck, so I quietly ducked out the door. Later they all said that the old counterguy just about leaped over the counter and strangled the hayseed, and he probably could have done it, too. I think the counterguy got ribbed about "tew-twhen-nee wahre" till the day he left. {…retired now myself.}


[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 05-31-2002).]

Guys watch out for this! The home depot by my folks house in Atlanta had THIRTY vehicles stolen in one month! Many were contractor trucks. They finally put a police officer on duty 24/7.

Aldav, I HATE your loss.
The police depts. here (So CA) have FINALLY started to crack down on these guys that stand in the street, buscando trabajo (looking for work) in front of the HD's.
They look like packed birds on a high line, making the entrances very uncomfortable to my wife.
They run into the street in front of you, etc. (I just step on the gas)
I stare them down as they eye my truck, and have a LoJack.
Write them an e-mail. I'm going to.
My sympathy ...S

Aldav, I'm sorry for your loss too. I have been ripped off too in the past, but not to the scale you are experiencing now. I wish I could do more. A thief sucks.

Roger