Following up on Mikey's thread about gifts...

[Brian H]

What have you or your employees been accused of stealing? I had an incident last week that we were accused of stealing a Waterford crystal biscuit jar.

I wanted to laugh at first because who would steal a biscuit jar, much less recognize the value of that jar.

It was a 91 year old man and he was 100% sure that the crew stole it while cleaning as he put it away in a drawer, laying on it's side, right before the crew arrived.

I gave the usual speech about we do background checks, our crews are trusted, these were both long term employees, etc.. I asked if it was possible that it was some where else in the home and I told him a story about how I once found my TV remote in the refrigerator. He was "growling" at me the entire time because he "knew" they stole it because it wasn't where he had left it and we were the only people besides him in the home.

When I couldn't convince him that there must be some other explanation, I told him to file a police report and contact his insurance company and let the professionals handle the investigation. I assured him that we would cooperate in any investigation.

I offered to come out to walk through what he felt had happened. He had other appointments and he said he would call back later that morning. When I didn't hear from him, I called and asked if I could come by to go through his scenario of what happened.

When I arrived, he explained that he had already filed a police report. His daughter and son-in-law had just arrived there too. The old guy was using a walker and showed me the table that the jar used to be on and then he shuffled across the small room to a bureau/table with a large drawer on top and 3 smaller drawers underneath. He opened the closest small drawer and growled "see, it's not here!" I asked about the other 2 drawers and he again growled "I didn't put it in any of the other drawers, I put it in this one!" I asked him to humor me and just look in the other 2 drawers. Of course, the very next drawer over contained the jar.

At that point, I felt pretty bad for the old guy and told him that it was no big deal and that I was just glad the jar was found. Thankfully it was only a few miles from the office.

 

[Mikey P]

Twice I've been acused of stealing tv remotes..

 

[bob vawter]

CRASH was accused of stealing some turquoise Indian jewelry once.....this little old black lady was hopping mad screaming..yelling..an' spitting thru the phone at me..........

a coupla weeks later she called and apologized to me saying that she hid it cuz she had family coming in from out of town...............

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Its good to be kind to people at that age Brian. I always think that I hope people will be kind to me in 2040.

I cannot imagine how confusing that time and place might look to me then, especially if my mind is failing as well.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Last month a wooden decoy.

Little old lady in her late 80's. We tried to talk to her granddaughter who was there when we did the job but she wouldn't let us. She had a cabinet in a hall that she claims 3 of these ducks sat. There isn't room for three, only the two. She was insistent one of the tech's took it, the two tech's that processed the loss are in their late twenties they have no use for the duck & it's too big for someone to carry out without the other knowing. The third guy was a supervisor.

The home is a little cluttered but a supervisor looked around and without cleaning her home could not find it in the rooms we processed. She wanted $175.00 for it. It was a $3,400.00 invoice she wouldn't pay until we agreed on the amount for the duck.

If there is truly a third...they will find it when they clean the rooms after she passes.

What can you do? She believes we have it.

 

[bob vawter]

being senile means never having to say yor sorry.................

 

[Ray Burnfield]

We had a customer come into our office one day. A few hours after they left she called and claimed that she left her wallet on the counter. We looked and there was no wallet.
When I told her that we could not find it she became very irate and told me that she was certain that we had it. We started searching the whole store for it. We spent hours searching everywhere. Still no wallet. I called her again to tell her that we could not find it and asked if she might have left it somewhere else. That just made her more upset. She accused one of my employees of stealing it and was going to call the police.
The next day I called to see if she had found the wallet. She said that she received a call from the 7-11 store down the street and she forgot that once she left our store she went there to buy a slurpee and that's where she left her fricken wallet. I asked if she was going to call us a let us know that she found it.
That thought had never crossed her mind!
Some people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Desk Jockey]

I asked if she was going to call us a let us know that she found it.
That thought had never crossed her mind!
Some people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL We had that one time too. Many years ago my father, my brother my cousin & myself were on a residential water loss. The the homeowner called frantic the next day about missing a diamond ring. She was sure it was on a dresser in one of the rooms we processed. She shook us all up. We were wondering who could have taken it. After a couple of nervous days my father calls and she had found the ring in the kitchen.

She had taken it off to wash dishes and forgot.....she also forgot to call us and tell us she found it.

 

[mirf]

being senile means never having to say yor sorry.................

Not sure yet but getting closer. Does crazy count.

 

[Mark Saiger]

Twice I've been acused of stealing tv remotes..

Same here...but always it seemed more of a situation on restoration jobs of course....

 

[Zee]

We had a customer come into our office one day. A few hours after they left she called and claimed that she left her wallet on the counter. We looked and there was no wallet.
When I told her that we could not find it she became very irate and told me that she was certain that we had it. We started searching the whole store for it. We spent hours searching everywhere. Still no wallet. I called her again to tell her that we could not find it and asked if she might have left it somewhere else. That just made her more upset. She accused one of my employees of stealing it and was going to call the police.
The next day I called to see if she had found the wallet. She said that she received a call from the 7-11 store down the street and she forgot that once she left our store she went there to buy a slurpee and that's where she left her fricken wallet. I asked if she was going to call us a let us know that she found it.
That thought had never crossed her mind!
Some people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should've asked her to give you an address so you could send an invoice for 3-4 hours worth of labor- for a couple of your employees-, as they spent that time on her behalf looking for the damn wallet....

 

[Ray Burnfield]

You should've asked her to give you an address so you could send an invoice for 3-4 hours worth of labor- for a couple of your employees-, as they spent that time on her behalf looking for the damn wallet....

I just told her that I was happy she found it. There certainly had some other things to say. But I didn't

 

[rwcarpet]

Twice I've been acused of stealing tv remotes..

More than twice, I have found TV remotes that custys thought were lost forever. I once found a $5000 "trust fund" chech made out to some yuppie couple I was cleaning for. All they said was ........"oh, there it is".

 

[Hoody]

Never was accused of stealing anything but had all sorts of funny claims of us damaging stuff during water losses so they could get a replacement. However we did have a client "steal" an air mover from us once. They were a very very high end client and we cleaned their basement for them and left two air movers there. We had a large job literally just down the road from them and said since they were having company later we would pick them up before company came. When we showed up there was still a spot that was damp from some pet spotting and we said because of the circumstance we'd leave only 1 air mover behind and call to schedule a time to pick it up. We show up to pick it up a couple of days later and she told us another tech came to pick it up. We were really busy and I didn't question it. 6 months later we come back to do some more pet spotting since the "pookie" was finally house trained. We walk down to the basement and right there is our air mover propped up pointing at the treadmill. I looked at her and she looked back at me with a grin and she just said "Those damn fans of yours are awesome." I said yes they are and you wouldn't believe what they cost brand new. She asked me how much and I told her $345 (Sahara X3 Daisy chained back in 2007-ish). She never blinked and look at me and asked me if she could buy it. This one was about 2 years old but still in great shape. So I called the owner and explained and she asked to speak with him. She told him she actually wanted 3 total and if we could get them brand new and she'd pay us for them and for the time to deliver them. We made a restoration equipment order 3 weeks later and ordered her 3. I ended up having to deliver them after work and she cut us a check right there and tipped me $50 bucks for bringing them.

The look she gave me when I first discovered she still had it was the funniest shit-eatin' grin. She always seemed like a very proper lady who never swore or anything and she turned out to be quite ornery with an awesome sense of humor. She used the air movers on her other work out equipment as they had a whole gym set up down there that was really impressive.

 

[Willy P]

Twice I've been acused of stealing tv remotes..

Yeah - You're the bastard that keeps doing the drive by channel changes......

 

[Brian H]

LOL We had that one time too. Many years ago my father, my brother my cousin & myself were on a residential water loss. The the homeowner called frantic the next day about missing a diamond ring. She was sure it was on a dresser in one of the rooms we processed. She shook us all up. We were wondering who could have taken it. After a couple of nervous days my father calls and she had found the ring in the kitchen.

She had taken it off to wash dishes and forgot.....she also forgot to call us and tell us she found it.

I had one once that accused us of stealing a very nice watch. Like Bob's customer she was spitting mad... When I followed up a few days later to see if it had turned up, she admitted that it had. She said she was just too embarrassed to call us back.

 

[Jim Pemberton]

Never was accused of stealing anything but had all sorts of funny claims of us damaging stuff during water losses so they could get a replacement. However we did have a client "steal" an air mover from us once. They were a very very high end client and we cleaned their basement for them and left two air movers there. We had a large job literally just down the road from them and said since they were having company later we would pick them up before company came. When we showed up there was still a spot that was damp from some pet spotting and we said because of the circumstance we'd leave only 1 air mover behind and call to schedule a time to pick it up. We show up to pick it up a couple of days later and she told us another tech came to pick it up. We were really busy and I didn't question it. 6 months later we come back to do some more pet spotting since the "pookie" was finally house trained. We walk down to the basement and right there is our air mover propped up pointing at the treadmill. I looked at her and she looked back at me with a grin and she just said "Those damn fans of yours are awesome." I said yes they are and you wouldn't believe what they cost brand new. She asked me how much and I told her $345 (Sahara X3 Daisy chained back in 2007-ish). She never blinked and look at me and asked me if she could buy it. This one was about 2 years old but still in great shape. So I called the owner and explained and she asked to speak with him. She told him she actually wanted 3 total and if we could get them brand new and she'd pay us for them and for the time to deliver them. We made a restoration equipment order 3 weeks later and ordered her 3. I ended up having to deliver them after work and she cut us a check right there and tipped me $50 bucks for bringing them.

The look she gave me when I first discovered she still had it was the funniest shit-eatin' grin. She always seemed like a very proper lady who never swore or anything and she turned out to be quite ornery with an awesome sense of humor. She used the air movers on her other work out equipment as they had a whole gym set up down there that was really impressive.

It seems she acted like you called her bluff in a friendly poker game, not like someone caught in a lie and theft.

Then she made it "all right" by buying three and tipping you 50.00?

I think she qualifies for the term "sociopath"

 

[Hoody]

It seems she acted like you called her bluff in a friendly poker game, not like someone caught in a lie and theft.

Then she made it "all right" by buying three and tipping you 50.00?

I think she qualifies for the term "sociopath"

Absolutely - at the time I was mad because I had been lied to as that's my biggest pet peeve. I stood there looking at her with a raised eyebrow. My boss at the time that you know well, was heated as can be. The conversation when I got back to the office was interesting as he was just floored and came to a similar conclusion when I told him it seemed like a big joke to her. I can see humor from others' perspective(the psychology nut in me) and from her's she knew we appreciated the client/service company relationship we had and took advantage of it. We also came to the conclusion that she didn't get out much.