Theft . . . and Gratitude

Sometimes I might be a little too open about the details...but I claim it makes things a little, just a little, more comical sometimes.

So today after work, I headed to Wal-Mart because I desperately needed tampons. I was completely out and at a point in the day where it was reeeaaaalllly important for me to get more. So I peruse the store a bit more since today was payday...find a pair of pants that are decently cute & my size, and decide to try em on...and (oops) in my 1st day of full-blown period brain fog (no, probably not what you were starting to dread) I leave my keys in the dressing room, hanging on the hook. Keys with wallet attached to the keyring.

Within 10 minutes, I realized what I had done and ran across the store to see if they were miraculously still there. They weren't. One person had used the dressing room after me, and the temptation was just too much, I'm sure. Nothing had been turned in to employees, so I let the employees know, ask for a description of the suspect (my 911 training kicked right in), and after about 20 seconds of only getting hispanic female in her 20's, unknown color shirt, unknown hair length...I bolt for the parking lot to see if my car is still there. (Those handy alarm keyfobs can be a wonderful asset in finding your car when you forgot where you parked.....or...um, ya. yikes.)
Get to the parking lot with my mind racing about how frustrating it's gonna be if my CAR is gone, too...and *whew* sigh of relief, it's still there. But I'm now panicky about it disappearing at some point. So I run back into the store, find a phone to call for a police report, and wonderfully enough, get a girl I used to work with who is also willing to do the extra favor I ask of calling another of our co-workers (my roommate) & asking her to find my spare keys & keyfob, and dropping them off for me.
I talk to a manager, try to find a phone number for my bank to cancel my bank card (which, by the way, is NOT an easy number to find) and go wait outside for either some suspicious person to walk up to my car, or until my roommate or the police show up.
Here's all the cool stuff:
1) There's an officer working off-duty at the store. He just happens to be standing outside the garden center, close to where my car is, and he takes my report then & there. No waiting for up to (or more than) an hour for an officer to respond in the 104 degree heat.
2) Last week I purged my room and actually KNEW exactly where my spare key & keyfob were, so I could describe where they were for my roommate to find them.
3) My cell phone wasn't stolen. It was inside my locked car.
4) I no longer memorize phone numbers, so I knew I didn't have a phone number to contact my roommate (or anyone) to bring me keys or pick me up or help me out....but wait. Roommate & I both work for the police department, and you can get department member's phone numbers through dispatch if you give your ID number. 2 birds, 1 stone: call to start the report, and the operator doesn't even hesitate in saying yes when i ask her to call my roommate and relay the info to help me. (Thanks!!)
5) I knew EXACTLY what cards were in my attached-purse. Non-interesting story from shopping for groceries last night...I knew that only my credit/debit bank card was the only money card in there. That's unusual. I almost ALWAYS have a credit card, too. Not today.
6) My address on my Driver's License is a PO Box. Yep, they got my car keys, alarm fob, house keys, and mail key. But they only thing they know where is, is my mailbox. & they can't be too sure which post office that's in.
7) I still had my 2nd mailbox key at home (in a place I actually knew about) & got my mail as soon as I got home. Tomorrow I'll have them change the locks & I won't even have to change my address on all my accounts.
8) After 20-30 minutes on the phone trying to get the right number for reporting my bank card stolen, I get in touch with someone who can help. Card cancelled, new one being send (not to the PO Box), and NO fraudulent charges!! They had to verify my last deposit date & amount...guess what? I was carrying my paystub with me today cuz I just got paid today. Also, I NEVER carry my checkbook with me, and I haven't memorized my new checking account #. Ya, I ordered something from Avon last week (which I also NEVER do) and had my check book with my account number handy enough to be able to expidite the cancelling of my check card.
9) I had $40 cash in my stolen-wallet. Which I honestly think might be the reason the card wasn't used. Maybe they were still shopping; maybe they did a bee-line and left with their newfound treasure, I dunno. I'm just grateful that my entire paycheck wasn't depleted (a miracle it wasn't even touched), and that I was able to catch it quickly.
10) I know about the credit agencies - Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. I know to call them and place a fraud alert on my credit info. REALLY nice thing about it, is that I only had to call one, and they placed the fraud alert for all 3. RIGHT ON!!
11) As pointed out by my co-worker, I have the chance to get a really GREAT new Driver's License photo. Heck ya, bring it on.
12) My roommate was available and willing to help. She was there within 20 minutes. Which felt like a lifetime, but I was filling out the police paperwork most of that time.
13) My car alarm 'just started acting funny' last week. Usually it audibly beeps when you press the keyfob and locks/unlocks. Well, the audible part mysteriously quit working. It will flash the taillights and still lock/unlock, but doesn't make any sound when you press the buttons. And it does still sound when I press the panic/alarm button. Just not when I press the lock/unlock buttons.
14) Also, my keyfob doesn't have my vehicle make symbol on it. It's an actual car alarm keyfob, so it only has the alarm manufacture symbol on it. Granted, my car key has the car symbol on it, but hopefully my thief isn't so quick on the draw, and no one else will be able to find me or my car after this. I AM planning on having the alarm re-coded. Beautiful thing about the alarm is that if the alarm isn't deactivated properly, the engine won't start. It won't help that you have the correct key and can open the doors, there's a kill-switch which activates for the engine. I know this from experience. And the alarm is LOUD while you're sitting there turning the key with no results.

So...really, I've got a few things to still do tomorrow morning, and some stuff to follow up on, but my main concern to watch for is identity theft at this point. So I'll pull my credit report every few months to ensure no one is pretending to be me somewhere, and I'll cross my fingers, say my prayers, and hope that whoever got my goods just needed the 40 bucks, and doesn't have any interest in hunting down any of my details, or creating new ones.
Tonight as I was getting ready for bed, I thought about how grateful I am that my home (and my roommate's) is still a safe place. Our safety and property isn't compromised because of information being 'out there' from a theft. I'm not petrified that my car is going to be stolen, and I know that it's still possible for someone to link the information together, but I've made it pretty difficult. ALL my accounts are in my PO Box address. Yay!

So....I've felt an overwhelming amount of gratitude for the fact that in the last year, because of my divorce, I've converted to PO Boxes. I'm grateful for all the little detailed 'conveniences' that made this a very-low-damage theft so far. I'm grateful for the anonymity of a large city to be well-hidden in, and I'm grateful for having the work history of 911 and police-association, to know what to do, and even to have someone go the extra mile for me because they know me.

It all makes me feel very, very taken care of.

But I still need tampons.

:) My roommate has let me have some of hers until I get some. Good roommates ROCK.