Saturday, March 10, 2012

Sting Operation...

I generally look forward to Saturdays as a time to sleep in just a little after the normal 4:30 alarms throughout the work week.  I start each workday with a run or other workout, but on the weekends I can usually enjoy a later run outside.  Today started out much different than most Saturdays.  You see, lately I have had to report a problem with my newspaper delivery.  In fact, many days in the past 2+ months, the paper has either been missing from my paper box or has only consisted of a partial delivery (Business section only).   I am not a big newspaper guy, but I do enjoy looking at the day's headlines and taking some extra time to read the daily sports report.  I could probably do without a weekday paper, but I was surprised to see the cost was actually less for a daily delivery than it was for weekends only, so I have gone ahead with the daily paper for the past 2 or 3 years. 
I first thought the missing paper (or section) was a delivery error and began calling each time the paper was missing.  The calls became more frequent and my suspicion began to grow.  I decided today would be Day1 of my private sting operation.  Having already passed my usual wake-up time, I was tossing and turning when I heard a truck passing the house at 5:00 a.m.  I looked outside and realized the paper was delivered and decided to come downstairs to set up my lookout post.  That's where I am right now. 
I already checked the box and noticed a perfect delivery.  All (3) sections were seurely tucked away - well done, paper delivery man (or woman).  I decided if this was a case of a stolen paper, to make it easier for my thief, I needed to make it more accessible.  So... I positioned my paper in a way that would be easy to grab while making just a brief stop along the way.  Game on....
I hate to suspect a neighborhood thief, but this problem has continued to worsen.  Surely my delivery person would get tired of the constant complaints from this address and pay more attention to the delivery at this location.  In fact, I would really feel bad if it was a thief because my delivery person is probably reprimanded when he or she is actually doing the job correctly each day.  
I have been at my post for nearly 75 minutes and have not had a single car go by the house.  What if I don't catch the thief today?  What if there really isn't a thief?  What will I do if I do catch a neighborly thief?   I'm not sure what my next step will be.
I really don't like the idea of all this down time.  In fact, the 75 minutes I have taken so far could have been used to run the (7) miles I need to log at some point today.  I really need to start my day.  But for now I'll wait... and wait some more...

To be continued..... 

7 comments:

  1. I can' wait to find out. I still enjoy reading the newspaper and am always sad when it is not here in the morning. I finally have a person who delivers it at 5:30 on weekdays, but the weekends can be a little more sketchy! Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A missing newspaper makes for a bad start for a day. Sadly, our big city paper stopped delivery a few years ago. I can ignore the fun part of the day during the school year, but in the summer I really miss it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Perhaps you need to borrow a video camera? I no longer have the paper delivered, but when I did, there was no better way to ruin the day than to not have the paper when it was supposed to be there. Uh, bad sentence. Good luck catching your thief.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with you, there are much better ways for you to be spending day. I'm sorry you have to be doing such things. However, I'm with you that this needs to be done. I am surprised that your delivery person does not want to catch this person him/herself as he knows he is making the correct delivery! I do hope you get the bottom of the situation. We recently had a situation with vandalism with our cars. The camera was our solution. Case solved! Good luck! Let us know! I run as well and I know if I don't get going when I am ready to go, I tend to slack, so I hope you got to get that in too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dun...Dun...Dun....perhaps this will make a teachable moment in the workplace. I admire your persistence.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can't wait for the next installment. You will get to the bottom of this mystery.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hope you caught the culprit! I'll check back for updates!

    ReplyDelete