What tools have you had stolen?

[Bacon Man]

So I come in on my first day back from vacation, walk into a room where only maintenance guys and higher ups can access, and see my tool cart flipped over and tool box broken into with my tools rooted through. This was the list of items i turned into my boss.

Proto 16oz Hammer
A few Greenlee 11-1 screwdrivers
Proto 1/2" impact socket set.
3 Irwin Utility knives
Kennedy wrench set
Cornwell drift pins
Chicago Latrobe extractor set
Craftsman pass through ratchet
Westward torque wrench
Proto 3/8 pear head ratchet
Gearwrench flex head metrics
Dremel engraver

My boss says it was my fault that i didn't secure the tools so i loaded what was left up in my truck and was getting ready to leave when the one day shift supervisor ran out and stopped me and said I could use tool replacement on some "broken" tools

I told him the issue and he went and had everyone under him open their boxes for me to go through, nothing was there.

However one of the guys gave me a nupla hammer to replace the proto and a Irwin to replace one of the Greenlee's.

Come shift change the afternoons guys had to report to their boxes and open them up for me to go through, found my utility knives that I engraved but he said he found them and smirked because he knew we couldn't prove it. Got them back at least.

When family steals from you it hurts
When Co-workers who you're supposed to work side by side with steal from you it *****

But when you know who did it and can't do anything about it. You get pissed thinking about it.

 

[WhiskeyRanger]

I've had a few tools borrowed than left on job sites, but nothing big. The worst I had stolen was my long handled comfort grip Mac 3/8 ratchet. I loved that ratchet and apparently so did the thieving SOB that the insurance company sent out to do a board up on my garage.

It could be worse. We had a guy who worked in a less traveled area of the plant. One day he came in and his whole tool box was gone. An entire Waterloo 11 drawer with matching top box just disappeared. Keep in mind, we run 24-7 and there is always someone in that area, just not that many folks. We are pretty sure that someone who didn't like him just hid it somewhere. We figure it will turn up behind some old equipment one day. Of course the guy it belonged to died last year, so it doesn't matter much now.

 

[tym]

Nothing that I can remember ,but I watched a place I worked at a long time ago steal a guys tools that passed away.The company said his wife didn't want them but we found out about a year later that she was told he used company tools.There wasn't anything we could do about it ,the tools were long gone by then.

There's a special place in hell for people who'd deceive a grieving widow like that.

 

[AZ Pete]

My step son use to do remodels of retail shops. He would have to park in the alley behind while working inside. He had everything in his truck stolen more than once, chained down or not. Sad


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[Sugarfryz]

Oh I got one. Luckily it doesn't involve me.

A few years back I worked at a rather large Honda dealership, about 20 techs. I guess a year before I started the place was under construction for a short period of time, and was left pretty easy to get into. Well there was about 20 techs at the time like I said, and I guess in the middle of the night, someone took 3 box trucks (no license plates) backed it up to the door and literally rolled EVERYONES boxes on the truck. Well all but one person, who just happened To wax his box THAT day, so they couldn't get any prints off of it. The dealership ended up having to cancel all its appointments for the week, I mean there was literally no tools.

Luckily I work in a shop now that I never even lock my toolbox, I trust everyone. We do have a lot of customers coming through, but honestly I've lost a few tools in the parking lot (snap on) and they've actually picked it up and returned it. I'm a lucky guy

 

[BK13]

When I moved in with my GF, her mid-30 year old son was staying with her, ‘until he could find a job’. (You gotta look to find one, and that takes away from your weed smoking and baseball and cartoon watching time.) The little ***** ended up stealing a Milwaukee M12 hammerdrill kit, my Husquvarna chain saw, all my metric Carlyle sockets (left the SAE) a couple Proto ratchets, a Fender Stratocaster, and my camera bag with eight lenses, two bodies, a half dozen memory card, and a couple flash units. Not to mention prescription narcotics from his mother.


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[honcho]

My brother and I had a small utility trailer with a riding lawnmower on it stolen. The trailer had both a coupler lock and was chained to a pillar but they were no real deterrents to the thief. As the trailer / mower was stored at an infrequently occupied rural property, we knew it wasn't that safe from thieves. I had considered taking the wheels off the trailer but thinking and doing are two different things. The only consolation was that the mower had a blown engine.

 

[GTO]

None,thank God

 

[Billythekid1]

I had a roommate fake a break in at our house kicked the front door in I was the only one missing stuff mainly my safe not bolted down and ak47 after a few years I'm talking to some random chic at a bar she tells me u use to live with Shane right she then tells me he is the one that broke into the house and that the ak is in the attic and the safe was in the bushes across the street at a unoccupied house I'm like no way I go home sure as shuttle ak is in the attic slight rust but there and I couldn't find the safe I'm sure he took it somewhere n got it opened but atleast I got my gun back so I see him at a bar and confront him and he acts like he knows nothing about it I spit on him trying to get him to fight me but he just sat there with spit rolling down his face by girlfriend at the time pushed me out the door and I left the whole town knows he is a ************* I'm sure he will get his with time

 

[stercorarius]

Worst part of having my service truck broken into in the equipment yard is the boss's response being, "at least we know there's a thief around now" Yeah no ****. Still irritates me thinking about it since it was less than a month ago.

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[jives]

Way back when in grad school I brought my tools into our lab to work on some equipment. After about a week I noticed one tool gone, a 1/2" Snap-On ratchet that used to belong to my grandfather, then my father, probably from the 1930s or 40s. I'm certain a janitor took it, as access to the lab was very restricted. That was 25 years ago and to this day it makes me heartsick.

 

[MushCreek]

The one that hurt the most was a small precision grinding vise that I made. I worked in a shop with nothing but professional tool makers, all of whom knew me and my tools. We had all been there for years. It had my 'logo' burned into it- my initials around a small anchor. There's no way that someone there DIDN'T know who it belonged to. Yet- it came up missing, at the same time one of the sketchier employees left to go somewhere else. Can I prove he took it? No. I've since made another, better one, but it still bugs me.

 

[engineer2]

I used to live in a crappy part of a crappy town. One night I forgot to set the alarm system on my truck, a thief pried open the vent window and stole my floor jack and... the truck's alarm system.

 

[scooterGA]

Worked for a shop back in the early 2000's in Florida that got broken into, alarm system disabled. Pro's did it over a weekend. We got cleaned out. 5 techs lost everything except boxes. Owners had a very strict policy in handbook about not being responsible for personal property and found out it was legit. Had to start over with nothing but an empty KR1000 and side box. All told probably would have cost me 35K but had it all listed on my homeowners insurance so I was made whole after deduc but it took lots of time and forms and BS. Unfortunately the other guys in shop lost everything in their boxes and carts. Never again have I ever gone home and not locked everything up I have. Was a bad experience for sure. Lots of lessons learned

 

[Robert Haas]

How about every single tool I owned and to add insult to injury, the drawers out of my tool box too.

I own a business and have several employees, they are all good folks and I trust them all. One fine day a man walked into my office and introduced himself as the minister to a local congregation and they had an outreach program for recently released non violent inmates. He asked if I would like to meet one of them, a young man that had made some bad choices who never had been in trouble before his incarceration. He had a wife and infant daughter and he just needed a break.

It was christian thing to do I reckon so I sat down with this kid and we had a nice long conversation, I liked him and decided to give him the break he so desperately needed.

He worked for me for 2 years, I built up a solid trust in him and he was given full access to the company, he had his own alarm code, keys to the doors etc. He joined a local martial arts gym and started hanging out with some pretty sketchy folks, his attitude went sideways and his work and punctuality declined massively. We had a heart to heart and he basically told me to mind my own business and other unsavory comments, I fired him on the spot. He packed his **** tossed the keys on the floor and walked.

12 days later he came back on a Saturday night with a few friends and broke into the shop and stole everything, hell he even stole one of our trucks to haul everything off in.
I actually broke down and cried. I can not begin to describe how gutted I was.

I had huge personal loss and the shop was put out of business for 2 weeks while we begged borrowed and did without while we dealt with insurance companies and disgruntled customers.


Today, years later I still go to my new box to grab a special tool only to remember it had been stolen way back then. Some of those special tools were gifts from my father. It still puts a tear in my eye, hell I am kinda weepy telling you folks about it.