One of the coaches was wandering around barefoot after freestyle was over. She drew Miss Bianca aside and said her shoes were missing. Knock off Uggs, but apparently someone really, really wanted them.
And they never turned up. The coach had to drive home barefoot. Theft has finally reached my home rink.
I admit that when I first started skating, I worried about someone stealing my shoes. I used to keep a spare pair in the car, just in case. I guess I need to start doing that again.
The other rink I skate at has had signs up about theft for over a year now. Someone would walk off with hockey equipment, and sometimes just pick up a skate bag during the LTS class (I guess just hoping there was a wallet in it). That rink I could understand it happening. It's a mall rink with people wandering in and out. My home rink is a rink rink.
Well, the coaches don't have a pros room. They store their bags in an out of the way place, but it's not locked or particularly hidden. Still it seems like an inside job. You have to know the rink and its customs.
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| This only works if the thief knows where the wallet is. |
Anyway, the same day I had to move a gift bag to get to my skate bag. When I bent down to lift it aside, I saw a cell phone on top. Some people are begging to be ripped off.
I skate at a mall rink and I'm shocked at what people leave sitting out in plain sight. I only bring in what fits in the small zippered pouch I can put in my pants pocket while I skate. I know skaters who have had phones and other things taken.
ReplyDeleteI used to always skate freestyle. Rink is deserted and never had any problems. Until I took a LTS skate class. The rink was pretty crowded with day long classes. There are no lockers, but I did what I normally do. Find a bench out of the way, zip everything up in my bag, and tuck it all under the bench. I had someone go into my skate bag and steal money from my wallet. Like $60. I learned the hard way not to bring my wallet in the rink anymore.
ReplyDeleteI don't care what your reason for stealing. There's a special place in hell for you.
Not to creep you out, but someone must have had their eye on you and made sure you were on the ice.
DeleteI skate at a mall rink. In the 7 years there I've never heard of anyone having something taken (stuff just gets left out) and I've only heard one story of someone having a wallet stolen years before I got there. Oddly, that wallet was taken during freestyle, when very few people are on the property (the mall is not officially opened) and not during publics or LTS.
ReplyDeleteYep, theft at the rink is almost always an inside job. Another skater or staff.
DeleteI don't bring phones, wallets, etc. into the rink and I don't like to skate with a bunch of stuff in my pockets for fear of falling and either busting the item in question or having it injury me. My car key is the only exception to that rule and so far I don't have any impressions of it in the side of my leg.
ReplyDeleteAs in your report above, my shoes are vulnerable as are my hard guards, terri blade covers, micro fiber drying towel and misc small items like spare laces. All that goes in a cloth grocery bag along with the shoes, under a bench in the lobby. I've had a set of hard guards disappear but so far nobody seems to want the other stuff. I use the same philosophy about shoes that I use for attending boat shows (where they make you remove them before boarding an expensive yacht to look around)--I wear my worst looking pair. My old paint stained shoes are always there when I get off a boat or the ice. So far nobody has been that hard up.
Now I know my strategy probably isn't transferable across genders in as much as most women wouldn't be caught dead wearing ugly shoes but ugly shoes just might be better than going around bare foot in January!
To quote the original version of "Wicked" (they've since taken this out because people were offended)... "That corn-fed hick stole my sister's shoes. Who steals shoes?!?" (Talking about Dorothy and the ruby slippers, which, she actually stole.)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, that really sucks. I'm going to guess you don't live where the arctic blast is blowing cold and colder still. Having to drive barefoot is out of the question; you still have to walk to your car!!
What in the wide-wide-world of sports is wrong with people?
Particularly since Uggs went out of fashion two years ago!
DeleteSeriously, right??? They're ugly and they make your feet sweat. Why would you want someone else's Uggs???
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