Shop Broken Into

Unrelated Discussion
1

As many of you know, I’m a part owner in a beauty and barber college.

Last night, someone broke in. I think. I’m not sure the details yet as I’m being denied information. From who? Why, my family, the in-laws, who are the other owners. Why? Because that’s how they operate. Don’t even get me started.

I was scheduled to do some database work and some other work on the computerized testing system. I’ll then be able to see the damage for myself. The only thing they are really telling me now is that the doors are messed up, which is telling me someone probably hopped the curb and plowed through the doors with their car. I’m hoping that’s the case and it wasn’t an intentional thing. If it was this, then the funny part is that it has happened before, like 8 years ago. Due to the type of damage I don’t feel this it your typical run of the mill “crime of opportunity” done by a low-income person. As there is a laundromat and a Little Ceasars next door, and an AutoZone around the corner, I’m actually leaning towards some idiot for Little Ceasars forgetting to put their car in park and then running into Little Ceasars to get a pizza real fast. What is somewhat comforting is that it appears nearly do other damage was done. The shopping center this shop is located in is patrolled by armed security. While I don’t know or trust that security, I would hope that they never have need to draw their sidearm. At the same time, because this is in a crappy area. there is crime all over the place, which is most likely why the security is armed.

Anyhow, once I am allowed to see the damages, I have to find $1000 to pay the insurance deductible. I think it’s now time to see if we can afford an alarm system with cameras, although that’s doubtful since we can’t even come up with the $1000 deductible.

Please, I’m not asking for any help financially, nor do I want anything from you guys and girls. That is, UNLESS you want low price hair cuts performed by our students so they have people to practice on. I’m mostly giving notice here to let you guys know that I may be going away for a bit. I really won’t know more for a while.

If I drop out for a while, no need to worry. If anyone NEEDS to contact me, my phone number is in my signature and if you can’t find it there, you can hit my website and get it from there as it is on every single page. Even if I drop out, I’ll still be getting PM notices via email, to which I will try to respond quickly.

2

Woah, that’s really really bad.

I hope this is figured out and everything gets better!

I’ll pray that it all works out. :-\

3

So sorry

4

Good luck on the repairs and such. Sorry:(

5

Here’s the extent of the damage:

My mother in law’s kit was stolen. AN expensive hair drier, expensive scissors and clippers. That and the stuff of an advanced student who also has good stuff and has her station next to my mother in law’s.

They also removed $9 in cash from the cash drawer(no register, that’s a whole other batch of stupid that doesn’t involve theft, just stupidity).

Glass was a dual layer coated pane. It appears a hammer was used to bust it out. Cost to replace the glass? $200. Cost to repair the door? None needed, door was fine.

Not even enough damage to make an insurance claim. Not enough loss to justify a claim either. They are telling me they are now going to consider my suggestions to install a camera system. They are also going to go back to locking other doors within the facility, which unfortunately still leaves loads of gear exposed for future attacks. Just not much that can be done about that without things getting crazy, such as with very large rolling carts that can be moved back and forth.

There was bits of glass that ejected from the pane everywhere. It’s gonna take some time to really snag it all.

Totally overblown. Way. Bad? Yes. Acceptable? No. Am I gonna lose sleep over this? Nope.

On the positive side, I got the work done that I was scheduled to handle over there.

We’re suspecting one of 2 students is in on it. Too targeted, too precise and loads of higher dollar items were completely ignored yet could have been grabbed quickly as well as many other objects of opportunity.

I was so traumatized by this, I shot the footage for my Aquarius unboxing video. I am also cleaning a pair of bearings of the 6 that Jacob Gross sent to me to clean and treat. This is the last 2 of 6.

I can’t wait to get the video edited. As some of you may have noticed, I do different things in each video, kind of focusing on one new element. I’ve got a few tricks planned for this. No idea how it will come out. Hopefully it comes out good!

6

Maybe you should sell your Ti5? maybe a couple CLYW? you could get an easy $1000 for a Ti5 and 4-6 CLYWs.

7

No.

A little background:
In LATE 2004, when they opened the shop, they borrowed money from me. $17000.00. Never paid back one cent of it.

In 2005, for their grand opening, they had me set up my sound system for an outdoor grand opening concert. I requested IN WRITING to have the sprinklers turned off. They didn’t. Sprinklers went off MINUTES before the event was to start. My gear took $80,000 in damage. Yes, a few seconds is all it takes.

Due to their failure to repay me, I was unable to place an order for equipment for a client, of which I would have made 40% profit. I lost that client. As a result, that began a cascade of failures of me being unable to raise capital to find future equipment purchases for clients, of which I had stuff planned out that would have been $3+ million that year. And my clients buy regularly, so we’re talking about recurring revenue. Lost. Reputation damaged.

The past 4 years, I’ve dumped another additional $200K into it, until 2011, when something rotten began to happen. $25K on a horrific redecorating job and other improvements that were just ugly beyond words. The business was bleeding money because of their lack of accounting and the kids of the owners robbing them(the parents, who are the founders/principle owners) blind. They lost their house and lost their cars, but I’m somehow to blame because of their lack of financial planning. I guess it is my fault for enabling their bad business practices. But, then again, when someone takes trips to Vietnam like crazy to score some “love”(knock 'em up and marry 'em and them import them and don’t teach them English so they’ll be more compliant in the United States) and then at the same time turns that into a 3 month vacation and hauls $15K with them to blow in the country. At the same time, while another(my father in law) takes an 8 month vacation to cheat on his wife, well, one kinda gets tired of the same pattern of behavior.

Ever since a trip in 2008, followed by a trip in 2010, then another later in 2010 that lapped into 2011, my father in law has been nagged CONSTANTLY(yes, darn near every waking moment) since a suspected(then confirmed) brief affair on the 2008 trip. Apparently learning nothing, the pattern of behaviors repeats constantly, and hence the nagging. No doubt sick of this, the loss of control of his business due to greedy theiving kids, the non-stop verbal assaults from his wife over crap he did, and his constant paranoia that he caught some sort of STD(despite testing clean) and health problems resulting from stress and taking questionable medicines in Vietnam(some sort of supposed herbal viagra for example), which no doubt pegged when his youngest daughter was shot by an assault rifle by an Asian gang banger spraying bullets at a FUNERAL PRAYER at a residence(she survived), well, I think that did it. The day after my sister in law was shot, my immediate family(wife and 4 kids) took our pre-planned vacation to Disneyland the Friday before the week of Thanksgiving, of which we returned the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The Monday after Thanksgiving, he decided to end it all, after no doubt scouting out locations the Saturday after Thanksgiving. During the AM rush hour commute, he decided to run out onto the freeway in front of an 18-wheeler and ended his life.

Oh wait, too much sharing.

No, I’ve dumped too much of my cash into it. I almost lost MY house over this. Not willing to lose anything else over this. Just want to get my money back, buy a new digital console and market that console to get more jobs. They have a financial investor and I’m petitioning to be bought out so I can walk away from that situation entirely and only be involved for handling IT functions.

I work hard, I play hard. They hardly work, and they play with others’ money. Lesson learned.

So, no. I’m not going to sell any yoyos. I’ve earned them. I’m not going to sell any audio gear, I’ve earned it and paid every last cent of it and am debt free on all of it, no overhead.

You can see why I have issues with depression. I also think I have an allergy to stupidity. But, that’s why I throw. For those few minutes, there is NO other distractions, world or anything. Those brief breaks keep my mind off the bad and onto something enjoyable. I’m in a “zone”. Not as great as when I’m mixing sound for a concert, but still enjoyable.

OK, too much. Go eat some cookies or something. I apologize if I bummed anyone out. But, what I hope I did relay is that something as simple as a toy can be just the thing someone needs to ensure they keep the proper focus.

1 Like
8

Sorry to hear that Chris, I know how yah feel. I know it’s hard, I’ll keep you in my prayers! :wink: you WILL make it through!

9

Aren’t you like… 10? lol

10

I’ll be fine. Depression sucks, but I’ve been through worse. This is just the time of year when it kinda peaks, and then after I get to do back to back concerts at SacAnime(I get a rush doing sound for concerts), I’ll be a bit better.

No worries. I got a show next week to prep for and I’m trying to do final renders on my Aquarius unboxing video. I got plenty to keep my mind on the important tasks.

11

The only question i have is why youre dealing with those people… I know they’re your family but they clearly can’t be great family.

12

Hope you feel better man! And I hope you find those robbers and have them locked up.

13

I’m married into it. It’s a lot of people with bad mentalities and too much feeling of entitlement, coupled with “old world” traditions that don’t work anymore.

It could be worse. Due to the destructive nature of my side of the family, I haven’t had any contact with them in 6 years. Unfortunately, it’s necessary to protect my immediate family. It’s not violence, it’s just emotional cruelty and anger that’s unguided, misplaced and pervasive, and I don’t need my wife and kids exposed to that kind of behavior!

I’m feeling pretty good actually. I got my Aquarius unboxing footage shot last night. Can you believe I’ve been sitting on that box since it arrived on Cyber Monday? Here it is almost 5 weeks later. This box arrived at the same time as the Gnarwal and Puffin arrived in my first unboxing video. I’ve been editing and rendering all day, learning new tricks with Sony Vegas and having a great time. Failing like mad, but then learning from it.

But in regards to the crime: I have suspects in mind. If it’s who I think it is, there will be internal repercussions that are actually spelled out in the student contract. So I have little worries about that. As far as if I get solid evidence and can have the criminal(s) captured, the total damage and theft is insufficient to file an insurance claim, so it’s a misdemeanor. I only request they are punished according to what the law mandates.

In the meantime, I’ve made my push again to insist that a multi-camera system be installed. The only bad thing is due to the ISP, we cannot do VPN since they are filtering out those ports, so remote monitoring is not possible. Can’t VPN in, can’t VPN out. I do networks for my main income, so I’m familiar with this stuff.

They were broken into before. YEARS ago. But this was tied to a string of break-ins in the entire shopping center, and really, the thieves really didn’t get anywhere beyond damaging some stuff at the various places they hit.

So, no worries. I’ve actually already put this incident behind me. I’ve seen the damage, had my say and moved on.

14

Sorry to hear all this man. Get out. As fast as possible. Sooner you’re out, sooner you will be happier

Sent from Ice Cream Sandwich Eatin’ Optimus V

15

I’m only working in the function of a consultant/IT person now. Other than that I show zero interest.

More time to yoyo. More time to work on other stuff. What goes on inside there otherwise is really nothing I concern myself with. It angers my wife, but she’s seen how they’ve killed my profitable business and destroyed my bank account. Nobody questions me anymore!