I'm able to tell this story without details and would like to hear some opinions on it.
As many of you know, I work a graveyard shift at a 24-hour business. This evening, a customer came in to have some things done. She's a regular customer, she and I are Facebook friends, we talk fairly frequently when she comes in. While we're not friends per se, she's a "good acquaintance", for lack of a better term. She went out to her car to get some things, leaving her laptop inside and out of my line of sight. In the few minutes she was at her car, the laptop was stolen. From her car, she saw a man leaving with something hidden under his jacket, but didn't realize until she had come back in that it was her computer. She described the man to me, and I know exactly who it was because he's in the store every night. Now here's where this gets interesting. The guy that took her laptop is a pimp. His "ladies" are in the store to use the restroom every night, and he drops by to check on them. I don't know what sort of weaponry he carries, if any, but I know what he does for a living.
Going to the police wouldn't do me any good - they'll fill out a report and do nothing about it, and a few other reasons I won't mention here. So here are my options as I see them:
1. Do nothing. Forget about it. Go on with my life.
2. Ask the guy for the laptop back when he comes in next. This seems like a dangerous thing to do.
3. Tell one of the "ladies" to convey the message that if the computer were to mysteriously turn up, we'd all say "No harm, no foul." and no police would get involved. This also seems like a dangerous thing to do, and involves using the cops as an empty threat.
What does everyone think? I feel like I should do something, but putting my neck on the line for a computer doesn't seem like the wisest of moves.
It is a very interesting moral dilemma. Informing the cops is about all you can really do to avoid a dangerous situation. But as you said they'll probably do nothing about it. Honestly I would probably do nothing. Forget about it. Go on with my life. But i'm spineless and don't see a reason to risk my well being for someone a barely know, especially when she probably could of taken the laptop to the car with her or at least asked for you to keep an eye on it.
What a sucky situation. :(
I would probably just make a report and in that report include the information you suspect with regard to this man's line of work. It's their job to judge and assume the risks with regard to the public good. If they judge that the danger is not worth it, then it's probably not. Things are replaceable, that much cannot be said about people.
"Crime doesn't keep the Sabbath"
Yeah, but definitely don't confront the pimp or his "ladies".
See the way my body's glowing? Yeah, a lot of people can't do that.
What I would do is hardly advisable, nor something I could see you doing, Adam, so I'll just say file a police report with TONS of information (where this guy can be found, the fact that his "ladies" [ugh] are at your place of employment nightly). Probably don't go into crime-fighting.
"Your goodness must have some edge to it — else it is none."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
The problem with the option is that it put the women, who are already in what sounds like a dangerous situation, directly in harms way if he is violently inclined.
I'm inclined to agree with Beevolant. Make a detailed police report and hope that some good comes of it.
Side note: Sex workers are people too, and every bit as deserving of your respect as non-sex workers. Their profession is not who they are as a person any more than my job is all I am. Whether intended or not, the way people have been using "ladies" comes off really condescending based just on how they make a living, and that's not cool.
I take the words. I scatter them in time... and space.
A message to lead myself here.
I'd have to disagree with you there. The second point anyway. I can think of numerous professions a person can choose that are not as deserving of a persons respect as someone else (at least for the definition of respect you use). Ones that come to mind off the top of my head would include assassins, slave traders, drug dealers (more so on the high end than the low end), etc.
Note, I'm not saying sex-workers deserve less respect, nor am I saying they are in the same group as that stated list, but rather I'm saying that a person's profession (especially if a chosen profession) can be a factor in determining the respect they deserve (at least relative to a given culture and civilization).
Do good, I? No! Evil anon I deliver, I maim nine more hero men in Miami, sanitary sword a-tuck, carol I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero men in Saginaw. Reviled I, Nona, live on. I do... o, God!
TheJayMann, I don't want to derail the thread any further, so I'll just say that I wasn't referencing any professions like the ones you listed so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. If you really want to continue this convo feel free to PM me, but I'm not going to engage in it in this forum any more.
I take the words. I scatter them in time... and space.
A message to lead myself here.
Additionally, I only use the term "ladies" because it's the easiest, most all-age appropriate way to convey who I'm talking about and what their profession (Ladies of the Night) is in a public forum. I see these women every single night, I greet them, I engage in small talk with them, I treat them no different than anyone else that walks through the door.
How do you give someone a message without them knowing you gave them a message? Perhaps there's a way to at least ask for the computer back w/out letting the pimp know it's _you_ who is asking. Better be very, very sure, though.
Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel
Now it's starting to sound like the beginning of a bad spy-ish action movie :P
I take the words. I scatter them in time... and space.
A message to lead myself here.
You should simply encourage the "good aquantance" to file a police report herself. You are not the offended party, and it is not your responsibility to rectify the situation. You might mention to her that you have an idea as to the suspect, and would be willing to talk to the police about what you saw. If your friend fails to do this, she accepts the material loss.
If the place where you work has security footage of the parking lot, you may wish to review that, or offer it to the police.
Above all, do not try to take matters into your own hands.
"He robbed from the rich and he-
gave to the poor.
Stood up to the Man and he-
gave him what for.
Our love for him now,
aint hard to explain,
the hero of Canton,
the man they call "Jayne""
Yeah, have to agree on this. You would be surprised how much the police can - and will - do if you can identify the person who stole the item - especially if you have some kind of surveillance to contribute.
Good luck...
Rabit
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
My guess, based on his reaction, is that he really doesn't want the police to go through the surveillance information, at least not so long as he still works there. I have a few thoughts as to why that may be, but I don't think I'll elaborate on them; it wouldn't really be respectful. I'd say, unless she starts coming after you, don't worry about it. Really, it's her fault leaving it unattended like that.
Do good, I? No! Evil anon I deliver, I maim nine more hero men in Miami, sanitary sword a-tuck, carol I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero men in Saginaw. Reviled I, Nona, live on. I do... o, God!
Basically I spend a lot of time reading comics and posting on a certain message board at work. :P
Hmm.... I spend a lot of time posting on a certain message board at work as well. I doubt anyone notices; they likely think I'm just doing research for the applications I'm developing
Do good, I? No! Evil anon I deliver, I maim nine more hero men in Miami, sanitary sword a-tuck, carol I. Lo! Rack, cut a drowsy rat in Aswan. I gas nine more hero men in Saginaw. Reviled I, Nona, live on. I do... o, God!