I saw you as I was walking my dog. When I looked back and saw you getting ready to break into my truck, I knew there was nothing I could do. When you are a girl and you realize that there are two guys about to rip you off, you end up succumbing to the feeling you had in grade school when the bully is stealing your lunch money and all you can do is hand it over. Everything about that situation was not right, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I’m sure you didn’t know it was my truck. I bet you were surprised when you found some snow chains, a few stinky dog toys, and some beach blankets in the box you stole out of my truck. Sometimes it sucks being a girl. I hope those chains come in handy, sport. 
I, Anonymous
Girl Powerless
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The writer makes a convincing case for all women to carry a mobile phone and to have emergency numbers on speed dial.
Uh, sic your dog on ’em? Isn’t that what dogs are for?
Or you could call the po-po? just a thought ya’ fuckin genius.
@2, that would prompt Dan writing a SLOG post about how her dog should be banned from Seattle or something.
Camera Phone? Police? Mace? Your dog? There are options.
ugh so boring
Wow.
In my personal experience, it doesn’t suck to be a girl.
It sucks to be a simpering, cute, helpless “I feel like such a little baby” girl.
Perhaps its time you become a woman…. and get a real dog.
Seattleites are a bunch of haters!
Being a victim continues to compound itself, where you can’t find solutions, even though they are right in front of you. Therapy might be a solution to get you out of your victimhood consciousness.
Also, you saw the guys, right? You could give an accurate description to the cops, right? So….
sigh
You know, people, Seattle comes accross as a rough, godless place (I’m not even religious), and I’ve lived in a few. Toronto and Vancouver to name 2. Man, I never want to visit a place where anything goes and real Love and human compassion don’t seem to exist.
Train your dog to be your protector as well as your companion and learn how to fight. You are not helpless. No one is. If you see someone breaking into your truck, do something about it. In most cases, if you approach a thief in action, he’s going to take off to avoid getting caught. I work at a place where car thefts are a weekly occurrence and I have caught many people about to stick a slim jim in my car door. As soon as I approach, keys in hand, they run. Don’t be afraid to say something to someone who violates you in any way. If they attack you, that’s the way it was meant to happen. If you stand up for yourself and still get hurt, at least you can say you didn’t go down without a fight. Also, if they didn’t take anything of value and they didn’t damage your truck in the process of breaking in, what the hell are you complaining about?
I’m so sorry, that sucks… but hey, did you have insurance? Don’t you get a new car?
According to the cop who did my recent neighborhood watch meeting, you shouldn’t try and stop someone in the commission of a crime. They may be armed, they may be crazy, it’s just not worth it. People get shot for stupid reasons (I got punched in the face by a mugger for taking too long to hand over my purse–because I was sort of freaked out by the gun to my head, not moving as quickly as I could). You *should* get as good as description as possible, and call the cops on your cell ASAP.
It doesn’t sound as though anything you had in that truck was worth you or your dog getting hurt over.
If it’s any consolation,
1) Guys often back away from dangerous confrontations, too.
2) The two losers who ripped off your truck are probably leading unhappy lives.
@anh: different situation, but i was punched in the face by a random crazy guy who thought i was trying to kill him or something. he broke half my face and now it’s all fucked up and i’m left with the medical bills for it. so would i try to stop some potentially crazy person from breaking into my car? no. ’cause guess what? it doesn’t feel good to get beat up by a stranger. it feels shitty. and it feels extra shitty to then have to pay out of your own pocket for the surgery you now require.
however, i would have immediately phoned the police and given them a good description of the guys.
Even if you were 50 yards away, you could yell, “HEY!” and the guys would probably stop what they were doing, look up, and then run off. I wouldn’t try to physically stop two guys trying to break into my car, but letting them know they’ve been seen could potentially go a long way to stop a crime in progress.
you watched them do this?
you did nothing? a scream, a yell, a whistle…..fuck, squeeze out a loud fart and they would’ve realized witnesses are about.
sorry this happened. definatly not saying you should’ve jumped em and kicked ass but, you were given an opportunity not many burglary victems have…the chance to scare em off.
you kinda blew it.
She doesn’t say she didn’t call the cops or yell out. She just says that at 50 feet away there was nothing to make them stop even if she had been a big, bad tough guy.
Plus, you’re all assuming her dog is a pit bull, Rottweiler, or German shepard. Her dog could be a chihuahua the size of a squirrel. Even a highly trained attack squirrel-dog is no match against 2 adult drug addicts breaking into a car.
Have you considered taking a martial art? Honestly. Guys are human beings and they share the same frailties common to everyone of this species. They are not invulnerable. Most of the time, all you have to do is to project some confidence. Self defense is 90% theater and 10% ass kicking.
Hey assholes- why on earth are you criticizing a girl for being upset at seeing a couple of pieces of shit rip her off? All of you that are tripping talk a big game, but you know that in reality you’d do what most Seattleites would do: nothing. Not a goddamn fucking thing.
Especially all of you men. It’s laughable to think that any of you would behave any differently.
To the author: Damn, that sucks.
Anon,
Although it may have been helpful to have a camera phone and you might consider that in the future (and self-defense), I totally understand how you feel.
Many years ago when I was in college and living at my parents home for summer break, I had my 2nd floor bedroom window open at night, and I heard a young teenage girl yelling at a bunch of guys who were trying to rape her. (She was yelling “Get off me, you a$$holes!”) I could not see jack except silhouettes – it was too dark. (I’m guessing she was a teen based on her voice and the high, hairsprayed bangs that were popular with teens at the time.) I started yelling out the window to leave her alone, I was calling the police. Their response? They LAUGHED. Laughed!
Fortunately, my younger sister then started yelling out of her window, and we saw the men run off in one direction and the girl run off in another (toward houses). I guess they figured they needed TWO witnesses to be in trouble, I don’t know.
Of course we also called 911, but the police were absolutely useless as they didn’t arrive till 30 minutes after it happened!
Anyway, I’m glad we were able to prevent something far worse from happening, but I felt totally helpless in those few seconds after I yelled and before my sister did.
Buy a gun and learn to use it. A concealed carry license is not hard to get.
@23 24-
If you shoot someone while they burglarize your car, can’t you get in trouble?
I know if you’re at home and someone breaks in, you’re not supposed to shoot unless you have no way out or something like that.
Seattle cops would probably get bummed if you played “shoot ’em up at the OK corral” on the streets for vehicle breaking and entering.
Be neat to find out, though.
@ 1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 17, 18, 20:
Let’s assume the writer and thieves are both of average builds. She’s a woman, they are two guys. Her challenging them is like a normal guy challenging two college linebackers; either one can kick your ass, and there’s two of them, let alone the unknown of whether they have weapons. Forget the movies- A woman with mace and/or martial arts skills should not step to two guys unless she is an athletic freak and/or the guys are particularly physically weak.
It’s easy for you to talk about how the thieves “probably” would have ran if she had yelled at them. Even if this is true, what odds are we talking about? What if there was an 80% chance they would have stopped, a 10% chance they would have kept ripping her off, and a 10% chance they would have hurt her? Would it be worth the 10% chance of being hurt to fight for “some snow chains, a few stinky dog toys, and some beach blankets”? No.
As for giving calling or giving descriptions to the cops: what dream world are you living in? Unless you are in Mayberry or have powerful parents, the cops aren’t going to arrive quickly or waste their time investigating a low-level theft like this.
Two words: Bear spray.
Get yourself a magnum sized can. Works from 30/40 feet away. Capable of incapacitating, uh, a bear. Won’t protect you from a nutter with a gun, but I bet you would have been able to paint these two assholes with it before they made off with your stuff.
How about simply asking “Can I help you with something? That’s my truck.” I’m a 5 foot 2, woman in decent but not superb physical condition and I find that simply making my presence known is usually quite enough to run off most sneaks.
Another option is to scream at the top of your lungs “Hey, Asshole, What the fuck do you think you’re doing!?!”…. drawing the attention of anyone within a half block radius.
Burglers, unlike muggers, typically prefer to do their deeds in silence and stealth- if you blow their cover, they tend to run off.
Whatever made you choose to just allow them to carry on, please don’t blame it on being a woman- Not all of us are available to be the next victim without any resistance.
Sorry that happened to you. I admit that I don’t know what the circumstances were, but I have to be honest and say that your characterization of the event and your non-response to it is actually making me a little sick. I’m with #8, I don’t find that ‘it sucks to be a girl’ and I’ve certainly experienced my share of confrontations. No way would I EVER just stand there and watch two assholes break into my vehicle.
PLEASE read all the responses here – there is MUCH you could have done, from a simple “Hey!”, to shouting for help, throwing something, acting crazy, etc etc etc… I hope you use this incident as your springboard OUT of victim mentality. If you think of yourself as a victim, guess what – you will always be one.
I once saw a guy casing some cars out on my street late one night… I jumped out of bed opened the door and yelled as loud as I could “Get the fuck away from my car” at which point he RAN down the street as fast as he could go. Then I called the police. I’m a woman and I was naked standing there in the doorway but I didn’t care about that. Pays to be a little wacko aggressive sometimes.
Chances are if these guys were breaking into her car, there wasn’t anyone else around to notice. So screaming or yelling “Hey!” wouldn’t attract others to help her, it would only make them aware of her and the fact that she was all alone. Being a victim is a lot different than being a pussy.
@30 yay you for whacko crazy! thought I was the only one. And for anon dude that does sux that your car was messed with. I prob would of done the same thing cause even though i am a tough chick….I’m still a fukken chick and getting hurt, raped, or killed over a replacable truck is so not worth it. Sorry about your truck
#21, I know, right? My eyes are rolled so far back reading these responses from Seattle guys who in reality usually just sit there staring at their IPods pretending to be oblivious while people get fucked with.
I’m a small girl who got her nose broken trying to break up a bus fight where a guy was getting his ass kicked, and even though the bus was packed full of Capitol Hill guys in their 20s and 30s, the only other person who tried to help was another young girl my size. So the macho posturing here is hilarious.
Yeah, Seattle guys are a bunch of pussies! What are they gonna do, throw their big bad DOUBLE TALL LATTE’ or their big bad LIBRARY CARD at the thief? Huh. Pussies!
“the macho posturing here is hilarious.”
Ding!
To clarify, I don’t think any of us are saying that little miss should have gone up and karate chopped the big bad thieves.
But when an individual Hello-Kittifies the fuck out of getting robbed, she deserves a bit of scorn.
Getting robbed is not cute and little.
And when you attempt to personify the dichotomy of helpless little sucky girl (who has) chains trucks and dogs, you are actually sexualizing (for all those truck/dog lovin’ AND ipod/latte lovin’ red-blooded males out there) the fact that you got ripped off.
That is why your post was so damned stupid, and why you garnered so much scorn.
@37: Wow, your genius use of the CAPS LOCK key has just doubled your IQ! And you know, this country was built in some ways on passiveness. George Washington clearly outlined an isolationist policy which was followed to varying extents for the next century or so. That is to say, “unless someone is messing with us, we won’t get involved”. It took the World Wars to snap us out of that. Standing up for oneself “no matter the result” is not always the right thing; if you are clearly out of order and don’t have the sense to sit down, shut up, and concede the point, then you are an arrogant idiot.
By the way, who is this “Boldy” person? And what would we question her about?
Yeah, miss, sucks that your shit got jacked, but standing by and not calling the cops or even shouting for help/confronting those bitches is just stupid. A little bit YDI.
@25, you are right, you can’t shoot someone for trying to break into your truck. However you can shoot someone who is threatening your life. Which means you confront them about breaking into your truck, if they decide to attack instead of run, then you shoot them.
Anon, CPLs in WA state are pretty easy to get, and if you are a resident they last 5 years:
http://www.dol.wa.gov/business/firearms/…
I don’t know where you live but Wade’s Eastside Guns, has a nice shooting range with a variety of training classes:
http://www.wadesguns.com/training-i-59.h…
Also, every Tuesday is ladies day, so you get half off of range fees PLUS free rentals. Meaning you try out scores of different handguns all to see which best suit you (my wife was very particular about her pistol).
http://www.wadesguns.com/the-range-i-54.…
Also here is something worth picking up:
http://www.defendingwomen.com/index.php?…
I bought one for my wife a few years ago, and then again for a friends wife when he deployed this fall.
Victims are totally asking for it by not being prepared for a violent confrontation every single moment of the day. Those weak fucks need to learn that the world has to be approached as a constant threat. I suggest coating your skin with deadly poison, or perhaps teaching your dog to fire a gun. Once you’ve had the satisfaction of killing your attempted attacker/thief/passerby in cold blood, you’ll have the confidence and lack of PTSD you need to make it in the real world.
@41, Do you have the cognitive ability to differentiate between ‘You should take your personal safety seriously’ and ‘You deserve anything bad that happens to you’?
Suggesting remedies to keep this from occurring again is not the same as blaming the victim, and the fact that you can’t see that speaks more about you than those you are trying to attack with your pathetic strawman argument.
Please take a martial art. It’s about more than kicking and punching. It’s also about learning how to deal with overwelming situations where you can suffer physical and emotional harm. It’s really not bad to be a woman(well having a period can suck). And I know some tiny women who would be more than capable of handling that situation, even if it came to blows. You should also have the sense to take a phone with you I you are walking alone in an isolated area. Do not get a gun. If you don’t have the self confidence and common sense to deal with a situation like this unarmed then you are probably going to wind up having your own weapon taken away and used against you. Go develop some coping skills for the world you live in. You don’t have to remain afraid and hateful of your sex.
@43 Ah the old taken away from you and used against you myth. Outside of the movies when has this ever happened?
Well this article may be a little dated, but according to it, none. Zip. Nada. Zero. Zilch. 2.5 Million defensive uses of a firearm a year. No reports of it being taken and used against the victim.
http://ellegon.com/features/data/somethi…
‘Probably….’ LOL
But I do agree that self defense classes are a must. Any kind of class will help teach you situational awareness, probably the most important aspect of self defense. And if someone does decide to purchase a firearm they most definitely need to take a class. I posted a link earlier to Wade’s schedule, I’m sure there are more in the Puget Sound area.
@43 Ah the old taken away from you and used against you myth. Outside of the movies when has this ever happened?
Well this article may be a little dated, but according to it, none. Zip. Nada. Zero. Zilch. 2.5 Million defensive uses of a firearm a year. No reports of it being taken and used against the victim.
http://ellegon.com/features/data/somethi…
‘Probably….’ LOL
But I do agree that self defense classes are a must. Any kind of class will help teach you situational awareness, probably the most important aspect of self defense. And if someone does decide to purchase a firearm they most definitely need to take a class. I posted a link earlier to Wade’s schedule, I’m sure there are more in the Puget Sound area.
It isn’t about being a girl, you did the right thing. If a person wants to mug you, you give them the wallet. If someone is stealing from you, even if you’re a massive football player, I would say play along. If you ran off and attacked them, the situation could have become much worse. Oh yeah, they *could have* ran off, but *could have* isn’t good enough.
As for all of these people saying “you should have done XY and Z, criminals always run off!”, those people do not have a fucking clue. I have been working as a youth probation officer for several years now, before that I worked in youth corrections, and am working on an MA in criminology. I can tell you right now, if there is anything you can say about street criminals, it is that they are unpredictable. A crime like this is done in the moment. They aren’t thinking about the victim, or the possibility of getting caught, or the future. It is done in the moment; they think about what they could win out of it. If you were to have reacted, anything could have happened. They could have attacked you, or they could have ran. Who is to say they weren’t on drugs at the time? Your safety and your dog’s safety are far more valuable than the junk they stole.
Also, who is to say she didn’t call the police? And what difference would it make? He was breaking in at that moment. If she called the police right then and there, they would make a report about it, and give her a case number to tell her insurance company. Oh, and they would advise her not to do anything stupid, like get involved.
@ 43:
“I know some tiny women who would be more than capable of handling that situation, even if it came to blows.”
Really? This is quite an assertion, considering the lack of detail offered. “[S]port” is in the singular, but we should be open to the possibility that there was more than one thief here. There is no information as to the size or apparent athleticness of the thief. Oh, and one more detail … since anon did not confront the thief, we have no idea if he/they were armed!
So, you know more than one “tiny” woman who could beat up a big, athletic man who might have a weapon? And how do you know this? Because they told you this? Because you once saw them slap a guy in a crowded bar?
If you had a daughter, would you want her to confront a guy who was ripping off her truck … a guy who might even be armed?
@45:
“Any kind of class will help teach you situational awareness, probably the most important aspect of self defense.”
Wrong. This type of training is only useful if followed by almost immediate immersion into violent or potentially violent situations. It will work with law enforcement or military people. With civilians who will get rusty and forget the training, it will just create a false sense of security.
Besides, anyone who teaches a class in “be a woman who confronts a potentially violent man whom you can easily avoid” is an irresponsible fool.
@ 43:
“You should also have the sense to take a phone with you I you are walking alone in an isolated area.”
Can you please explain in detail how anon’s use of a phone would have helped her here?
@ 38:
“[W]hen you attempt to personify the dichotomy of helpless little sucky girl (who has) chains trucks and dogs, you are actually sexualizing (for all those truck/dog lovin’ AND ipod/latte lovin’ red-blooded males out there) the fact that you got ripped off. That is why your post was so damned stupid, and why you garnered so much scorn.”
No, she garnered scorn because there are a lot of soft white people in Seattle who think it’s actually a tough city- and since they’ve never got the beating in Seattle they so desperately need:
1) They are therefore tough and
2) any woman in Seattle who fears getting beat up by some guy ripping off her truck must be a weak person in need of being informed that she is weak.
Still, you may want to take a closer look at why you are sexually intrigued by femme women who own trucks and chains. This sounds like more of a personal issue than anything else.
@ 39:
“you can’t shoot someone for trying to break into your truck. However you can shoot someone who is threatening your life. Which means you confront them about breaking into your truck, if they decide to attack instead of run, then you shoot them.”
This means that you would have to keep your gun holstered while confronting the thief, then pull it and shoot only after being attacked. That’s quite a bit of poise to ask of anyone, let alone a civilian.
Oh, by the way, what are the gun laws in Washington regarding carrying a gun while walking around, as anon was here? Can you carry a concealed gun? A holstered gun? Or do you have to keep the gun in your home or vehicle? If the last of these, should anon have confronted the thief while politely asking him to allow her to retrieve her gun from her glove compartment?
@ 42: “Do you have the cognitive ability to differentiate between ‘You should take your personal safety seriously’ and ‘You deserve anything bad that happens to you’?”
You are in no position to question the cognitive abilities of others. Read more carefully. Anon’s personal safety was never in danger here. Her safety would only been in danger if she had followed the “advice” of the numerous delusional wannabe tough guys/gays who have responded to her post.
“Suggesting remedies to keep this from occurring again is not the same as blaming the victim.”
Telling a woman to confront a potentially violent and/or armed man whom she can easily avoid is not a “remedy.” It is a recipe for trouble. Suggesting that such a stupid course of action would have been the right move is indeed blaming the victim.
“[T]he fact that you can’t see that speaks more about you than those you are trying to attack with your pathetic strawman argument.”
Speaking of “straw man argument[s]”, discussing a woman who witnesses her truck getting ripped off as though she is the same as a woman whose person gets attacked … now that’s pathetic.
@ 43:
“Go develop some coping skills for the world you live in.”
Not risking getting hurt over some worthless possessions = a coping skill.
Knowing your limits on the street = a coping skill.