I knew it was going to happen tonight. Went to Mos Burger to pick up a burger to go, and didn’t feel right leaving my umbrella in the can, but I did. Sure enough, five minutes later it’s gone. Crappy umbrella too. I’ve had a few umbrellas stolen and for that reason I usually carry them inside.
Nor do I use an umbrella condom. I don’t get it. I’m supposed to put a little baggie over the umbrella when I arrive at work, another when I visit another building, one when I return from lunch, etc. What a waste. For a while I used them and saved them for re-use but then I said screw it, a few drops of water never hurt anyone.
Next point: if someone steals your umbrella is it acceptable to steal someone elses? Sort of like Kevin Spacey passing it forward, right?
It’s just “umbrella karma”. Sure, yours got stolen, but others get left behind, contributing to the overall chi of umbrella circulation. If it was meant to be, you will get your umbrella back again. Otherwise, 7-11 is fully stocked with others. Or give a good home to an abandoned umbrella in need…
I think there’s an umbrella company conspiracy to steal umbrellas and destroy them, hence pumping up overally umbrella demand. I seem to buy new umbrellas all the time but never seem to find abandoned ones…
My younger sister used to tell me about one of her close girl friends who one day stepped out of a store with other girls (including my sister) and started to check and choose among all the umbrellas in the can. Others were surprised and asked:" but you did not bring an umbrella with you today!!" The girl said: " no, but I’m choosing the most beautiful one (to take home)!!"
I’ve only have one time, ever thinking about taking another umbrella with me after I found mine was stolen in the can in front of a restaurant. But I was too afraid that someone would chase out shouting to me: “hey, that’s my umbrella!!!” if I did so. That would be humiliating, no??!!
Fortunately it happens very rarely that my umbrellas were stolen. Instead, if they are gone, most of times it was because I forgot and lost them somewhere.
Humiliation of being caught? That was your only concern? So if you knew that the person who had left behind the umbrella had just gone in, and would not see youtake it, then you would have stolen it? Is getting caught the only deterrent for you? What about the fact that it’s immoral/unethical to take what you know doesn’t belong to you? Man, do your friends ever take their eyes off of you when they invite you over to their houses? Or is it only right to steal from people you don’t know…
I have never taken someone else’s umbrella despite the number of umbrellas that I have had stolen from me…well, twice I borrowed my roommate’s…once without asking her.
I have them disappear at work all the time…I think I work with an umbrella smuggler or something. To prevent that I write my name on the fabric part of them with a permanent marker since my warnings on the handle didn’t stop this when it rubbed off. I am thinking of writing something just plain derogative like “this umbrella belongs to a complete idiot” which wouldn’t phase me since I don’t care either way or maybe “If the person under this umbrella is not a black female foreigner, then this umbrella is stolen.” Does anyone know how to write that in characters?
My wife and I once had a ‘five million dollar’ umbrella stolen outside of the Solar System MTV on Fu-Hsing and Chung-Hsiao. Luckily for us, and unfortunately for the thief, it was an umbrella only given to management and had a very unique picture of the Black Man toothpaste guy on it.
Since Solar System was jam-packed that night we were in and out in minutes and I saw the umbrella floating past Sogo’s. I ran down the sidewalk through a flood of people and snatched the umbrella. This dude actually argued with me until my wife showed up and pointed out her name engraved on the shaft. We got no apologies, just a grunt, but that smiling face now and then sees rain drops when my sister does her gardening in Central Cali; and I had some revenge for all my stolen umbrellas.
And they lived happily ever after… or until the NAACP spots it.
I’ll bite…how is central Cali different from the rest of the city? And I might have thought that the central part provided fewer opportunities for gardening? I’ve never been to Colombia, but my experience in other Central and South American cities suggests that the housing stock in city centers rarely includes green space, or what we think of as a “yard.”
Because we used to run an anchingban (the after school school) we ‘inherited’ many umbrellas. They were just left and never picked up and there’s no way to track the owner. They have been slowly disappearing over the years, but at least I never have to buy a new one unless I get stuck in the rain.
One day I was walking home and it started to rain. A guy parking cars for the beer house ran out to lend me an umbrella. I said I don’t need one. I’m almost home. He insists so much that I take it just to get rid of him. Since I didn’t ask for it and didn’t want it I never returned it. It says Formosa Regent on the top.
