Violation...Who Cares?

Ministerial Meandering

Violation - who cares?

Of person, property, trust, and responsibility.  A friend of mine told me a story  few days ago that should have horrified me.  But it didn’t; because this sort of treatment of the individual seems commonplace today.  I’m going to recount it anyway, because I would be interested to know if any of my readers feel the same.

A lady ‘of a certain age’ had need of plumbers to replace her Poly-B piping.  They arrived at the wrong time - over an hour early - whilst she was in the shower.  Rushing to dress, she left her diamond ring on the counter.  This was a family heirloom worth around $20,000.  With contractors all over the house all day, she noticed one individual with a hoody walking through, but had no reason to challenge him at the time.

Predictably, at the end of the day, the ring was missing.  No workmen - no ring.

Calling the contractor was met by the inference that she (the customer), being ‘of a certain age’, must have forgotten where she had left it.  Two days of searching did not turn up the ring.  At his insistence the contractor came to look too - through all her private things - amounting to property rape.  He found nothing, so sent over his workers again.  They attempted intimidation for her inference that one of them could have been responsible for the ring’s disappearance.  My friend asked specifically who the hooded character had been - and received only the vague reply that he was ‘one of my crew’.  But apparently not to be found - ever again.

The next step was to the newly formed Surrey Police Force - recently changed from the RCMP.  They were ‘far too busy’ to be fussing about a ring when they had ‘all these fentanyl cases’ to deal with.  Besides, ‘it wasn’t a crime, it was a civil case.’

Really?  I was taught that theft was a crime - indeed it remains so and will give you a criminal record.  Civil cases can be pursued in order to get compensation for damages and recover financial losses.  So the police were of no help and gave clearly wrong advice.  Theft is a crime.

The contractor then told my friend that her house insurance ought to cover the loss.  Was he now beginning to feel uncomfortable?  

The next step was to her lawyer, who suggested that investigation and litigation would soon make the $20,000 disappear, along with any other assets she might have, senior attorneys charging around $500 or more an hour for their services.

Having exhausted the useless responses of the plumbing firm and its contractor, the police, and her lawyer, she turned to scouring eight local pawn shops - with no luck.

To cap it all, the contractor - whose claim was to be ‘in-and-out in ten days’ was now running at day 40 and still not finished due to shoddy workmanship - he was claiming that it was due to his sub-contractor’s men who were all of a different ethnic origin - so what did she expect?  Perhaps a competently done job, I suggest.

So my friend lost a precious and valuable family heirloom, was dismissed and insulted by the workforce who were most likely responsible for the theft, regarded as irrelevant by the police - who gave her wrong information, advised that attempting to retrieve it through legal channels might bankrupt her by her lawyer, and then failed to have any luck finding it at local pawn shops.  The latter doesn’t surprise me, as no pawn shop owner is going to own up to fencing stolen goods.

I return to my first sentence; violation - of person, property, trust, and responsibility - and nobody cares, it seems.

Philip+