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Writing Prompts #13: Have you ever had something stolen from you?

Posted on by anele25

This is a weird subject for me because I have had something stolen from me and one of the times it did happen to me, I felt it unnecessary for it to happen in the first place from my end. I don’t blame myself for the incident happening but I felt I could have handled the situation a little better beforehand. A couple of months ago (January 31st to be exact), I had my credit cards stolen from me at the gym I frequently go to four or five times a week during the work week. I usually have my routine of waking up in the early morning (sometimes around five in the morning and sometimes around six in the morning). I got up and it was like any other morning where I ride down Central Expressway and hit the lights and eventually there I was turning onto California Street. I decided (unbeknownst to me at that time of when I was entering the gym), that I would take my wallet inside. I walked into the gym like any normal Wednesday morning and off I went to do my cardio and my weight training. First, I stopped off at the locker where I leave all my stuff and I left my keys in there as well. I found it odd that a gentleman asked me that morning if I had a charger for a phone which might have been an android style phone. I told him I didn’t have a charger and at that time I didn’t think anything of it. I grabbed my usual Bluetooth headphones and headed off to do my business. I worked through the usual morning workout and then I headed off to my locker. I found my locker cut and my glasses off to the side in a random locker.

Missing was my key fob (unlike a modern key you just carry this around with you and leave it in the car and it will start) and my credit cards. I still had my keys which was awesome and just in case I needed to head to work I would call an uber or what have you. I was first upset and then sad because the person who took my credit cards didn’t know who I was nor did he intend to know who I was .I was also concerned about my car because I had seen my car out there the last time Iooked outside but who knows what time this thief could have grabbed my stuff and he could have taken off already. I grabbed my clothes and changed really fast before heading out. I walked out and saw my car was still out there which was a relief and I headed back to the gym to see if anyone had my key fob. Before I even headed in, a nice gentleman working at the front desk pulled out the key fob and right there I said thank you over and over. I told him I had noticed someone asking for a phone charger and he had a feeling as to who it may have been. He said he had found it just dropped out on the floor and he said he picked it up because he felt that someone would need it eventually. The funny part about the before and after of the incident is that there are a few things that matched up and a few things which I considered a miracle. I will touch on that in a second. The first thing after getting in my car I did was report my credit cards stolen from my local banking service and went ahead and cancelled my other credit card I had for other occasions.

I got to the office still a bit sad about the situation because I didn’t have my major credit cards but I still had my debit card. I waited a few days to see if there were any activities on the card. Eventually there were two that popped up from one of the major credit cards but they were settled right away after I declared that those were not my charges. Anyway, a couple days later I read an article in the local paper that said how a man had been stealing car keys and credit cards from that gym on an on, off again basis and it turned out that the gentleman was in the area around the same time my incident had occurred. I connected the dots and saw something in the article which stated that there were other incidents around the area and I felt that there was more than one person possibly committing these crimes but I’ll never know. Another thing I found odd (in a good way) about this was when the gentleman who gave me the keys was almost like someone who appeared out of the sky. I have not seen him since nor do I think will I ever see him. I wonder sometimes if those incidents happen to teach you a lesson about keeping your items safe and secure. If it’s possible, that gentleman could have been there also to teach me that not everyone has a kind heart but for the majority of people I would say that they are good people. After this, I went ahead and started putting my key fob inside a fanny pack which I carry around with me almost every time I go now. One good thing that came out of this was my sister-in-law laughing at me as soon as she saw the fanny pack that I was wearing.  I also stopped bringing my wallet inside the gym and usually leave it hidden so no one can get to them. The gym I feel is one of the few places I can go to where I feel safe enough that I can leave my stuff in my locker without them being stolen. Now, I can go inside do my Monday-Friday of Treadmill, Stairmaster, Bike, Elliptical, and Potpourri of activities without having to worry about any of my stuff being stolen. I hope this person has learned some kind of lesson in the deed they did because I sure do know that I did. This life is full of surprises and those are thrown at you to give you some good lessons. If anyone is interested in reading the article about this person that may have committed these crimes or might have been connected in any way, I’ve attached a link in this entry.

https://www.mountainview.gov/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1257&TargetID=9

300 Writing Prompts #12: What is the best Compliment you have ever received?

Posted on by anele25

What is a compliment? I see a compliment as someone who comes up to you and tells you something courteous. I grew up and we would often tell each other thank you or we would Complement each other on our clothing. As I have grown older, I have started to hear them more. I never thought much of compliments until a few years ago when I started hearing them often and in around my college life. You hear the occasional compliment “good job”, “good choices”, and “you’re a great person”. However, there was a period of my life when I had a good friend of mine (I would even say best friend) was going through a recent break up and he was down on himself. We go out and we have our life talks every now and then but at this time we were having even more talks because he just needed someone to talk to. I remember one time in particular we were texting back and forth and there was one phrase in particular that still sticks with me “you’re the most legit human being ever”. I think what may have happened was that he was thinking at that time of moving out to Chicago because he was looking for a change of scenery. He gave himself enough time and he was able to see where home was and I for one would not be where I am had he stayed over in Chicago. At first, I thought nothing of the comment but as the years have gone on I can be honest in saying that comment meant a lot to me. Yes, people can say that it sounds cheesy and unnecessary but I have my personality quirks that probably drive people crazy but coming from that one friend meant a lot to me. For one, there are billions of people on this earth and from day one we had this connection which couldn’t be denied. As I have detailed before, it’s been about 8 years since I started this blog and he was the one who helped me start this blog.

 

The personal struggles we took to get where we were at that point definitely made it more special. I would ask myself sometimes, “am I ever going to get out of this funk I’m in”. He would help me get out of this funk “you’re going to be stuck at a certain place in your life forever”. At that point, I was one semester away from graduating from San Jose State University and I thought I probably would not be here if it was not for him. Yes, I accomplished those tasks on my own but I had his help along the way. He would encourage me, vouch for me at certain points, and he would give me pointers on how to better achieve success. The thing about compliments is that we as people can say them but for this one phrase to be said, it got me even more motivated to reach higher for the stars. The best compliment of “you’re the most legit human being ever” also meant a lot because I got the feeling that through our years of friendship we got to see the best and worst of each other. I remember we went a few months without talking to each other. This all spans back to when he made a comment about a financial situation of mine and I turned a cold shoulder towards him.

 

Little did I know, this was one those friends that would not give up on me. We saw each other not too long after that and it felt like old times. He even helped me on a few homework assignments during my time at Community College. The one class I struggled at was Statistics in the Fall of 2012 and we had an occasion where he helped me out with an assignment and that was another occasion where I was grateful for him. All those times where we were there for each other led to that moment when he gave me that compliment. One I hadn’t even thought about what was next but he gave me the motivation to keep on moving and to keep reaching even higher. Even it’s just small progress, it’s still progress no matter how far it goes. Humans have these qualities which can be grown and driven to be better and from that moment on, I have not taken much for granted. I can count compliments as some of the most wonderful things in the world.

 

To add onto this, I have always been told that I have a positive attitude even going back to my retail days at Target. One of my managers would occasionally tell me how much they appreciated the hustle and the effort and also the positive attitude. Even now at my current position, I get told that on a constant basis and it’s something else I don’t take for granted because of how much I do it from day to day. Another time I got one of the best compliments was when I was still working in retail and one of my managers had nominated me for one of her top performers and she made the comment that “thank you for giving your top effort and for putting one hundred percent”. The other managers had written something along the lines of “good job” “keep it going” but I felt that comment stood out from the rest. In a sense, these compliments made it possible for me to see that good people still exist in this world. I agree that not everybody may enjoy the spotlight but when you get those compliments it feels a helluva lot better than not getting them. I urge everyone that no matter how you may feel on a certain day giving a compliment can make someone’s day and you may not even know it. That is the one thing I enjoy about compliments is that yes they are just words but putting some meaning behind it is even better. You can just feel it when you say such words and having that other person hear them from you matter more. Compliments in general, are there to lift the human spirit.