MY Stetson Got Stolen!

[MJL]

I decided to wear my new Stetson "Temple" to Yom Kippur services the other day. I wore it to work in the morning so I could go direct from school to the evening services at the begining of Yom Kippur. I usually keep my hat behind my desk, on my file cabinet, at work. My students are NOT allowed behind my desk. I went to leave in the afternoon and it was gone. Obviously stolen by one my lovely students or fellow teachers. It took me months to track down a 7 7/8 sized fedora and I paid a pretty price for it...now it is gone just like that! I am more annoyed with myself than anything else. I tore my classroom apart today looking for it, hoping some kid was playing a trick on me by hiding it but it did not turn up. I did contact a friend who is a School cop and asked for a theft report to filled out. If I can find out who took it I will press charges to the hilt. What kills me is that I walked out just ONCE to use the bathroom between periods and it must have been during that 3 minute abscence that it was stolen. Somedays I question my choice of careers. Well, back to the drawing board. I think I would like to get one of the Akubras or Adventurebuilt hats. I am not overly fond of the whole Indiana Jones look so I wonder if I can talk Adventurebuilt into making me a hat in a different color. Does anyone else want to share your stolen hat stories or perhaps share your methodology of keeping your hat?

 

[riccardo]

Hi...it's very easy: I leave a snake under my hat...nobody have never stolen my hat.
Don't worry!!
Riccardo.

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Too bad 'bout your hat, pardner...

Whoever took it was obviously not an Orthodox Jew. Yoy Kippur, Oy what's this world coming to? He says in his best Joey Bishop impersonation. He'll have to attone for that one, now won't he?

I never take my hat or cap off anymore. I have left more hats in restaurants than I care to admit. My bad.

Teach class with it on, nobody will care, or even notice for that matter.

 

[Aaron Hats]

Sorry to hear about your loss. You should've had one of these in it:

and been wearing one of these:

 

[Biltmore Bob]

Especially in school.

 

[Bebop]

My grandfather had a hat that he purchased sometime in the 30's in Argentina. I have a photo of me wearing it as a 3 year old and again, same hat, as a 40 year old. A few years ago I go to a movie theater to catch a late night old Fellini movie and I see no need to take my hat into the theater since it was hot, I was parked almost at the door and I did not want any theater food or drink on it so I leave it in my car. I come out a few hours later and not only was my car gone but my grandfathers hat, the one he had left to his eldest grandson, gone. Never found the car or it's contents. Replacing the car was easy enough. I will never be able to replace the hat. I have been burglerized, mugged, beat up by the bad guys and so on but to this day I have not felt the empty feeling of having been violated when I realized my grandfathers hat was in that car :cry: . Needless to say, I do not leave my hat anywhere other than my head or home now. As I have read on someones signature, "never touch a mans hat" :rage:

 

[DanielJones]

Never mess with another mans hat!!

Stealing a mans hat is like stealing his horse. It's a hangin' offence. Get a rope and make 'em do an air dance!

Cheers!

Dan

 

[SHARPETOYS]

A reward maybe

If you really want your hat offer a reward no questions asked. Just a thought. I bet a kid did it for meaness.

 

[Siirous]

Some hope left

I remember back in school, not too long ago there were always kids who disliked certain teachers. Things would go missing and pranks were played but a lot of times items would be returned in a day or two with no harm done. Maybe your hat will turn up in a little while. You could always try the amnesty plea. "Bring the hat tomorrow and I'm going to close my eyes and turn around and someone put it on the desk and we'll all go on with our lives"

Best of luck with a safe return,
Rob

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Maybe you should start looking around the school to find a student who has a big head. There aren't that many people who can wear a 7 7/8 hat and I bet you could probably tell who has a head of the proper magnitude pretty easily.

 

[havershaw]

ah, that breaks the heart.

 

[Sefton]

I have been burglerized, mugged, beat up by the bad guys and so on...

I really am sorry to hear about your grandfather's hat..but I can't get past the rest of your statement. You must live in a dangerous place...

 

[Sefton]

It took me months to track down a 7 7/8 sized fedora and I paid a pretty price for it...now it is gone just like that!?

I wear the same size. As a previous president once said: " I feel your pain ". :cry:

 

[Not-Bogart13]

I work for the school around here as a sub teacher. Most schools won't let anyone wear a hat in the building anymore, and I'd never trust leaving a hat out in the open in a classroom. Last year, I was wearing my old wool felts, and I put them in the coat closet of the main office (after asking one of the secretaries, of course). If I had my own class, my hat would go under lock and key.

MJL, try the "return with no questions asked" idea. Go one better, and tell them "if they see it," turn it in at the main office, or the library or some other "neutral ground".

 

[Veronica Parra]

The mystery is solved:

 

[Bebop]

Sefton, I lived in a decent part of Pasadena Ca. when I was burglerized and my hat-car was stolen. In San Francisco when I was mugged at gunpoint. I did bounty hunting for 20 years and that is where the "bad guys" beat me a couple of times. After reading my post it does sound like I must live in hell. I now live a quiet, crime free life since I have learned to stay out of harms way and moved to "gentler" communities.

 

[Dismuke]

I remember when I was in fourth grade someone in the class either stole something or did something very nasty when the teacher left the room for a moment. I totally forget what it was the guilty person did - but I very vividly remember the teacher's reaction to it which I thought was profoundly unjust at the time and still do to this day.

The teacher basically came back into the room and gave the class 5 minutes for the person who did it to come forward and confess or else she would just have to pick someone out of the class to punish in their place. True enough, when nobody came forward, the teacher announced that one of the girls in the class, a girl who was very small for her age, sweet tempered, always smiling and about the last person in the world capable of doing anything nasty was going to be punished. The poor girl was horrified and began crying and pleading that she did not do it. The teacher was relentless. She announced in great detail that the girl would be taken to the principle's office and spanked - and the only way to stop it would be if someone else stepped forward and confessed.

I have no memory of how it all was resolved or whether or not the person who did it was ever identified. All I remember was the little girl crying and begging the person to come forward.

Today, I think about it and get kind of mad. Back then I was just glad that I was not the person who the teacher picked. (I am sure she never even thought about picking me because most of the trouble makers in the class would have been more than happy to see me get in trouble for their bad behavior - which is why she picked a person that everyone in the class liked.) I was also a bit afraid that, even though I did not do it, I might have a guilty look on my face and she might blame me - and the more I thought about it, the more I seemed to feel my face turning red.

If I saw something like that happening today, I would be the very first person to speak out about it as loudly as I could to anyone who might listen and be on the phone calling the media or something. But at that age - well, I just didn't do things like that. Oddly enough, it didn't sour my opinion of the teacher for the rest of the school year. I know what her strategy was and where she was coming from - but the fact of the matter is she was profoundly unjust and wrong. The ends do not justify the means.

 

[KR]

Tough break. Hopefully it will turn up someplace.

 

[JeffW]

If a return with no questions asked does not work, offer a small reward to see if someone will giveup the bad guy. As a cop, I have seen a little money do wonders.

 

[Wild Root]

Oh man, some of these stories brings tears to my eyes! Having a hat stolen is one thing but, having the whole car stolen is just wrong! Especially in Pasadena! I drive a vintage car and have parked it in not so good areas such as the north part of Pasadena on Villa, (yeah, you know what I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m talking about) I guess I have been very lucky to this day. I am indeed sorry for you losing your Grandfathers hat! I wouldn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t be able to forgive my self for leaving something like that in the car. You know what they say, hindsight is 20/20.

Ok, here is my stolen hat story for the record.

Went to the Hollywood Derby for a dance, I have always left my hat on the window sill towards the back of the front room. Any way, it was my NOS Imperial Stetson, Marc, you know the one, you saw it at Ben?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s once. Any way, I set it there and when I came back, it was gone! I never felt so violated in my life! I have left things all over the Derby and not one person has stolen anything. I guess I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m lucky that way but now I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m a little wiser but, still heartbroken after all 5 or so years that it happened.

Best,
WR.