Contractors Little Goon Stole some pills from me

[knotquiteawake]

This just gets me so riled up!
So I was looking for something totally different in the medicine box above the toilet in our new house and I notice that the old bottle of Vicodine I had (with about 15+ pills left in it. This was from when I had an operation on my back a couple years ago) was totally empty. Now, we just moved here two weeks ago and my wife said she didn't pack any empty pill bottles so I know it must have had the pills before we moved.

We just had guys in the house last week redoing the attic insulation, installing vents, air sealing the inside, etc... One of the contractors little goons, probably in his early 20-s asked me if he could use our restroom. I didn't think anything of it, but he was in there a long time and now I guess I know why. The stupid creep probably stole the pills. Apart from my next door neighbor who helped with some plumbing issues those were the only guys other than my wife and I who have been inside our house since we moved. I guess it could have been the neighbor but I really doubt it.

I didn't think I had to hide and lock up all the pills before I had work done on the house. I DID lock up all the guns/ammo/cash though, I'm not that stupid.

Of course I can't prove anything. But man, does that ever feel like a violation. Next time I'm going to not only make sure I lock EVERYTHING up but I can't let the idiots out of my sight too.

[AEA]

Did they see your gun safe? If so, you could be in for more losses in the future...........

BTW....a lot is said about bolting a gun safe to the floor, etc.....
If they want it they will get it. A chainsaw (or mortar saw) and a heavy chain is all it takes.......
Cut a hole in the side of the house where the safe is, wrap the chain around it and pull it out with a pickup.

This is not something you wanted to hear, but NO ONE should ever see your safe.

[knotquiteawake]

Its possible they could see the safe, we're still unpacking so its just sitting under the bed on my side.
Thankfully their company is based in Ft. Worth and we are out in Rowlett, so its almost a 2+ hour drive from wherever they live.
Also I work at home, so should they decide to pay an uninvited visit in the middle of the day they will be disappointed. If they pay a visit at night then they'll have to deal with a daddy protecting his baby son and wife.
I just e-mailed the owner of the company to let him know the facts as they are (pills were there, employee asked to use restroom, now pills are not there), so he knows that he should keep an eye on his employees in case they have a drug problem.
The two goons showed up looking a bit hung over anyways.

[gemini]

My sister had some surgery a while ago. She had liquid Hydrocodone Syrup for pain. In her bathroom.
Same thing happened to her. It was a full bottle, workman uses the head..... presto the bottle is 1/2 full.
They discovered it after the work was finished. Informed the crew boss but who knows if anything was
really done about it. The workman were from a A/C contractor installing new ductwork/vents etc.
Lesson learned? If working in a occupied house, all workmen get to go to 7-11 to use the facilities.

[knotquiteawake]

My sister had some surgery a while ago. She had liquid Hydrocodone Syrup for pain. In her bathroom.
Same thing happened to her. It was a full bottle, workman uses the head..... presto the bottle is 1/2 full.
They discovered it after the work was finished. Informed the crew boss but who knows if anything was
really done about it. The workman were from a A/C contractor installing new ductwork/vents etc.
Lesson learned? If working in a occupied house, all workmen get to go to 7-11 to use the facilities.

Good to hear that someone else had a similar issue happen. I've just pretty much been in disbelief.

I told the boss's wife, she said they're going to talk to the guys about it tonight, who know if anything will come of it.

[ScooterSissy]

...
Of course I can't prove anything. But man, does that ever feel like a violation. Next time I'm going to not only make sure I lock EVERYTHING up but I can't let the idiots out of my sight too.

You should report the incident to the company. They likely won't do anything about one specific incident that "can't be proven", but there may be other similar reports. I was once operations manager for a company that had employees in customers' homes, and we had one situation where an employee had 3 similar incidents reported. We acted on the whole of the reports, not one in particular.

Edit and now I see that you have reported it - good! I'm going to leave my post up anyway, it's still sound advice.

[knotquiteawake]

...
Of course I can't prove anything. But man, does that ever feel like a violation. Next time I'm going to not only make sure I lock EVERYTHING up but I can't let the idiots out of my sight too.

You should report the incident to the company. They likely won't do anything about one specific incident that "can't be proven", but there may be other similar reports. I was once operations manager for a company that had employees in customers' homes, and we had one situation where an employee had 3 similar incidents reported. We acted on the whole of the reports, not one in particular.

Edit and now I see that you have reported it - good! I'm going to leave my post up anyway, it's still sound advice.

Its a good point to make, especially the acting on the total of all the reports.

[knotquiteawake]

Got a call from the owner. He is not terribly happy about this. He is going to look into the legality of drug testing (i'm pretty sure he is in the clear since he has it in the employee handbook). I told him about how the guys looked pretty much hung over when they arrived. And he said he wasn't too surprised because he's been noticing a bad pattern of them forgetting tools, being low energy, being late...
So maybe this is a good thing (for the owner) because he's going finally get to the bottom of the issues he's been having. He was glad I brought it up.

[The Annoyed Man]

I had a fellow employee steal my pain meds out of my desk a month after I had my back surgery. He denied everything, but I know he did it. It couldn't have been anybody else. We're talking the kind of surgery where I was on the operating able for 6 hours, another 6 hours in the recovery room, and five more days in the hospital. I was out of work for a month and had just gotten back to work. The next two weeks were torture until I could get the prescription refilled.

For years, I hoped that guy would choke to death on a chicken bone....then I heard one day that he had died of a heart attack. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

[C-dub]

I suppose you could hint that the bottle might be checked for finger prints. The company might be based in FW, but the workers could be from all over. Even in your town.

[G.A. Heath]

I will also suggest being paranoid about goons comming back uninvited. We recently had locals, Texas Rangers, and area LEOS start taking down a burglary ring based well over an hour away from where a number of daytime burglaries were committed. Items stolen include the usual such as electronics, firearms, jewelry, and so forth. So far six burglars have been taken into custody as far as I know, possibly more, and no one local has been arrested in connection to this ring AFAIK.

[speedsix]

...to the OP...I would, even at this late date, have a police report made of the theft...and what you suspicion, and that you contacted the contractor...Why?...if, when he checks on his end, someone resents that you called...you have a foundation to build a defense case on if anything happens at your house one dark night...or if you have a burglary...it'll give the police info that will help them investigate...they can find out from the contractor who was at your house working...and that gives them names to check fingerprints against...it's worth the trouble...even if you have to call the contractor to get the date of the occurance for the report(don't have it on a check or credit card slip)...

[sjfcontrol]

For years, I hoped that guy would choke to death on a chicken bone....then I heard one day that he had died of a heart attack. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

“If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.”
― Sun Tzu

[jimlongley]

Many years ago we went to the "Farmer's Museum" in Cooperstown NY fairly regularly, my mother trying to instill a sense of history or something in her kids I guess. One of the exhibits that really did interest me was how pills were made by hand back then, including the fillers, because the active ingredients are pretty small, which would usually be chalk back then.

When my pain meds started disappearing a while back, I recalled those lessons and decided to try something. I suspected my stepson or one of his friends. I made a little cast, first from Silly Putty, which didn't hold its shape long enough, and then from thermo-setting clay, and ground up some blackboard chalk and cast some simulated hydrocodone (which really didn't look all that good to the discerning eye) and filled the pill bottle that got left where it could be found. I put the real one in my gun case, padlocked, and just waited. Pretty soon those fake pills disappeared too, a couple at a time. When confronted, my stepson denied any knowledge, of course, but when I pointed out the ruse he got upset enough that it was noticeable and told me that what I did was rude.

The pills stopped disappearing.

[knotquiteawake]

I have e-mails between the contractor and I regarding the issue and the drug testing. I don't need a police report to establish a foundation for whatever happens on a dark night, those e-mails would suffice. I feel it would be a waste of a detectives time to even write this up at this point. I'll see what my FIL thinks (he is an assistant Chief of Police for a local city).
It is interesting that this morning I would see this article on Drudge Report though:
http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/mainhea ... e=10132172" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Drug Addicts Targeting Real Estate Showings

Experts say the number of Americans who are addicted to prescriptiond rugs like painkillers far outstrips the number of people addicted to traditional street drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.