To the person(s) who robbed my dad and me yesterday in broad daylight in a busy gas station:
There’s a small chance you might be reading this, because you got about 50 of my business cards when you smashed our van’s window and stole my backpack and my dad’s laptop in the 5 minutes it took us to use the bathrooms. If you are:
Do the right thing and return our items to us. My dad spent hours upon hours building his laptop up to what he needed it to be. Please don’t force him redo all that work. Who wants to do that? Not me. Probably not you either. Perhaps you don’t even know what work is like, if you steal things to make your living. Did you know that most of society frowns upon thievery? Some even think it’s downright shameful. I dare you to prove to me and to the others who are reading this post right now that you’re above that.
Mail his laptop to my home address. I know you have it, because you took my driver’s license and passport along with my credit cards and new digital SLR camera. FYI, I bought that camera with scholarship money I worked my butt off to earn. But you can keep it. It would be wonderful if you could remove the memory card and mail it to me with the laptop, though. It has all the pictures of my first professional art show on it. I need to have those pictures in my portfolio for future job and show applications. I never got the chance to download them onto my computer.
So, if you could just stick those things in the mail, that would be super awesome. Feel free to use the cash in my wallet to cover the postage. While we’re on the subject – the wallet itself is kinda nice, huh? I thought so too – unique but highly functional design, soft pretty leather… I bought it when I was in Norway with my Grandma, visiting her cousins. It was my “splurge” item – my one expensive treat to myself to remember that special time. I hope you get the same deep, clean joy out of using it that I did.
I look forward to checking the mail.
Thanks for your help,
Amy
Amy Uthus Ceramics 
For gods sake Memphis. Seriously?
This makes me so sad!
you tell ’em, Bames!!! I hope they do read it!
WHAT?!?! ah lady this is awful. did you call the police, i bet that gas station had a camera outside. your thief might me on video…
Yeah… there were no cameras. Love’s is going to be getting a letter from me and another from my dad, I think. We did call the police – it took them over 2 hours to get to us. Then today I was told (on the phone) if I wanted to press charges I’d have to go back to Memphis to fill out another report, then come back again if it ever went to court. But to get it to court I’d have to “do some video research” consisting of my going around to the stations where my cards were used and getting video tapes where they’re available. Um. Pretty sure I’m not going to go digging around gang-ridden Memphis looking for evidence. When I said that to the investigator, his response was, “I’m going to close the case now, then.” So, my only hope is that the person who stole the stuff has a change of heart.