Raccoons, Crackheads and Me (9-29-11)

What a crazy week of work it’s been! I type this knowing full well it’s only Thursday and more crazy things can occur but wow, we’ve had enough excitement to last a few months around here!

It all began with Monday morning. We came in to a workplace that was shredded. Food was all over, many boxes and garbage cans were tipped over onto their sides. The place was a mess. It looked like a crazy party happened the night before. It also looked like someone ransacked the place looking for something and then stopped to eat whatever food was around is a very messy fashion. Three possibilities were discussed; there could have been a wild party, someone broke in to rob us or an animal got loose in the place. Or possibly an animal broke in to rob our food and have a wild party. We eliminated the first two ideas after we could determine no entry point for someone to come in from the outside. Then on someone’s desk a cup of water was spilled and the wet desk provided wet, dirty footprints that identified the culprit. It was a raccoon. The print was far too big for it to be a squirrel, rat or mouse.

Our company called Orkin and they would be coming the next day. In the meantime there was a lot of cleanup to do. Crackers, pretzels, cookies and any food anyone had stored at or near their desk was on the floor in a finely grounded powder and crumbs. At my desk I had no food, but in my garbage can I had a wrapper from a sub I had on Saturday and that was shredded! The paper was everywhere and you could even see a few tiny pieces of lettuce from the previously balled up wrapper scattered about. Before we left for the day everyone had to make sure their food was secured in the fridge or in some container so we didn’t have a repeat of the night before.   

The next morning we came in and it struck again albeit on a smaller scale. This time it shredded the used tea bag in my garbage can making it look like the pot after the bag was opened and all the leaves were spread around. A co-worker lost his hot chocolate packets as those were ripped open and tossed about. The Orkin man (yes, it actually was a guy) showed up and put out these caged traps to catch the little critter lathered with food it would like as bait. I wondered what would happen to the raccoon once it was caught. Would they release it somewhere in the wild? Would it be put down? Seems like it would be cheaper (and obviously more humane) to release it somewhere but maybe I’m just naïve thinking that they would do that.

So Wednesday morning came and I went to work a little later. On my way in I wondered if we caught something. There were 2 traps inside and 2 in the parking lot. I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if we caught a stray cat or even a stray crackhead in the traps in the lot. When I arrived, I learned we did catch a raccoon in one of the traps inside the building.

When you see your desk area and workspace trashed it can make you a little upset. You’ve got to clean up and put things back in their rightful places. Depending on how much inconvenience, it can make someone very upset but when you are looking into the eyes of this captured critter you begin to feel sad. There I was looking eye to eye with the raccoon. It was the closest I’d ever been to one. It was just sitting there in the cage, looking haggard and dirty but with the same cute face they are known for. It just sat there looked resigned to it’s’ fate. Earlier that morning I was told it ran back and forth inside the cage, hissed, clawed and did everything it could to escape or keep people away from it but now it just sat there. If its eyes weren’t open and staring at me I would have thought it was asleep. There was no movement, no sound. I felt sorry for the little guy.

When the Orkin guy showed we asked what would happen to the creature and we were told it would be euthanized. I didn’t get it, why not just let it go somewhere out in the wild? It wasn’t my decision to make though and since I wasn’t going to capture the creature and transport it somewhere myself, I guess I had no say in this one. I took a picture of it and said goodbye.

It wasn’t the same feeling as when the 2 or 3 kittens were trapped in our building a year or so ago but still, I wished there was another way. The Orkin man said he’d come back in the few days just to make sure there weren’t any more and he left with the raccoon caged in the back.

I came into work late again today because I wanted to watch the Buffalo Common Council public hearing on food trucks. It went a little over 90 minutes and I was surprised that the brick and mortar restaurant side only had a lawyer present who read a 2-3 minute statement explaining that the restaurants wanted to come together and find a fair solution. The other hour and half was dialogue from each food truck proprietor currently operating, a few lawyers and a whole lot of citizens and about 95% of them were in favor of the trucks. Particularly funny was the owner of Zetti’s who came off sounding like an idiot in a short statement where he demonstrated the intelligence of a rock. Apparently restaurant owners like him have to provide things like bathrooms to customers and food trucks don’t. How profound. No bathrooms, I think we should outlaw food trucks! Anyway, the council continued to drag their feet but made incremental progress in appointing a committee with equal numbers of food truck representatives and brick and mortar to come together to hammer out an agreement on regulations for the trucks and then report back in 30 days. If both parties are satisfied and a plan is presented to the council after those 30 days, then they’ll vote on it and it could become the law that is so desperately needed here.

After the exciting public hearing I quickly made my way to work so I can put in a noon to 8pm shift and once I arrived I learned we had another overnight event and visitors. This time it was in the form of robbers who broke in and stole my bosses’ computer, printer, scanner and all her other components plus the digital camera off my desk. We’re still discovering little things they have taken like keys and the like. They smashed the front glass door and made a beeline to our area behind the store and tried to break into a file cabinet where we keep petty cash. They’d obviously been back here and knew where the money was. That’s the danger we face when we let potential customers come to our back room and check out new and overstock vinyl, CDs, books and DVDs. Sometimes they don’t really want to buy anything; sometimes I guess they are just casing the joint.

Thankfully the alarms blaring forced them to leave quickly before they could steal 4 or 5 computers or even more. They didn’t take anything from the store in front other than keys (although not the right keys for the cabinet) so they knew what they wanted and where it was. I’m also thinking they must have been pretty desperate to try something like this. Maybe it’s a stereotype but I’m thinking drugs would make someone do something so desperate and foolish.

We’ve had police here off and on today, a person to fix the door, a computer guy to hook my boss up with a new temporary setup and a lot to talk about. The police notified us that they caught one of the guys involved already as he tried to sell some of the stuff they took and got busted. So it looks like we may get some or most of the valuables back. The computer obviously has our name on it, even on the login so there can be no mistaken identity. 

Speaking of mistaken identity, the last part of this is a brief story of when the cops arrived last night. One of the store assistant managers was called and he met the cops here at around 3am as the store alarm was blaring. They came inside the store and took a preliminary look around to check on damage and what was missing when from above they heard rustling. The cops immediately told the assistant manager to be quiet and speculated that they may still be here but hiding upstairs. I don’t think the response time was that great, but it was certainly possible. The upstairs area where they were hiding was a little used old section of the store that accumulated dust more than anything else and the police slowly made their way up there to nab the perpetrators. Upon climbing up the stairs the police officer shined his light and staring back at him was 3-4 raccoons. Although raccoons do look like old-fashioned burglars with that black mask covering their eye area, these weren’t exactly the bandits we were looking for. With every morning at work this week being an adventure, all of this makes me wonder what will be on tap for tomorrow.