Because I work from my home my cats have grown accustomed to having me at their beck and call. This afternoon as I let one of my cats outside, for what seemed like the 273rd time today, I noticed a man walking up my neighbor's driveway toward her house. My mind first said “postman” because of the light blue shirt he wore. Force of habit caused me to look around for a vehicle. Seeing none, I then realized that he couldn’t be from the USPS because the mail had been delivered earlier in the day, and he had a clipboard but no obvious package or mail.
The man appeared to be looking through the papers attached to the clipboard as he strolled toward the rear of the house and out of my line of sight. My mind then announced “gas or electric company meter reader” and promptly went back to worrying about the upcoming bills to be paid, ordering supplies and what I could possibly make for dinner that would be worth eating.
A few hours later, as I returned from a trip to the grocery, I noticed a police car in my neighbor’s driveway. The same driveway the “postman/meter reader” had so nonchalantly traversed earlier. Swallowing my embarrassment at not having been a more vigilant and better neighbor, I went next door and gave the police officer as good and honest a description of the man I'd seen as I could. Unfortunately, I hadn't seen his face, so I wouldn’t recognize the person if he were standing in front of me.
My neighbor was lucky. The burglar jimmied a window without breaking the glass. He took only a small TV and some jewelry that had little sentimental value and didn’t trash the place too much.
She waived off my attempt to apologize saying that the thing that irritated her most was the way her dogs failed to protect the property. Her two very large greyhounds, who watch animal planet every day while she's at work, must have been too engrossed in their show to be bothered. She did note that the thief apparently did NOT try to take the larger, more expensive TV the dogs were watching. That might have made a difference in their attitudes.
The police officer commented that if a burglar carries a notebook or clip board and acts as if he belongs in the role he's playing, most people won’t give him a second thought. I didn’t, the ploy worked on me, this time. It won’t the next.
