I did buy other chocolate for them to eat.

Some witty person tweeted that Simon was now frantically buying up stocks of high waisted nappies 

I have a drawer in the kitchen where I put my sweets and stuff.  The kids know it's there and they eye it up but they know they aren't allowed to touch it or else I will lock them in dungeon with the rats.

 Good one!

got a new (well, second hand ! ) superduper hydraulic massage couch today No more faffing about with the daft old portable couch

Some (insert expletive here) has walked in to our offices and walked out with my work laptop. Containing all of our accounts, payroll, HMRC. Fuming doesn't come close, but I have a feeling the records might be what they are after as they have walked past 2 other laptops to get to mine, plus the till was untouched and the satnavs were also left alone. Thankfully the M.O.T centre opposite us has CCTV, so we will be able to wade through that and spot the culprit. 

Jeezo, Cinds - was it password protected.... and do you have it backed up?

Yes & yes, although the external back up is a week out of date, and unfortunately the payroll isn't externally backed up. But that's easy to redo.

Not as bad as it could have been then, cinds - hope you get whoever did it. 

Oooh Cinds ..............Not nice. When we had that attempted robbery some weeks ago it certainly makes you feel vulnerable. I try not to think about it but - there really are some bad buggers out there.

That's awful, Cinds. I hope they get the git who stole it and you get your laptop back.

Would it have been someone who works/worked for you?  Seeing as how they knew which laptop was yours?

awww

i wonder how much that band its got on its

leg would go for on ebay?

How terrible. Hope the thief is caught Cinds 

Thank you all for your replies.

Ells, this is what is making me feel sick, that it might actually be one of our staff. We have such a small staff, and have always trusted them implicitly. But our business is quite a specialised thing, so we basically have a monopoly in the north east, but we also stretch out all over the country.  So I keep thinking that if one of the staff wanted to give it a go on their own, my computer holds all the keys.

Police have just rang back to say they are coming at 7 in the morning to do finger prints off my desk. Nobody else touches my desk, so then they will take the staffs too. 

I feel sick thinking it might be one of our staff.

Sadly it sounds like it had to have been someone who knows the ins and outs of where things are stored in your office so either someone who works for you or someone who visits often enough to realise that your laptop is where the files are all kept

I agree it would be sickening to think it was someone you trusted and had worked with

Good luck with the police tomorrow!

Believe me, I will find out who did this, and they will regret it. I am fuming, because I know it is someone close to us.

Go get em Cinds! 

Thanks sprout, I know my last thing sounded a bit Soprano, but I really am fuming and if it is an employee, they will regret it because they are sacked, no nothing and no benefits either. I will have my day with the thief.

Yeah not long after we started, we had a break in too. All they took were the lappys which makes us think that it was someone who knew exactly what to go for. They didn't even touch the petty cash.  

At the time I had my suspicions although I couldn't remember who it was now. I do think it was a 'customer' though.  (I work with the unemployed)  

I should add...I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush, but I do remember that at the time we did pee someone off 

I know.

but the person I have in mind is the person we trust the most. We leave him in charge when we go away together. BUT he never does over time. We have a customer who is probably 40% of our business and the same guy does most of their work. Suddenly YESTERDAY he decided to work, on a Saturday? 

Oh!  something odd there then 

I hope you've informed the police? 

What a horrible situation.

We have had thefts in the past by staff ...........there's nothing worse than when it's someone you really like and trust. It hurts on a personal level.

I hope it isn't that guy ..........I hope it's a random. Who knows?

Cinds, you must feel sick to the stomach over all of this.

I'm so sorry that you're going through a nightmare right now, but whoever did it - and if they're 'close' as you suspect - then they're a friggin' fool.

How on earth do they expect to get away with it?

And how the hell do they expect to start up a rival company without being busted somewhere down the line?  

Hope it's all sorted and resolved quickly  

I really do feel sick to the pit of my gut. I really hope I am wrong. The police are coming tomorrow to do finger prints and statements.

Whether it us someone in the business or not, it's a friggin nightmare situation. The data that has gone that I know isn't backed up is dreadful, my own fault I know, but %*^€###*

you'll get through this. Hang in there 

besides all of this crap, do you know what I also feel shit about it, I have a mate who is being made redundant and the company she works for is putting her through a Sage Accounts course, she has her exams on Friday, and I had promised I would go to hers tomorrow with my laptop and show her how Sage works.

She'll understand Cinds. Is there any way you can get a copy of it to another pooter? 

Yes, I will have to buy another computer tomorrow and load Sage on to it, hopefully it will be easy. But Sage are not known for being helpful with crap like this.

Cinds, it's bad enough to have the laptop stolen, but being robbed by someone close to you would be such a betrayal of trust. For your sake, I hope your suspicions are wrong and the thief is some random git.

Face-plants are not big and they are not clever!

Pre Face-plant:

Post Face-plant:

Freestyle skier, Rowan Cheshire, following the training accident that left her hospitalized with concussion on Sunday! TeamGB have not ruled out the possibility that Cheshire could still compete later in the week…

Sorry to hear that Cinds.

Having a significant number of years in I.T. two things jumped to mind. I hope you have a backup of all your important files and for you next laptop have you considered purchasing encryption software. That way if you were unfortunate enough to lose your laptop again no one would be able to access any of your files.

I hope the CCTV proves useful to the police and you in your search for the culprit.

Also, it may be worth contacting all of your customers and letting them know what has happened. If a number of them start to get calls from someone looking for business then it may alert the authorities to a possible suspect.

EDIT: just noticed in another post that you say you have backed up some of the data.

Another thought came to mind. There is software that allows you to 'trace' devices which have been stolen when the person next connects to the internet (again something to consider in the future). It's a bit like with mobile phones.

My daughter needs a guarantor for her next uni house and she's moaning I'm not helping her but she wants my family to do it and not her dad's  it's really winding me up 

TeamGB have decided that Cheshire won't compete. Not enough time between the injury occurring and her event starting appears to be the line - which seems reasonable... and at 18 i'm sure her long-term potential would alo be a consideration.

Out supporting her male Freestyle teammates who competed today.