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Monday Morning Surprise!

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 9:37 pm
by azskyman
Oh boy...freshly back from Mother's Day weekend in San Diego...starting out the day with a cup of coffee and, what's this, and employee coming in to tell me our three primary computers were missing???

Black coffee please...no cream or sugar.

Sure enough...sometime overnight last night (we have the specific time documented), thieves worked their way into the building unseen and walked off with $270,000 in computer servers and software. OUCH! Another cup of coffee quick!!!

Spent the day with police, corporate office, and employee conversations. Not a pretty picture.

Another replacement machine is on the way that will get us through, but may not be ready til Wednesday. Ouch again!

Another cup of coffee please!!!

Welcome back from a weekend of fun.

I'm the nicest guy all of you have NEVER met, but you would not want to be the person responsible for this theft if we find out who it is...Mr. Nice Guy will surely show his ugly side...and for very good reason.

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 10:06 pm
by wx247
I hope you find out who did this and soon!!!

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 10:25 pm
by azskyman
Garrett, of course if it is one of those girls in your signature, it will make it more difficult to be very angry!

The police and insurance investigators are hard at work. Identity and information theft is very very prominent in and around Phoenix these days.

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 10:48 pm
by PTrackerLA
Geez what a terrible situation I'm so sorry to hear this. I hope you can catch whoever did this and get your equipment back!

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 11:48 pm
by coriolis
Ouch, Steve, that hurts. It sounds like there is some insurance coverage, but it can't replace all the information that was stored on those machines. That's got to be an unmitigated disaster- all your work files, client information, accounting information.... Hopefully it's all backed up, but all that information in the wrong hands could be disastrous. I hope that your business has a speedy recovery, and better yet, I hope that the machines are recovered intact.

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 11:54 pm
by azskyman
Two of these were servers that carried out all our daily routines...but stored no regular information. The other server did have much info...and was probably the one they were really after. Had cc info and much more. We're not sure the full extent just yet. Not good though.

Posted: Mon May 10, 2004 11:56 pm
by furluvcats
Ewww what a mess! Sorry Steve!

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 6:40 am
by azsnowman
HOLY CRAP! What a MESS to say the very least! As you said, identity theft IS on the rise not just in Phoenix but ALL over the state, JMHO......I would bet next months wages that 99.0% of the identity theft is being carried out by ILLEGAL immigrants, the reason I'd bet that money? From the police reports Michelle and I see during some of our morning briefings.

Dennis

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 6:51 am
by HurricaneGirl
Gosh! I hope they find the persons responsible for your robbery and that justice will be served.

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 6:56 am
by Miss Mary
Steve - the nicest guy in the world is very much entitled to be this angry! I'd be furious too! I'm a very trusting person too and I think I would be so mad also. And as you know my husband is self employed, if this happened at his office, it would set them so far back. What a mess it would cause. Nearly every single business these days relies heavily upon computers.

Hope they find the person(s) responsible.

What a way to start your work week!

Mary

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:05 am
by deb_in_nc
God, Dennis!!!! Hope they find the people soon. Do they think it could be a former employee? Someone who knew which ones to take.

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 7:17 am
by Rainband
Steve...I hope they find those computers and those who took them. I would be pissed off too. :x

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 1:14 pm
by Pburgh
Poppysky, we had that happen about 6 years ago. It almost shut us down. If it would happen today, I think we would still have a very difficult time.

I'll brew you a nice pot of Earl Grey to calm you down.

Hope all works out OK.

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 1:18 pm
by Stephanie
You probably needed something else with that coffee! I'm so sorry to hear that Steve and I hope they catch them!

Posted: Tue May 11, 2004 10:01 pm
by azskyman
Our building has an office component wing and a production component wing. The theft took place in the office area while our staff was working in the production facility.

As there was no obvious forced entry, the insurance company is investigating this as a possible (but not likely) inside job by an employee.

I am therefore one among 48 suspects right now. So please please vouch for me! Tell them you saw me eating a Krispy Kreme right here on the front porch when the crime took place!

Actually, and seriously, I have a number of scenarios going through my head these days...some of which are possibilities...but all with FORMER employees, not current ones.

I'll let you know if I get thrown in the slammer! Down here Sheriff Joe would make me wear pink underwear. Would that be another example of prisoner abuse?

The search continues for the dastardly culprit, and the search also continues for those heavyweight computer servers....

I keep a sense of humor because I need it to offset the stress, not because I am actually feeling it right now.

Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 6:16 am
by Miss Mary
Steve - we'll vouch for you!!! You have many witnesses here...... :-). Let's now joke about the slammer.....hoping this get resolved. But like you, I'd be joking. What else can you do? You can't allow anger to get the best of you.

Mary

Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 11:15 am
by furluvcats
I know you're going through alot of stress Steve...ouch! We'll vouch for ya though... :O) All the KK's were gone by the time I went looking, so if you're guilty of anything, it was eating all the KK"s!!

Posted: Wed May 12, 2004 11:27 am
by Stephanie
Someone had to know what they were looking for and where to find the servers. I'll bet it was a former employee. I hope that it gets resolved soon.

Does Sheriff Joe like Krispy Kremes? We can send him a whole case!!!!

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 7:43 am
by azskyman
Just a quick update. Two weeks of investigations and new locks and new computers...and the crack investigator finishes up at the plant today with a few more interviews.

Don't know what he might have uncovered, or what his conclusions might be, but as of yet an arrest does not seem imminent.

Nevertheless, I have the employees turned on to better security methods and more scrutiny during hours of operations.
By naming the new security program Operation Building Security...or Operation BS! for short, I have lots of help.

I told my team leaders I wanted them to give me "a lot of BS" at the end of each shift.

I got a message at 3:30 this morning that said this.

"Boss...just following through with your instructions. Have done my walk through at the plant and doors are secure. That's my BS for now. Hope you sleep better knowing it!"

Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 8:23 am
by wx247
Some BS, eh? :lol:

I hope that the person(s) responsible are brought to justice.