I checked into a hotel the other day. After dinner, I went to the lobby, where I was greeted with commotion. When I looked askance, the receptionist narrated the tale of a smart thief who tried to rob the hotel that evening. A gentleman had walked into the hotel hauling a suitcase and two heavy cartons. He hired a room for himself and booked two more rooms for his friends who were supposed to check in a little later. He also took possession of the keys of the other rooms.
After a few hours, he went to the reception saying he had received a telephone call summoning him urgently to another city. He checked out by surrendering his room key, walking out with his suitcase and two cartons. Soon after, a room boy recalled that the man had booked two more rooms but had not surrendered their keys. Using duplicate keys the two rooms were opened. There were tender coconuts strewn on the floor and the television sets in both rooms had vanished.
The thief had checked in carrying two cartons full of tender coconuts. He had offloaded the coconuts in the rooms and packed the televisions in the cartons. A frantic search was made in the nearby bus stand where up-country buses left. The hotel employees detected the two cartons atop a stationary bus and brought them down. The television sets were safe inside the cartons. The thief was not traceable.
The hotel was the gainer. It got a dozen tender coconuts plus the advance payment made for three rooms. After losing so heavily the thief was sure to make more attempts to regain what he lost. The receptionist rang up other hotels in the town and alerted them.
Not all thieves are failures. A man hired a TV and DVD player from a shop, saying they were for use in a marriage hall. He took a boy from the shop along to the marriage hall for installing the player. Then, he asked the boy to go back and fetch some music CDs from his shop. When the boy came back, he did not find the man or the TV and DVD player in the marriage hall. When he made enquiries, someone said a man carried away the TV and DVD player in an auto-rickshaw. Both the bride’s and the groom’s party denied hiring the equipment.
We had a neighbour who was an ex-serviceman. One night, we were woken up from sleep by our neighbour who informed us that there was a robber in his kitchen and he had bolted the door of the kitchen from outside. After mobilising sufficient force outside the bolted kitchen door, our neighbour thundered, “You are outnumbered. Surrender yourself.” Sounds of crashing utensils came as reply. It appeared that the thief was in a rebellious mood. Everyone armed himself with sticks and our neighbour took aim with his gun. The kitchen door was cautiously opened.
Out jumped a cat, disconcerting the posse of armed men waiting outside.