Trophy hunting for lolz?
January 23, 2012 11:22 PM Subscribe
Just weird stuff paying guests do or is this the new 'planking'?
We have tourist accommodation. The other day while preparing a venue for new guests, I noticed that a bath plug was absent. Then I realised a round river pebble set into a stone floor under the bathmat had been prised up. Then we discovered that a screw-in CFL bulb had been removed from a high ceiling light. Finally we noticed that the central round metal disc from the handle of a saucepan lid had been removed.
Four things missing over the course of one visit. Rubber, stone, glass, metal. All round.
I am pretty sure they all disappeared at the same time but I can't be 100% sure it was the guests last in, it could have been the ones before - I didn't do the prep for the last ones and as my other half is more macro to my micro he might have missed the absences.
Is this a new 'thing' - taking items of a certain shape and material as mementos / trophies? Is there an internet meme of this sort? Or did we just host some weirdo/s?
We have tourist accommodation. The other day while preparing a venue for new guests, I noticed that a bath plug was absent. Then I realised a round river pebble set into a stone floor under the bathmat had been prised up. Then we discovered that a screw-in CFL bulb had been removed from a high ceiling light. Finally we noticed that the central round metal disc from the handle of a saucepan lid had been removed.
Four things missing over the course of one visit. Rubber, stone, glass, metal. All round.
I am pretty sure they all disappeared at the same time but I can't be 100% sure it was the guests last in, it could have been the ones before - I didn't do the prep for the last ones and as my other half is more macro to my micro he might have missed the absences.
Is this a new 'thing' - taking items of a certain shape and material as mementos / trophies? Is there an internet meme of this sort? Or did we just host some weirdo/s?
Maybe the stone and the pot handle are related to the bath plug, as Nightman suggests, but the CFL disappeared because they're expensive and someone figured they'd swipe one for free.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 11:43 PM on January 23, 2012
posted by easy, lucky, free at 11:43 PM on January 23, 2012
In my experience, phenomena like this have one of two explanations:
1) We used it to fix the car/computer/sound equipment.
2) We used it to make a bong.
posted by mie at 11:53 PM on January 23, 2012 [19 favorites]
1) We used it to fix the car/computer/sound equipment.
2) We used it to make a bong.
posted by mie at 11:53 PM on January 23, 2012 [19 favorites]
The light bulb I'd definitely blame on cheapness. The rest I'm not sure about. I would hope that it is a lone nut and not a trend.
posted by gjc at 4:31 AM on January 24, 2012
posted by gjc at 4:31 AM on January 24, 2012
My father-in-law works in prisons. Once he was attending a conference with a released inmate, who was there to talk about something related to his rehabilitation. When they were packing up in their hotel room, my father-in-law noticed the former inmate was packing up EVERYTHING in the room, towels, sheets, everything.
When challenged on it, the guy said, "but, you don't understand, they WANT you to take it." I think you might be encountering this attitude, just in an especially lulzy form.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:43 AM on January 24, 2012
When challenged on it, the guy said, "but, you don't understand, they WANT you to take it." I think you might be encountering this attitude, just in an especially lulzy form.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 5:43 AM on January 24, 2012
That sounds like the actions of a mentally ill person. Make a note of the last few visitors and if any of them come back, watch them closely. Although you probably wouldn't want to press charges, blocking them from your facility as well as alerting the neighboring establishments would be prudent.
You can't force a stranger to get help for a problem but if they can't get a bed in your town, it might encourage them to understand that their behavior is wrong and needs addressing.
posted by myselfasme at 6:08 AM on January 24, 2012
You can't force a stranger to get help for a problem but if they can't get a bed in your town, it might encourage them to understand that their behavior is wrong and needs addressing.
posted by myselfasme at 6:08 AM on January 24, 2012
That sounds like the actions of a mentally ill person.
That is kind of a broad assertion made with little basis for verification.
Bizarre behavior, or behavior we do not understand right away does not translate into 'they must be mentally-ill'. Vast majority of criminal acts, petty or major, are committed by perfectly 'sane' folks.
Two things occur to me:
Sometimes people are just shits when they thing they are being mysterious or cleaver.
The metal disc could have been used to pry up the stone that someone found interesting/wanted to take/keep. Bathtub plug and light bulb could both be things the guest needs at home.
posted by edgeways at 6:40 AM on January 24, 2012
That is kind of a broad assertion made with little basis for verification.
Bizarre behavior, or behavior we do not understand right away does not translate into 'they must be mentally-ill'. Vast majority of criminal acts, petty or major, are committed by perfectly 'sane' folks.
Two things occur to me:
Sometimes people are just shits when they thing they are being mysterious or cleaver.
The metal disc could have been used to pry up the stone that someone found interesting/wanted to take/keep. Bathtub plug and light bulb could both be things the guest needs at home.
posted by edgeways at 6:40 AM on January 24, 2012
I think Nightman has it -- the plug either was already missing or didn't fit enough (I have a bath plug that's kind of cheap, so my tub still drains with the plug there), so they pried up the stone disc and then tried the pot lid instead. The bulb was probably either a desperate last-ditch bathplug substitute or "hey, free lightbulb!"
And as to why some people would do this -- I have friends who also have a tourist rental property in the Catskills, and based on some of their stories about a couple of their renters, I have learned that Sometimes Renters Can Just Be Assholes.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:33 AM on January 24, 2012
And as to why some people would do this -- I have friends who also have a tourist rental property in the Catskills, and based on some of their stories about a couple of their renters, I have learned that Sometimes Renters Can Just Be Assholes.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:33 AM on January 24, 2012
Maybe they liked the stone disks and dug one up to take home as a decorating idea. Pot lid as make shift bath plug. . .maybe plug was missing from earlier. Light bulb because they are cheap or maybe that was also missing earlier.
posted by wwax at 8:45 AM on January 24, 2012
posted by wwax at 8:45 AM on January 24, 2012
Response by poster: Thanks all. Still seems to be a mystery...
There was an another bath plug in the bathroom (for the basin) so I don't think the other things were used as a replacement.
To access the lightbulb the guest would have had to be tall AND stand on the bed. There were other globes at much more accessible height they could have taken.
The stone was taken from underneath the bathmat - they would only have seen it had they lifted up the mat... plus we have a pile of decorative river stones at the base of the basin and they could easily have taken one of them.
The saucepan lid missing the disc was covered in dirty hand prints where they had grasped it to prize off the disc.
I'm going to go with crazy & token hunting & dipshit rolled into one.
posted by Kerasia at 12:47 PM on January 24, 2012
There was an another bath plug in the bathroom (for the basin) so I don't think the other things were used as a replacement.
To access the lightbulb the guest would have had to be tall AND stand on the bed. There were other globes at much more accessible height they could have taken.
The stone was taken from underneath the bathmat - they would only have seen it had they lifted up the mat... plus we have a pile of decorative river stones at the base of the basin and they could easily have taken one of them.
The saucepan lid missing the disc was covered in dirty hand prints where they had grasped it to prize off the disc.
I'm going to go with crazy & token hunting & dipshit rolled into one.
posted by Kerasia at 12:47 PM on January 24, 2012
Response by poster: Hmm, the plot thickens...
A current guest has just asked if we had any fish heads, scales or bones. Apparently he's playing a game (away from the property - he's only here for the weekend) where he has to collect certain items. Not sure if it's a facebook game or what (he wouldn't explain when pressed) but there is obviously something 'fishy' going on...
posted by Kerasia at 12:50 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
A current guest has just asked if we had any fish heads, scales or bones. Apparently he's playing a game (away from the property - he's only here for the weekend) where he has to collect certain items. Not sure if it's a facebook game or what (he wouldn't explain when pressed) but there is obviously something 'fishy' going on...
posted by Kerasia at 12:50 PM on January 28, 2012 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Nightman at 11:36 PM on January 23, 2012