- 766
- 687
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2009
Back in 2005 I traveled up to NYC to try and become an R&B singer (I pretty much set myself up for failure, cause Atlanta and Los Angeles are the places to go).nyc transit on a different level I swear.
So anyways the first month I'm staying at a dorm room style hostel which was 30 bucks a night. But after about 5 weeks, I've made no progress and I'm running out of money and my tax return money wasn't coming until the end of the month. I decide to start sleeping at the train station. The first three nights go by fine, day 1 an old lady brought me some food, day 2 someone brings me a blanket, day 3 someone gives me a bunch of guest passes to the NYSC so I can take a shower and have a place to keep my laptop secure during the day instead of walking around with a backpack all day. I was so ecstatic planning the next day I stayed awake a couple hours than I usually do and while I was charging my Dell Latitude, I fall asleep and when I wake up 10 minutes later both the actual laptop and AC charger are gone from the seat next to me
So I had to wait until 7AM for the security desk open, when they finally let me in itell the officer I got robbed, he looks at me with a stone face expression and proceeds to explain the difference between property theft, it only would've been considered a robbery if I was awake and had at least been verbally threatened or physically attacked. Dude reluctantly takes a report, and won't give me a straight answer about when they can look at the security footage.
So I'm walking away defeated but then I get the bright idea to walk back to the area it happened, take a picture on my phone that way they'll know exactly which particular camera to review. As I'm walking back, I see a female officer ordering a coffee so I go up to her and explain what happened. She was in her mid 20s and wasn't as jaded like the dude that was giving me attitude, she was on her break and abandoned her remaining time just to help me. we head back to the security station and we go directly into the control room with the monitors and I'm fascinated. But I end up walking away defeated again, cause they had cameras everywhere EXCEPT that area where my Laptop got snatched.
So anyways I ended up withdrawing what little money I had left in my bank account and flew home and started an 11 month crime spree. I figured out it was so easy to steal and rationalized I was taking from faceless corporations so why feel guilty about it? I'd begin my day at 9AM and wouldn't go back home until 9 that night. I didn't have my driver's license at the time, so half of those 12 hours were spent riding buses and trains, there's only so much stuff you can carry in a bookbag so I could only hit so many stores before I had to go unload the stuff at my crib. If Uber and Lyft had existed in mid 00's I wouldn't be a millionaire but I easily would have cleared $100k a year as a shoplifter. Now I'm hitting my mid 30s, and am washed up a classic case of damn homie in high school you was the man homie, what the eff happened to you? I spent damn near a full decade working minimum wage jobs in the aftermath. I attended trade school and got a few certifications back in 2016 and that helped. Then in 2019 all the sudden I started getting higher paying jobs one after the next....I realized my theft charges are so old they must've stopped showing up when employers run background checks. Then when COVID hit I started working overtime pretty much every week and built up a number of contacts to the point I'm on pace to earn close to $75k which technically isn't alot but living in the Midwest and not having any kids it feels like I am balling to some extent. But in the back of my mind I feel some level of discontent...I stopped practicing and doing karaoke, no longer can I hit high notes effortlessly like I used to. Short of actually making a million dollars, I don't know how I'm going to get that "winning/on top of the world" feeling back in my life.
Last edited: