Stolen Goods

I've had my first run-in with crime here in Jozi. Over the weekend my laptop was stolen from my desk in my office at work. I came in on Sunday to do some work and found that my office looked just as I left it, except that my laptop was gone. Then I learned that not only was my laptop missing, but two of my other colleagues' laptops were also stolen. It was such a violating feeling to know that someone had gone through my desk where I have personal items and documents. It also made me realize that I need to be more mindful and not as trusting as I was in Toronto. In Toronto, I would leave my laptop out on my desk unlocked every night and never give it a second thought. That doesn't fly in a city where income disparity is much higher and some of the contract staff who come in may see an opportunity to make a quick buck selling off some expensive equipment. It's a sad reality. Sadder still because we have cameras and the thief isn't going to have a job anymore; the payoff will not be worth it.

One fortunate thing for me is that I had my laptop completely shut down and our laptops are difficult to get into so my files on there should be safe. The thief will likely trash the hard drive and sell the computer. Another fortunate thing is that our hard drives automatically back up to our server every couple of hours so I was able to retrieve everything and have it loaded onto a new computer for me. My personal photos and documents, music, the spreadsheets and presentations I was working on, email archives; all back on a brand new machine. Phew!