People
often assume that their valuables such as cash and jewelry could be safe and
sound if they are simply stored away in a closet drawer. Unfortunately that is
a wrong assumption; your drawer has to be absolutely private whether it be
secured with a lock or if you get a safe to protect your items. This becomes an
even bigger problem whenever you are sharing a room or apartment because it
becomes very difficult to control your valuables without becoming suspicious of
your immediate partners. I had a problem with my own roommate in college because
items started to go missing, and she was the only other person with access to
the room (other than the cleaning lady who even gave me things that she found
under my bed or scattered around the floor). I confronted her about it and she
confessed the theft and returned my belongings. I requested to be transferred to
another building immediately.
At that
time, janitorial services were not as developed as they are now across campuses
in the United States and you actually had to pay a premium in order to have
your room cleaned, this was never a problem because I got along extremely well
with our cleaning lady. What was maybe counter-intuitive was that when things
got lost, I just knew she would not dare to touch my belongings. Precisely
because of the reputation she had gained with me as an honest individual.
All in all,
I remember an iPod and a ring being unaccounted for, but those are very
portable items and are very prone to get stolen so I was not very surprised when
I found out they were stolen (because of their portability). The answer to my
dilemma came of course when I transferred to another building and really tested
the waters with my new roommate (by getting to know her better). Unfortunately,
human nature runs on precedents and I wouldn't take a chance with this one, I
contacted a locksmith to install locks on my closets and desk drawers. To this
day I can’t remember anything go missing once I transferred.
