Robbed by my long time friends :(
gaberox
Everyone, Registered Users Posts: 824
I wouldnt normally post about this but im drunk so here goes. Had some of my best friends from years past visit for a while. Hadnt talked to them in 10 or so years due to them getting into hard drugs and such. Heard they cleaned up so gave em a chance opened my home took em in. All was going great, talkin old times havin a few drinks and enjoying cigars. Low and behold im missing all the money I have in the world 800$ supposed to last me till my financial aid kicks in from school. Kick em out broken hearted as they were brothers to me.
Now the kicker, open my little 30 count tupperdor and ouch many cigars missing, that hurts after Id been happily sharing and enjoying what cigars I had. Moral of the story be carefull who you invite in your home and choose friends wisely. And dont get on ccom drunk cause youll probly spill your guts.
Comments
And it always sucks..............
I've let myself be taken advantage of ALOT in my younger years and learned some really tough but valuable lessons. One of this is I never GIVE anyone a chance, ever. They have to EARN it and I'm more than happy to tell them what earning it looks like to me.
It's unfortunate that those with the biggest hearts make the easiest targets to stab in the back. Stay strong bro, move on and learn from it what you can!
Being a young man in the 60s & 70s, I grew up in the "drug era", and thus, was able to, on a first hand basis, watch and experience the destruction caused by cocaine, heroin, dirty hallucinations, and of course alcohol.
(I'm sure young people today see the same things, and more now with meth, etc. amongst their friends.)
I have had 14 friends, family members, and business associates, get taken down by drugs and/or alcohol. I could have easily added another 10 or so, but they were really more "acquaintances", so I left them out.
Unfortunately, the "data" is quite ugly on the 14:
Dead - 3
MIA - (no one has heard from them in many years) - 2
Lives ruined beyond repair (homeless addicts, in/out of jail, multiple failed rehabs, etc.) - 4
On the edge (functioning alcoholics and/or drug users with jobs, still managing, but.....) - 3
Fully recovered - (leading healthy/happy/productive lives) - 2
It gets me depressed sometimes, but has also resulted in my being somewhat jaded and unsympathetic...............its' the same old story over and over again...........and at some point you're kind of over it.
In my book, if you're my friend then I feel safe opening up any part of my life because I know you would not take advantage of the situation. If I don't deel that way about you... then you are an acquaintance and I tend to be much more closed with acquaintances.
Sorry to hear about your situation Gabe, people suck sometimes. Karma has a way of working things out, your ex friends will find that out, in time. Take the lesson from the situation and move on bro, cause after the way you treated them and the way they repaid your generosity... you don't want to spend any time thinking about the situation any longer then you have to.
What, for a laugh?
First: " taking them to small claims court is useless when they have nothing to their names. yea the judge can make them pay, ..."
That they may have nothing means nothing here. A judge wouldn''t even consider this. There is no proof of any wrong doing by any one. "Some" friends came by - who is the OP accusing specifically of doing what when? Was it a conspiracy between all visitors?
I don't mean to kick a man when he is down, but what was all your money in the world - $800 - doing in a place where a casual visitor could find it and steal it? What the hell? $800 wouldn't be all the money in the world I have, but still I would take care of it - it's a lot of money to almost all of us.
Don't get drunk. Pay attention. Oh, and get a job while you're waiting for financial aid.
Sounds mean and shitty, but you will be better off if you do all three.
I feel badly for the OP, but, I'm in 100% agreement with FNA here.
Gaberox brought this on himself, and I know he knows that - it doesn't make it any better or easier to accept.
Still, getting together for drinks! with people who have had problems in the past is never a good idea, period.
You have to learn this, like I did, the hard way.
I wasn't going to go here - but now I am, and it's why I posted my previous thread about getting to a point of being "over it" - I'm freaking over it!
*"They stole $800" ----- consider yourself lucky....... try $40,000+ which almost killed my start-up company in the early 90s.....took over a year to recover from that.
*"They stole some cigars" ----- I had my car stolen, and $5,000+ in computer equipment (got my car back - trashed)
* "I had to kick them out"----- I had to get legal help when my friend and former business partner (the "$40,000 man" mentioned above - one of my best friends, no longer with us) reported me and my two business partners to the FBI for International Bank Fraud - completely false and utterly ridiculous accusations, but since we had offices in Zurich and Frankfurt, it took time and money to clear us of all that crap.
I could go on.......
So now, I'm jaded. I suffer fools badly, and I have no patience for drug addicts/alcoholics, even if they are former "friends".
I have plenty of friends. I have no desire to rekindle old friendships with people I know are in the grips of addiction, or too close to it. They make bad decisions too often, and it's a risk I will not put my family, or myself in, for that matter, ever again.
+ 2
The one thing that I think people fail to realize or take into consideration when dealing with people who are/were former drug addicts , even if they are recovered , " They are NOT and NEVER will be the people/friends you knew before . THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON ! Thats reality , just the way it is . There is always a demon within them that must be controlled and kept in check - The problem is you cant tell the difference in who is going to be able to do that versus who cant .
I'm going to use Pit Bulls as an example . ( I love all dogs including Pits and this is for demonstration purposes only because of their rep only ) Would you leave your child in a fenced in yard with a Pit Bull or any thing else that had a bad reputation , deserved or not , while you did something else that allowed said child to be unattended even for a couple of minutes ? I would not , because you know the possibilities and you must be responsible for your actions and safty for yourself and anything/one you care about .
Disclaimer : Much love to the Pit Bull community , as I said I love all dogs and this is just an example - I think they get a bad rap sometimes but on the otherhand they have tore the shreds outta people before too .
Gaberox , very very very sorry to hear of this brother .