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15 September 2006
I got mugged tonight. Do you ever feel like all your bad karma is coming due all at once? Cause mine totally is.
Bunnies, tell me something good about Chicago. I need to feel like there's good stuff in the world.
I've been mugged twice in Chicago. It's an awful, awful feeling, but it's temporary. Luckily, the good things about Chicago are forever: street fairs, tailgating, concerts in the park, block parties, kids in fountains, the top of the Hancock, the underside of the Bean, fireflies, Polar Bear dunks, Shamrock Shuffles, storefront theater, penny El rides, the first big snowfall, the first warm day...
I have to admit now that my attention span isn't currently great enough to read the whole story. But what I *can* tell you is that my brother was once robbed at gunpoint by two people whose racial make-up differed from his. It totally affected him. I'm not sure what my point is. I just hope that you get through this okay. So very sorry that you're having to deal with this. Be well.
I think people could tell you all the good things in the world about chicago, but you wouldn't believe them right now. You've go two choices. Either leave the city behind and trust in the fact that it doesn't like you and you don't like it. Or stay, and wait for the day when it'll peek coyly round your front door and show you something small and trivial and lovely that takes your breath away and makes you love the place.
The worst thing about the story for me was the guy who hit on you in the restaurant. w.t.f.
I have never been mugged but this is not the first time I've heard from a woman who got hit on post mugging or other trauma.
I am indescribably ashamed of my gender for their behavior in such moments. I really have no insight or answers. I think it's just that you are vulnerable and this makes you more accessible or attractive to certain dickless shits in some strange way. Total assholes. I have no idea.
I am very sorry for your trauma, and also the effect it will have on you long-term. This is a good time to remind you that you have some control over how much impact this has on you. I can't blame you for taking it to heart and being more fearful and careful. I also would not call you crazy if you concluded that you were the victim of a random crime and did not feel tageted personally and simply carried on with your life.
geez fuzzbean, that really sucks. If any one of us were there, we'd give you a strings-free hug. Sometimes, that's the worst part of being a grown-up - no one to kiss it and make it better...
Thanks, everyone, for the kind words and support. It means a lot.
Evariste: I was at Damen and Wilson. Good neighborhood, surrounded by million-dollar yuppie homes. The cop was surprised it happened where it did.
Shane: I've called up/emailed everyone who wrote me the checks and they're going to put stop-payments on them and rewrite them. The only one I can't is a rebate check from Corsair, which sucks but isn't a huge deal (not a huge sum of money in any case). Even if I can't get that back I'm going to call them and tell them to stop payment on it.
I keep trying to think what I could have/should have done differently and the answer keeps coming back nothing. Doesn't make me feel any better though.
I keep trying to think what I could have/should have done differently and the answer keeps coming back nothing.
Damn right. EVERYONE who knows anything will tell you handled the situation perfectly. You don't risk your life for a purse. I'm glad you're still with us, Fuzz.
Fuzzbean, I'm very sorry to hear this. Everyone above has already said a lot of wonderful and helpful things. I'm not going to repeat their advice, but know there are a lot of us here who are sending you good vibes and we know you're inner strength will see you through.
Fuzzbean, I'm so sorry to hear that. You handled yourself perfectly. It's an awful feeling when someone else has your personal stuff that means nothing to them and everything to you. And Creepy the Vulture should have a steaming hot bowl of something unpleasant dumped on his head. I hope they catch the bastard.
I also hope that you can start to find wonderful things about Chicago, soon.
Man, I'm sorry, fuzzbean. This is the first crime, period, that I've heard about in that neck of the woods.
Good things about Chicago? How about that you can get literally any kind of food you want somewhere in the city, breaking down to specific states/regions of Mexico or India or China? That there are so many beautiful greenspaces, and a mostly gorgeous lakefront free of buildings?
If you'd ever like to hang out, let me (or eamondaly, or mrs.pants, or sisterhavana or KevinSkomsvold or any number of local MeChatters) know.
Shit, that sucks. Last year I was nearly mugged on the Blue Line platform at Clark and Lake. It was the day of the Chicago Marathon, and the platform was overcrowded. Some guy tried to grab my purse, and before I realized what I was doing, I shouted, "Hey, that guy tried to take my purse," while elbowing him pretty hard. I don't think I'd have had reacted the same way if I were out on a street at night. Somehow being surrounded by all those people made it seem ok for me to do that.
Anyway, you definitely did the right thing. It's too bad that your purse and its contents are gone, but I'm glad that you're safe.
I'm so sorry, Fuzzbean, but smart of you to have your wallet in your pocket! I agree with everyone else, too, you did exactly the right thing. I just wish I could make you feel better.
Damn, Damen & Wilson. There are better places in Chicago, but more worse places.
Me, I've never been mugged despite years of living in NYC, Jersey, and Chicago too. I was pickpocketed once at the Times Square subway. And now I'm living in my hometown and there was a baseball-bat beating where I used to walk to elementary school, and we've been fighting the retail drug sales market pretty steadily. It wears on you.
But Chicago is one fuckin' great city, Fuzzbean. The skyline from the Adler, the Buckingham Fountain, the drawbridges, the "L", the Lincoln Park Zoo, Ravinia, Wrigley, the Metro, Pizzeria Uno ... you'll be able to go out in it again.
Oh, Fuzzbean, that so totally sucks. And you did do the right thing - you are much more important than your purse or the contents thereof. Take the time to freak-out, you totally deserve it and it's perfectly normal to happen several times. BIG HUGS!
Gah! I'm sorry, fuzzbean! I had someone try and hit on me after the second London attack last year--there's too much smegma who think that if a woman's by herself, she doesn't have the right to be left alone.
I got mugged once in New York, in the spring of the year 2000, north of Newkirk Avenue in Flatbush. A very young kid pointing a gun right at me from fifteen feet away. The gun looked mighty damned authentic. So I gave him my $17 and let him run.
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