Shop Break-in

Yes, they smashed in my shop. Broke through the safety glass on the front door, smashed my cash register, and kicked out my side door. They also got into the coffee shop and smashed through her inner door, and stole her tip jar.
What did they get? $2. From her tip jar, which someone found under a tree across the street.
Yet they did several hundreds of dollars worth of damage. I had to cancel the clients not only for today, but also for tommorrow. I'm closed this saturday because of other obligations.
Thank goodness that they didn't harm any of the animals in the shop, nor simply smash everything. I had bad images rushing up here this morning. I have a cornsnake locked into a tank out front, a tortoise in a open tank out front and a ball python in the back in a unlocked but topped tank. They were all fine.
Yesterday I was injured by a great dane wrestling around attempting to get him into the tub. So my back is blown out, but I still have spent hours so far sweeping up glass EVERYWHERE... the police are not hopeful at finding who did it... no prints(although they didn't dust he just looked with his flashlight and all) I also got the cash register re-assembled and the silly thing WORKS. Just a few wires pulled loose from the circuit board, and some minor breakage that doesn't interfere with the working of it.
So now I am awaiting word to see if I am getting a sheet of Lexan(1/8 inch thick Lexan!!!) today, or whether it will be tommorrow. Once I have word, I can either prepare to install it(the landlord is SUPPOSED to have a guy here to repair it!) or install some plywood until tomorrow(Again, the landlord is SUPPOSED to have a guy here! He WAS here with her, and it would have taken all of ten minutes for him to install the plywood, that *I* already have lying RIGHT HERE!)
Tomorrow IF the door is repaired, I can do a few dogs, that I can call at the last minute. Otherwise I lose out on 3 of the 5 days of this week for making money!
Don't know how much this will be cost-wise. My sidedoor's frame is smashed, but it has been temp-fixed for now. I rarely ever open it, so that's fine. It's my front door that needs the TLC. At least I have the glass up!
Geez... I hate people.
Wolfy

Theresa:

Sorry to hear about the break-in and your injury.

The lexan is a good idea alternately, you may want to consider having the replacement glass laminated with an impact resistent laminate.

CCTV surveillance equipment is now readily available at an affordable cost.

Alarm systems are also an excellent deterrent.

If you are looking for a cheap camera system, take a look at X10.com Their technology is very affordable and is actually quite good. I use it to control my entire home theater system, lights, etc. For less than $200, you could have a complete setup to at least monitor your front door.

Griz

Theresa,
How awful!! I'm sorry that happened to you. Do you have business insurance to help with the cost of the Lexan and so on?
Remember to deduct uninsured damages as well as the cost of any surveillance equipment you might buy.
For your back: Rest, heat, Tylenol.
Hope you are better soon and the shop gets back to normal. And that they catch the creep that did it.

Well Theresa, that sux. I hope they catch them in the act somewhere. I am sorry to hear they broke up your shop.

Thanks for the sentiments. I DID have a alarm system my brother installed(he is a professional) and it was getting set off by the rumble of logging and sand trucks rushing by only a 100 feet away on the highway out front. So I had to disconnect it, and hadn't re-installed a new one or gotten it adjusted. Cameras would have caught the guy in dark video.. since there isn't lights on all the time(will be now) but wouldn't have stopped him from actually breaking in.
I'm going to look into a better alarm system that isn't so sensitive, and I'll look at security cameras. I don't want to invest too much money into a system unless it can be removed later, since I may not be in this building after March.
It's so frustrating and annoying that I have to miss two days of work here, clean up all this, wrestle the landlord into doing stuff she should be happy to do in the first place... all because some jerk-off decided I might have money in the place. I mean really... a town FULL of places to rob, and he broke into a DOG-GROOMING SHOP!!! What? Did he want dirty dog hair?
Anyway..
I am terribly glad he didn't harm any of the animals, and I've been joking to the neighbors that I was going to bring up Moggie to guard the place. Haha. Now the neighbors are nervous!
Wolfy

that just plain sucks ! i am glad to hear that the animals are all ok . hope they catch the sob's that did this .

Originally Posted by Wolfy-hound

Thanks for the sentiments. I DID have a alarm system my brother installed(he is a professional) and it was getting set off by the rumble of logging and sand trucks rushing by only a 100 feet away on the highway out front. So I had to disconnect it, and hadn't re-installed a new one or gotten it adjusted. Cameras would have caught the guy in dark video.. since there isn't lights on all the time(will be now) but wouldn't have stopped him from actually breaking in.
I'm going to look into a better alarm system that isn't so sensitive, and I'll look at security cameras. I don't want to invest too much money into a system unless it can be removed later, since I may not be in this building after March.
It's so frustrating and annoying that I have to miss two days of work here, clean up all this, wrestle the landlord into doing stuff she should be happy to do in the first place... all because some jerk-off decided I might have money in the place. I mean really... a town FULL of places to rob, and he broke into a DOG-GROOMING SHOP!!! What? Did he want dirty dog hair?
Anyway..
I am terribly glad he didn't harm any of the animals, and I've been joking to the neighbors that I was going to bring up Moggie to guard the place. Haha. Now the neighbors are nervous!
Wolfy

X10 camera's can be moved around within minutes AND they are infrared so seeing in the dark is very simple. I have some of these set up around my property when calf season is upon us so that I can see when they have dropped. In a closed area like your shop, you should not have any problems at all seeing who it is that broke in. It's a good investment.

Griz

Theresa, i am so sorry to hear about this. Senseless vandalism really makes me angry! I hope that your back heals quickly and you're on you feet again.

That really stinks, Theresa...so sorry.

Like you said.....why a grooming shop??? One of the least likely places I can think of that would have cash laying around..unreal.

Hope everything gets taken care of soon.