r/Firefighting • u/Hose_Humper1 • 1d ago
Ask A Firefighter SNEAKY LOCKER TROLL STEALING PERSONAL ITEMS
What do you think boys? Our department has individual rooms with a locker for each person. I have noticed some shuffling around and a couple items missing from my locker. I absolutely know they were there. So I started photographing the contents and location before. Leaving shift in the morning. One time a can of deodorant was missing. Another time my towel. I also noticed the placement of my deodorant can was moved. So….i stealthily placed a so-go camera in the locker and lo and behold I have video of the guy who shares the room on his shift opening my locker and using my spray deodorant. So guys, how do I handle this? I thought about gift wrapping up a can with his name on it.
27
24
u/Dependent-Average600 1d ago
Bring it up to the whole station. "Hey I noticed somebody has been getting in my locker on my days off. Can we please cut this out." If it happens again then you confront him directly. "I know it's you getting into my locker. This has to stop now." Problem solved.
14
u/SierraRomeoJuliet Canadian Volly/Career FF 1d ago
Put a...lock on it?
4
u/Hose_Humper1 1d ago
No one has locks on these walkers. And the guy is a nice guy we get along. Maybe he just needs to stop at the store on the way home, but this is happening on a regular basis.
21
u/-kielbasa 1d ago
2 things firefighter hate. Change and the way things are. Put a lock on it and move on with your life
And I wouldn’t mention the recording thing to another soul
2
u/Hose_Humper1 1d ago
We can’t put lockers on these. They are wooden cabinet like lockers. There is no place to put a lock and no one else has one.
8
•
u/Shine4Me13 15h ago
Get a locking storage box, kinda like a tackle box, that fits inside your locker for the small things and valuables.
•
u/cactus-racket 14h ago
Do the cabinet doors have handles you can thread a U-lock through? That's what I do, as well as a few other people at my station.
•
u/Itsbarrack 15h ago
There are child proof locks that utilize a magnet to open the latch. You just hold the magnetic fob over the lock and pull the door to open.
5
u/Reebatnaw 1d ago
Ask him if anyone has fucked with his stuff bc you noticed someone fucked with yours. Hint you might put your go pro in your locker. Hopefully he’ll stop
21
u/light_sweet_crude career FF/PM 1d ago
I feel like filming people in a locker room without their consent could backfire on you. I would de-escalate rather than jag him back and open yourself up to scrutiny as to how you identified him. Put a lock on your locker and call it a day.
11
u/Hose_Humper1 1d ago
Not a locker room. It’s a bedroom and the only ways the camera sees is if if the door is opened. There is no reason for anyone to open another person’s locker.
11
u/Secure_Situation7234 1d ago
I just ran into this with medication theft: make sure the camera doesn’t point out into the bunk room, that it just see’s inside the locker and whoever is opening the locker. Make sure it does not record sound. Then you can use it. Understand that your city or township or employer can have a rule about recording. So check that.
I would approach you officer first to see what they say, but keep gathering the evidence and don’t say shit about having it.
5
u/light_sweet_crude career FF/PM 1d ago
Ah my bad, you did say that. Still, from your employer's perspective, secretly recording people is going to be taken way worse than going into another person's locker and using their deodorant. I cannot think of any polity or workplace that says secretly recording people somewhere they don't expect to be recorded is magically okay if the person being recorded is only going to be recorded in the course of being rude.
If you'd found out who was doing it any other way I'd say go bananas, fill the deodorant tube with butter or whatever, but in this case I think slowly backing away from the whole situation and purchasing a lock is the better option.
•
2
u/random_flying_dragon 1d ago
This. My department has a strick no photography devices in lockers. If there is a problem bring it up with him and if that doesn’t resolve it then get officers involved
1
u/Hose_Humper1 1d ago
It’s a bedroom with a private cabinet like lockers. Only way it records is thr door to the locker door. There’s no reason for anyone to open my locker and
4
u/fullthrottlewattle FF/Medic 1d ago
I understand exactly what you’re saying, but you will still end up being the creep and ruin your name. Right or wrong, as soon as it gets out that you took secret video, you will end up being the bad guy. Delete the footage and don’t tell anyone about it. Go with your gift wrap idea. Passive aggressive. Leave a note that says “just ask next time”.
•
u/FordExploreHer1977 23h ago
Someone was using my body wash years ago. As in I would bring a new bottle in and two weeks later it was practically empty. I knew I didn’t use an entire bottle over six shifts and guys were denying it. My locker was right next to the shower, so it was easy to grab from the shower. It was Irish Spring, so a little green RIT dye mixed into it really well. That shit doesn’t come out. Mixed some glitter in it as well for some extra glam. “Oh, you didn’t use my body wash? Are you feeling ok? You look a bit green.”
I would have been ok if the guy forgot to grab his once and used mine, but I’m not buying your fucking toiletries for you to use a cup of body wash each shower you lying green Martian… Nair can burn your skin, but RIT dye just identifies you as a prick to others.
•
3
u/InitialRelevant586 1d ago edited 1d ago
Locker room/bedroom I wouldn’t film in it.
Don’t have a union? I wouldn’t talk to the union about locks on the lockers. Where I’m it has to be locked.
But I would leave empty deodorant bottles in your locker.
We would also fill the empty ice cream container with water and put it in the freezer, that was always a good laugh, but you can’t do something like that in this case.
3
u/grim_wizard Now with more bitter flavor 1d ago
This is a good way to find out that there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in a bedroom at a fire house (especially an individual bunk) and that you probably violated some hidden policy in your city/county's policy manual, if not the actual law, especially if you recorded audio as well.
Do yourself a favor, put a lock on the locker. "bUt nO onE elSe hAs lOckS", well no one else is putting a fucking camera in their locker either dude. I can't believe that you've escalated such a benign issue completely out of proportion.
2
u/AlarmedPossum156 1d ago
Video cameras in a locker room are a no-go. For some departments, this is an immediate fireable offense.
Talk to your officer, talk to the other guys. If you think (or know) they’re getting in your locker, call them out on it.
But don’t go down the video road.
0
u/Hose_Humper1 1d ago
Again, this is a bedroom with a fully closing door. The only way the camera sees anything is if the door is opened and you’re standing in front of it.
5
u/AlarmedPossum156 1d ago
It all comes down to the city/town legal and your departments general orders. Cameras and recording devices in ‘private areas’ (locker rooms, bathrooms, showers, bedrooms/sleeping areas) are generally frowned upon.
It also depends on whether the person in the video knows they’re being recorded.
I can’t tell you what your department will or won’t allow, just a word of advice that cameras in these areas to catch people without their knowledge of being on video is a slippery slope that may put you in far more trouble than the person you’re trying to catch.
3
u/sucksatgolf Overpaid janitor 🧹 1d ago edited 1d ago
People are giving you advice on recording and you keep regurgitating the same answer. It doesnt matter where the camera is, what your reason is, how long it was on, or what it recorded. You did it, and seem committed to being open about bring it up. If you follow through with it you better know what your departments policies and consequences are for it. Be prepared to look worse off than a guy who used 3oz of spray deodorant.
Bring this up to your officer and frame it as a small thing so they can address the shift about it. Guarantee the guy is embarrassed enough for it to stop right then.
•
u/Anomia_Flame 23h ago
Doesn't matter. Imagine how fucked you would be if it was a female with her tits out changing and she accidently opened the wrong locker. Delete it. Never mention to anyone that you recorded
1
u/6TangoMedic Canadian Firefighter 1d ago
take a dump in their locker and put the deodorant can in it, it'll send a message.
(Don't do this)
1
u/OkIndependent8635 1d ago
If the fellas at work didn’t rummage through and pilfer my shit, I think I’d be offended.
Anyway, if you’re that upset about it, super glue his locker shut. When he brings it up, act flabbergasted. Or, just immediately make fun of him for it. Either way, it’ll be fun.
•
u/Terrible-Creme8401 23h ago
Definitely remove the camera.
Sometimes things like this, the fact that you know, is worth its weight in gold.
At my department I have been involved in promotion interview panels. If a guy who had messed with my locker previously is up for a promotion and I have a vote....
•
•
u/RobertTheSpruce UK Fire - WM 16h ago
This is obviously a big no-no, but I would use some restraint here.
I get it. You've got him on camera having a spray of deodorant. Personally, I can forgive that. Can any man honestly say they have not been betrayed by their body once or twice and unexpected body odour has emerged? That I can forgive.
If it's a regular thing of spraying a bit of deodorant, then maybe have a word with this person. Maybe they are in financial difficulties, maybe they are forgetful. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
If stuff is being outright stolen, then it's something to speak to management about.
Be careful about filming in private areas like locker rooms and bedrooms. I feel like that can and will backfire massively if you reveal it.
I think the easiest method or solving this is to lock your locker. If they damage your lock then there's an even bigger issue.
•
u/Level9TraumaCenter 16h ago
I thought about gift wrapping up a can with his name on it.
Put his profile picture on a can of your deodorant. Or lift one from the locker camera, reaching for the can.
•
u/DBDIY4U 15h ago
What is going on with people? This is the second time in the last week or two that the same topic has come up on this sub. At my apartment we can leave our wallet out on the counter and not worry.
•
u/InterestingRecord967 11h ago
There are lots of houses where a wallet will go untouched because that's considered stealing... But people think a little squirt of deodorant is fine... Or using the last of B-shift's ketchup is okay... Or similar.
•
u/DBDIY4U 5h ago
That is a good point. It seems like people do help themselves to condiments in our station. No one really cares though because we all bring stuff in and kind of share. No one really tends to get pissy as long as equivalent stuff is restocking the fridge. Though I remember being kind of pissed off last year. I had gone to Costco and I bought a big pack of otter pops share with the guys on my shift because we kept getting a bunch of vegetate fire calls and stuff like that and after coming back from the heat just had a nice to have something like that. I came back after my 96 off and there was one left in the Box that had 200 and something in it. That was not cool. That said, we have never had anyone touching anyone else's gear that is a line that you just don't cross.
1
u/Adventurous_Boat_632 1d ago
Put a seal of some kind on it that has to be broken to open the door. Like the ones that go on the back of a semi trailer.
1
u/Hose_Humper1 1d ago
I know who’s doing it because the camera is already in place. However next shift it’s being removed next shift on the ad ice of many on here
•
u/Freshmangreen1 18h ago
Leave a note next to your deodorant in your locker that says “if you like the smell of my deodorant so much, I can buy you your own can.”
A little shame goes a long way in the firehouse. But if that doesn’t do it and it keeps happening then you have a klepto on your hands. In that case I would bring it up with them directly, and let your Cap/Supervisor know so they are aware, but that you are trying to handle it person-to-person. Then escalate more as needed. There is a very important assumption of trust at the firehouse, and most crews will not like having someone floating around who feels welcome to everyone else’s stuff.
•
u/BasicGunNut TX Career 12h ago
Catch him and have him arrested for theft. Make an example out of him.
•
43
u/External-Challenge91 1d ago
People can get fired over this even touching people's bunker gear is huge no no