Murphy's World

Catch of the day: seafood thieves

Dear Murphy,

Delivering seafood to restaurants in a less-than-savory part of Tampa, FL, I once neglected to lock the doors to the box while I rolled in an order. While getting the bills signed, I happened to look out the office window and saw two men hanging around my truck.

I’d had a few items come up missing on this route before and it kinda ticked me off. When I finished the paperwork, I walked out, quickly closed my doors without saying a word and headed to my next delivery in Orlando.

After about an hour-and-a-half ride, I went back and opened the doors again and saw two blurs leap from the back of my truck and race off down the street. Y’know, I never had anything go missing on that route the rest of the time I drove it.

“Hard Drive”

Neptune, FL

Dear Hard Drive,

Everyone loves a good fishing story, and yours is a whopper. We bought it hook, line and sinker.

Thanks for sending it in. You landed a couple of real pikers and taught them a lesson they won’t soon forget. Best of all, you solved your problem without anyone getting hurt, except for some bruising to the dignity of the two would-be thieves.

I’m not sure I agree with your catch-and-release program, however. If it were me, I would have slammed the doors and driven to the nearest police station and invited a couple Orlando’s finest outside to sample the “catch of the day.” Then I would have opened the doors.

Over-the-road professionals instinctively know something fishy is probably going on when you see a couple of unsavory characters hanging around your truck in an unsavory area. In your case, it was fishy all right, in more ways than one.

Regards,