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AIBU?

to have a bit of a rant about people who steal school uniform

124 replies

Kiriwawa · 01/04/2013 22:47

Yes, I know it's dull and it's been done before.

But I'm just bloody annoyed this evening (doing end of term washing in a slatternly way).

DS has SEN. He's a bit shit at remembering to dress himself properly after PE so quite often comes out without his jumper on. Usually, I realise, we go back and find it and all is well. Because he forgets to put stuff on a lot, we get to root around in lockers and in the school hall and anywhere else he might have left something.

If it's not in the school, it stands to reason that another child has taken it home. So it should come back really shouldn't it, but it bloody doesn't. Last term he had stolen lost 1 jumper. This term, it's 1 jumper and 1 fleece. That's about £40 worth of kit.

I sew nametags in the back of all his clothes and I sew them round all sides. They don't fall out. I can understand that you don't necessarily look at every single item of clothing every week but at the end of term, you surely realise if your child has an extra jumper? Or a frigging fleece which costs £18?

So AIBU to think some parents are thieving fucking bastards? :mad:

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Kiriwawa · 01/04/2013 22:48

Or even [buangry]

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wonderingsoul · 01/04/2013 22:50

Ohhhh I feel your pain on this.

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Icedcakeandflower · 01/04/2013 22:51

YANBU. It's funny how its always the uniform which is in good nick that goes missing.

The annoying thing is when I complain, school and other parents think IBU Angry. Apparently, it's just one of those things!

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twinklytoes · 01/04/2013 22:52

yanbu here we've "lost" every single cardigan bought for my 2 Dds, they are not in lost property and are all labelled with the sewn in fabric labels. 6 cardigans, all "lost" by end of autumn term.

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LaQueen · 01/04/2013 22:54

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QueenofLouisiana · 01/04/2013 22:54

Yanbu. Bloody irritating (and expensive). DS's school make you write the name in permanent marker just above the waistband, they and you the pen when you buy the jumpers. That way, the name can't be cut out/ fall off/ be mangled by anyone. Also the teachers know where to look for the name. Seemed a bit obsessive to me at first, but it seems to work!

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hwjm1945 · 01/04/2013 22:55

We lost a very nice quite pricey water bottle dh brought DD2 back when working abroad,left in school hall during function.looked for it immediately,never handed in.named and very distinctive,so someone at our lovely infant school has had it.not a nice feeling

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WorraLiberty · 01/04/2013 22:56

YANBU and it's a problem that's getting worse at my DS's school.

My DS forgets his fleece a lot in the warm weather because he takes it off and leaves it in the playground or the classroom.

He lost the last one for a couple of months and then when I was looking through lost property for something completely different, I found his missing fleece. You could tell it has been well worn (he'd only got 3 wears out of it before he lost it).

I knew it was his because even though the label had been cut out, I had also initialled a tiny label inside one of the pockets with permanent marker.

I think some parents cant afford school uniform so will steal/not return others...and some just get so fed up of paying out for non returned uniforms that they think if you can't beat 'em join 'em...and they too take anything that fits from lost property.

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Willdoitinaminute · 01/04/2013 22:57

Do you have an email list of parents of children in his year? Email a polite note re missing kit it usually works.
After politely waiting for expensive kit to reappear I now use polite email to jog their memories. DS always seems to lose brand new kit at the beginning of term and he is at a school where you wouldn't expect people to knick uniform but they obviously do!
I text other mums when I find stray kit in DS bag. I also have a friend who has had labels done with her mobile no. on as well as DC name. Take longer to sew in but no excuse for not letting her know.

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Wolfiefan · 01/04/2013 22:57

Hmmm. DS once came home with his shoes looking really ragged. We replaced them. Weeks later a parent approached me to say my son had their DS's shoes. Quite rudely. I told them we had done them a favour as the shoes in question had a hole in them and had to be replaced!
But why is named clothing not returned? Surely when it is washed the parents notice the name?

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Kiriwawa · 01/04/2013 22:58

I'm glad I'm not alone. Actually I'm not glad, it's crap.

Six cardis? Bloody hell!

When the fleece got nicked, he ran after some kid in his class who was wearing a fleece, shouting 'G has stolen my fleece!' but G didn't seem inclined to give it up and his mum is a bit scary and I wasn't sure if it was DS clutching at straws.

Ages ago, I read here about doing secret identifiable stitching somewhere and I thought it was entirely bonkers. Now it's starting to seem quite rational

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Mumsyblouse · 01/04/2013 22:59

I quite like the idea of writing in washproof pen on the jumper itself, writing on the label seems to have no effect at all on them being taken. I am with LaQueen I can always tell which is our stuff immediately. One year a child went off with my dd's brand new shoes and left her with some several month old not quite identical ones. We never did find the culprit (who must have been smug as anything with their slightly bigger nice new shoes).

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LaQueen · 01/04/2013 23:01

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Startail · 01/04/2013 23:04

That reminds me, I have some very muddy trainers, DD2 was given for a football match. One of hers has vanished. Im sure no one has pinched one trainer, but it doesn't change the fact I'll probably end up buying a new pair.

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Kiriwawa · 01/04/2013 23:04

Our school jumpers are navy so you can't write on the jumper but I guess I could on the label. I've never wanted to on the basis that I can pass it on.

Ha - yes so true about the cheap stuff. DS has swapped his Tesco trackie bottoms with another kid's Asda ones (and the teacher has written DS's name in them when I know for a fact that they're not his) but I don't care - they're much of a muchness.

Logoed jumpers at £9 a pop however, I do care about.

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RoomForASmallOne · 01/04/2013 23:09

Crested school uniform/ track suits here (Ireland)

Track suits are e45- e60

My DD has had 2 track suit jackets stolen.

Drives me insane.

Her name is very unusual here and was written in wash proof pen (she had added flowers and all sorts) on the inside.

If she came home with someone else's anything I would notice.

Angry

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baw70 · 01/04/2013 23:09

Many years ago my DS wandered out of class at the end of the day, wearing a school jumper that was clearly too small for him. So I turned him right around and insisted that the teacher and TA help me look for his jumper, as his had happened on other occasions and had cost me money. The classroom was turned upside down and then the TA had the bright idea of looking to see if there was a label on the jumper he was wearing, as it might belong to the child that could have taken his. Yes, yes it did have a label and the label had his name on it, in my very own handwriting! The hideous shame was horrendous. I could have sworn it had fitted him in the morning, he must have grown during the day. Luckily the staff saw the funny side, but they always looked at me as if I was a bit of an oddity after that.

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LaQueen · 01/04/2013 23:11

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hwjm1945 · 01/04/2013 23:13

I am amazed that people keep this stuff. Do they actually get pleasure from wearing it when they know it is nicked?

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GotAnyGrapes · 01/04/2013 23:15

I personally know of two parents who are semi open about the fact they do this. Neither are even remotely struggling financially. One has a sort of finders keepers attitude and the other actually prides herself in rarely having to buy uniform due to 'acquiring' lost property. She sees it as thrifty! She regularly raids the lost property box immediately after sch when it often contains lots of named items which have been picked up by kids and popped in there. I know she cuts names out and unpicks stitching. It's shocking but my kids are no longer at the same sch so I don't get involved.
Whenever mine have brought something home that doesn't belong to them I know immediately and I'm straight on my phone texting the parent to say I have the item. I label everything other than socks. I know they have occasionally come home with someone else's socks on but somehow I'm far less uptight about socks.

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steppemum · 01/04/2013 23:17

I always sew in labels in the collar, easy to read for children and adults, and they make a hanging loop, so jumper etc can go on their peg and less likely to be lost

But I always write on them with permanent marker too, and usually where it can be seen, so it is a deterrent.

nightmare.

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hwjm1945 · 01/04/2013 23:17

Grapes,that is appalling.if that was someone I know I would report to school and tell the other parents .almost minded to tell police!

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LaQueen · 01/04/2013 23:19

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5eggstremelychocaletymadeggs · 01/04/2013 23:20

Yanbu this drives me nuts, I have taken to going through lost property at the end of term and if its not labelled and the right size I take it with the schools blessing.

I label e pverything religiously and still ds2 and ds3 have both had coats go missing this term!

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RoomForASmallOne · 01/04/2013 23:24

Grapes

I know a parent who uses the Lost Property like that Sad

Bigger sized jumpers for next year etc.

Blatantly too.

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