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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to call head office on him?

55 replies

Dearly89 · 06/08/2023 03:32

Hi all
My boyfriend went to the cinema last week for a private premiere and lost his brand new AirPods. He went to lost and found and was told by the manager nothing had been handed in.

Come today, they have pinged up their location at a house. After some serious internet sleuthing (ancestry/bt phone book etc) we have found the Facebook profile of the man who lives at the address.

And guess what? He has listed on Facebook that he is the manager of the exact cinema my boyfriend lost his AirPods at.

Essentially the manager has taken my boyfriend's AirPods out of lost and found and taken them home with him to keep.

My boyfriend is not sure what to do, shall we speak to head office about this? Shall we just contact him directly? My boyfriend doesn't really want to get him fired but to be honest I worry how many people this manager has done this to and it's clearly just an abuse of power.

We have all the proof and screenshots etc of their location at his address.

OP posts:
Winterday1991 · 06/08/2023 10:22

How can you know it's the manager who lives at the address?

PatTesting · 06/08/2023 10:26

The police will not do anything. They will tell you that the location finder isn’t reliable and cannot pinpoint the exact location so it could be a block of flats or house share. Don’t even waste your time going to them.

Either contact him directly and offer him the chance to hand them over or offer him a cash reward. Realistically, you have no chance of getting them back unless he decides to give them up.

Original poster
Dearly89 · 06/08/2023 11:16

Hi all
We found his name quite easily actually
I searched the address on ancestry.com
Found a company it was registered to
Google searched the company and found it had been handed over to the son who still lived there
Then searched the sons name and the town of the address on Facebook
He was the first one that popped up and is the manager of the exact branch my boyfriend went to. Coincidence highly unlikely.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dearly89 · 06/08/2023 11:24

We have just called head office to push the branch to find the lost property and left his number. My boyfriend really doesn't want this guy to lose his job and wants to give him the opportunity to bring them back.
If we don't hear back I imagine he'll be making an official complaint.
Would they really offer hush money over something like this?

OP posts:
mintich · 06/08/2023 12:06

The police will do something. I went to the police because someone took my money on ebay and never gave me the items. (It was about £300)They got her phone number and called her into the station. The money was back in my account later that day! I think they tend to do something where you've done the groundwork because it goes down as a solved case!

PatTesting · 06/08/2023 12:14

mintich · 06/08/2023 12:06

The police will do something. I went to the police because someone took my money on ebay and never gave me the items. (It was about £300)They got her phone number and called her into the station. The money was back in my account later that day! I think they tend to do something where you've done the groundwork because it goes down as a solved case!

That’s a completely different scenario. Confused

WILTYjim · 06/08/2023 12:20

This thread is full of excuses about not being able to help people in OP’s situation.

Keep paying your taxes though, someone might be mean on the internet later.

UncertainSmiler · 06/08/2023 12:22

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Or stickering. They’ll pull out all the stops for that.

mintich · 06/08/2023 12:37

@pattesting different scenario but she was threatened with a conviction of theft as this manager would be too. Doesn't have to be the exact same situation to apply 🙄

SgtCatherineCawood · 06/08/2023 12:43

I think I'd be tempted to call the cinema and speak to the manager to advise they can stop looking for them as they've started pinging at an address and you're passing the details to the police and see what happens.

I don't know why your partner is so keen to not get him in trouble. He could have been helping himself to all sorts from lost property over the years!

VisionsOfSplendour · 06/08/2023 12:46

Something similar happened to someone I know and he went to the address and the employee of the place they'd been lost said theyd taken them home for safe keeping

No idea if it was true but it has the desired effect of getting them back

Not necessarily a recommended course of action but you could let the cinema manager know you have a crime number and have given the police the address

Dinojump · 06/08/2023 13:12

Your partner is being silly. This guy literally deserves to lose his job! It's not like he just found them and put them in his pocket, he KNEW who they belonged to and he STOLE them.

dontgobreakingmy · 06/08/2023 13:14

Dinojump · 06/08/2023 13:12

Your partner is being silly. This guy literally deserves to lose his job! It's not like he just found them and put them in his pocket, he KNEW who they belonged to and he STOLE them.

The guy should lose his job.

What if he'd kept a wallet that belonged to someone who was struggling to feed their kids, or someone's house keys and then went and helped themselves to its contents!

Brefugee · 06/08/2023 13:18

SgtCatherineCawood · 06/08/2023 12:43

I think I'd be tempted to call the cinema and speak to the manager to advise they can stop looking for them as they've started pinging at an address and you're passing the details to the police and see what happens.

I don't know why your partner is so keen to not get him in trouble. He could have been helping himself to all sorts from lost property over the years!

if you're really worried that the chap will lose his job, perhaps this is the answer?

Therealjudgejudy · 06/08/2023 13:19

He deserves to lose his job if this is intentional theft!!

bellac11 · 06/08/2023 13:25

How did you search an address on ancestry, Ive never used it like that before, there isnt even an address search from memory (havent logged on in quite a few months)

I would be inclined to message as others have suggested to say you'll come and collect them and if he doesnt reply then report it to head office with all your proof

Dinojump · 06/08/2023 14:32

dontgobreakingmy · 06/08/2023 13:14

The guy should lose his job.

What if he'd kept a wallet that belonged to someone who was struggling to feed their kids, or someone's house keys and then went and helped themselves to its contents!

Show quote history

Exactly!

MadeForThis · 06/08/2023 14:38

I would report to the police too.

GrannyAchingsShepherdsHut · 06/08/2023 14:53

I doubt very much he's decided to take such an expensive thing that he knows with absolute certainty he can return to their owner, as his first ever theft.

That's the kind of theft that someone with history of getting away with keeping lost property on a regular basis has worked up to.

If he'd never ever stolen anything before, and someone asked for their belongings to be searched for, and he found them, he'd give them back.

If you were going to start stealing you'd start with cash that's not traceable. Or things that have been in lost property for a while and you can be fairly sure no one is coming for. Or maybe some jewellery that's not particularly unique looking.

I think it definitely shows a dishonest personality trait, and for that reason I'd have no reluctance in reporting to the police.

drpet49 · 06/08/2023 14:55

Dinojump · 06/08/2023 13:12

Your partner is being silly. This guy literally deserves to lose his job! It's not like he just found them and put them in his pocket, he KNEW who they belonged to and he STOLE them.

This. Your boyfriend is a chump.

Original poster
Dearly89 · 07/08/2023 00:53

bellac11 · 06/08/2023 13:25

How did you search an address on ancestry, Ive never used it like that before, there isnt even an address search from memory (havent logged on in quite a few months)

I would be inclined to message as others have suggested to say you'll come and collect them and if he doesnt reply then report it to head office with all your proof

I put the full address into 'keywords' and it came up

OP posts:
Original poster
Dearly89 · 07/08/2023 00:59

My boyfriend went in to the cinema today. Spoke to a different manager as the thief wasn't on shift.
Explained that he had lost the AirPods and that they had pinged up at an address. He didn't accuse anyone but asked if the manager could speak to the staff to see if anyone had taken them 'by accident.'
Eventually he brought out an old set of AirPods that definitely weren't my boyfriend's. He pressed and asked him to look again for his AirPods.
At this point the manager said he would send a message into the 'cinema manager group chat' and he was gone for a long time finding out. The thief owned up, said he had accidentally taken them home with him and that he'd bring them in tomorrow. My boyfriend's going to have to trek all the way back there.
Not sure now if he'd have any grounds with the police/head office after they've been returned and the thief's claimed it's an accident which is clearly a lie.
I do wish that he had taken it further to be honest because this definitely isn't the first time this manager will have stolen.

OP posts:
Nat6999 · 07/08/2023 01:14

I would keep copies of the tracking information & when he has them back, report it to head office.

Martez23 · 07/08/2023 08:14

Either send him a direct message first and use one of the other pieces of advice, giving him a clean chance to give them back to you, or straight away go back to the cimema and talk to his manager.

Police won’t help you, but you can tell them you would call the police but wanted to try doing it without the police involved first.