Someone should start a business where they have burly men come to old ladies' houses and follow contractors around while they do stuff. That would be awesome. Just sayin'.

Now this guy also knows where an unarmed elderly lady lives alone, with no neighbors...

If you are on SS and have no money... then why are you getting DirecTV?

Every body now..

10 Dollars in quarters,
9 millimeter,
8 hours of labor?

Someone else wanna pick this up?

Sucks that you're an old lady, but you should not be paying for DirecTV before you pay for safety.

Hopefully the Harris County Sheriff follows up on this. I don't think gun theft is taken lightly in Houston.

Here is some decent advise about what to do before/if your gun is stolen:

[www.texasguntalk.com]

Not to place any blame on this poor woman, but I hope anyone reading this story will take it as a reminder to store your firearms in a safe and secure manner.

[www.projectchildsafe.org]

@unobservant: But who watches the burly man?

@lotussix: There are some very inexpensive satellite plans. If she's out in the boonies, as she said, she might not even be able to get OTA broadcasts.

@LanceStormDropkick: If it weren't for this scumbag installer, she'd still have her pistol.

Wow, what a crook. The worst villain in this story is the company who hired this installer. This is one of the reasons why I always follow everyone who's doing work at my place. I make small talk and bs with them until the job is done and they're gone.

I stay in the room with the person installing or repairing anything in my house the whole time. It doesn't bother me and it makes the person work much faster!!!

@lessemm:

Safe and secure? Are you advocating locking it up? What good does that do when someone breaks into your house? Ask them to hold on why you go open your safe to get your firearm?

@InfiniTrent: The burly man is licensed, bonded, and insured, and he provides you with a copy of his ID upon entry. He will also help you buy a car and/or various electronics. He may even pretend to be the older brother living with you when you go out on a blind date.

Sucks that this niche needs to be filled, but what can you do... besides having a backup gun.

@EtoilePB: I'd like to be a fly on the wall when the cops show up at her door and arrest her for a string of armed robberies.

7 hours on hold
6 Indian service reps
5 times they hungup
4 supervisors
3 EECB's
2 posts on Consumerist
and
1 pissed off grandma still unarmed

@unobservant: Sounds better than plan "b", which would be using cars.com.

I caught one of my maintenance men on webcam stealing xbox 360 games and putting the cases back. After me arguing with my land lord 3 times about them coming in while I'm not there. Got him arrested and now they have a notice not to come in. I wouldn't trust a contractor either.

@loueloui: 7-inch mustache!

Um, has she called the cops?! Theft of a gun is frowned upon by most law enforcement officials, no?

Need I say this is far beyond poor service and this lug belongs in jail? I am wondering how he managed to mill around the house and find the gun in the first place. She states that she "lives alone and I need my gun" but it sounds like she needs more support for her safety and well being than an unsecured gun in the house. (I am a hand gun owner as well)
Hopefully this dirt bag will be picked up by the local law and she will get her gat back, post haste.

Side note here. Several articles in the last days about satellite installation and installers being shoddy, careless and, apparently, dangerous. I bought the equipment at Circuit City several years ago and installed it myself. No problems then or since with reception or workmanship.

@dorianh49: 6ty five year old woman!

@dorianh49:
6 pack of bud
5 yards of coax
4 missing limbs
3 inch penis
2 kicked in balls
1 Direct TV installer getting carted off in a body bag because he didn't know how to fire a gun

@InfiniTrent: As are 99% of the people in my area that aren't inside city limits. OTA? HA, what is that?

@shinseiromeo: If you're letting a strange man into your bedroom and giving him access to your gun, how is that gun keeping you secure anyway?

@lessemm: Like your hip. Bet he wouldn't have stolen it if it was holstered on her hip.

@lessemm: I also side with shinseiromeo...I don't have kids in the house, nor do they ever visit, so all my firearms are loaded and easily accessible, I pity the fool who breaks in, this lady lives alone, and if she hears a noise at night, she needs access to the pistol ASAP.

And, I'm a responsible gun nut, I have low recoil limited penetration rounds in the shotgun, so it won't hit my neighbors (can't go through two walls, ect.).

@aaron8301:

OTA = Over The Air

@aaron8301: OTA = over the air. I almost typed "over the counter". Nah, can't get TV at the drug store.

@shinseiromeo:

I think lessemm might be hinting at the 3rd bullet point which states "Make certain that firearms in the home are not casually accessible to anyone...".

Regardless of keeping it safe from a child, you shouldn't let your gun be casually accessible to a personal you wouldn't trust with your life.

@summerbee:

TV - Opiate of the masses.

@Todd Fernandez:

On the first day of DirectTV, my installer said to me...

@dirtleg:

"Um, has she called the cops?!"

I reported the gun as stolen to the local sheriffs dept.

That line of the article might answer the question. ; )

@consumer-warrior: and obviously keep your gun on you so if they attempt to take your quarters you can stop em.

Did this 65 year old woman really write "my bad, I'm sorry" in her letter? Or did Alex add that in for a larf?

If she needs a gun for protection she might want to have it at arms length when allowing strangers into her home. After all, isn't the purpose of the gun to protect you from strangers?

@lotussix: And have a gun...and have quarters - a $10 roll of quarters buys a lot of cat food, which is good eatin'!

She's elderly and she needs her gun to protect herself. A lot of good that gun would have done her if it were in the hands of, say, a murderous direct tv installer that she happened to leave alone in the same room as her unlocked gun.

This is exactly the kind of person who's gun ends up being used against them after a break-in, and exactly the kind of person who should not own a gun.

@LanceStormDropkick: I think it's been pretty clearly established, what with rich people being the victims of crimes and all, that safety isn't actually something you can buy.

@shinseiromeo: If you are going to keep a firearm in your home, you need to take some responsibility for that weapon. Part of that means securing it when unfamiliar people enter your home. That could mean moving it to a safe, installing a trigger lock, or putting it in your shoulder holster while you watch the DirecTV guy hook up cables.

If you're home alone at night and scared, take the gun out of the safe.

If managing the security of your guns is too much of a hassle for you, then you probably shouldn't have them in the first place.

Sounds like its still heresay at this point. A roll of quarters, that'll disappear and never be traceable, but the gun should be licensed and trackable, no?

Find the gun, and you've got yourself a complaint, but until then, for all we know she could have misplaced them.

@corinthos:

That has always freaked me out. You never know when you'll get some low-life maintenance guy who just happens to have access to your apartment via his spare keys.
When I was living in Chicago I went to look at an apartment and they actually let me into someone elses' apartment to check it out. I was sketched out like crazy because I didn't want to go into this persons' place; I would feel violated myself! I stood at the doorway and kind of like peaked inside and the apartment manager started opening up closets and what not. Thanks but no thanks, I don't need people I extra especially do not know (as if the apt manager is bad enough) looking through my closets.

The guy with the bizarre moustache is the CEO of DirecTV?

No wonder it sounds like such a pathetic company -- their CEO looks like a whack job!

It reminds me of those phone company ads where their CEO is out wandering the streets of NYC after dark in what looks like a beat-up overcoat. The guy looks homeless -- and given the economy, maybe by now even he is...

Back to the story here, though, I would think DirecTV and their local installers need to keep an eye on the alleged gun thief. If he's a thief, he's sure to rip something off from another customer and when the customer complains -- one hopes the guy will then at last be out of a job, with a black mark on his record.

One hopes...

@LanceStormDropkick: She wasn't - she paid for safety which Direct TV stole.

The facts are that an installer working for DirectTV (or contracted by them) steals from someone while on their property. So the logical focus in the thread is:

1) a woman
2) her age
3) her income status
4) she owed a gun
5) the gun was not locked up

Whaaaaaaat bout the fact that DirectTV installers steal and DirectTV doesn't give a chit??

@ludwigk: Tracked how? Unless he sells it, of course.

@jpdanzig: Well first off, no one with a styled mustache like that is homeless!

Second, the guy is in a suit - doesn't strike me much as homeless. But even so, how does that make him any better or worse at the job, or effect the company in anyway?

If I were her, I might just let this one rest. If she pushes it and the guy gets fired, she then has an angry and armed man who knows where she lives on her hands. She should just be sure and not leave anyone unattended in her home in the future.

@trujunglist: Eek.

One time (at band camp...ha,anyway.) I was visiting my fiancé who, at the time, lived in Florida. When he would leave for classes I would always triple lock the door because I'm paranoid...anyway one day I heard someone outside trying to unlock the door and then proceed to try and break the door open (at least that's what it sounded like...) Fortunately they gave up after a few tries, but I was freaked out. Later we found out it was an apartment complex worker who was trying to show someone the apartment. I guess they hadn't marked it as occupied or they did the same thing the apartment manager you talked about did...If it hadn't been for all the locks on the door, they would've found me in my pj's and reeeeeeeeeeaally angry. Sigh.

@ludwigk: OK, I could see somebody misplacing some spare change, even a whole roll of quarters, but a 9mm? That's not the kind of thing you generally "misplace."

@unobservant: I would so hire this guy. And run it alongside my company where when you get sick and feel too awful to go to the store, motherly women bring you chicken soup, dry toast, gatorade, and cold medicine.