Topic: Muggles UGH!!!

[Burgundyrose (OP)]

Ok, I am extremely irritated by some local muggles. I have recently come across a couple of muggles who happen to think it is fun to go around and rob all the caches. I managed to confiscate a TB that had just arrived from Austria. It was placed in it's very first cache and this muggle snatched it out of the cache. Out of curiosity or to show off, he asked my hubby if he knew what caching was, because he kept finding all these things. Then he wanted to know if we knew what this one particular thing was he found. Turned out it was the TB. My husband got mad and told him look if you are not going to go online and learn how to play the game correctly, then leave the stuff alone. My husband brought me the TB. I looked it up and told him about it being dropped in its very first cache directly from Austria. My husband took it back to the guy and made him put it back. We are going to go check on it this weekend. I also bookmarked it to see if anybody picks it up. If it comes up missing I am going to let the owner have this guys name and address. Anyways, I am just really mad. Some people just like to ruin it for everyone else.

[Ken]

Burgundyrose... Good on your husband for recovering the TB![nb]What is a Groundspeak Travel Bug? (TB)
    Simply put, a Groundspeak Travel Bug is a trackable tag that you attach to an item. This allows you to track your item on Geocaching.com. The item becomes a hitchhiker that is carried from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world and you can follow its progress online.
http://www.geocaching.com/track/faq.aspx[/nb]   
There seems to be some of that going on... when I'm reading on the GC forums there are often reports about it. It's sad really, but there's no real way to stop it I guess. Hopefully after this person has been caught they will stop.

As more and more people get involved in Geocaching it only follows that we may see more of this because for every 100 Geocachers there almost has to be 1-2 other people that hear about it and some of them are going to behave like jackasses because that is how some folks are.

Tell you husband we are proud of him.  :2thumbs:

EDIT:
Actually it kind of goes beyond just the Muggles a lot of the time... 'real' Geocachers can be jackasses as well as seen in this topic, "Bummed out 7yr old"

I know this has been addressed before and I know the point of Geo Caching isn't the actual "treasure" inside but why in the world do people put in pokemon cards and just plain trash? I am a newbie but still I know not to take anything if I don't have anything good to replace it. It's frusterating for my daughter (7) who is totally into "treasure hunting" as she calls it. And she has a bag of goodies we bring with as items for trade but 90% of the time there is nothing worth taking. I encourage her to just leave something anyways but it's such a bummer for her. I thought we were Minnesota nice here

And, Miss Angele's Kids' Kache, the Cache that was my very first find fell victim to vandalism not to long ago: 

August 31 by junior1945 (322 found)

i was here with sissy to play in the park today, we found this one it was laying out on the grass, it had no lid and no log book, it only had 2 small toys, which sissy took,LOL, I found some of the cache close to where i found the container, SO we put in a new log book and pen in a ziplock bag to keep it dry,we put in a rule sheet and a big bag of toys for others to find we rehid it in the same place like i think it was before, please rehide it the way you find it to keep it dry, thanks and happy caching TFTH SL

[Burgundyrose (OP)]

Wow, I need to read the geocache forums more often. I think what really irritates me the most is that the 2nd guy was actually wanting to learn how to do geocaching, and the first muggle the actual thief, was taking the 2nd guy out and encouraging him to just go around and steal items. It also really bothers me that I know these guys personally. They work with my husband. He had told them about caching to begin with months ago when we first started. Now they are just going around stealing items. I feel partially responsible. My husband invited these guys over so I can show them how to log on to the website, etc., but neither one of them came. The first guys excuse was I don't do anything on the computer, I don't want to bother. The second guy I have no idea what his excuse was, but I have a feeling he will eventually come over. He was kind enough to listen to my hubby explain the website and what you had to do to look them up and about the geocache app for the iphone, so I think he will do it right eventually. I just wonder how many people the first guy has talked to, and encouraged to just go around and steal.

I always leave trade in a cache even if I don't take an item. I carry a swag bag designed just for the kids. After reading the forum entries I think I may throw in a few more adult items. Usually I just leave my pathtag.  If it's a really good cache, I leave a pair of earrings that I made. 

[Skhilled]

All and all, this is the downside. There is no telling who or what (kids/adults not knowing/knowingly or animals, perhaps???) will steal or destroy a cache. Not much can be done about since most of this is openly posted online. The "members only" caches are only seen by paid members though.