Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, skeptic, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
Last Saturday morning an armed robbery was attempted at the Nacka Forum mall not far from where I live. Two masked robbers went in just as staff were arriving to work, dragged a woman into her workplace, gaffer-taped her to a chair and demanded that she turn off the alarm and tell them when her co-workers would arrive. After receiving confusing replies, the two men left, running, and minutes later the woman worked herself loose of the tape and called the police. She is physically unhurt.
The robbers had gone into a cashless realtor's office, Svensk Fastighetsförmedling, instead of the post-bank office next door, Svensk Kassaservice.
[More blog entries about crime, humour, Sweden; brott, humor, Nacka.]
Comments
Burglars broke into my in-law's summer house last week. Having failed to find anything of interest in the drugs cupboard (which they smashed, rather than sliding open) they walked off with a dozen CDs of mostly budget-priced recordings of 18th century clarinet concertos (which frankly I wouldn't take if my father-in-law was giving them away, and I _like_ classical music).
They utterly failed to find the (only slightly more marketable) TV and DVD player in a cupboard upstairs.
Posted by: csrster | July 11, 2007 8:42 AM
Last summer, around this time, I was in the archipelago and I needed to pay a large bill to someone who couldn't accept credit cards. Now, a sterling cheque obviously wouldn't help, and he didn't use PayPal. And you can't draw cash over the counter on a British debit card at your local Konsum.
So, I ended up walking around Vaxholm looking for cash. I found a cash point all right, but the problem was finding a bank to pay it into the guy's account. I spotted a Handelsbanken branch, and they were his bank, but they refused to accept money; "we don't deal in cash here," they said.
Same story at three others.
Posted by: Alex | July 11, 2007 10:21 AM
Yeah, cash is pretty pointless. It hasn't had any real value for the past century.
Posted by: Martin R | July 11, 2007 3:49 PM