Years ago I had a Pontiac Grand Am stolen from in front of my house. It is an eerie feeling (I had been at a reception the night before but honest....I only had ONE cocktail!!) I was making a training video that day so I took the bus to the office.

I will try to make this short.

I received a phone call from "Tim" who had seen my car (it was being stripped when an accident occurred nearby resulting in police presence) and found my phone number in my car.

I jumped in a cab and went to a neighborhood I'd never heard of -- Polk and Cicero to any Chicago natives. I called the police and they did not recommend I go to this neighborhood. The cab driver did not want to take me. I explained the situation. He became my protector because once I got there and tipped "Tim" I had no idea WHAT I was going to do. This was before cell phones -- the driver guarded me while I stood on this blighted corner on a pay phone trying to reach someone at my insurance company -- at lunch time.

The tires were gone replace with those "baby spares", the stereo was gone as well as anything portable.

I drove it VERY slowly to a garage in a caravan that included a cop car and my cab. (The neighborhood looked like I imaged Beirut at its worse).

I was back in the office an hour later and Allstate reimbursed ALL of my expenses including the tip for "Tim", cab fare and a sizeable tip for the driver -- because they said it was sooo unusual for someone to recover their own automobile.

It can happen anywhere -- any time!