What is wrong with the world today?

           I'm seething with rage and frustration now. Don't expect any pictures. Hubby and I had a wonderful trip to Las Vegas this weekend. It was perfect. There were only two glitches, and only one of them is the source of this post.
          We checked into our hotel and began unpacking. As I'm putting away the bags for my make-up and toiletries I notice that the red jewelery box SIL gave to me for Christmas is not in my suitcase. I stare at the suitcase for a while and think about this. I retrace my steps of that morning. I remember having something fall out of my suitcase while I was packing it, but I'm sure I put it back in. "Honey, do you remember if I took out my jewelery box this morning?" I ask Hubby. He says know and then asks when I even got a red jewelery box. He suggests that I probably left it at home and it's sitting on the bedroom floor. I don't worry about it. He's probably right. After all, I did leave my curling iron at home too.
          The biggest inconvenience in all of this is that I have NO jewelery for the trip! No earrings, no necklaces, no bracelets. At home, I normally throw all of my everyday jewelery into a lovely dish that was given to me as a gift. As a result, all of my favorite jewelery ends up in this dish. While packing, I decided it would be easiest to just throw all of this jewelery into the red box I got for Christmas. But I keep my cool, because the box and my jewelery are probably at home. Meanwhile, Hubby gives me the business for not bringing my expensive necklace to wear out at night. I roll my eyes at him.
          We get home two days later. I look in the bedroom. No box. Under the bed? No. In the bathroom! No. Closet? No. Guest roooom? Nope. Nada. Nothing. The box (and all of my favorite jewelery) is nowhere to be found. Commence hysteria and sobbing. The item I miss the most is a charm bracelet I made several years ago. On it, was Hubby's class ring, a photo charm from our wedding day, a locket with an early photo of us in it, an "S" charm, a heart charm with our names engraved on it from the Wild Animal Park, a key charm with our names engraved on it, and a penguin charm (because penguins make me think of hubby). Everything else can be bought...mostly at WalMart. But that bracelet was priceless in so many ways. The chain itself was my grandmother's and even though it was cheap, it still had value to me. Now, my favorite piece of jewelery is probably in some dump because whoever took my box of jewelery probably threw it away when they realized it was not diamonds and gold.
          Now, I understand that there are just bad people in the world and that some of them work at airports. My husband reminded me that I should have locked my luggage with a TSA approved lock. However, it seems to me that our wonderful nation has given certain people the right to go through my luggage (lock or no lock) at their discretion. There are bad people in the world. There are selfish people in the world. I'm sure some of them are TSA officers because there are bad people who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, priests, nuns, grocers, and everything else. If TSA stole my jewelery, then would good would a lock have done?
          I called both McCarran Airport, Long Beach Airport, and TSA headquarters in Long Beach. Long Beach told me it was McCarran's fault and to call them. McCarran told me it was Long Beach's fault and to call them. TSA asked me to leave a message and they would get back to me when they could (in a recording). I called TSA four times in a two hour period. Must be nice for them to have Sundays off and not have to be protecting the traveling public and all. ::rolls eyes::
          After drying my tears and cleaning up my smeared make-up I did some digging on the internet. First I scoured eBay for recently posted charm bracelets. Yes, I was willing to buy back my own personalized bracelet from a thief that posted in on eBay. Nothing turned up. They probably threw it away. Then, I Googled "Items Stolen From Luggage" and found a plethora of posts about people in my same situation. Except they were missing cameras, and cash, and expensive bottles of liquor. Some people even had candy half eaten and replaced in their bags. Others had half of their clothes stolen. Many were out their iPods. One man even had $500 cash stolen out of his carry-on bag after the walk through security! While all of these stories made me feel better about the fact that I had not really lost that much (I still had my husband and all of our memories and I did NOT pack my expensive necklace), I was still hopping mad that this kind of activity goes on.
          The government is supposed to be protecting us and the airlines are supposed to be providing us with a service. If TSA is busy going through my baggage looking for loot, then I highly doubt that they care very much about my travel safety. If the airline handlers are busy cleaning me out, then I don't have much faith that I'll be where I need to, when I need to, and with all of my necessities. What's worse is the idea that these people are stealing because they NEED to and because they want a quick buck for the hell of it. I would not be surprised if somebody told me that airline workers and TSA officers barely get paid enough to live on. I know that pilots don't and I sure as hell know that teachers don't get paid enough. I agree that these people have difficult jobs and I appreciate the work that they do. But that does not mean it's ok for them to steal from me.
          And they didn't just steal my stuff. They stole what little innocence and faith I had left. They stole my confidence in people to work hard and be good. I'm completely jaded. Yes, I've learned a lesson. But it's not a lesson that anyone should HAVE to learn.
          And if this all weren't bad enough, the Las Vegas Hilton shut down their Star Trek exhibit. :*(
It was all a hefty price to pay for a great weekend...and in spite of it all, it was still a great weekend, because it was just me and Hubby.

Things I've Been Robbed of To Date
* Jewelery box and jewelery
* Wallet
* Purse w/ wallet and cell phone
* Tom Tom
* Half of car stereo (yes, they only took HALF of it)
* Numerous CDs
* 2 iPod cables
* 2 sweatshirts
* 2 aux cables
* A bag of gel pens (over 50...I was in middle school...)
---So I've been pretty lucky that this is all I've had stolen from me. No cars or diamonds on that list and I've never had the displeasure of meeting my robber during the act. And just so we're clear, I'm no saint either, nor do I claim to be, and I know that even robbers have a right to be upset sometimes too.
Things I've Stolen to Date
* Barbie clothes (from a friend when we were children)
* Food from my mom's fridge (that's how I ripped an earring out)
* A book from the library
* A book found in a hallway
* A jacket from the school Lost and Found
* A kiss
---Hey, I never said I was a thug! I'm not proud of my list, but in some weird way I feel better about getting it out there. Maybe it will inspire whoever has my bracelet to {somehow} send it back to me.