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Legend: A well-guarded car proves not to be so well guarded after all when it's found one morning turned around in its parking spot, sporting a "If we want it, we'll take it" note from the mischievous thieves.
Example: [Brunvand, 1987]
Variations:
woman who had elaborately burglar-proofed her midtown Manhattan apartment. She returned home one day to find her furniture rearranged. Nothing was missing, but she happened upon a chilling note which read: "If we want to get you, we will."
Common sense indicates that these stories are more legend than actual incident. What thief would go to all the trouble of overcoming every security device standing between him and the car, risking discovery and imprisonment, only to leave the prize sitting there? A sense of humor is one thing, but not when it interferes with the business of putting dinner on the table, and a thief's family has to eat just like anyone else's brood. Were the denouement of the story the just-ripped-off's finding an arrogant "We got it anyway" note where his beloved car used to be, the tale would be much more believable, but it's never presented that way. Whatever the item targeted, it's never made off with. A real thief would simply take the car. He wouldn't bother to leave a note, as the car's disappearance would be clear enough proof of his skill. Cars get moved around in a certain set of college legends, but as a jest, not as a prelude to theft. Reassembled autos feature in a number of collegiate pranks, usually involving the rebuilding of a disliked student's car in his dorm room or a hated prof's jalopy on top of the tallest building on campus:
[Reader's Digest, 1958]
The "arrogant thief" shows up in other legends, most notably in this closely-related one:
An M.I.T. student went home for a vacation and left his car parked behind his dormitory. Some of the young engineers who remained at school that vacation took it apart, lugged it piece by piece into the dormitory. When the owner came back to school he found his car assembled and parked in his room.1
[Healey & Glanvill, 1996]
No matter how we contrive to foil thieves, the true professionals among them can easily outwit us, a point these legends drive home. Such tales are an expression of fatalism, the certainty that if a criminal wants something of ours badly enough, he will find a way to take it. These stories also make the point that people in all professions, even thieves, take pride in their work.
New York Having lost three sound systems in this way, the honest bloke decided not to bother with the Thus fortified, he set off on a visit as usual, parking in the housing precinct of one of his clients. An hour later, he emerged from the apartment and strolled over to his wheels, but was dismayed to see that, despite the sign, someone had still smashed in the window. The sign was still there, though, lying on the passenger seat. Picking it up, even the disgruntled bloke had to laugh when he saw it: next to 'NO CAR STEREO' , the cheeky intruder had scrawled 'JUST CHECKING'.2 Barbara "pride and prejudice" Mikkelson Last updated: 17 November 2006 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2008 by snopes.com. This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
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