[praboobolbode]

Our practice venue has changed several times over the past several years.

Our previous spot was in a space that was previously a bar, but somebody bought it and cleared it all out. He subleased it to another guy who wanted to teach taekwondo, and since he didn't have enough students to fill the week's schedule, that guy let us work out in there a couple times a week for a flat fee.
The building was located in a line of other connected buildings that ran through the "strip" of the University of Memphis. Class was on Friday night and so, we'd have a lot of drunken college kids walking by the windows making fun and whatnot. Occasionally, someone might actually walk in and watch for a minute or two..

There was no place to store your gear... no changing rooms, so, basically, you'd just go as far away from the front door/windows to change. Sometimes, we would be sharing space with the taekwondo group at the far end, while we'd be up next to the door.

So one night (sorry for the long story), we were set up like that and we all had our gear up against the wall. Actually, everybody had their street clothes and bags against the wall. This one guy walked in just as we were lining up and watched. I was regularly (like, every 10 minutes) walking over to him and asking him stuff and he'd ask questions... legitimate questions of somebody who might be interested in kendo, actually... after watching for about 45 minutes, he got up to leave and waved goodbye.

I didn't realize at the time that he was sitting right next to my stack of street clothes the whole time. It just never dawned on me....
Sure enough, with me checking on him every 5 to 10 minutes, he managed to go through my stack of clothes and lift my wallet.

Bugger.

Needless to say, I keep a closer eye on my stuff now.