A Hot Serving Of Revenge
The beep-beep of the truck backing up, Thomas’ maniacal laughter, and an incredible stench filled the air. “Okay,” Thomas bellowed. “Set ‘er down!”
With a rumble and sharp clank of broken glass, dozens of bags tumbled down through the dodging swarm of flies. When the dust had settled, Thomas stood back and admired the aftermath. His revenge was a work of art.
Thomas Ravaux
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
Thomas Ravaux was an optimistic man, and when he met the couple with three well-mannered children who had inquired about renting an apartment from him, they had seemed nice enough. After filling out the requisite paperwork they had passed all the financial and security checks with flying colors.
There were no red flags and Thomas was confident that he had made the right decision.
Immaculate Apartment
Relocate Magazine
Thomas spent a week making sure the French apartment was ready for his new tenants. He repainted the home from top to bottom with a new coat of white paint, checked the fittings, cornices, door handles and plumbing to make sure all was in working order.
He hired a wood polishing machine and buffed the hardwood floors until they gleamed.
Perfect Family
Facebook/Jayne Fattmann
With everything in order, the seemingly-perfect family began to move in, bringing with them boxes of their belongings, which they stacked neatly in the hallway. Thomas presented them with the keys and went on his merry way. Two months flew by, and then four, but he had still not received his first rental payment.
At first, he thought nothing of it and chalked it down to a banking error. Surely there had been some kind of mistake?
A Mistake?
Realtor.com
Thomas made a call to his bank. Perhaps the payments were not reflecting in his bank account for some reason. With a family of his own, he was starting to feel the pinch without this steady stream of income.
But what the woman on the customer care line said made him see red.
Suspicions Grow
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
There had been no rental payments from his new tenants at all. He angrily dialed their number, but there was no answer. He called again and again, reasoning that the father of three must be busy. Suddenly, his call was dropped and he began to suspect the worst. They were avoiding him. This continued for an entire fourteen months.
Thomas was a patient man, but enough was enough.
Paying Them A Visit
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
Thomas pulled up to the pristine apartment block and walked down the drive. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He had suspected as much, so he whipped out his spare key. He was going to give these tenants a piece of his mind.
When he creaked the unoiled door open, the sight in the hallway left him reeling.
Trashed
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
The entire apartment was stacked from floor to ceiling with trash. Broken furniture lay in heaps of splintered wood, children’s toys littered the once immaculate hardwood floor.
Dishes piled up high on every surface, and the stench was unbearable, and the smell of rotten food hung in the air like a thick fog.
Damage And Disarray
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
Thomas held his head in disbelief. How could anybody live in such filth? His eyes took it all in as he stood with his mouth turned up in disgust. There were holes punched in the drywall, and there was evidence that there had been dogs living here, too.
He took a minute to calm himself, and then he started to hatch a plan.
Inconsiderate
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
There was such a wanton disregard for his property that Thomas almost cried. This apartment had belonged to his grandfather, and when he had passed Thomas had inherited it, making the tough decision to rent it out.
He needed the money–and with a family of his own to feed it had been a Godsend. And now this. Ruined. Well, he would show them.
Seeing Red
Credits
Thomas pulled out his phone and called his lawyer, who gave him the go-ahead. Then, Thomas knocked on his neighbor’s door. He asked the neighbor if his tenants had been at the apartment recently, but he said it had been empty for weeks. Furious, Thomas made another call.
These rude tenants were going to pay.
Plans For Revenge
Credits
Luckily, his tenants were listed. He quickly searched a directory and found their new address. He was incredulous as he walked from room to room, inspecting the damages. They had left a mountain of trash for him to clean up and had moved on without a word. His hands fisted into balls and sweat dripped from his forehead.
Something inside mild-mannered Thomas had finally snapped.
Payback
Credits
The truck pulled up to the drive noisily, and men started to stream into the building. They too were aghast at what was inside and immediately got to work loading the entire foul mess onto the dump truck.
When they heard Thomas’ plan, they applauded him. Everyone wanted to see these people get their comeuppance. They were going to give them a taste of their own medicine.
Loading It All Up
Facebook/Thomas Ravaux
Broken furniture, garbage, paper, dog feces, rotten food, and dirty dishes, it was all piled onto the truck in a stinking heap. Thomas had never seen so much filth.
Finally, the apartment was cleared of trash, and Thomas followed the truck to its destination–outside the tenants’ newly rented apartment, just a few blocks away.
Special Delivery
Youtube/RightThisMinute
The truck backed up with a beep-beep and tipped the heap of trash right onto the rude tenants’ driveway.
Onlookers gathered and couldn’t help but gawk at such a ghastly delivery, but Thomas smiled when he thought of the rude people’s reaction when they saw what surprise he had left for them.
Drastic Measures
Youtube/RightThisMinute
Thomas uploaded the video of his revenge onto Facebook and Youtube, and it quickly gained traction around the world. Local news stations picked up the story, and the original video has garnered over a million views. Most commenters praised Thomas for teaching his nightmare tenants a lesson in common decency.
One commenter wrote: “Love it!! This needs to be done in the United States! I’ve seen some disgusting tenants in my neighborhood!” But not all who saw Thomas’ revenge video have praised him.
Mixed Reactions
Youtube/RightThisMinute
Some viewers have voiced their concerns: “Not a bad idea but if these tenants can’t pay rent moved to new place which is not their place you just made a big mess for a new landlord who now can sue you for jumping on his property. Think man. I know you’re upset but you put a new landlord in the middle and he did nothing to you.”
But Thomas stands firmly by his decision.
The Law On His Side
Youtube/RightThisMinute
“It was carnage inside. Everything was totally destroyed. The carpet is messed up, there are holes in the walls, all the paintwork needs re-doing, and we will need to disinfect it all. The smell is unbearable. I had a legal representative witness the damage before we emptied the place,” Thomas says in his defense.
And he has a message for his tenants.
“Shame On You!”
Youtube/RightThisMinute
“This is how this flat was returned to me. Living like that with three kids, bravo. Not to mention the food that has gone bad in the fridge. Food offered to you by restaurant owners from their heart! Shame on you. Good luck to your new landlord.”
Thomas also had to pay for all the damages to his once immaculate property.
Learning The Hard Way
Youtube/RightThisMinute
He added: “…I loaded everything into a dumpster and brought them back home…I met the authorities and we talked… For now, I’m not worried… The old tenants had to clear the sidewalk and bring everything to the dump Tuesday night. Everything is cleaned.”
Do you think the unbelievably inconsiderate tenants learned their lesson?
Sometimes people have to get rather creative to ensure that ne’er-do-wells get their comeuppance… and it helps when you’re an engineer!
Thieves Prowling Porches
shareably
There is something to be said for having to sign for your package. Leaving a box on your porch for an entire day seems too much for people to bear before they get the idea to remove your package for you.
These ‘porch pirates’ as you will see are not the hardened criminals you would expect. In fact, you may be rather surprised at just who is taking your mail.
Acting Casual
shareably
Incredibly, a third of all packages delivered to residential homes in the U.S never make it to their intended recipient.
Not because of a broken postal delivery service, but because of greedy ‘porch pirates’, and although they have a cute name their deeds are far from innocent.
Not The Big Cities
globalnews
You might expect that large cities have the highest rates of theft but they are actually more likely to happen in suburban, rural or secluded areas as you can see from the photos–and security company Blink confirms these statistics.
Strangely, North Dakota is the state with the highest rate of package theft, where residents are 26 times more likely to be victims.
No One Is Safe
shareably
Of course, there are worse times for theft than others, the holidays for instance, when thieves suspect that your packages will contain wonderful gifts and not the replacement toaster you got yourself online.
With the high theft rate, you have probably been a victim too. So, have you dreamed about the ways you would take your revenge? These guys did and they were awesome enough to share them with us.
A Gross Package
shareably
Alec Armbruster is our first revenge artist and he sweetly recorded the entire process so that we may live vicariously through him.
As you can imagine, Alec’s package had been stolen before, often in fact, before he decided to assemble quite a gross package for the next unsuspecting criminal. So stop daydreaming, sit back and enjoy the pranks.
It Begins With A Video
shareably
The first prank begins with a video that has clearly had time and effort put into it, Alec obviously really got into his revenge tape. The video is titled “I’m sick of my packages being stolen, so I got creative…” and has now been viewed by over 1 million people.
It seems that everyone wants a piece of the action, maybe because so many of us have been burned before.
A Smelly Present
chicago.suntimes
The video begins by Alec cleaning out his cat’s litter box. He makes sure to get it all, every kitty parcel.
He seems to have collected kitty contents for a few days because when he fills a brown package lined with a black bag there is a lot of it. All the way to the very brim.
Wrapping It All Up
Youtube/Alec Armbruster
Most impressively, Alec even spends some time by making the box look like a very official delivery, going to the trouble of neatly taping it all up.
And then he really goes the extra mile, adding official-looking accessories, such as an authentic-looking printed packing list, taped to the top of the diabolical parcel.
The Victim Arrives
chicago.suntimes
He makes an elaborate video of placing the box on his porch steps, cleverly adding his accomplice cat to the film, watching him through the glass door as he lays his trap.
Then the wait begins. It takes a couple of days for the bait to be taken, but taken it is.
The Gift Of A Lifetime
Laughing Squid
His security camera catches the unsuspecting man walking up to his porch looking for all to see–audaciously strolling up–as though he belongs there. He rings the bell to check if anyone is home before grabbing the package and making a quick getaway.
Alec is filled with glee knowing that any minute now, this package thief is about to get his just desserts.
A Smart Plan
Credits
Like many package thieves, this team knew which homes were going to have packages delivered to them, not exactly state of the art tracking… They actually just followed the UPS truck around all day, leaving a 10 minute wait time between the truck and themselves.
Armbruster even states that “They were tailing the UPS truck, which can be seen in security camera footage about 10 minutes prior.”
Getting Even
shareably
Just imagine the look of disgust as the perpetrator opens the sandy surprise and after a few days on the porch, I’m sure it was smelling rather ripe. But the next group of people who decided to go sidewalk shopping with a five-finger discount crossed the wrong man.
An engineer named Mark Robert created the ultimate revenge box, and inside was something far fouler than cat litter.
A Smart Guy
globalnews
Mark is a former NASA engineer who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a nice guy. He doesn’t want to see anyone hurt, but he does want to mess up your car interior… If you happen to be a Porch Pirate that is.
Mark’s prank goes so deep that the technical mastery of screwing up someone’s day is absolutely mind-bending.
His Elaborate Plan
globalnews
He begins with this apparently common problem of people not being able to keep their hands to themselves and then he explains his elaborate and mesmerizing plan.
So what would you consider the worst way to ruin someone’s day? Without violence of course? Did you say glitter?! Well, that is exactly what Mark thought too. Glitter and a certain odor.
6 Months Of Work
globalnews
It took Mark six months along with help from a friend to create what must be the most satisfying revenge video for all of you who have suffered at the hands of the Porch Pirates.
Not only are the tools used absolutely perfect at distributing glitter into absolutely every nook, cranny and crevice but we get to watch it all go down.
Going Viral
globalnews
Mark’s video was trending at number #3, that’s how good revenge tastes.
His 10-minute video starts with a lengthy introduction explaining how he built his booby trap, designed to douse thieves in glitter and fart spray and is named “Package Thief vs. Glitter Bomb Trap”.
A Beautiful Tornado
globalnews
Unleashing a tornado of gorgeous glitter followed by 5 sprays of fart from a can every 30 seconds it is bound to get reactions.
Personally, I slowed it right down to look at the amazing glitter cloud spin and change color over and over again but that’s just me, I think most people would agree that the genius is in the video feedback. From every angle!
Every Angle
globalnews
Boasting 4 individual iPhones, each triggered by two latches. When the lid of the box is opened it sets a whole lot of things into action. Mark explains: “This custom printed circuit board is the brains of the operation.
It has a built-in accelerometer and when it’s jostled that will check the GPS signal to see if it’s been moved from the porch. And if so it sends a signal to all the phones to wake up and start recording and I’m using four phones that have a wide-angle.”
Nothing But The Best
globalnews
“Ultimately when they open their package I just want to celebrate their choice of profession with a cloud of glitter, because who doesn’t love glitter?”
He continued “…and because the phones have GPS we created a virtual geo-fence around my house so I get a notification when the package has been moved off the property.”
The Footage
globalnews
And it was not long before that happened. The best part? Seeing the footage… “So it appears he was walking down the pavement and then suddenly makes a hard left.
Then he takes the package and gets in his car and eventually makes it to this garage where this glorious sequence unfolds,” Mark narrates in glee.
Just Desserts
globalnews
The first worthy victim is a young thief and he was really not impressed but you can hear in his voice that he knew he deserved it. He whines to a friend, “My car dude. It’s all over my car. [It’s on] Everything!”
And the second group, they don’t manage to open it properly so it wasn’t so visual, but everyone in the car is yelling to ‘Throw it out!’ and ‘What’s that smell?”
The Best Prank
globalnews
Of all the thieves caught out by this fantastic gadget, I think the man shown last is my favorite. He managed to hold in the excitement of opening the package until he got home.
As the lid is lifted off you hear and see the glitter being flung across the room and he just stands there, absolutely still and silently. The device plays a recording, “Keep the change you filthy animal.” A fitting end to a whirlwind ride.