What CNN calls a "real-life Grinch" has struck in St. Paul, Minn., leaving a homeowner "quite flabbergasted" and local police proclaiming "bah humbug." WCCO and the Pioneer Press report that Hilary Smith ordered a Christmas gift for her boss via Amazon, and it arrived Wednesday, in a package left on her porch around noon, per a text message she received. When Smith got home from work around 5pm, however, there wasn't any package to be seen—but there was a handwritten note. "Just a quick little thank you for leaving me the opportunity of stealing your package," the letter read. "Very nice of you." The note was signed: "the new owner of your package."
"I do appreciate a nicely crafted 'thank you' note, but this is ridiculous," Smith tells WCCO. "I was angry and confused." She tells the Press that because the gift was just a small one—a portable phone charger—she didn't bother notifying the cops, but they got wind of the theft anyway after Smith posted about it on Facebook and a police department employee saw the post and encouraged her to file a report. "It's something we've never seen before," Sgt. Mike Ernster says, adding to KARE-TV, "They took the extra step to go beyond stealing [her] package, just to—salt in the wound—to rub [her] nose in it." Smith says Amazon did offer her a refund for the stolen gift. She also tells WCCO she now has a decoy package on her steps for anyone else who gets the idea in their head to swipe her stuff. Inside that package: a "gift from her dog." (More weird crimes stories.)