Beware of Pickpockets
That bad egg; black sheep; criminal; bully; delinquent; evildoer; outlaw; rascal; rogue; scoundrel; villain; bandit; crook; lowlife; pickpocket.
I was walking home from a sumptuous dinner at almost 10pm when I felt my sling pouch suddenly significantly lighter. I reached for my pouch to find it unzipped and empty. My wallet was gone. I was near the Orient Shopping Centre (东方商厦), around the WuJiaoChang(五角场) bus stop that had Airport Bus no. 4. I turned round to see 3 construction workers walking calmly, while there were other people just minding about their own business waiting for buses. My thoughts flew to the restaurant as I wondered whether I left my wallet there, or if I had dropped it while walking, but it can’t be. I looked again at the workers who were now walking ahead and they seemed to be walking with too much confidence. One was walking faster and faster, so I gave chase. He ran into this dark construction site that I had no guts to go into, and was closely followed behind by the other 2 construction workers. At the door of the site was a security guard and I said hello, my wallet just got stolen, can you help me? to which he said it must have been the guy who just ran. I said can you help me? he said he could have helped if i had told him earlier before the thief ran so deep into the site. Out of desperation I said can you help me? I’ll give you money. To which he responded with “call the police”.
It occurred to me that the police can’t possibly be bothered to deal with a triviality like this, but I dialled 110 anyway, and explained to a very bored woman about my wallet and where I was. I then called CG to lament, who was very sympathetic and empathetic. That was when I noticed the security guard went away to another gate and disappeared for a while. After he reemerged I was just about to explain the situation to another friend, Grace, when the cocky pickpocket appeared from the shadows of the construction walls and said in a very reluctant yet self-righteous way, “your wallet. i return you”, or something to that effect. He then whipped out the wallet from his back pocket and offered it to its rightful owner — a very amused me. I started raising my voice, questioning him about why he took my wallet etc etc, all the frantic questions to which he replied in his ethnic-minority-accented-Chinese, “I have no money”.
The security guard was dubiously anxious, and kept reminding me to call the police back to tell them that the case is closed. I did call 110 again to tell them not to pursue the case, although the (same, I think) bored woman on the line took a while to realize I wanted to cancel the case and not report a new case. I didn’t offer money to the security guard like how I said, and even accused him of being in cahoots with the thief, which he did not deny.
In retrospect, it really feels like a dream. Did that all really happen? Since I have my wallet with everything intact with me right now. Everything happened within 10 minutes or so. And I’m thankful I’m safe and sound really.
Lessons learnt:
1. Forget about losing weight or aiding digestion after a meal by walking. Take the bus at night.
2. Calling the police scares the hell out of the wrongdoers
3. If you’re a security guard, never trust a girl at her moments of anxiety. She will never give you money like what she said at first.
4. Don’t stuff your entire assets into your wallet. Only bring necessary stuff like money, especially if you’re going to use dimly-lit roads.
I really hate pickpockets now. It’s not about the money, the cards, or the wallet itself. It’s that overwhelming sense of injustice, helplessness, and loss all rolled into one at that moment when you realize you’ve been pick pocketed, and that resentfulness lingers.
In my first semester here I witnessed the threat of pickpockets when i was walking on a busy street in town (near People’s Square 人民广场), and yet was eyed by a kid with many men in black surrounding him. The kid’s eyes were intent on my backpack, and the whole group of them disappeared when I shifted my bag to the front of my body.
Then in my second semester or so I was taunted by a big group of people who belong to one of the ethnic minorities. Maybe I was asking for trouble by walking under a flyover in the vicinity of RT-Mart (大润发). Kids unzipped and touched my bag a little to encourage laughs from the whole family group. Men in bicycles had their wallets pulled halfway out by these kids and were just laughed at when they shouted at them to stop it.
When signboards in the form of red triangles warn you to beware of pickpockets are around, and when they’re not, really be aware.
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