What would you do--witnessing a theft?

[bigben]

Enjoying the yellow curry at the Kiss caf├й near the dolphin roundтАУa-bout my friend and I witnessed an actual thief in action.

This thief walks up to the vendor who has on display all those silly trinkets / purses / ash trays / Thailand T-shirts and various knock-off items we all see everywhere. He engages the older Thai lady in conversation and purchases a small plate with some type of picture painted on it.

As the vendor bends down around the corner of the display table to wrap the plate in newspaper and put it in a plastic bag, this Vagabond who has a plastic shopping bag around his arm proceeds to pick up several items, looking around casually and with a well developed slight-of-hand drops the item into the plastic bag that is hanging off his left arm.

At first I couldnтАЩt believe my eyes he was so quick but then as I focused on his hand movements I saw him place 2 more small items into his bag. The guy was good at his тАЬmagic hand tricksтАЭ.

With a shit eating grin on his face he happily pays the vendor for the plate she has finished wrapping up for him and he walks off.

40 years ago in another life time I most likely would have notified the vendor and/or shouted at the lowlife to put the stolen items back or pay the lady, but both my friend and I are nearly 60 years old and this guy looked like he could have taken on a group of Thai motorcycle taxi drivers without much effort----so we finished our yellow curry and felt like a couple of wimps.

We did contact the Thai lady after our meal and explained what we saw. She got out her little accounting book and checked the inventory. Sure enough she was able to determine 2 items missing from her table of tourist trinkets.

I donтАЩt know about you guys, but sometimes I wish I was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger except I heard he is hung like a mouse.

Oh, and if you like yellow curry, it is pretty good at the Kiss caf├й and reasonable at 85 or 90 baht.

[cdnmatt]

Buy a tazor gun, and problem solved.

Or learn Thai, and buy a mega-phone. When you see it happening again, just yell into the mega-phone, "kii-mooi! kii-mooi!", and point your fingers in his direction.

Buy a tazor gun, and problem solved.

Or learn Thai, and buy a mega-phone. When you see it happening again, just yell into the mega-phone, "kii-mooi! kii-mooi!", and point your fingers in his direction.

kii-mooi ... Why would you want to shout 'Frowning Shit' at someone who is a thief? :evil4:

Kham_moay is more like it :tongue3:

[zinzone]

My view OP is that you did the right thing. You ain't a policeman. You later told the vendor what you say, so its' her problem. Now if one was witnesssing a private citizen having his pocket picked then it might be different but even then I wonder.

My view OP is that you did the right thing. You ain't a policeman. You later told the vendor what you say, so its' her problem. Now if one was witnesssing a private citizen having his pocket picked then it might be different but even then I wonder.

I don't disagree with the first part of your answer but the second part worries me: it's ok to rob a little old lady trader trying to scrape a living - but not a private individual?

Your argument sounds a little like those who claim shoplifting from Tesco/Carrefour/M&S is OK because "they can afford it"

:dontknow: :dontknow: :dontknow: :dontknow:

[zinzone]

My view OP is that you did the right thing. You ain't a policeman. You later told the vendor what you say, so its' her problem. Now if one was witnesssing a private citizen having his pocket picked then it might be different but even then I wonder.

I don't disagree with the first part of your answer but the second part worries me: it's ok to rob a little old lady trader trying to scrape a living - but not a private individual?

Your argument sounds a little like those who claim shoplifting from Tesco/Carrefour/M&S is OK because "they can afford it"

:dontknow: :dontknow: :dontknow: :dontknow:

Fair point S-G except 1) nothing was said about the stall trader being "little" or "old" but in any event 2) there is a difference between nicking trickets and stealing-which my initial post envisaged- a wallet/purse being pickpocketed which may contain an ID card, bank cards, hospital cards and hard earned cash etc

[Beachlover]

I think you did the right thing. You don't know how the guy's going to react.

If it had been me, I would've gotten up and walked over to point out the theft to the lady before the low life arsehole left but then I'm a little younger. And I figure if he's not heavy-built, I can handle myself. If he is bigger than me, then I can easily out run him.

I've been in a similar position to her before and it really feels like shit to be stolen from like that, I can tell you.

I don't know what the lady's mark up on the trinkets was but if he stole say, 5 of them, then it's likely he has wiped out the profit on the next 15 sales she makes.

[Narakmak]

Thai yellow curry is supposed to have potatoes in it. The Kiss Cafe near Soi Diana doesn't have potatoes in their yellow curry, not sure about their Dolphin location. I guess its the same.

[bigben]

Thai yellow curry is supposed to have potatoes in it. The Kiss Cafe near Soi Diana doesn't have potatoes in their yellow curry, not sure about their Dolphin location. I guess its the same.

Narakmak,

Yes, the Dolphin location does include potatoes in their yellow chicken curry. I am surprised that the Soi Diana location doesn't have potatoes in their curry. I thought both locations had the same menu.

[Narakmak]

I am sorry about this but it appears I have had a senior moment even though I am not very old. Kiss on Soi Diana DOES have spuds in their curry. They are undercooked though, but they are there. I was thinking about another restaurant in town that does serve Thai yellow curry without potatoes. Oh well. Back to topic!

[netrix]

nothing was said about the stall trader being "little" or "old"...

uhhh, yea...
He engages the older Thai lady in conversation...

i think i would have said something to the thief unless i was sure i'd get the shit knocked out of me.
or even better, catch him in the act in front of the vendor and ask if it's ok if you can give him
money to pay for the things he's shopping for in his bag.

stealing is wrong. i don't steal and i don't tolerate it from others.

on my last trip in thailand i went to a travel agent's shop with a friend to buy tickets for
the Siam Niramit show in bkk the next day. i paid and the thai lady agent gave me my change
and we left. once outside i realized she'd given me too much money. she gave me 1,000
baht too much! i turned around and went back and told her the mistake. she double checked
her math and counted the money again and was embarrassed and graciously accepted the
money. she started crying and wai-ing me nonstop and speaking thai to the boy i was with.
i asked him what she said when we were outside. "she say, 'farang good man. him so nice
and good friend for you. take good care..." anyway, very sweet.

point is it would have been easy to keep the money but doing the right thing feels better.
and in thailand being known as the good guy or the honest farang isn't a bad thing.

at least the OP said something to the "old" vendor lady. i'm sure she appreciated it.