Ladies Beware

It's funny, when my mom and I lived in the Bay Area she never had someone try to steal her purse if it was in the cart. She could even walk a few feet away from it and it wouldn't get stolen! She did however have a couple of instances where she had her purse's strap around her shoulder and the purse was next to her body and thieves went after it. One instance was at Fisherman's Wharf and someone snatched the strap right off her shoulder. It was very crowded and she didn't even realize her purse was gone until she tried to make a purchase. The other time was in Woolsworth. A couple of young boys came up to her and pretended to help her grab something out of reach. One boy helped her (he's the one that distracted her) and the other boy opened her purse while she had it next to her body, and carefully took her wallet out. She didn't even feel the purse open, this guy was so sly. I personally don't like to keep my purse in the cart, no matter what time of year it is. Why subject myself to my purse getting stolen. I've seen a lot of women (not just my mom) do this and I feel it's like asking someone to come and steal it! But then again maybe these women had similar instances like my mom did and feel it's safer in the cart. Who knows?

dear M...you are so correct...i too see women doing this all the time, and it saddens me that they could have their purses stolen this way. when we were children, all the women left their purse in their carts and walked around and nothing got taken, so it saddens me to think how times have changed in regards to what our mother's used to do. i think how you are attempting to raise awareness to this situation is very nice, and also we should remind women who are doing this christmas shopping or whatever, that when they use the department store, or mall restroom don't put their pocketbook or purse on the floor of their bathroom stall, as it can be removed by the person in the next stall and stolen and run out with before you can even put your clothes on to chase after them...let's all be aware and have a safe holiday season...stanzi

thanks a lot for this post. i am not from detroit. but there are many here. Also it does not mean this will only happen in detroit. so thanks .

These things can and do happen to men too. Not just ladies. Everyone has to be very careful with pocket pickers. When someone bumps into you, check to see that you are not missing something. My hubby was shopping the other day and someone bumped into him and about half an hour later he went to pay for something he was buying and his wallet was gone. Right out of his front pocket of his pants. I can't imagine that he didn't feel someone lifting it out, but he didn't. He can only figure it was the person who bumped into him. So when he got home we had to phone the bank and report his credit card and bank card missing. Then we had to go to the bank to get another one and reactivate it again. What a pain. It was a good thing he didn't have his drivers license in his wallet so we didn't have to do anything about that. And he never carries very much cash either, so he wasn't out much money. I bet that pick pocketer wasn't very happy with his find.