If I were a predator, this would be the easiest second career I could ever consider. Just this past week alone, I saw two women on the platform at Tottenham Court Road (different days) with purses hanging from their shoulders with large, gaping holes because they haven't zipped/snapped/clipped the top of their bag shut. And, just last night, I sat across from a lady who got on the tube, sat down, and actually placed her purse on the ground next to her. And then proceeded to bury her face in a book.
I know we all have momentary lapses in awareness from time to time, but I do often wonder if some of the women I see doing this are just that absent minded-or just that irresponsible (my polite word for 'stupid'). Perhaps it's just me, but when I'm on the tube and sitting, I've got my purse in my lap with a death grip on it; if I'm standing, the starting point of the zipper always faces forward, and I keep my 2nd hand over this.
One of the purses I love to carry has a superfluous zipper on the outside that, due to the way I carry my purse, the zipper is behind me where I can't see and easy to get to-if someone wanted to. I've lost count of the number of times I've gotten off a crowded tube only to find the zipper had been unzipped-by clearly an intentional act of someone hoping to get lucky.
Ladies..at some point we must stop making ourselves such easy targets. Care to start today?
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| Thanks to Bag Sanity for the image |
And I didn't even realise I did it myself until a man on the tube tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out that my bag was unzipped a couple of inches. I was grateful he was being helpful rather than sliding his hand in to help himself...although the bag mostly contained clothes for the laundry so he'd have been sorely disappointed if he were on the make!
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. I've just returned from the States where I was horrified to see my sister in law hang her purse over the back of her chair in a busy restaurant in NYC! Having lived in Brussels, which has way more petty crime (and been robbed at the movies when I had my bag on the floor and my feet up on the seat in front of me) I am still surprised at how casually people treat their things.
ReplyDeleteI was just going to make the same comment as Anonymous - here in the States, people act like there's no theft, with purses on chair backs, on the seat next to them etc. I used to think there was less petty crime here, but the latest thing happening to my friends on the train is to have their phones ripped from their hands as the thief is leaving the train. Of course, because everyone is in shock, and the train door is shutting, there is little chance of either catching the thief or getting your phone back.
ReplyDeleteI love my purse to have a zipper even within..I agree with you
ReplyDeleteThat's all bad enough, but I found it shocking when women with Burkin bags would leave those open. The clasps look a bit complicated, granted, but wearing a 4-5 figure bag and leaving it open?!
ReplyDelete@AHLondon...funny you should mention the Birkins! I was explicitly looking for an image of an open Birkin to go with this post, but couldn't easily find one. It does seem like the absentminded bag of choice. What's the phrase?...More money than sense?... ;)
ReplyDelete@ExpatMum...you are unfortunately, correct. I was blithely unaware of this as a problem until I moved to a larger city with public transport.