Hair cuts and pickpockets
If you need a haircut, please go see genius Allan at The Chopping Block. He's sweet, fun to talk to and gives the best cuts ever! Love, love, love my hair.
In the not-so-great portion of this entry: there's a pickpocket now working the Chinatown buses on a daily basis (#8, #3, #19 heading South from Hastings, and back down from around Broadway). Today is the 4th time I've seen him. He mostly targets elderly people, the disabled and anyone who looks Asian. I'm sure he'd steal from anyone given the opportunity, but these are his main targets. Since the moment when I realized what he's doing, I watch him like a hawk. He glances over and when he notices that he's being watched, he backs off. His main strategy is to join a large group at the doors of the bus and start pushing, like he really needs to get off. His hand, covered by a blue and beige checked shirt, is then wandering in bags and open pockets. Last time this happened, a guy loudly said "You leave people alone and get off the f'n bus!" before I did. Buddy said "I'm just getting off here" and tried to look all innocent. This after spending 5 minutes trying to see if an elderly man was blind or not (by waving a hand near him and pulling strange faces) so that he could target him later. He saw me watching and moved on, but man was my blood boiling.
Today I saw him get on the back doors of the bus (fare jumping by bus company standards), so when I got on I quietly said to the driver "You've got a pickpocket who just jumped on the back and is now working your bus". He thanked me and proceeded to do nothing. Nothing! I know drivers are supposed to avoid confrontation with passengers, but how is it okay that he allows a pickpocket to work his bus?! A simple announcement over the speakers "Could the guy who just got on without paying his fare please get off the bus now" would have done the trick, and drivers do it all the time. I was pissed, so I just stared the guy down, preventing him from doing his work. Another guy squeezed by me, and the girl next to me said "Hey, that guys a pickpocket!" I said "yeah, and that guy in the blue hat is one too". The girl on my right said "He just rubbed up against me and grabbed me". Fuck this, we all decided, and got off at the next stop. We ran to the front doors and told the other transit employee (a big, burly take-no-shit dude) what was going on. When he heard the commotion, my pickpocket quickly got off the bus and ran away. The transit guy said he couldn't do anything at that point, which is true.
I'm so frustrated right now, because it seems like the bus company doesn't give a crap and will continue to allow its most vulnerable customers (the elderly, disabled people, women, people of colour) to be preyed on by this guy. Honestly, I don't see any resolution to this. If you see this type of thing happening, please speak up if it feels safe to do so. If you have any suggestions, put them in comments cuz I need to figure out something proactive I can do that doesn't involve breaking this guys fingers, cuz I'm starting to feel real twitchy about the situation. If anyone speaks Mandarin, I'd like to make a poster to put up warning people about the situation on the buses in Chinatown.
In the not-so-great portion of this entry: there's a pickpocket now working the Chinatown buses on a daily basis (#8, #3, #19 heading South from Hastings, and back down from around Broadway). Today is the 4th time I've seen him. He mostly targets elderly people, the disabled and anyone who looks Asian. I'm sure he'd steal from anyone given the opportunity, but these are his main targets. Since the moment when I realized what he's doing, I watch him like a hawk. He glances over and when he notices that he's being watched, he backs off. His main strategy is to join a large group at the doors of the bus and start pushing, like he really needs to get off. His hand, covered by a blue and beige checked shirt, is then wandering in bags and open pockets. Last time this happened, a guy loudly said "You leave people alone and get off the f'n bus!" before I did. Buddy said "I'm just getting off here" and tried to look all innocent. This after spending 5 minutes trying to see if an elderly man was blind or not (by waving a hand near him and pulling strange faces) so that he could target him later. He saw me watching and moved on, but man was my blood boiling.
Today I saw him get on the back doors of the bus (fare jumping by bus company standards), so when I got on I quietly said to the driver "You've got a pickpocket who just jumped on the back and is now working your bus". He thanked me and proceeded to do nothing. Nothing! I know drivers are supposed to avoid confrontation with passengers, but how is it okay that he allows a pickpocket to work his bus?! A simple announcement over the speakers "Could the guy who just got on without paying his fare please get off the bus now" would have done the trick, and drivers do it all the time. I was pissed, so I just stared the guy down, preventing him from doing his work. Another guy squeezed by me, and the girl next to me said "Hey, that guys a pickpocket!" I said "yeah, and that guy in the blue hat is one too". The girl on my right said "He just rubbed up against me and grabbed me". Fuck this, we all decided, and got off at the next stop. We ran to the front doors and told the other transit employee (a big, burly take-no-shit dude) what was going on. When he heard the commotion, my pickpocket quickly got off the bus and ran away. The transit guy said he couldn't do anything at that point, which is true.
I'm so frustrated right now, because it seems like the bus company doesn't give a crap and will continue to allow its most vulnerable customers (the elderly, disabled people, women, people of colour) to be preyed on by this guy. Honestly, I don't see any resolution to this. If you see this type of thing happening, please speak up if it feels safe to do so. If you have any suggestions, put them in comments cuz I need to figure out something proactive I can do that doesn't involve breaking this guys fingers, cuz I'm starting to feel real twitchy about the situation. If anyone speaks Mandarin, I'd like to make a poster to put up warning people about the situation on the buses in Chinatown.
posted by grad student hack at 5:52 PM
1 Comments:
Okay, I don't think I can last another five weeks without getting my haircut - but by then I'll need another and you can hook me up with this fellow, yes?
And we'll totally do soy lattes.
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