Thursday, June 22, 2006

Ladies' handbag stollen

Read today in the GDN that a teacher's purse/hand bag was taken from her in the parking lot of the Al Jazeera grocery store!! In broad daylight. I believe it happened around 1:59 p.m. I can't get over it. I go to this grocery store all the time. Her boyfriend was also w/ her and it didn't stop the guys.

There were three or four guys in the car. They drove by her real slow and grabbed it off of her person. She said she thought that the purse had gotten caught onto their miror but then realized they were taking it. She fell to the ground and now has cuts and bruises on her legs and such.

What gets me is that Al Jazeera told her that they have three security guards patrolling the area. I go there all the time and I've NEVER seen security guards there. Never. I'd bet when I go today that I'll see some in the parking lot... I betcha anything. And... like my husband says, that'll prob last for a few wks and then you won't see anyone around.

I guess this is one reason why I'm big on wearing long strappy shoulder purses that I can put over my head that cross my body. No one can steal your purse then. This is something you do when living in a big city..... there are thieves everywhere. Someone would have to knock me down and personally take it off of me if they were gonna steal it. The thing w/ most of the fashionable purses/bags as of late is that they barely hang on your shoulder. So many times when I'm out, if I'm carrying a bag like that, I'm always having to put the purse back up on my shoulder because it's always falling off.

Whenever I go there from now on, I'll make sure to wear one of the purses that go over my body. I'm almost starting to believe it's a good idea to take these purses everywhere. Nowadays, even here, you can't be sure that something isn't going to happen. Sad... isn't it?

I think these guys are starting to get very brave. Here they do this in the middle of the day. Sadly though, neither the girl or her boyfriend can remember what the car looked like and they didn't get the registration number. This is the bad thing about something scary like this happening... it's hard to think and be clear headed, and before you know it, the assailants are gone.

10 comments:

Olivia said...

You still have to be careful with your long strap - at least here in London they can cut the strap and pull it off.

The Moody Minstrel said...

I think common sense is the chief order of business wherever you go.

Um Naief said...

olivia, hopefully they won't start cutting the purse strap! my MIL told me today that some bahraini lady was at the pharmacy close to our house and someone hit her w/ their car and when she fell, they got out and took her purse. unbelievable!

moody... i agree.

Angelo Embuldeniya said...

Which Al Jazeera was this, theone on lover's lane in Adliya?

i think it's now practical to start encouraging pedestrians/employees/students to carry pepper spray with them.

20 years ago my family would leave the doors and windows to our houses open... and it would be very safe! 10 years ago they leave their cars unlocked, window shutters down and walk into a store & come back 30 mins later to find everything alright, so safe.

today.. i carry pepper spray :D

make the switch :)

Leilouta said...

My phone was stolen from my hands while I was talking to my aunt on the streets of El Nasr in Tunisia last summer!

Um Naief said...

Strav, this was the Al Jazeera over here in Zinj by the big Nasser Pharmacy. They now have a big parking lot by Starbucks and it seemed like the woman parked over in that parking lot, and as she was walking to the store, they got it. Where can you get pepper spray here? I used to have it in the States - carried it everywhere - but haven't seen it for sale here. We have those boys that go to that boys school in our neigborhood when school is in session. They make all kinds of trouble. They painted on all the rubbish bins - stuff like 666 and 'sh*t here', and drew naked ladies on them... so crazy. We had a prob w/ metal doors being stolen in our neighborhood for a while last year. Everyone thought these boys were behind it.

Leilouta, they steal mobile phones like crazy here. I think a lot of it is because they can resell them easily, and everyone, even small kids, have them. When we have kids, I'm gonna refuse them a mobile phone until they're much older.

Crime is becoming crazy here. Ppl are even attacking ppl on the streets. One thing I really liked about Bahrain was the fact that there wasn't a lot of crime but nowadays, that's all you read about. I hope it doesn't get as bad as it is in the States... I really hope.

Anonymous said...

Crime is on the rise here, you see security guards and new companies offering security services all over Bahrain now. It's sad we've reached this point, and it's only getting worse. It's not lack of jobs driving some people to do this stuff, it's the lack of law enforcement (though it's improved off late, you can now actually SEE the cops), it's more the lack of taking up available jobs, making a living and not having to resort to these criminal activities.

Sabra said...

Hey, Tooners! One of the women on our compound had her pocketbook taken off her arm at the Al Rashiid [sp?] Mall in Dhahran - and in the process - fighting to hold on to what WAS hers - ended up with a broken collar bone! This was last summer. I've taken to carrying a bit of cash, my ID and my Visa in my pants pocket - under the lovely black cloak I wear over everything. Makes it a bit inconvenient when it comes time to pay, etc., but at least no one's tried to steal my pocketbook. And, in one hand - always - my cell phone... You just never know.

Olivia said...

Hm, there are posters about mobile phone theft here in London, but I have never seen one being stolen. Also, everyone (except me) has an iPod and they hold their phone/iPod in their hands and walk around.

I guess, coz EVERYONE has one, no one's interested anymore :P

The Moody Minstrel said...

20 years ago my family would leave the doors and windows to our houses open...today.. i carry pepper spray

I seem to be hearing this same sort of story from all over the world. Now why is that? Why are places that were long "safe" now suddenly being overrun with crime? We are neighbors no longer able to trust each other anywhere?

Is civilization simply de-volving, or is there a more concrete reason...such as cell phones, satellite TV, or McDonald's?