Are thieves really getting stupider?

[LostMyMind]

I'm not sure if this the right spot, since it happen to me this afternoon. But it's not work related.

I was getting lunch at a fast-food joint. I get the same thing every afternoon for lunch. So most of the workers there know my order and I walk in pay and pick up my order. Which is useful since I'm deaf and don't want to do the "Yes I can talk, my mouth is not connected to my ears." song and dance. Now that you have the general surrounding.

This is what happen. The order before me. Was a bunch of kids dressing like gangbanger-want-a-be. You know the wife-beater, boxers with pants under the ass. Now, where I live there is no projects, ghettos, or even "gangs". The town is very much upper-middle class, to the very wealthy. Not saying there are poor folks here, but these kids had brand spanking new clothes and shoes on. Gangbangers, they ain't.

While I'm standing behind them to pick up my order. Their order was done, so one of the kid pick up their tray and his buddy pick up my sandwich from my tray and try to walk off. Now, I'm not a threating type of guy. I'm tall and big but I'm very relax. I told the little punk, "that my sandwich, put it back." in that voice you use when talking to 6 year olds (I got nieces and nephews, I'm good at that voice). I had to repeat myself, the punk had that "rabbit surrounded by foxes" look on his face. But he did walk over and put my sandwich back on my tray.

Back to my question, are they really that stupid now days? To not even evaluate the surrounding to make sure they can get away with it?

[Shabo]

I wouldn't call him a thief, but rather a really stupid kid that tried to pull off a really stupid trick. Perhaps he was used to bullying kids around and didn't expect you to say anything to him, or maybe he was trying to impress his white trash friends. Either way, you put him in his place.

[LostMyMind]

I didn't say what race they were. But I'll say this. They weren't white, since you thought "white trash".

But, why wouldn't you call him a thief? He attempted to steal. That makes him a thief. A bad one, but still a thief. That like saying, "Oh he's not a murder, he was only trying to impress his buddies when he fired that gun."

[Shabo]

I wouldn't call him a thief because he didn't actually walk out the door. Plus, he did it right in front of you. Those people don't deserve to be called thieves. They just deserve to be called stupid. I mean, did he think you were blind?

[JustADude]

Those people don't deserve to be called thieves.

I'll actually go with that. A thief would call that guy a F*cking Moron™. Con-artists and shop-lifters at least put some sort of thought into their actions, even if it's not much.

[CancelMyService]

They probably thought they could get away with it because no one ever tried to stop them. That tends to happen, I see it a lot: a group of kids walk in with wanna-be gangsta garb on and some people are afraid to stand up to them out of fear they might be real gangsta types. Usually it's older folks who do this the most, most people closer in age to the wannabes can spot the fakes a mile away. The moment someone puts one of those suburban Snoop-Doggs in their place it tends to end any attempt of thuggery.

[JustADude]

Usually it's older folks who do this the most, most people closer in age to the wannabes can spot the fakes a mile away.

And it's abso-friggin-lutely hilarious when you're watching them try that stuff when you're an official Neutral Party (EVERYBODY loves the Blockbuster Guy ) and are on a first name basis with some... interesting... types from the local neighborhood. The ones that actually have weight to throw around don't go pulling that crap. They've got bigger fish to fry.

On a related note, when someone busted into the store and stole the Direct-TV display TV (walking past a butt-load of retail DVDs to get to it) I told one of those interesting fellows what happened when they were in renting a couple new releases the next day. The TV was found sitting in front of the store a couple days later.

[CancelMyService]

I was going to add in my post, the real gangbanger types usually don't go around stealing burgers off people's trays like it's junior high all over again. Like you said, sometimes they come in handy when you need to straighen out some situations in an off-the-record manner.

(not that I'm advocating the activites these people may be involved in, I'm just pragmatic enough to believe if you must deal with them, make sure they're on your side in case shit goes down)

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I'm with those that say these asshats dress up to look like thugs, and figure they look so big and bad nobody will confront them.

However, the reason they have to advertise how big and bad they are is because they really aren't. It's like a nervous rat snake shaking it's tail against dry leaves, hoping you'll think it's a rattlesnake (they do that.).

Sadly, it often works.

I've heard friends tell me this same story. "I told him 'no' and you'd have thought I punched him." They just don't know how to react when they get called on their BS.

[Becks]

Talk about stupid. And losers.

I bet the closest some of these "thugs"come to the ghetto is watching BET.

[blas]

And COPS, too....

[Bagga]

When I was teaching English in Turkey, one of my very rich adolescent students was playing fast-draw tricks with an expensive looking butterfly knife, a kind of flick-knife. I asked him why he was carrying it, and he said it was to protect him from local street urchins.

I tried to tell him that a real tough street urchin would have stabbed him with a piece of broken glass and sold the knife before he had even worked out which pocket the knife was in, but he didn't really understand.

[Bella_Vixen]

My brother used to have a couple butterfly knives. I'd watch him for ages flipping them around. I begged for his tiny one, but seeing as how I was 8 at the time, he said no.