Skooblevart’s Pickpocket Repellent

Any recipe can fail.  Heck, if I’m cooking, every recipe can fail.  Ingredient #2 is the one that prevents total failure.  As in (after the cake falls), “look, I made a chocolate torte!”

We’ll use a real example … this is a true story, and we haven’t even changed the names.  The protagonist is really a great guy, wonderful father and husband, tolerant, patience like you wouldn’t believe, loves dogs.  We’ll call him “Dad.” 

Spoiler Alert!  Dad gets his pocket picked.

Dad is with his wife and kids in the train station, in a country hardly anyone associates with pickpocketing.  It could be any busy concourse, anywhere in the world.  They got off one train, are waiting for the next, and the kids want to grab an ice cream.  Dad takes some money from his front pants pocket, gives them enough to buy their treat, puts the rest back in the pocket and then carefully zips the front pocket all the way closed.

Dad is alert.  He realizes that he’s alone, watching the luggage, and this makes him a prime target.  He’s diligently watching, ready to pounce if anyone comes too near their bags.  A few minutes later the kids come back with their ice cream, they collect their belongings, and happily head toward the next train. 

Pretty soon Dad touches his front pants pocket, which he discovers is unzipped. 

And empty.  Somebody came up behind him while he was watching the luggage, unzipped his front pants pocket, extracted his money, and departed, without alerting him.  Even though he was on high alert.

In the middle of their international vacation.  Cash gone!

In future posts we’ll pile on Dad.  He failed to apply several key ingredients in our pickpocket repellent, and we’ll ruthlessly point out his failings without regard to his feelings, explaining how easily he could have avoided this theft.  His pain, your gain.

For now though, let’s congratulate him for having divided his cash into four separate locations, two on him and two on his wife.  Yes there was lost cash, but they retained the majority, and were able to finish their vacation with only moderate inconvenience.

Good job Dad!  Divided, not conquered.

Next week, ingredient #3.