With\nthe backpack on the back, we then went down to the subway to go to the hotel. I\ntook out 2 metro tickets from the port-card in my purse, put it back and\nentered the station. I repeat, with the backpack on my back. I didn’t put it\ndown for a moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nfirst subway train was full of people, it was impossible to get on. I said to\nkeep calm and wait until the next one comes, after which we talked about\nvarious things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thinking\nback, I remembered I saw on the platform, while we were waiting, a small group\nof 2 boys in white t-shirts and with caps on their heads, and a girl. One of\nthem was looking at me when I was trying to put my phone in the front pocket of\nmy bermuda shorts. (Always, in cases like this, when it is crowded, I take\nextra measures.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When\nthe subway train came, all of a sudden the 3 guys were next to us,\n“candidates” to use the same door. To avoid the crowd, I took my\nmother and moved to the next door. I don’t know how, the two boys appeared\nright next to us, one of them acting as host, very kindly, saying in Romanian:\n“Come on, lady, get in”. My mother was overjoyed that someone who\nspeaks Romanian facilitates her boarding the subway with such respect and,\ntherefore, she couldn’t stop thanking him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe subway crowd, my mother and I were standing face to face. One of the boys\nwas next to us, I could not see the other. I had already forgotten about the\ngirl!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\nsuddenly… I realized something, mainly because of their behavior, but also because\nof the very strange look of that boy, who seemed to be “scanning”\naround.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\npulled my mother towards me and put my hand on her bag. The zipper was half opened!\nMaybe I was thinking wrongly, maybe I was right, I didn’t know. That’s why I\npreferred to make it clear to that citizen that he had nothing to take from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Did\nyou put your medicine in the bag?” \u2013 I asked my mother, somehow justifying\nmyself for the fact that I was closing the zipper of her bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Yes,\nof course” \u2013 she answered me, without understanding the point of the\nquestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Well,\nmake sure you don’t lose them. That’s all you have in your bag after all…”,\nI added stupidly, but I wanted to make sure that the right ears heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\ndidn’t even occur to me to check MY purse, which seemed well sheltered in the\nshadow of my belly, to make fun in spite of the trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nseat was freed up and the guy did the “good guy” job again,\nfacilitating our passage to the seat, after which he left. That was the moment\nwhen my suspicions took on new forms and I put my hand in the purse on my waist.\nWhile my mother didn’t stop thanking the, I was discovering that I no longer had\nmy port-card!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My\nblood rushed to my head in a fraction of a second and I said sharply to my\nmother: “don’t thank them so much, they just stole me my purse!!!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nwent to the two boys, who were in the crowd of travelers, and I saw the\n“kind” one trying to operate on someone else, from under the black crossbody\nbag he was carrying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Give\nme back what you stole from me!!!” \u2013 I told him in anger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nwas startled, I think he wasn’t expecting it, plus I interrupted him while he\nwas doing his \u201cjob\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nstarted to comment, I got even more angry and, while I was talking to him, I\nwas trying to think quickly if there was any way to stop him from getting off\nthe train, an alarm button, something. (Anyway, the train was so crowded, that\nI couldn’t even reach the bar, let alone a panic button!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\ndon’t know what the travelers who heard us arguing in an unknown language said,\nI could no longer see anyone around me. And it didn’t even occur to me to say\nat least in French or English that something had been stolen from me (maybe\nthen someone would have jumped to help). I had a war with them like from one\nRomanian to another…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When\nthey realized that I wasn’t letting it go, at the first station they rushed to\nget off the train. I put my hand on one and told him that I would go off with\nthem too, to call the police. I don’t know how I managed to get my mother out\nof the subway train too, don’t ask me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n he hit the hand I had the phone in when I tried to take a picture of him <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOn\nthe platform we continued the argument. Taking advantage of the fact that I had\nmy backpack on my back and I had both hands free, I tried to photograph the one\nwith the big mouth, but he fought back like a star caught by the paparazzi. The\nother one shows me the empty pockets of his sweatpants, but I told them that\nthey couldn’t think I was so stupid as to imagine that they put my port-card in\nthe first pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\ndon’t know where the girl was until then, because she was not in my visual\nrange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So\nthat you understand, in that port-card I had a bank card that could be blocked\nimmediately, so they could not use it. I had a press card that I could redo. I\nhad the key to the room. And cash, around 180-200 euros. So that was the\ndamage. It’s just that I couldn’t stand the idea that they had stolen from\nme!!! “Ours”, so to say…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nalso told them that they have nothing to do with my cards. I threatened them\nagain with the police. There was no trace of a subway employee on the platform,\ndamn! Let alone any police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nwanted to take a picture of the person I was arguing with directly, but he hit\nmy hand again. I tried to stop him from leaving, he told me not to touch him. I\nwas so nervous, that I would have jumped into the fight, if I had any idea of\nhow to do this\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All\nthree hurried to the exit, I followed them! I told my mother to stay in the\nstation and I went up the stairs with them. No employees, man, on the way.\nWhere in God’s name were all those who, in other stations, are everywhere???<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ndispute continued outside. “Come on, I’ll take your picture and give it to\nthe police” \u2013 I continued with my tension skyrocketing, but I couldn’t do\nit at all, because he kept hitting my hand. “I’m calling the police” \u2013\nI threatened, without even being able to press the keys, because I was shaking\nwith nerves! And, anyway, I thought I’d call and what? Will the 3 wait nicely\nfor the mounted police??<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I\ndidn’t take anything from you, bitch!” \u2013 I hear the girl’s first reply, which made me go out of\nmy mind. I had no expectation for us to be polite to each other, but I did not\nexpect that either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\nhere is the moment when I heard twice, at a very short distance: “Look again,\nbecause we didn’t take anything from you!”, “Just check, we didn’t\ntake anything from you!”. You could say that they were inviting me to check\nmy stuff and, for a moment, I had a flash of an idea, but I quickly eliminated\nthe thought. No, it wasn’t possible… And my purse was as empty as a pauper’s\npurse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Now\nI’m calling the police!” \u2013 I told them again, while finally hitting the\n112 keys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthat moment, they simply run away<\/strong>! All 3 of\nthem. No, they didn’t leave idly, ignoring the one who talks nonsense, they\ndidn’t wait for the police to come and laugh at me for going crazy and blaming\nthem, they simply ran away!<\/p>\n\n\n\nI\nwas super nervous! In the meantime, my mother had climbed the stairs from the\nsubway station and had also come out to the street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\ncalled the police, I told them that I was robbed in the subway, but, being put\non hold to… I don’t know what that man said to me, I hung up quickly, calling\nwhere I thought it was more important to call immediately: at the bank, to\nblock my card!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nswear I didn’t understand what the robot was saying, what I had to press, I was\ntalking to my mother at the same time, who was scared, I could only hear on the\nphone that I called outside of the business hours. Fuck! I called again and\nmanaged to talk to a gentleman who blocked my card. Phew. I calmed down to a\ncertain extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well,\nI had neither cash nor a card. Returning to the subway, I saw an employee at\nthe only counter in the station and I told her what had happened, without\ntelling her my greatest pain \u2013 that my compatriots had done it…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A\nlot have suffered the same…” \u2013 she told me. Here, especially in the\nsummer, theft in the subway train is the rule, not an exception \u2013 she explained\nto me. (I admit, it has never happened to me.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nregistered the complaint. A theft, in another subway train was just being announced\non her station. “You see, what was I telling you?…” She added that\nthere are many policemen in plain clothes who travel in wagons. Only I wasn’t\nlucky enough to have one…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nwon’t tell you how we got to the hotel, with special tickets received from the\nemployee, with the subway line closed while we were between sections, with a\nnon-existent taxi where we got off the subway, with a Uber that couldn’t find\nus…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nbest is yet to come!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAt\nthe hotel, I started packing for the next day’s departure. I took my empty\npurse from my waist. I took off my backpack and turned everything over on the\nbed to rearrange the things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nwas actually stuck <\/strong>when my port-card caught my eye!<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes,\nmy port-card, completely unharmed, was lying among the other things spilled\nfrom the backpack!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\nseemed unreal!!! And instantly I understood that my subconscious had guessed\nright: the fact that the three of them kept repeating to me “look, ckeck\nto see that we didn’t take anything from you!”, basically meant that they\nhad put my port-card where they could reach \u2013 in one of the outer pockets of\nthe backpack that I had on my back then!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nswear I don’t know when they did that. I think the girl is the key, because\nuntil she opened her mouth with “I didn’t take anything from you, bitch!”,\nshe was not in my visual range. And I was with my backpack on my back,\ndeterminedly going after the guys and arguing with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What\ncan I say now, when I have calmed down: thank you, bitch, for giving it back to\nme J<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EPILOGUE<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\nSuch\na twist can make those who don’t know me well say: “Mladin, you’re crazy,\nyou lost your port-card, you don’t know where you put it and you’re blaming\npeople”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ok,\nlet’s accept the theory, for the sake of analysis, although I know 100% that I\ndidn’t put the port-card in the backpack: I have a reflex formed in so many\ndozens of trips \u2013 that of putting the documents and money in a completely\ndifferent place than the backpack. In addition, in the current situation, I physically <\/strong>couldn’t have put anything in my backpack,\nbecause I had my backpack on my back when I took my port-card out of my purse to\nget the two subway tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut\nlet’s accept the theory. In this case, however, I ask: why do 3 innocent people\nrun away when I call the police? Why not stay to have an authority show me that\nI am just a crazy person, wrongly accusing them?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s not good to write when you’re nervous, but if I don’t write now, when I blow fire, I don’t think you’d understand my anger! Three Romanians stole my money in the subway in Paris! From this sentence, what hurts me the most is the part about the “3 Romanians”, not that they “stole my money”. If, being officially warned in every metro station to be careful and watch out for thieves, I didn’t put my money in… my ass to be sure that no one can steal it from me, that’s it, I admit my fault. But I am so angry, distraught, disappointed that some Romanians did it, that I feel like cursing using the most unorthodox words!!! I came to Paris with an 84-year-old woman who was dying to take the Romanian flag with her, who always wore a tri-color bow on her chest, who said, whenever we entered into small dialogues with someone: “we’re from Romania, Romania”. She is my mother. She always says, proudly, that she is Romanian. BEWARE OF PICKPOCKETS You can blame me, but tonight, I lost all pride in being Romanian! I was pick-pocketed by 3 Romanians, talking to my mother in the nicest way possible, being excessively kind \u2013 this is where I started to have suspicions \u2013 and “making room” for us in the super-crowded subway. It’s stupid what I say, but at least for being from the same country, I thought that they will not pick-pocket us… Besides the permanent care of my mother, I always took care of two things: my phone and my flat wallet with cards and cash \u2013 a kind of a port-card. I kept taking pictures with the phone, so I had it in my hand almost always, but the port-card didn’t find its place in the bermuda shorts. (Just so you know: on none of my trips have I ever put my documents and money in my backpack. Never! It’s like a rule!). I took a cheap purse, tied up around my waist, hidden under my long and large t-shirts. And this was the safest place for port-card. This evening we went by boat on the Seine, in a quiet cruise. I took pictures, I sat on the deck without any worries, but I still checked the port-card in my purse from time to time, even though there was no one near us. With the backpack on the back, we then went down to the subway to go to the hotel. I took out 2 metro tickets from the port-card in my purse, put it back and entered the station. I repeat, with the backpack on my back. I didn’t put it down for a moment. The first subway train was full of people, it was impossible to get on. I said to keep calm and wait until the next one comes, after which we talked about various things. Thinking back, I remembered I saw on the platform, while we were waiting, a small group of 2 boys in white t-shirts and with caps on their heads, and a girl. One of them was looking at me when I was trying to put my phone in the front pocket of my bermuda shorts. (Always, in cases like this, when it is crowded, I take extra measures.) When the subway train came, all of a sudden the 3 guys were next to us, “candidates” to use the same door. To avoid the crowd, I took my mother and moved to the next door. I don’t know how, the two boys appeared right next to us, one of them acting as host, very kindly, saying in Romanian: “Come on, lady, get in”. My mother was overjoyed that someone who speaks Romanian facilitates her boarding the subway with such respect and, therefore, she couldn’t stop thanking him. In the subway crowd, my mother and I were standing face to face. One of the boys was next to us, I could not see the other. I had already forgotten about the girl! And suddenly… I realized something, mainly because of their behavior, but also because of the very strange look of that boy, who seemed to be “scanning” around. I pulled my mother towards me and put my hand on her bag. The zipper was half opened! Maybe I was thinking wrongly, maybe I was right, I didn’t know. That’s why I preferred to make it clear to that citizen that he had nothing to take from her. “Did you put your medicine in the bag?” \u2013 I asked my mother, somehow justifying myself for the fact that I was closing the zipper of her bag. “Yes, of course” \u2013 she answered me, without understanding the point of the question. “Well, make sure you don’t lose them. That’s all you have in your bag after all…”, I added stupidly, but I wanted to make sure that the right ears heard. It didn’t even occur to me to check MY purse, which seemed well sheltered in the shadow of my belly, to make fun in spite of the trouble. A seat was freed up and the guy did the “good guy” job again, facilitating our passage to the seat, after which he left. That was the moment when my suspicions took on new forms and I put my hand in the purse on my waist. While my mother didn’t stop thanking the, I was discovering that I no longer had my port-card!!! My blood rushed to my head in a fraction of a second and I said sharply to my mother: “don’t thank them so much, they just stole me my purse!!!” I went to the two boys, who were in the crowd of travelers, and I saw the “kind” one trying to operate on someone else, from under the black crossbody bag he was carrying. “Give me back what you stole from me!!!” \u2013 I told him in anger. He was startled, I think he wasn’t expecting it, plus I interrupted him while he was doing his \u201cjob\u201d. He started to comment, I got even more angry and, while I was talking to him, I was trying to think quickly if there was any way to stop him from getting off the train, an alarm button, something. (Anyway, the train was so crowded, that I couldn’t even reach the bar, let alone a panic button!) I don’t know what the travelers who heard us arguing in an unknown language said, I could no longer see anyone around me. And it didn’t even occur to me to say at least in French or English that something had been stolen from me (maybe then someone would have jumped to help). I had a war with them like from one Romanian to another… When they realized that I wasn’t letting it go, at the first station they rushed to get off the train. I put my hand on one and told him that I would go off with them too, to call the police. I don’t know how I managed to get my mother out of the subway train too, don’t ask me! On the platform we continued the argument. Taking advantage of the fact that I had my backpack on my back and I had both hands free, I tried to photograph the one with the big mouth, but he fought back like a star caught by the paparazzi. The other one shows me the empty pockets of his sweatpants, but I told them that they couldn’t think I was so stupid as to imagine that they put my port-card in the first pocket. I don’t know where the girl was until then, because she was not in my visual range. So that you understand, in that port-card I had a bank card that could be blocked immediately, so they could not use it. I had a press card that I could redo. I had the key to the room. And cash, around 180-200 euros. So that was the damage. It’s just that I couldn’t stand the idea that they had stolen from me!!! “Ours”, so to say… I also told them that they have nothing to do with my cards. I threatened them again with the police. There was no trace of a subway employee on the platform, damn! Let alone any police. I wanted to take a picture of the person I was arguing with directly, but he hit my hand again. I tried to stop him from leaving, he told me not to touch him. I was so nervous, that I would have jumped into the fight, if I had any idea of how to do this\u2026 All three hurried to the exit, I followed them! I told my mother to stay in the station and I went up the stairs with them. No employees, man, on the way. Where in God’s name were all those who, in other stations, are everywhere??? The dispute continued outside. “Come on, I’ll take your picture and give it to the police” \u2013 I continued with my tension skyrocketing, but I couldn’t do it at all, because he kept hitting my hand. “I’m calling the police” \u2013 I threatened, without even being able to press the keys, because I was shaking with nerves! And, anyway, I thought I’d call and what? Will the 3 wait nicely for the mounted police?? “I didn’t take anything from you, bitch!” \u2013 I hear the girl’s first reply, which made me go out of my mind. I had no expectation for us to be polite to each other, but I did not expect that either. And here is the moment when I heard twice, at a very short distance: “Look again, because we didn’t take anything from you!”, “Just check, we didn’t take anything from you!”. You could say that they were inviting me to check my stuff and, for a moment, I had a flash of an idea, but I quickly eliminated the thought. No, it wasn’t possible… And my purse was as empty as a pauper’s purse. “Now I’m calling the police!” \u2013 I told them again, while finally hitting the 112 keys. In that moment, they simply run away! All 3 of them. No, they didn’t leave idly, ignoring the one who talks nonsense, they didn’t wait for the police to come and laugh at me for going crazy and blaming them, they simply ran away! I was super nervous! In the meantime, my mother had climbed the stairs from the subway station and had also come out to the street. I called the police, I told them that I was robbed in the subway, but, being put on hold to… I don’t know what that man said to me, I hung up quickly, calling where I thought it was more important to call immediately: at the bank, to block my card! I swear I didn’t understand what the robot was saying, what I had to press, I was talking to my mother at the same time, who was scared, I could only hear on the phone that I called outside of the business hours. Fuck! I called again and managed to talk to a gentleman who blocked my card. Phew. I calmed down to a certain extent. Well, I had neither cash nor a card. Returning to the subway, I saw an employee at the only counter in the station and I told her what had happened, without telling her my greatest pain \u2013 that my compatriots had done it… “A lot have suffered the same…” \u2013 she told me. Here, especially in the summer, theft in the subway train is the rule, not an exception \u2013 she explained to me. (I admit, it has never happened to me.) She registered the complaint. A theft, in another subway train was just being announced on her station. “You see, what was I telling you?…” She added that there are many policemen in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7149,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[1086,1456,1452,1453,456,1454,97,1091,1455,776,1090],"class_list":["post-7123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-calatorii","category-viata-asa-cum-e","tag-furt","tag-holiday-in-paris","tag-hoti","tag-metro","tag-paris","tag-paris-metro","tag-parisian-subway","tag-theft","tag-thieves","tag-vacanta-la-paris","tag-vacante-cu-peripetii","main-post"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.12.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["ro","en"],"languages":{"ro":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7123"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7163,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123\/revisions\/7163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/paris_tour-eiffel_me-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n