Phoneless in Paris
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Phoneless in Paris
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Re: Phoneless in Paris
#2One of the offices at my previous job is situated on rue de Dunkerque, about 150m from the main Gare du Nord entrance. My boss and the CEO (who was in Milan) were on the phone, while my boss, using the headphones, was walking towards the metro station. My boss was monologuing about some issue in production, went through the security gates, kept monologuing until he reached one of the trains, and told the CEO that he was about to get on a train and the communication would probably drop out. It's only then that he realised that he was talking to himself. He searched through his pockets but only found the end of his headphones cable, disconnected, and no phone to be found.
It slowly dawned on him that his phone had been taken just before he went through the security gates.
About two weeks later, the exact same thing happened, only closer to the office. His phone got stolen right from his pocket. He usually keeps his phone either in the front pockets of his trousers, or the inside pocket of his jacket. He lost 4 phones over the course of 6 months. His phones rarely reach the one-year-old status.
The other end of the conversation was a bit more comical: The CEO was listening to his COO, heard some commotion, then heard someone panting and street noises, cars honking. He figured that my boss had been run-over; he usually finishes that story by concluding that, in horror, he immediately posted about the job opening on job boards.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#3One of the offices at my previous job is situated on rue de Dunkerque, about 150m from the main Gare du Nord entrance. My boss and the CEO (who was in Milan) were on the phone, while my boss, using the headphones, was walking towards the metro station. My boss was monologuing about some issue in production, went through the security gates, kept monologuing until he reached one of the trains, and told the CEO that he…
Just got back from Paris in June, and Gar du Nord is definitely rife with pickpocketers, but they are actually really easy to spot if you know what to look for. They were casing my wife and I every time we went there for a train.
Right now, the big thing is to send in kids with a piece of paper, asking you to sign it and give them a donation. The kids sometimes pretend to be deaf, and they basically demand a minimum donation of 8 euros. Their piece of paper is all crumpled and filthy, but the kids usually look like normal European 8-year-old girls, often blond and cleanly dressed.
However, somewhere behind these girls, probably 20 to 30 feet away, will be a handler. The few we saw were always old women who looked like Eastern European grandmothers, and were probably the "Roma" everyone likes to call out.
This handler floats behind the kids and watches where phones and wallets go when they're placed back in pockets. She then drifts by if you engage the kids. The kids are the distraction, she's the pickpocket.
Frankly, though, if you pay any attention at all to the areas around you at Gare du Nord, or anywhere else in Europe, it's very easy to see this stuff going down and be safe. We were warned a dozen times about theft in Europe before our lengthy trip, but really, you just have to behave as you would in Manhattan or in San Francisco.
Frankly, you can lose your phone just as quickly in the Mission if you're on a busy bus and not paying attention.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#4The guy was really really lucky, especially in Paris. I lost my wallet twice , but fortunately since I used to live in a small city (less than 100 000 inhabitants) I got it back.
But yeah, the subway or the train in Paris is absolutely not safe in general, avoid it if you can, rent a car or a bike, you'll enjoy the city way more if you are a tourist that way.
The Roma criminality certainly has to do with poverty, but I'm sorry they also have a specific culture and raised into a specific environment that favor criminal behavior. It's a disservice to dismiss it as "xenophobia" or something else when these people are heavily despised everywhere they go in Europe, and for obvious reasons. It feels like they don't even care about themselves and they have no self-love. There is more than 400 Roma slums around Paris, and when I say slum , I'm talking about the real deal, people leaving in "cardboard houses" in the middle of garbage. I don't think it's normal.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#5Wouldn't another moral be that not all immigration waves bring the same kind of people ? Immigrants from asia have, everywhere ( to my knowledge), brang people that work hard, have children that do great at school, and only protest to ask for more police force rather than less (true story from a recent protest in the belleville district in Paris, because chineese (sometimes illegal) immigrants were often attacked by north-africans that stole their bags, knowing they wouldn't go see the police).
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#6The guy was really really lucky, especially in Paris. I lost my wallet twice , but fortunately since I used to live in a small city (less than 100 000 inhabitants) I got it back. But yeah, the subway or the train in Paris is absolutely not safe in general, avoid it if you can, rent a car or a bike, you'll enjoy the city way more if you are a tourist that way. The Roma criminality certainly has to do with poverty, but…
My experience of Paris is completely at odds with this. I've travelled extensively by train and Metro and have had no problems at all. I would never drive or cycle in Paris.
I'm not going to touch the arguments about poverty, the homeless, or criminality, except to say that the only time I've really been concerned about the things I've seen have been in New York. I guess YMMV.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#7The guy was really really lucky, especially in Paris. I lost my wallet twice , but fortunately since I used to live in a small city (less than 100 000 inhabitants) I got it back. But yeah, the subway or the train in Paris is absolutely not safe in general, avoid it if you can, rent a car or a bike, you'll enjoy the city way more if you are a tourist that way. The Roma criminality certainly has to do with poverty, but…
"Roma criminality"... "they have no self-love"... Sorry, but this is xenophobia, and Europeans are better than Americans at it. The systematic exclusion of groups from the mainstream creates extra-legal behaviors (or "culture", as you say) to make ends meet. Plus, Europeans love a scapegoat; it's part of a long, illiberal tradition on the continent.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#8I've managed to avoid having any of my phones stolen since living in Paris. As a prank a friend of mine nicked it out of my coat pocket and since then I never keep anything valuable in them except winter gloves.
One of the scams pickpockets play is to try and distract you. I don't know a lot of people so I avoid conversation with strangers on the street. though I might engage in the bar.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#9The guy was really really lucky, especially in Paris. I lost my wallet twice , but fortunately since I used to live in a small city (less than 100 000 inhabitants) I got it back. But yeah, the subway or the train in Paris is absolutely not safe in general, avoid it if you can, rent a car or a bike, you'll enjoy the city way more if you are a tourist that way. The Roma criminality certainly has to do with poverty, but…
"Roma criminality"... "they have no self-love"... Sorry, but this is xenophobia, and Europeans are better than Americans at it. The systematic exclusion of groups from the mainstream creates extra-legal behaviors (or "culture", as you say) to make ends meet. Plus, Europeans love a scapegoat; it's part of a long, illiberal tradition on the continent.
> Europeans are better than Americans at it
Oh please, Ok, let's talk about the racism against blacks in US before talking about the alleged European xenophobia.
Re: Phoneless in Paris
#10Why is this behavior tolerated across all of Europe? Seems like they run the same scams in each country. Why don't the police run stings and arrest them? Or is it because the police are also on vacation when the tourists come in summer?