Three Encounters with Pickpockets — How My Father's Advice Once Saved Me from a Big Predicament

Sometimes, things that seem insignificant at the time, or even make us think our parents are being overly cautious, turn out to be incredibly valuable lessons when we look back years later.

When I was younger, I encountered pickpockets three times while traveling or commuting. During the first incident, my money was stolen, but thanks to my father's advice before I left home, I still managed to make it back safely. The other two incidents were close calls when I narrowly avoided being robbed again.

The First Encounter: My Father's Advice Really Saved Me

At the time, I was a graduate student in the Department of Architecture at South China University of Technology. I was preparing to travel to Xinjiang and Tibet for academic research.

Before I left, my father asked me a question:

"How are you going to carry your money?"

I remember thinking to myself, "I'm already a graduate student. Don't you think I know how to carry my own money?"

But my father took the matter very seriously. He carefully explained:

"You should divide your money and put it in several different pockets. Keep some in your outside pockets and some in your inside pockets. That way, if someone steals from you, you will still have some money left."

Although I thought he was being a little overcautious, I followed his advice anyway.

Little did I know that this simple suggestion would later save me from a very difficult situation.

On that trip, I traveled with my classmates to Xi'an and Mount Hua. From there, we flew to Urumqi and then continued to Tibet. Eventually, I separated from my classmates.

One evening, I was traveling alone, carrying several large bags of luggage, and squeezed onto a crowded public bus to return to my hotel.

Not long after I boarded, I noticed something strange.

Two women who appeared to be a mother and daughter were constantly pressing against me. The older woman looked to be in her forties, while the younger one appeared to be around twenty.

They kept squeezing closer and closer to me.

I was puzzled. Why were these two women pushing against me so much? The bus was crowded, of course, but their behavior seemed unusual.

I even jokingly wondered whether I had suddenly become so attractive that they couldn't resist getting close to me!

I had no idea that I was actually being targeted by pickpockets.

After just two stops, the two women got off the bus.

When I eventually got off and checked my pockets, I discovered that all the money I had kept in my outside pockets was gone!

That was when I finally realized what had happened. The two women had been working together to steal my money while distracting me.

Fortunately, I still had some money hidden in my inside pockets, just as my father had advised. More importantly, my train ticket back to Guangzhou had not been stolen.

By then, I had already purchased my ticket for the return trip to Guangzhou, but I had only about ten yuan left in cash.

For the next part of my journey, I had to make every penny count.

I spent nearly two days traveling back to Guangzhou on an old-fashioned green train. I was so short of money that I wouldn't even buy a boxed meal on the train.

Fortunately, I eventually made it home safely.

Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was.

If I hadn't listened to my father and had kept all my money and my train ticket in an outside pocket, the thieves might have taken everything. Without my train ticket, I might not even have had a way to get home.

A simple piece of advice from my father had saved me from a potentially serious predicament.

The Second Encounter: A Pickpocket Reached Directly into My Pocket

The second encounter happened when I was doing an architectural design internship in Nanhai, near Guangzhou.

One day, I was getting off a train at a very crowded railway station. People were packed tightly together, pushing forward as they made their way off the train. At the same time, passengers waiting to board were squeezing past us from the opposite direction.

It was complete chaos.

Suddenly, a young man passing right beside me caught my attention.

I felt someone touching my front pocket.

When I looked more carefully, I realized that he was actually trying to steal from me!

He used his left hand to block the view of his right hand, then slipped his right hand directly into my front pocket.

Fortunately, I noticed what he was doing just in time.

Luckily, there wasn't anything particularly valuable in that pocket. Otherwise, I might have lost something again.

What impressed me was his technique. He used one hand to conceal the movements of the other, taking advantage of the crowded conditions to steal from unsuspecting passengers.

After my first two experiences, I had certainly become more aware of how pickpockets operated in public places.

The Third Encounter: Years in America Didn't Make Me Immune to Pickpockets

The third close call happened many years later, after I had already moved to the United States and lived there for quite some time.

During one of my trips back to China, I was taking the subway to Tianhe.

At that time, my two children loved putting their hands into my pockets. Whenever they did that, I would jokingly warn them:

"Never put your hands in my pockets! I've become so accustomed to people trying to steal my wallet that one day you might take it out without me even noticing!"

Little did I know that this joke would soon become a real-life experience.

One day, while I was riding the subway, a man carrying a black backpack stood next to me.

He positioned his backpack in front of him to block the view of what his hands were doing. Using the backpack as a cover, he quietly reached toward my pocket and tried to steal something.

This time, however, I noticed him.

I immediately confronted him:

"What are you doing? Why are you reaching into my pocket?"

As soon as he realized I had caught him, he quickly pulled his hand back.

At the next station, he hurried off the train and disappeared.

That was my third encounter with a pickpocket. Fortunately, I didn't lose anything this time, but it was yet another close call.

My Father's Life Experience Was More Valuable Than Any Textbook

Looking back at these three experiences, the most memorable one is still my father's advice before my first trip.

At the time, I thought I was already well educated as a graduate student and should know how to handle these simple matters myself. I even felt that my father was being unnecessarily cautious.

But experience taught me something important: Having a high level of education does not necessarily mean having extensive life experience. Textbooks cannot teach us everything we need to know about dealing with unexpected situations in everyday life.

My father didn't give me any complicated lecture or philosophical lesson. He simply told me to divide my money among different pockets.

It was such a small and practical suggestion, yet it made an enormous difference when I found myself in trouble.

Life is like that. Sometimes, it takes many years before we truly understand the wisdom behind a simple piece of advice from our parents.

After these three experiences, I also want to remind everyone to be careful when traveling, especially on crowded buses, at railway stations, and on subways. Never keep all your cash, identification, and valuables in one place. Avoid putting valuable items in easily accessible pockets, and always stay alert in crowded public spaces.

Most importantly, I want to thank my father.

Some expressions of love are not dramatic or extraordinary. Sometimes, they are simply a few words of advice from a father before his child leaves home.

My father's simple suggestion to divide my money among different pockets is something I have never forgotten.

Gang Chen, Publisher/Bestselling Author (GreenExamEducation.com)

Architect, LEED AP BD+C, Real Estate Broker (BRE# 01232392)