There is a slight possibility that some item was scanned but not put into the bag, I once thought that had happened to me, but of course I also thought my own absent mindedness could be to blame.
Indians can be very argumentative and I can see that getting the workers in the shop irritated too.... throw in language confusion!
Traffic, which is a 'heavy' in Pattaya by your metric, is far far worse in Bangkok.
Open walking areas exist in the Pattaya area,, simply not in the Beach Rd, North Rd, 3rd Rd and South Rd rectangle. I think even Jomtien beach offers a good walk.
It happens. I recall being in a BKK bar and on seeing a young girl there asked the mamasan why she was employing her. The answer I got was simply, 'she want to work to send money to family'....
Well yes..... I saw the same story on YT and there was another 3rd line he was using! Something about feeling sorry for her as she needed work, to go with the 'fake ID', and 'not actually working there despite there being a clocking in card for her'!
As stated, mentally unstable.....
I lived in a village once with an outdoor kitchen area, typical 60 TW wrapped around a detached 2 bed little house. Small things kept going missing... and one day a visitor said go down to such and such lady's house and see if she has any of your things. This kleptomaniac must have wandered the streets at night and her home was a veritable Aladdin's cave, or looked like the BL Commerce place behind BigC Marina Mall.