Jump to content

Brazen Daylight Theft- What Would You Do?


thaibeachlovers

Recommended Posts

The other day, I came out of the house to find a Thai man and his wife/ gf driving off with some property of my wife's family from the road outside of the house ( no breakin required ).

Had I been there sooner, I would have attempted to physically prevent them leaving, so it might have been fortunate that I was not able to do so!

As it was, I was able only to abuse them ( in English ) as they drove off.

What do you think would have been the best course of action in this situation?

What would be the best course of action in the event that I had arrived as they were loading the item onto the m'bike sidecar.

Would taking photos of them and the bike number plate be appropriate if they knew I was doing so?

Would calling them some really evil names in Thai be appropriate?

What do you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 97
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Calling people names is both inappropriate and childish ..... Attempting to stop them would be within your rights as would taking pictures and calling the police , following them at a safe distance while talking to the police would probabbly have been a good way to produce results with minimum risk to yourself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Calling people names is both inappropriate and childish ..... Attempting to stop them would be within your rights as would taking pictures and calling the police , following them at a safe distance while talking to the police would probabbly have been a good way to produce results with minimum risk to yourself.

Call me childish then!

As for attempting to physically stop them, it might be within my rights, but it might also have got me beaten up, which is why I said "so it might have been fortunate that I was not able to do so!".

I don't know how I could have followed them, as I don't have a vehicle, and I can't run fast enough to keep up with a m'bike.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You would have been better off being polite and asking them to return the items and explaing to them it wasnt trash ..... giving them an easy way out to save face and pretend it was all a misunderstanding ...... being rude NEVER improves a situation although sometimes in the end you might previal inspite of it.

I kind of doubt you will accept anything except except high praise for your behavior though.

What I would have done is get back the items by doing pretty much the opposite of what you did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

Tell your wifes family what has happend and let them deal with it if the culprits are known.

Typically if something is left on the pavement out side a property, ie off the property it would seen as fair game, and this is how the culprits may have see it..in other words they dont see it as theft

Edited by Soutpeel
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

I would think that it was relevant to this post. There is a lot of difference to say, a parked motorbike and a black trashbag. both cases would call for different actions. As you have stated, it was not on their property but on the road.

Have you talked to all the family to make sure the accused didn't have someone's permission to move the object?

Have you informed the police?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

Was it next to a car to be loaded ?

If you leave stuff on the road in this country it's fair game to people who collect it. That's how it works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

imo best course of action would be to chase them down in your car/motorcycle. Most Thai's drive really slowly, so it probably wouldn't be any effort to keep up with them lol.

Unless of course you weren't sure that it was actually stealing (e.g. maybe MIL said they could have it etc). In which case a photo would be best, as could then hunt them down later lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ SlyAnimal, he had no means of transport except his own flip-flop mobilisers.

I agree with "bonobo", most of us carry a camera with a speaking device attached, so you could have snapped off a few happy snaps, and shown them to your relo's........I'm sure the culprits would've been easily identified and ...........the wisest thing for you to do is step back and let the locals handle it.

I know it goes against our morals.........but the first words of advice I received before I came here was "don't get involved in any conflicts!"

Just sayin' coffee1.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You would have been better off being polite and asking them to return the items and explaing to them it wasnt trash ..... giving them an easy way out to save face and pretend it was all a misunderstanding ...... being rude NEVER improves a situation although sometimes in the end you might previal inspite of it.

I kind of doubt you will accept anything except except high praise for your behavior though.

What I would have done is get back the items by doing pretty much the opposite of what you did.

please sir, may you return my items.

give me a break, there was a theft occurring here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Police report and pay them to investigate/get the stuff back. Price was a couple of cartons of cigarettes a long time ago, I wonder what the going rate is now for the police to investigate a theft & see to it that the items are returned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The OP is being deliberately vague about what was stolen. Whatever it was, It obviously wasn't worth securing inside your property. As another poster mentioned, anything left on the side of the road is fair game.

What the OP should do- get over it. Learn to keep anything you don't want mistaken for trash / abandoned inside the gates of your property.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Until what we know was stolen how can we comment on what action to take?

Was it valuable or worthless?

Was it left out there because you forgot to bring it in at night? Or was it something you always left out there?

Too many variables.

The OP doesn't want to say so I think he is feeling foolish for leaving something of value outside at night.

If it was left on the roadside it couldn't have been worth much so I would just tell the family forget about it.

I'll open the speculation:

A hoe or shovel left on a pile of sand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You would have been better off being polite and asking them to return the items and explaing to them it wasnt trash ..... giving them an easy way out to save face and pretend it was all a misunderstanding ...... being rude NEVER improves a situation although sometimes in the end you might previal inspite of it.

I kind of doubt you will accept anything except except high praise for your behavior though.

What I would have done is get back the items by doing pretty much the opposite of what you did.

please sir, may you return my items.

give me a break, there was a theft occurring here.

No actually their were items that were on the side of the road that many people would assume were being discarded , possibly thieft , even then being polite would have served him best in Thailand. Did you think it was the flat screen TV getting some sun by the side of the road or some stuff that could be mistaken for junk ?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe he doesn't want to admit it was just scrap to sell to the junk man? Had a foreign neighbor clearly waiting for the recycle truck to come around once and we happened to but up at 5am that day and 'waved good morning' on our way out of the soi.... he returned the good morning and casually then went over to the trash can and threw the whole bag of perhaps a hundred plastic bottles in the trash.... as if he had been saving all of those bottles for awhile just to throw away at once. Really, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Recyling is good.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to agree that the lack of information on what was taken does make this too vague.

Yes, what is left outside is generally considered refuse for collection, bet it plastic bottles, a washing machine or a wardrobe. I left a wardrobe outside my gates because it was damaged. It had gone in 24 hours. The same with anything that is of no use to me.

So, OP, what was so valuable that was taken?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it was on the roadside outside the house anyone in any country would consider it garbage. If it was something you wanted to keep it should have been inside the property.

Some more details would be helpful.

It was obviously not garbage.

What it was is irrelevant to this post.

So, what would you have done?

I would not have done anything, other than blame myself, my wife or both of us for being so stupid as to leave our property outside the confines of the premises.

This logic pertains to anywhere in the world, it`s only common sense.

Just place it down to experience and lessons learned.

Please let us know when you are having another give away sale and at what times the items will be placed outside ready for collection?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.











×
×
  • Create New...