Perfectly Timed Paris Pickpocket

I went to Paris for spring break with my mom. Since Galloway’s spring break was so early, my brother and dad didn’t go. We had been to Paris once before for around a day and a half a few years ago as part of a larger trip to Europe. While we were there the first time, I learned about the pickpocketing problem and the number of phones, purses, etc. that get stolen from tourists. This made me very paranoid and as such, I spent the whole trip with my hand in my pocket, never letting go of the death grip I had on my phone. My family teased me for being paranoid, but I thought “better safe than sorry” and ignored them. Even once I was back in the US, I continued to keep my hand in my pocket for the next 6 months or so. Now, back to the present: I am in Paris with just my mom and all of my old fears are reinstated. My hand is in my pocket and I am intently holding on to my mom’s purse. We had just gotten to Paris, and we were riding the Metro to our very first stop of the trip. While we were leaving the Metro, I was telling my mom to watch her purse and her phone and she responded by lecturing me. She explained that  she had been to Paris three times before and had never once been pickpocketed. I was unconvinced however, and still kept my hand in my pocket. When we got to the escalator, my mom slipped her phone into her pocket. I was on the step behind her and a man moved onto the same step as me. While I had my suspicions, I did not want to be rude, and he hadn’t indicated that he was a threat in any way, so I subtly reinforced my grip on my phone and her purse and calmly whispered to my mom to be aware of pickpockets. At this point we were halfway up the escalator, and she sighed and told me not to worry so much and that if I keep worrying it will “ruin my trip for me.” We get to the top and she pulls me to the side to map us to where we were going, but when she reached into her pocket, her phone was gone. From the bottom of the escalator to the top, someone (who I assume was the man beside me) managed to slip their hand into my mom’s jacket pocket and take the phone without her feeling anything. While this was frustrating and inconvenient for both of us, you can imagine that I was a little bit smug as to the timing and irony of the whole event. Overall, this did not cause us much trouble throughout the trip and was more of a minor inconvenience than anything else, but for anyone else traveling to Paris, remember to take the phrase “better safe than sorry” literally.