Petty Crimes

[max_boost]

The mind of today’s youths is a complex one and I had such a unique encounter today. To make a long story short, for the first time in 9 years, my restaurant experienced a dine and dash. Perhaps I had jinxed it, while talking to many others in the industry, they often shared such stories at their workplace. I always told them how fortunate my situation was since we rarely had to deal with customer complaints etc.

Four young white guys around the age of 16-17, dressed like your typical kid with the baggy jeans, runners, and hoodies came into eat around 5:00pm. Their appearance was very clean and was not grungy by any means. They sat three tables from the door, which is not uncommon (but it was obvious why they chose the spot) so it offered no reasons to be sceptical about anything. Anyway, they were very polite and said thank you etc. Then came the end of their meal, I was in the kitchen while this was unfolding so my pops filled me in on the details. They quietly got up, three guys walked out while one strutted as if he was going to pay. As he got to the front counter, he smiled, grabbed a handful of fortune cookies and made a run towards the door. With one guy holding the door, it definitely looked like a planned escape route. My old man, with the way our counter is setup, required him to run backwards, around the counter and then straight for the door. By the time he got to the door, the punks were around the corner bursting at a speed as if they were running for the Olympics. By the time my old man made it around the first corner, he still saw the punks and that was when a Good Samaritan offered his help in chasing them down. However, this was all done in vain. The ironic thing was, the Samaritan was walking past these kids to my restaurant to get some food and he knew something was up since when did kids run so unusually fast? He didn’t think anything of it, had he of known, he would stopped one of the punks. The chase was called off as the kids were long gone by now, even had they been caught, 4 vs. 2, the numbers aren’t so promising.

We had never come in contact with such a situation before so we were pondering filing a report with the local police station which was situated a few stores down but after weighing in the cost/benefit, we decided to drop the idea. The restaurant was starting to fill up and orders were piling in, we figured if we had to deal with the authorities, it would consume too much time. I’m not so sure if this was a passive stance, our rationale was, having an officer come into the restaurant during our rush hour would probably not offer a very appetizing experience for our customers. I suppose I could file a report now but honestly, I don’t know what good would it accomplish? We run a successful business and is $50 that big of a deal? In the grand scheme of things, is it the principle or money? We can’t really recognize these kids, they all look the same. LOL Say if they did get caught, would that possibly incite more anger in them that they might possibly return for revenge? What they did was indeed wrong and that we can all agree on. I highly doubt they will return again unless they have no shame. What I’m getting at is, what is the mindset of these kids? Do they do something like this for fun? Is it premeditated? Is there no longer a concept of right or wrong? Regardless of the profession, things like this take place everywhere, department stores, grocery stores, convenience stores, banks, restaurants etc.

Should our laws be more stringent in dealing with petty crimes? Or is this the way our society is? It is better to teach than punish? I know in Southeast Asia, i.e. Singapore, you get fined for spitting on the street, if you get caught in vandalizing, you go to jail. Now is that too severe? Is there a happy medium? Is it better to live in fear knowing the extreme consequences or is it better living free and just dealing with such issues?

Sorry, long rant, it pissed me off at the time but now it's not really that important. There are way more important things to deal with.

[Shaolin]

good post..

i feel the same way you do in regards to questioning this issue.. i just find it incredible now that even laying a finger on your kid could get people rattled up.. First thing that comes to mind is consequences. From personal experience, consequences straightened me out pretty good.. my mom is traditional chinese and she was pretty much the boot camp instructor of the household.. I remember if i did ANYTHING that was considered bad behavior, the bamboo stick came out.. and yeah, if you haven't been hit by a bamboo stick i don't wish it upon my worst enemies.. you learn quick after that, you do somethin bad, and you're going to get an ass whooping from mom..

I don't think education is key, but i do believe it's important. I have to say the law is not stringent enough in petty crimes because it's like every punk ass kid knows he/she will get away with it.. or if they don't get away with it, what's going to happen.. spend a day in jail or somethin? But there's so much involuntary focus groups out there, its hard for it to change.. like why are we even having a formal debate on spanking? I personally think its what a waste of time...

I better make it short before I write a novel.. good post boost.

[Weapon_R]

As someone whose entire family spent years in the restaurant business, don't waste your time. We've had several of these before, and since you really have no information about them, what is a police report going to do? The very least it will do is alert customers of a problem with the restaurant - and leave them with the ability to wonder why there are cops in your restaurant questioning you/your dad.

Petty crimes are a bitch, but everyone does them and cops usually take them pretty lightly. Think of how many times you've seen people fighting - an officer can arrest you for assault, yet it happens very rarely unless somone is seriously injured.

To answer your last question. To live in a free society with less stringent laws outweighs life in communist or authoritarian style governments by 100 to 1.

[max_boost]

Yah, very valid points WeaponR. I guess petty crimes was one of those things I always see and hear, just surprised me when it did happen. Like they say, always a first for everything! Oh well

[Ducati]

One incident in 9 years is getting off luckily.

I do not believe that Calgary's crime rate is as high as ours, however there is a very vocal backlash against ineffective deterents for juvenile offenders. We will see the Criminal Code ammanded to include more creative and effective deterrents within the next year I will wager.

Why do they do it? For the same reason that I dropped shit filled pumpkins off the 7th floor balcony onto cars travelling below, when I was 14 and 15. There is always one instigator who gets the whole gang worked up, and peer pressure is a relentless force - remember?

[SoSlowDx]

That's shitty to hear Sam fucking kids man too bad I wasn't working there no more fucking kids that's fucking low would of love to catch one of them and do it Vietnamese style on them

But you're right still that it's not worth the trouble, if you had caught them then that's different and know ing kids they'll retaliate somehow

[infamous]

wow. this is pretty deep. but now for my 2 cents.

i was one of the kids who would do all the stupid shit (wait....i still do ) at the time, i seen it as an opportunity to waste some time. as a kid, you want to see how much you can get away with without getting caught. i grew up in a single parent household, and my dad was always working trying to raise 4 boys. we had absolutely nothing to do a lot of the time, so we made our own fun. yeah, we wrecked a lot of stuff, and we probably pissed off a lot of people, but i think that doing that stupid stuff has allowed me to grow as a person not only mentally but in my maturity level as well. it sucks not having parents around all the time to help you and give you a push in the right direction. i know that because kids do stupid shit that they should be punished. trust me. i knew my dad's leather belt better than anyone else. i know that i deserved every licken that i got (plus more!), but after a while, you just learn to do the stupid stuff without getting caught. while your young, it's all about the bragging rights. i know that a lot of young kids are good, but there are more bad ones who do stupid shit. i look at my younger brother who is 16 now, and i think about what i was doing at that age. i was so dumb. yeah i know that i caused a lot of problems, but what i think that everyone should remember that they were a kid once too, and peer pressure is pretty intense when you are growing up and trying to be "cool" like everyone else. now that i have been out of high school for just about 2 years, i realize that i have to grow up and not be immature anymore. doing stupid stuff doesn't appeal to me much anymore. i will admit that i still do stupid things from time to time, but at the same time i think about all the risks involved.

i think that the laws should be more harsh for petty crimes. i think that the canadian law system is a joke. especially for juveniles. they can do whatever they want, and as long as you don't do a single crime over and over, you will get off with probation. even as an adult, the crimes that you commit will not get you into too much trouble. i had a friend who worked at a radioshack, and stole from there. by the time that he got caught, he had taken $3900 worth of stuff. he got probation and had to pay it back. but he didn't care. he still hasn't paid it back, which is his own problem, but now if he gets picked up by the cops, what will happen? he'll spend a month in jail? probably not. if he acts good and says he'll pay it back, they will probably let him go, and not do nothing about it. i think that they should up the fines and make it so that kids and adults don't just get away with this sort of stuff. i would bet that if he would have gone to jail for a while, or even had more than probation, he would be better off today. i wish that they would make it a 1 strike rule. you get somewhat lucky once, but after that you get hit with the book. hard. kids know the difference between right and wrong, but they know that if they get caught, it'll be a slap on the wrist. they are all just like

the canadian law system is a fucking joke.

just my 2 cents though.....

[sexualbanana]

I understand when people say the Justice System sucks, but quite frankly, I don't buy that at all.

With the presumption that a person is innocent before proven guilty, the onus is on the prosecutor to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty which is often easier said than done. Or would you prefer to be guilty before proven innocent? Where this could probably result in more abuses of power.

Sure some people get off lighter than public opinion thinks they should, but at least part of the focus of the Justice System is to rehabilitate. Would you prefer being treated as a major violator for life because of a petty crime?

You have to look at the Justice System as a process. Like any process, it can only handle a certain volume. Beyond that, the process is ineffective. If courts weren't already operating close to maximum capacity, what would it be like if every petty crime was brought toward the court?

If any part of the System is to be blamed, perhaps the blame should be aimed at the inability to attract Judges and Prosecutors, and convince them to work in the public sector instead of private. Afterall, basically everyone knows the real money is made in the private sector.

[googe]

honestly, all that they thought of was it was the spontaneous funny thing to do at the time. thats what kids are into these days, and they dont think about how what they do affects anyone else. my friends in university even, steal the dumbest shit. you go into their house and find completely random things scattered around...toy dump trucks, various signs, pylons, various items from fast food places, even a newspaper stand. all they think is, haha look at the random shit we can steal, it has no value to them, the amusement is in the fact that they are taking something so arbitrary.

in reality, the toy dump truck probably belongs to some 5 year old that left it in his yard and started crying the next day cause its gone, whoever owns the newspaper stand is out a few hundred bucks, whoever owned that restaurant has to get a new sign made.

whoever did the dine and dash didnt care to think that someone took pride in making their food, serving it, and providing a service to them. one of them just said "hey, wanna dine and dash?" the other said "haha ok!" and thats about all that went through their minds. based on the number of youth i encounter that share a similar way of thinking, im honestly surprised it doesnt happen alot more than it does.

dont take it personally, and although you have a right to be frustrated, theres not really anything you can do that can have good come of it.

i dont know that harsher punishments would help, the only thing that would do much good is teaching them some morals and respect. and thats not exactly feasible in most cases...

[B17a]

Takes some balls to do that. I can understand (but in no way condone) doing that in a larger franchise type restaurant where it's a faceless corporation you're stealing from. But to do it in a family owned business is low. I'm hope these punks finally mature and realize, shit, we pretty much robbed that old man at the front and his family.

[sputnik]

peking peking! pwn3d!

I will be sure to tell my girlfriends grandmother and we will have to have another family gathering out there in support of you guys!

Don't worry though. Eventually these guys will eat enough of your buffet and get too fat to run.

[BebeAphrodite]

hmm.. ive gotta try the soup that kenny likes so much he was gonna eat it as his birthday soup

[Ben]

Meh, I would have shot the 4 little fuckers in the back of the head as they ran off but thats just me, I have absolutly no tollerance for theives.

[max_boost]

Originally posted by Ben
Meh, I would have shot the 4 little fuckers in the back of the head as they ran off but thats just me, I have absolutly no tollerance for theives.

Yah I know what you mean, I would be lying if I said that never crossed my mind at that time. I quote Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4 "In HongKong you would be dead" haha

[rage2]

The biggest problem is the Young Offenders Act. When I was under 18, all my peers all saw the YOA as a license to commit crime. Hell, I was an avid shoplifter, and umm other stuff, until I turned 17 because I knew I could get away with it, with little or no consequences if I did get caught (which luckily never happened).

A few months after I turned 17, I stopped because I knew that there were chances that I could get bumped into adult court if I was busted which would fuck me over. IMO, based on experience, the YOA should be dropped in age to cover 14 and under. I mean, it wasn't until around that age that I was schemeing plans around the YOA. I was mature enough to know at that point that crime is a bad thing, but hey, 3 years to get away with shit was VERY tempting.

That gave me a few years to commit petty crimes without risking my future. I know a LOT of people in that age group thought that way, and with a lowered YOA age, it would reduce a LOT of petty crimes.

[lam-boy]

sorry to hear about that sam.

i went to school with trashy people before, me and my friends always had some money back then in school and we decided to you know go eat at swiss chalet/bp, cause there was one near my school when i was in Gr 7. and these dirty trashy people (they don't look dirty..but you know they are, dressing like how you described those punks up there.) they dine and dashed.
then after that the resturants wouldn't allow me and my friends back in even though we always paid for our meals..

but i hope you doing allright, at least no one got hurt right?
i would curb stomp those bitches! haha.

[HiSpec]

Speaking of dine and dash, but friend's restaurant caught these few people on camera (probably they are together, I believe two male and one female) dine and dash last night.

The two male pretend to go out for a smoke, but the lady went out first with the van ready to go. The second my friend went to seat a table, the two male ran into the van.

[Tik-Tok]

10 year bump for a different restaurant?

I don't think anyone would have complained if you started a new thread, lol.

[Moonracer]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuu

[sheik_yerbouti]

Originally posted by max_boost


Four young white guys around the age of 16-17, dressed like your typical kid with the baggy jeans, runners, and hoodies

Baggy Jeans