Thou shalt not steal if there is a direct victim
Sadly, the chaps who yesterday helped me fall victim to a classic scam as they liberated me of my iPhone probably don't listen to Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip.
Sitting in Starbucks on Southampton Row, using my laptop and phone trying very hard to get online to meet a deadline (I'll save my BT Openzone nightmare for another post), I was approached first by a homeless man begging for change and in his wake by two guys carrying Oystercard forms which they thrust under my nose, jabbing and pointing and demanding something in a foreign language.
It was quite disconcerting and I first mimed not being able to understand and then, as their yammering became more insistent, I couldn't take it anymore and responded by miming complete disinterest in their 'problem'. They reached a climax in the harassment of stressed out journalist on deadline and then suddenly shut up and left. I locked eyes with one of them through the window as they walked up the street, shooting him a look of what I hoped was 'look, I'm sorry but I really didn't know what to do for you' as he shot me a look of what in retrospect must have been 'well yeah but screw you anyway'. It was only a few minutes later that I realised that yes, those thieving miscreants had lifted my iPhone from my table under cover of Oystercard form.
Bastards.
