WARNING! Don't use ATMs in Manhattan!

shlomki

Mon, Aug 24 2015, 5:43 pm

I mentioned Manhattan since I've gone numerous times to the bank with my husband at night and this is the 2nd time we had an incident in the city. Earlier this year we were leaving the bank in the financial district (streets are pretty empty around wall st. At night) and a guy ran over to Us From across the street asking if there was a bathroom and then ran back across the avenue.. I may be paranoid but he looked suspicious and I made my husband check all his pockets -nothing was missing but I still think he was trying his luck...

Barbara

Mon, Aug 24 2015, 5:51 pm

shlomki wrote:

Someone who "looked suspicious" asked you if there was a bathroom. He didn't pull a gun or a knife, knock you over, threaten you, or even steal so much as a penny from you.

But somehow, he's proof that using ATMs in Manhattan is unsafe?

MagentaYenta

Mon, Aug 24 2015, 5:55 pm

shlomki wrote:

You didn't mention him touching your husband. How could he have gotten his wallet without touching him?

zaq

Mon, Aug 24 2015, 7:22 pm

I am strongly reminded of a woman of my acquaintance who thought that everything European, from the food to the toilet paper to the mass transit was superior to everything American, and as far as she was concerned New York City had all the bad points of the rest of the country with none of its good ones. She spent 4 years of college in NY without incident and decided to treat herself to a graduation trip to her holy of holies, Europe. Paris, to be exact, where all the men are good-looking, the wine is the finest and the food exquisite. And where, on her very first day there, her purse was snatched in the plaza in front of the Louvre.
Just saying...

Dolly Welsh

Mon, Aug 24 2015, 7:43 pm

Of course you can not feel the touch of a pickpocket. Of course people you don't know aren't allowed to get into your personal space bubble.

Of course you should trust your instincts about who doesn't look right to you. People have lots of unconscious instincts about body language, situational strangeness and all.

A guy in the Wall Street area, who obviously isn't dressed to work there, and it's after most workers' hours anyway, and doesn't look as if he has the means to live in Battery Park City, and doesn't look as if he serves any of the needs of the people who do live in Battery Park City, may just be an arty type taking a walk in a beautiful, atmospheric, history-drenched part of the city, perhaps to take photographs, or soak up location for a story he's writing.

Or who knows what else. The fact is it's a lonely area at night, he's a man, you're just one, and not especially skilled in Krav Maga, and you don't feel terribly secure if he approaches you.

As a local, he's supposed to know where the bathrooms are.

Do you, as an obvious outsider, look like you are an expert on local bathrooms?

All three of you know the only bathrooms are in the bars, and for patrons only.

Just have situational awareness.

zaq

Mon, Aug 24 2015, 7:54 pm

Let me get this straight: you and dh are strolling aimlessly in Manhattan's deserted financial district AT NIGHT (where your footsteps echo, it's that empty) and go into an empty-but-visible-from-the-street ATM and proceed to take out cash, and you're surprised to have been targeted by thieves? Not that I think people don't have the absolute right to walk anywhere they like any time they like, but just as you don't argue with a Mack truck over who has the right of way at a crosswalk, there are certain rights you don't exercise if you're smart. And the right to use a deserted ATM in a deserted part of town after dark is one of them. (And you did this TWICE, no less! You didn't learn after the first time?)