Earrings ripped out on the street

[Capitalocracy]

So my wife was walking down the street the other day here in Buenos Aires, and a woman was walking the opposite direction, facing her, and a man was walking up behind her crouched down with his arms outstretched. He didn't appear "suspicious" or anything and my wife assumed she was a friend of this woman who saw her on the street and wanted to sneak up behind her and surprise her... but instead, he caught up to her, reached from behind and grabbed her gold earrings, yanked them off, and ran away.

Luckily they were clip-ons in this case, but when my wife told me this story, she said she's heard on the news before of cases where people do this with pierced earrings... just rip them right out and run.

One of the first things I figured out when I moved to Argentina over five years ago is that this is a mirror into the future if the U.S. continues down the road it's on. I don't think I need to go into more detail as to why, but rampant privatization and letting the banks get away with murder led to the banks just removing all the money from the country in 2001 and leaving a massive homeless and unemployment problem in a country that was already down and out.

If things continue to get worse, cover your ears.

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. awful

[Bobbieo]

4. Don't wear earrings in public!!! Especially, earrings for pierced ears

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. There are two kinds of pieced - straight in with nub behind ear and looped in

Wearing the looped in would be the most dangerous. The other kind would just pull out when grabbed.

[pipi_k]

15. There's a third kind...

I have pierced studs with backs that screw on. If someone tried to pull them off, my earlobes would likely come off with them.

:cry:

[Liberal_in_LA]

20. omg.

:(

[gateley]

11. If only that was all we needed to learn from this. I'll surely remember when

our time arrives I'll be heartbroken we let it happen.

[Stinky The Clown]

21. That's all you took from that story?

[GoneOffShore]

2. An exchange student from Bogota in the 1960's told us

that you never would drive around the city with your car window down.

People would chop of hands for wrist watches.

[Capitalocracy]

3. Wow.

btw I laughed at your sig line, and I'm a vegetarian

[Cleita]

5. That used to happen in Los Angeles twenty years ago when I lived there.

Not only that women were rear ended on the freeway and when they got out to exchange insurance information the thieves robbed them of their jewelry. I never wore valuable jewelry when I lived in the city, just cheap costume stuff that had no gold, silver or gemstones. If I were ever to go to an event where nice jewelry would be appropriate, like a country club, and knew everyone would be invited or worked there, then I wouldn't put it on until I got there. But I'm not a country club person, so I didn't have to worry about that.

[Capitalocracy]

8. Here, they wait by the side of the road on the highway

and throw big rocks at your car and then come rob you.

I wouldn't drive here. And yes, definitely a good idea to put on the jewelry once you get there. Even realistic costume jewelry could get you robbed.

[HipChick]

6. How does he know they are real gold? and not the cheap stuff

that turns black a day later?

[Capitalocracy]

7. Not really his problem.

He'll just yank another one.

Actually, it's fairly common here, when people get robbed, if you don't have as much money as they were hoping you'd have, they'll kill you. That's one thing that scares me about living here, because they always think I have money since I'm obviously foreign.

[KakistocracyHater]

18. then quit being 'obviously' foreign, learn to look more like a native

aquire a 'native wardrobe' for going outside.

[Cleita]

10. Real gold is easy to distinguish and a thief

would be somewhat savvy about that if he's done a lot of it. Trickier is metal jewelry that has been plated with gold or silver. It's not valuable because it can't be melted down, but it looks expensive like cubic zirconium looks like diamonds. I wouldn't wear either if it looks real, if I were in a place that robbery could easily happen.

[gateley]

12. Do you consider moving? I can't imagine living with that fear constantly, being

a rich foreigner and all :7, although I'm always aware of my surroundings now. Years ago I'd tromp around the city at 3am and think nothing of it -- then hitchhike home! I agree it's a mirror to what we can expect here at the rate we're going.

Poverty. People do what it takes to survive.

[Capitalocracy]

13. Problem is, I'm NOT a rich foreigner

I'm a poor foreigner. And I'm married to a woman from Argentina, and the U.S. has an income requirement for sponsoring her immigration. So I'm pretty much stuck here.

[gateley]

14. Yeah, I figured you were one of the non-rich good guys. I'm sorry that that the

situation is so nerve-wracking. I bet Argentina is a beautiful place. It's just so ugly what poverty and greed cause. Stay safe! :pals:

[Mariana]

16. Income requirement for a spouse is ridiculous.

That happened to my sister and her Canadian husband too. They were fortunate in the first place that my parents were able and willing to sponsor him. Still, it took nearly a year for him to get his green card - and he was forbidden to enter the country while he was waiting. My sister had a job in Florida (that's why they moved from Canada), so they were separated for all that time.

My husband is English, and there aren't any such bullshit rules for spouses of citizens to live there, from what I understand.

[Capitalocracy]

17. No argument here.

I think it's a human rights abuse... some people might think that's going a bit far, but my life has certainly been affected by it. I think I have the right to marry whoever I want and live, with her, in my home country, regardless of how much money I have or don't have.

[Sanity Claws]

19. NYC had a similar problem in the 1980s

Thieves used to yank gold chains off people's necks and steal rings.
People stopped wearing jewelry and women started turning the stones on their rings into their palms when outside.

Not that this makes it any easier. Just let you know how to cope with the problem.