The older you get, the more inviting a target you become for various kinds of low-life. This morning while perusing the electronic news, I came across a squib posted last June (the local play-nooz outfits really don’t understand about “yesterday’s news”) describing a purse-snatching in a local McDonald’s:
A man in his early 20s walked into the busy dining room and spotted a 65-year-old woman.
“He walks past her once, then starts walking towards her again and, this time, grabs her purse,” Burch said. “The woman hangs on, fighting for her purse. As she fell to the ground, the guy literally dragged her across the floor, breaking her finger.”
Uh huh. Pretty par for the course.
This is why I don’t carry a purse unless I absolutely have to. I have a spare driver’s license hidden in the car (you can get a copy by telling DOT you ran yours through the washer or the dog ate it). If I know I’m going someplace that will accept my credit cards, I stick the plastic in a pocket.
It’s a nuisance if you’re a woman, because many — maybe most — women’s clothes have no pockets. That’s why I live in Costco blue jeans: they have five pockets. It means either I can’t run any errands after church or else I have to wear my dungarees to church. None of my presentable clothes have pockets sturdy enough to hold a weighty collection of car and house keys. Fortunately, choir members robe up for the services, so no one knows that one of us looks like an old hippie girl.
Purse-snatchers can be quite violent. Women are often injured in these attacks, and elderly women are frequently targets because they look helpless. The perpetrators are very nasty people, indeed. One of my neighbors, who has since (for obvious reasons) moved away from the ’hood, was shot by a purse-snatcher at one of the corner shopping malls. She and her daughter had gone into a sewing machine and vacuum repair shop. They started to leave, and the guy grabbed her purse as she stepped out the door. Startled, she jumped back and yelled at her daughter to stay inside the store. He thought she was resisting, so he shot her.
So. Don’t carry a purse unless there’s some very good reason that you have to. And if you do have a purse with you, carry your car keys separately, in a pocket.
There really isn’t much defense against some jerk grabbing your purse. Here’s a pretty sappy list of helpful hints, some of them obvious, some of them hopelessly stupid.
My late mother-in-sin favored a belly-bag, which she used to call her “purse.” All those things that women haul around in purses were strapped to her waist. That surely is an option — IMHO not a very aesthetic one, but effective. A purse-snatcher is more likely to accost someone else than to try to unbuckle or cut through a strap running under your sweater or jacket.
You can get small, minimalist wallets to carry your cards in — some of these will fit in a decent-size pocket. Here’s another one that looks better organized and maybe a little classier. If you’re old, though, you have to haul a raft of Medicare ID around with you, and so keeping photocopies of your Medicare card (with the Social Security number blacked out), Medigap, and Part D cards in your car along with a spare driver’s license is probably the path of least resistance.
If you simply must have your lipstick, your Kleenex, your packets of glasses cleaner, your sunglasses, your reading glasses, your cough drops, your notebook and pen, your checkbook, your phone, your business cards, all your accursed store “member” cards, your calendar, the key to the gym locker, your comb and brush, a mirror, and the kitchen sink with you at all times, wear clothing with serious pockets and put your phone, charge card, and driver’s license in them.
Then carry nothing in the purse but the throw-away junk.
As you say, it’s hard to find women’s clothing that has plenty of pockets. I do use a purse most of the time when I go out, but I always buy cross-body bags. Living for years and years in “the big city” and traveling internationally, the cross-body bag has worked well for me.
Fashion be damned, my bags are sturdy and well-made (I favor Tom Bihn Cafe bags) and the straps are adjustable and very strong and hard to cut through. I don’t carry a lot of crap, but I do need to carry my phone, wallet, some facial tissues, and a few basic grooming items (nail clippers and file, lip balm, a small container of floss, etc.), as well as some collapsable bags (plastic shopping bag ban here).
I think the people likely to have their purse or wallet stolen are those carrying over the shoulder bags. They may even have the top open and be carrying the bag sloppily instead of snugly under their arm. The worst is people who hang their bag on the backs of chairs at restaurants or cafes; my sister had her wallet stolen that way when she took me out for coffee a couple years ago. I keep my bag firmly in my lap (under my napkin), on top of my feet under the table (with the strap looped around my leg), or at my feet on the floor (again with the strap on my leg). Yes, I put my purse on the dirty floor; the bag washes easily.
I’d be reluctant to leave personal ID in the car. If the car is stolen that means the thief knows exactly where I live.