I don’t know if I would agree with that. It’s still considered shoplifting if you put something in a container (in this case his stomach) without the intention to pay for it even if you don’t leave the store. [/quote]
I worked at Home Depot my first three years of college and was friends with/worked with the guy who was responsible for catching shoplifters. Once he spotted someone, he had to wait until they left the store to approach them, otherwise there was no case, but there is surely variance between states.
Yeah, that and a few other details make me suspicious. I mean, why, after being stopped didn’t the OP just pay and leave? I’ve had people threaten to call the cops before and I just laughed, said go ahead, but I wouldn’t be there when they arrived.
Yes, me too! Color me Suspicious and Misunderstanding.
The OP said, “I deposited the empty chip bag in the garbage.”
So when someone else said, “… if you hadn’t left the store then you didn’t steal anything.” I think they got it wrong. And I don’t think this is like reading a paper in the 7-11. After you’ve perused the paper, you fold it up, put it back, and they sell it for the same price as usual. Nobody is going to pay NT$25 for the empty chip bag located in the garbage can!
If I were a father with a fussy toddler, I might think about letting the rug rat snack on some crackers while I shopped. But if I didn’t keep the empty cracker bag in clear sight until it got rung up at the check-out counter, that’s an offense. If I hide the empty package behind the milk cartons (clear intent) or toss it in the garbage, I’m considered a thief; I don’t need to leave the store, which he also did.
So, the story is plausible, but I say the odds are 10 to 1 that the OP copped an attitude rather than the usual “Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry.”
When did people start falling asleep in 7-11s in the middle of the day?
Didnt the cops also contact the Canadaian office. Local cops normally do not deal with foreigners they have to call the foreign affairs police as well.
Its time to call in Mythbusters. I have been to court several times and had prosecutors decide in my favour. I was also taken to a police station on world cup final night where a so called gangster accussed me of assaulting him. Written statements were taken by both the accuser and myself and no further action required by the prosecutor.
I get a bit sick and tired of hearing that the cops and the legal system is out to get foreigners and the people who promote this type of myth should be ignored.
Not that the OP isnt in trouble. Seems rather odd though several cops turn up over a bag of chips.
The Canadian office would likely do “fuck all.” If it had to come to the aid of every Canadian that got himself/herself into trouble in Taiwan, it would need a whole battalion of case officers.
if such delicious flavors were on offer here, I too would consider a bit of thievery.
just kidding (about the thievery, not the deliciousness of the aforementioned flavors).
Seems like this situation could have been finessed better than it was, I had an incident on a bus when I first arrived here many moons ago where a driver accused me of not paying, when I did, it was a situation where I had the exact change in my hand and clearly remember paying as it freed my hand. He stopped the bus, started screaming at me to the point where I was ready to kill him. To end the drama I took a $100 note and jammed it in the coin slot thingy and told him in poorly accented Chinese to sit down and shut up. And that was a princely sum of $30 for a cross town trip. It seems like there are a multitude of way this incident could have been ended (both nastily or more civily) and I am a bit confused to how it escalated to such heights.
Its time to call in Mythbusters. I have been to court several times and had prosecutors decide in my favour. I was also taken to a police station on world cup final night where a so called gangster accussed me of assaulting him. Written statements were taken by both the accuser and myself and no further action required by the prosecutor.
I get a bit sick and tired of hearing that the cops and the legal system is out to get foreigners and the people who promote this type of myth should be ignored.[/quote]
Its time to call in Mythbusters. I have been to court several times and had prosecutors decide in my favour. I was also taken to a police station on world cup final night where a so called gangster accussed me of assaulting him. Written statements were taken by both the accuser and myself and no further action required by the prosecutor.
I get a bit sick and tired of hearing that the cops and the legal system is out to get foreigners and the people who promote this type of myth should be ignored.[/quote]
But you’re not a foreigner, are you?[/quote]
Sure he is. I for one have never ONCE seen his ID card. Worse, he comes from the land of transportation. Probably his ancestors stole a sheep or shagged a loaf or something. Eugh!
A travel ban for ‘stealing’ a bag of chips? They are pretty quick these days … in the past they never banned (forgot) people that stole billions of NT$ from leaving the country … but maybe they were ‘connected’, and you’re definitely not …
Anyways, it smells of racial bias (sending 6-7 police) to handcuff a guy that forgot to pay a bag of chips … unbelievable! :loco:
Its time to call in Mythbusters. I have been to court several times and had prosecutors decide in my favour. I was also taken to a police station on world cup final night where a so called gangster accussed me of assaulting him. Written statements were taken by both the accuser and myself and no further action required by the prosecutor.
I get a bit sick and tired of hearing that the cops and the legal system is out to get foreigners and the people who promote this type of myth should be ignored.[/quote]
But you’re not a foreigner, are you?[/quote]
Really thats funny as I have white skin… unless I had cosmetic surgery to change myself as suggested by Touduke.
And apart from the one case last year the others were when I had an ARC. Twas awhile ago though
Why I believe that this story is in any way half believable is that the police are totally inept. I have no problem believing that 7 officers turned up to handcuff him and take him away, as you often see close to 10 of them trying to direct traffic at a mildly busy intersection, unless of course, it is raining.
5 or 6 officers often arrive at minor accidents. Look at them for christ sake. They can’t even polish their uniform or iron their shoes.
If what the OP said is true, then the drone could have easily said something about him consuming the packet of crisps before having paid for them if she was that concerned about what he was doing - she had enough opportunity. She could have woken him up when he fell asleep.
[quote=“satellite TV”]Its time to call in Mythbusters. I have been to court several times and had prosecutors decide in my favour. I was also taken to a police station on world cup final night where a so called gangster accussed me of assaulting him. Written statements were taken by both the accuser and myself and no further action required by the prosecutor.
I get a bit sick and tired of hearing that the cops and the legal system is out to get foreigners and the people who promote this type of myth should be ignored.[/quote]
It’s not just foreigners though, is it?
A good Taiwanese friend of mine sold her car. Later the new owner reported the car stolen and pointed the finger at her, reasoning that it must be her because she must still have a set of the keys.
It went to court and she was convicted. She went through appeal, and about half way through evidence came to light that it wasn’t her because they had found the car re-registered somewhere in Kaohsiung and had somehow managed to trace the culprits. However, despite all of this, she was still required by the court to attend a hearing in the presence of the original accuser and formally ask for the case to be dropped. Failure to do so meant that the prosecution would have gone ahead and she would have been convicted anyway.
It is amazing how much weight somebody’s initial accusation can hold, without further evidence.
I saw on the news yesterday that a woman who had sold her business several years ago is in trouble with PanChiao court. She sold it without debt and all taxes had been paid up.
The company continued to trade under the new owners who failed to pay government taxes to the tune of 3 million. When the owner died, the family wanted no part of the company as inheritance and therefore the government could not get the tax from the family.
So what does the court do? That’s right. Sue the previous owner. :loco:
Now you couldn’t make that stuff up.
Once you get into the court system here, it is very difficult to get out without at least some portion of the blame being attributed to you. The police. prosecutors and judges here are the absolute dregs of society.
[quote=“Augieman”]My name is Richard and I am a foreigner from Canada living in Taipei. Two weeks I was accused of stealing a small 25NT$ bag of chips from a 7-11 store. Now I never left the store when I ate the chips I simply forgot to pay. I know this sounds ridiculous but it is true. Now the owner wants to go to court on the matter and I am getting a little nervous because as a foreigner I am not sure what will happen to me. The other day I received a letter from immigration saying that there is someone investigating my case right now and I if I am found guilty then I will have to pay a fine and I think my travel ban will be taken away but this matter will remain on my record. If this is the case how long will it remain on my record? . This letter was written in Chinese so I had to get my friend to translate it for me. One of the police involved told me not to worry because it is a small uncomplicated case. Could I still get deported? . I did spend one night in the district office and I already made an appearance at the prosecutor’s office. I really don’t want to go to court over this issue. This is my first offense. I also have a travel ban until this case is closed. The police officer involved went back two days later to talk with the store owner saying that I was willing to appologize but she was still very angry and wouldn’t accept it. If anyone has had a similar situation, I would like to hear from you, thanks
Let me explain to you what happened. I was in the 7-11store on Roosevelt on Sunday Nov. 20, 2011 at around 5:00pm. According to the store owner I took the chips off the shelf at 5:15. However I don’t know how he knows this because he was in front serving customers and I was in the back. When I took the chips off the shelf I noticed ther was a long line-up so I decided I would sit down at one of the tables in the back until the line-up got smaller. So I sat down at one of the tables in the back and proceeded to check my phone messages and text messages. In the meantime I proceeded to eat the chips. I also remember dozing off a few times while I was reading my messages. Approximately 1 half hour later or so, maybe it was 45 min. later, I checked the time on my phone and I rememer being a little surprised at how long I was sitting there and I remember thinking that I had better go home because I had homework to do. So I grabbed my things and proceeded to leave completely forgetting that I didn’t pay for the chips. I deposited the empty chip bag in the garbage and proceeded to go out the door. But I don’t remember leaving the store when the store clerk stopped me and told me to wait and that was when he called the police. So then 6 or 7 police officers came and handcuffed put me in the police car. I then spent the next 4 hours in the police station in handcuffs, spent the night in the disrict office in handcuffs and Monday I saw the prosecutor. Then I was allowed to go.[/quote]
I take it since you were arrested and taken to court the authorities have contacted the Canadian Office here or that you have done so yourself as they have to be informed about your situation. Didn’t the prosecutor advise you when you would be contacted for your next court appearance?
They never did that with me. nor did they tell me when I would next be contacted for the next hearing. They sent a summons through the post. If I was out, they left a note saying it needed to be picked up at the local police station. Once, there wasn’t even anything in the envelope and I had to contact the court, who initially refused to re-send the summons. The court hearing was for the week after.
[quote=“scomargo”]While anything is possible, let us all try to give every poster the benefit of the doubt, and not call anybody a troll or smurf.
If there is sufficient evidence that it’s not a genuine post, then feel free to let me know. Otherwise, I will have to assume that the OP was genuine.
Thanks, scomargo, moderator[/quote]
Well we all assume the OP is genuine but the story does sound a little far fetched. Not too far out there that its not in the realms of possibly being true.
So how much time would he get for a NT$25 bag a chips. Probably none.
I just want to give everyone an update on my case regarding the $25NT bag of chips from the 7-11 store on Roosevelt Rd close to Tai Power Building Station. I had already bit to court over the matter twice. The first time the other party didn’t show up, the second appearance I madewas yesterday morning. To make a long story short, I ended up having to pay 7-11 $8000.00NT for this incident. They initially asked for 10,000NT and this completely shocked me because I didn’t think they would ask for such a high amount so maybe I was just to naive or something. After some bargaining and negotiations they were willing to come down to $8000NT which I feel still to high. In Taiwan if you consume a product without leaving the store and without paying for it it is still considered thief under Taiwan law or if you walk with items that you honestly completely forgot to pay for you can still be criminally charged. I am just sending this out as a warning to all of you that even a small item like this can cost you much more in terms of grief and money.
