Despite growing
up in an area where drugs and crime were commonplace, looking
back, I’m always surprised by how naïve I was about some of the activities
going on around me.
A friend of mine
once asked me if I was interested in buying some things from one of her
husband’s friends. I can’t recall what they were selling – perhaps clothing,
electronic goods or the like.
Whatever it was,
it sounded like I should at least take a look so I said, ‘Sure’.
My friend then
told me, ‘They’re off the back of a truck. You don’t mind, do you?’
Off the back of a
truck? I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. Did we have to go to the back of
the truck to buy the stuff? I guess that would be okay. Besides, for the
prices she had mentioned I could hardly be picky about where they were selling them from.
‘Off the back of
a truck?’ I innocently enquired. ‘Yeah, they fell off a truck,’ she said,
laughing.
Wow.
Everything fell off?
We went to some
non-descript house in the suburbs to take a look. Some of the things were brand
new, some used, but all at prices that could hardly be believed.
This was a
veritable goldmine! I’m sure I bought tons of stuff and when I was told they
had another ‘truckload’ coming in next week I made plans to return, which I
indeed did on a number of other occasions.
I don’t know when
the penny dropped that ‘off the back of truck’ actually meant stolen. And when
it did, did I cease my law-breaking ways or continue unperturbed?
Thinking about it
now, I wonder how I could not have known. I was naïve yes, but I had also been
a rather prolific shoplifter myself some years before.
One of my school
friends told me once that it was really easy to steal make-up from the local
supermarket. I wasn’t allowed to own, much less wear make-up at the time, so the only way I
was going to get my hands on some was to steal it.
Which I did.
In large
quantities and on a regular basis.
My crime spree
continued and I began to take more risks. I started to take higher priced items
like expensive clothing and jewellery. I remember going into a department store
wearing a long dress and coming out wearing an entire change of clothing
underneath, including a pair of designer jeans. Most of the
things I stole I couldn’t wear anyway as I had no way of explaining to my Mum
where everything came from.
It was more about
the thrill of getting away with it.
Eventually I
almost got caught. A security guard asked me to empty my pockets as I was
leaving a store. I did have a stolen lip-gloss in one of the pockets but was able to manoeuvre
it so he didn’t see. I went bright red in the face, as most guilty teenagers
are prone to do. He let me leave and I never stole another thing again.
Well at least not until I discovered ‘the back of the truck’ which I guess was stealing by
default.
I promise you I
have spent my adult life as a law-abiding citizen. I was raised in a
conservative home with parents that would have been completely shocked that I
was doing such things.
It just goes to
show that our external environment can greatly influence our actions and
behaviours.
I am just so
grateful now that I was ‘almost caught’ all those years ago.
What an elitist snob you have now become....You make "The West" sound like there are "drugs and crime" around you on a daily basis....having lived there most of my life and having never been exposed to the wrong side of the law, all I can think is that you must have mixed in the wrong circles.
ReplyDeleteRaising a family in Sydney's west is the only option for over 2/3 of us in this City. As you would know if you truly grew up there is that it is a diverse area with each region having it's own pluses and minuses. This article perpetuates the continual demonisation of "The West" by the "The North", "The East" and "The South".
To me, it's sounds like we were fortunate to lose you!
Wow. This blog is just meant to be a bit of fun and not meant to offend anyone. I'm taking a light-hearted look back at some of the real experiences of my youth. As I've mentioned before it was an enjoyable place to grow up and I had wonderful teachers and friends and all of my family still live in the western suburbs.
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