$25NT bag of chips AND A MISUNDERSTANDING

[archylgp]

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.

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.

[Mucha Man]

6 or 7 cops? The only time I've seen more than 3 cops together in Taiwan is at mob funerals. It's obviously pick on the foreigner month.

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.

[zender]

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?

[REPLICANT]

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.

[Satellite TV]

Muzha man is right: you didn't steal anything, but common sense doesn't apply here and the laws generally work against foreigners, .

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.

[ChewDawg]

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.

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.

[Deuce Dropper]

You're all missing the point. Were they cheese and onion of salt and vinegar?

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.

[Omniloquacious]

Muzha man is right: you didn't steal anything, but common sense doesn't apply here and the laws generally work against foreigners, .

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.

But you're not a foreigner, are you?

[sandman]

Muzha man is right: you didn't steal anything, but common sense doesn't apply here and the laws generally work against foreigners, .

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.

But you're not a foreigner, are you?

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!

[Belgian Pie]

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!