The Case of the Vaporetti Thief

This past week I saw something very “urban,” a sight that shocked my mid-western mind. As I waited to step onto the vaporetti leaving Piazza dei Roma, I watched mindlessly as the typical crowd shuffled off the water bus. The vaporetti in itself is an interesting part of the Venetian culture- a communal transportation device, it constantly travels around the city picking up passengers of all sorts, both camera-toting tourist and authentic Venetians. The vaporetti is completely void of a sense of privacy and a complete contrast to the a car as a transportation vessel. Because of the lack of privacy, one must constantly be more aware of themselves and others around them. Many qualities become public on the water bus, such as one’s appearance and belongings, and therefore a fear of protection and self-preservation surfaces. From my past vaporetti experiences, I have always felt “on guard”, on display for the world to see. I constantly watch my belongings and the people around me. But, enough about the vaporetti, let’s examine the incident that occurred.

Back to the line….as the passengers exited the craft, I noticed a young man running full speed off the boat, holding a classy shopping bag high above his head. A well dressed business man chased after the man, reaching out and almost grabbing the fleeing man. However, he missed the assailant by an inch, and he begrudgingly slowed his pace with a defeated look on his face. The assailant ran away into the busy crowd shuffling in front of the train station, with the stolen bag held high in the air. As I watched him run into the crowd, I waited for some Good Samaritan to trip, hit, or simply stop the man, but the reality of the situation was that everyone continued about their business with nothing more than a glance. I was so in shock by what I had just seen that I almost forgot that I needed to board the boat. As I entered the vaporetti, I looked around for stunned faces and murmurs of the incident, but there was none to be found. My heart immediately went out to this stranger, and I found myself in a surreal state of alarm and discomfort. Before coming to Venice, I heard that petty theft was common, especially during high tourist seasons. However, after living here for several weeks and never feeling endangered or uncomfortable, I had developed a somewhat false sense of security in this foreign place. Perhaps it is a naivety of mine, but I have already acquired a sense of security in Venice. Although I always keep an eye on my bag in large crowds, I have never actually seen anyone who made me feel threatened or felt a need to obsess about keeping my belongings safe. I have briskly walked up behind slow moving tourists many times, in a hurry to catch a vaporetti or to make it to a store before it closes, only to find that the tourist quickly hugs their bags close to them, afraid that I may snatch them and sprint away in a single instant. I have always laughed to myself at their paranoid behavior, finding it especially humorous that they think that a young, American girl like me would ever even attempt this.

After this incident, I got to thinking about the psyche of the tourist, and the paranoia and fear that comes naturally when traveling to unknown places and entering foreign cultures. The nervousness that comes with a new place is undeniable, although a great deal of excitement is also inherent. I do not know the identity of the man who was robbed, but from his business suit and rolling suitcase, I imagine him as a traveling businessman who is not a permanent Venetian resident. This situation also raised the question- Why didn’t anyone help, or even pay attention to the incident? During a class discussion yesterday, Shannon brought up an interesting point about the psychological idea that the larger the density of people in a given place, the less likely people are to assist others in panic situations. I find this theory to be exceptionally interesting based on my recent experience, and actually true. Perhaps it is a Venetian indifference, in that petty crime among tourists is so prevalent that they become desensitized to it all, or the theory mentioned by Shannon playing out in real life, but whatever the reason, I am puzzled by the event. I feel as though I have seen a new side of the city and a new side of tourism culture in general. I definitely will be watching my bags more carefully on the vaporetti, and if I was in the way of the assailant, I would have helped. But, perhaps the truth behind it all is that what we think we would do it never what actually plays out. It is an interesting idea to ponder, and I am curious to if I see an other such incidents in my time left here in Venezia.