Why I’m Weirdly Grateful to My Pickpocket

Lessons learned after 120 hours without my phone

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

I was pickpocketed last year in central London, and unfortunately, the thief nabbed my brand new iPhone from inside my jacket pocket (annoying but almost impressive).

At the moment of the theft, I couldn’t see the pickpocket anywhere, and I ran into a bar hoping to borrow a phone to ring someone.

Right then, I realized that I don’t know anyone’s number.

Not even my boyfriend or any of my friends. I only know my mum’s number in Dubai — not the most helpful for this specific scenario.

Life Pro Tip: Memorize a couple of local numbers.

I ended up meeting my friends for dinner about 5 minutes later, and they helped me complete the three standard steps for a stolen phone:

• Try ‘Find My iPhone’, realize the thief is a professional who has turned your phone off, proceed to put the phone on lost mode.
• File an online police report and receive a crime number almost instantly (grateful to the Met Police for their efficiency).
• Frantically call your phone insurance provider and quickly realize that no one is available since it’s a…