'12 hours of hard work gone in less than 5 minutes': Stall-holder posts CCTV footage of shop theft, gets blamed for it instead

'12 hours of hard work gone in less than 5 minutes': Stall-holder posts CCTV footage of shop theft, gets blamed for it instead
PHOTO: TikTok/jtsweee

A hawker stall owner recently posted about his "heartbreak" after a man broke into his stall and emptied his cash register of all his day's takings.

Rather than messages of support or sympathy, however, many commenters instead blamed the stall holder for choosing to leave the money in the shop.

On Saturday (June 4), TikTok user Jtsweee posted a video showing CCTV camera footage of a man wearing a helmet entering the stall and stealing from the cash register.

 

@jtsweee Heartbreaks everytime I see him taking all the hard earned money… #sgcrimes #sgtiktok #fypシ #fyp ♬ Oh No - Kreepa

"Heart breaks every time I see him taking all the hard earned money," wrote the user of the incident which happened "in the middle of the night".

In the video, the culprit is seen carefully putting away items on the counter. His practised behaviour led some commenters to believe that the theft was an inside job.

However, Jtswee refuted this in replies to the comments.

The video ended with the man emptying the contents of the cash register — coins included — into his bag.

"12 hours of hard work gone in less than 5 mins," wrote Jtsweee of his loss, adding in a reply to another comment that "he has no idea how much effort goes behind one bowl of pao fan".

As if to rub salt on the proverbial wound, many commenters on the video not only failed to take his side, but instead berated the stall owner for not putting the cash away in a safe place.

"That's how lazy some people are," wrote one, with another adding that the owner "deserved it".

Another commenter wrote that "robber will rob cause that's what they do [sic]", and that the onus is on the stall owner to keep his money safe.

However, at least one person came to his defence, stating that focus should be put on the crime, instead of shifting the blame onto the victim.

Jtsweee acknowledged that it was an oversight on his part and an "expensive lesson learnt" to not have put the money in a safe, but noted that he did so following the incident.

Responding to queries from AsiaOne, the person behind the account, Jameson Tan, 27, confirmed that the incident had happened last month on May 17 at a San Pin Pao Fan stall located at Foch Road. 

Tan, who's a co-owner in the business which has several outlets across Singapore, told AsiaOne that he had posted the video after watching another TikTok video of a theft whereby the entire cash register was taken.

"It was to let people know that cash registers can be forced open too," said Tan. "It still hurts to see how easy the person had gotten away with all our hard work," he said, adding that the perpertrator has not been caught. Tan shared that they did not buy any insurance for the stall and that the amount taken was in the "thousand range".

In a reply to another commenter, Tan stated that he didn't show the perpetrator breaking open the register as he didn't want the video "to be a tutorial on how to open a cash register".

Addressing disparaging remarks, Tan shared with us that he was not affected by them as his intention of posting the video is simply to generate awareness and not to gain sympathy.

"It's been a while since the incident and I've gotten past the 'sad phase'. Life has to go on right," said Tan with a laugh.

Police have confirmed that a report was lodged and investigations are ongoing.

candicecai@asiaone.com

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