Advice on how to behave when getting mugged

Funny stuff and generally good advice, but if you're sensitive to extreme language, beware!

More like how to behave after you've been mugged.

True, LOL! Although the advice "Give the friendly mugger what he wants. Don't talk back or fight" is spot on, so it's a little of the former, more of the latter!

Whew! I was afraid another one of our patrons had been mugged!

Here's some good advice from my dear old Dad, who's a retired detective from the Bronx Robbery Squad.

1) Name badges. Ya know the kind you wear at Conventions? Always remove them when you leave the building. Dad referred to them as "Mug Me Badges."

2) Never isolate yourself, anywhere, anytime. If you're in a subway car and you're the only one in there, MOVE!

3) Don't confront a burglar in your home. Call 911 and lock yourself in your room, put a chair under the doorknob, anything.

4) Avoid being a member of the Late Night Club in your office. If everyone else goes home, you should too. Quitting time means stop working and pick up where you left off in the morning.

5) Be unpredictable. If you are entrusted with dropping off deposits at the bank, don't always go at the same time every day, if possible don't use the same route.

Dad referred to them as "Mug Me Badges."

I don't get it. What about a name badge says "Mug me"? Is it because it means you have a job?

Probably means - I'm obviously not familiar with this city having just arrived for the conference, and as a business traveller can be expected to be richer than the average joe and carrying expensive items, no-body is likely to notice my absence until the following morning ...

@6: Exactly what reading fox said!

We regularly have international guests, students, delegates and conference attendants visiting us here at the University of Pretoria... and invariably they come from FAR safer places in the world than a South African city... numerous foreigners have unfortunatly been held up at gun and knife point, mugged, roughed up, pocket picked etc here because they choose to ignore our advice...

Which includes: walk, ride, travel in groups, pairs at least! only wear the name tag at the conference, dont carry around the garishly marked complimentary conference bag, dont carry large amounts of cash with you, and in heavens name dont flash cellphones, palmtops, laptops or any gadget you have, Hide it!

And the only surefire way we have found to deter potential muggers is to have preferably 2 'natives' go out with the visiters on thier shopping trips and sightseeing outings... we are far better tuned in to the local 'danger signs' and can usually spot trouble before it is unavoidable... not always practical though...

sorry for the long post but this is a topic that rubbs a sore spot for me... a group of 4 spanish delegates that I was chaperoning while they were here in SA, decided to ignore my advice of NOTwalking to the shopping center about a kilometer from thier guesthouse late in the evening. They were accosted by a gang armed with knives, they put a knife to the only lady among thems throat and ordered the men to turn out thier pockets or they will kill her... this happened on the sidewalk in full view of passersby and traffic... Thank God they co-operated and no one was hurt, but they were severly shaken

#8 I fully agree. In fact, when someone at the last International Botanical Conference suggested to me we sould one day host one in Durban because (1) there's too much crime and no way on earth we could guarantee the safety of 4000+ innocents, and (2) we don't have enough postgrads to run the meetings, let alone chaperone the delegates.

Fortunately, looks like I ticked all the boxes on my evening with a friendly robber. It's mostly common sense - though that's not always easy to hold on to when you're a little shaken up!

I was mugged at my own mailbox.

Ouch.

Here's an important one, the first piece of advice my Dad ever gave me on the subject: ALWAYS have cash on hand!

You are FAR more likely to be the victim of violence when being mugged if you have an empty wallet or only a few dollars with you. I'm not saying carry hundreds with you, but if you've got at least $20-$40 dollars in your wallet (sorry to use US monetery units, it's what I know) the mugger will take it and run. If you've only got a few bucks on you, they may get frustrated, angry AND violent.

You know how they say that "so-and-so's life was taken over a measley $2," well it was likely BECAUSE they had only $2 that they lost their lives.

I had enough wits about me when I had less than $20 on me and they asked if I had more in my apartment or if my husband had money on him (who was asleep on the couch!) to lie and say no. It could have been much, much worse as they had guns.

I always try to be aware of my surroundings to prevent this type of situation - but being mugged at your own mailbox!? That is not something I would have thought about at all!

Since the state of the economy is getting worse daily - this is really good advice to post. Crime in my area seems to be going up - what with Christmas shoppers and all.

Thanks groo for posting this and giving us advice from you Dad.

I love my mom, but she... well, I'll give you an example...

When I told her about the mugging, the first words out of her mouth were, "What were you doing at your mailbox that late?"

Not, are you okay or how horrible...

Le sigh.

I was mugged (right around this time of year) in my apartment yard in Minneapolis one night, coming from the bus stop. (I can tell you that the Minneapolis cops ain't the NYC cops, for sure.) Didn't have any cash on me, but I did have a laptop--groan. Last I ever saw of that thing. Did have renter's insurance, and I had recently backed up the laptop, so it worked out just fine.

Even though I know that, technically, you can get mugged ANYwhere, this all makes me glad I live in my little town in central WV.

I had to train my husband to lock the front door, and he still doesn't all the time.

Well, it seems that I'm in one of the "safe places" that you're talking about. Perhaps I'd be a walking target. But then, I don't even own an iPod to flash around, and if I ever wear jewellery-type things, it's cheap stuff.
The worst that's happened to me is being harrassed by drunk people when I'm waiting for the midnight bus home.

If you only have, say, a $100 note on you, should you ask for change?

what? there's rules?

#20 - I can see it now!

Mugger: Gimme yer money and ya won't get hurt!
MrAndrew: Sorry, I normally only carry about $20 on me, but today all I've got is $100. Can you make change?
Mugger: What? No, yer my first target today, I've only got $20 on me!
MrA: That's okay, here's the $100, you give me the $20, and then after you mug someone else you can give me the $80 you owe me.
Mugger; Uhhh, okay, that sounds fair...
Mr.A: Great, we'll meet back here around midnight!